Smart cars?

[aviken]

I saw a Smart car Fortwo at the King County DDES on Thursday. I checked smart cars site but could not tell if these are NEVs limited to roads of only 35mph here in Wa...I have been seeing a couple around lately - so are they considered NEVs?

[Lightning Ryan]

I've seen a lot of smart cars aswell, but they are mostly diesel powered.  There were plans for electric versions, and some conversions to electric, but most are not.

[tomsax]

The SmartCar fortwo is a freeway-capable (90 mph), crash-tested car. It runs on premium unleaded gas and an EPA 2008 rating of 33 (city) and 41 (hwy)mpg.

   http://www.smartusa.com/smart-car-technical-specifications.aspx

Here's a blog from a new SmartCar owner that I found interesting. It's on Martin "Tesla Founder" Eberhard's blog site, a friend of his relating her experience with her car.

   http://teslafounders.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/smartie-is-at-the-party/

[Audin]

I can't understand why they get such crappy milage.  They are so small...  what gives?

[Eletruk]

I think one issue is they are not very aerodynamic, so at higher speeds, they are pushing a lot of air. Also, they are pretty sturdy little cars, so they probably aren't as light as the older 80's tin can cars that got 50+ MPG. It's certainly not that they are overpowered, they have a little 1 liter 3 cylinder engine, but the real high mileage version can't be imported into the US. The turbo diesel gets 70 MPG on the highway.