2013 Smart Fortwo Passion on 2040-cars

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Smart ForTwo Electric Drive will be cheapest EV at $25,000*

We're getting our first drive in the 2013 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive today, and Smart just announced pricing for the latest version of its all-electric minicar. The starting price for the ForTwo ED Coupe will be $25,000 (*plus delivery fees), making it the lowest price electric vehicle in the U.S. from a mainstream automaker - and that doesn't even include the available $7,500 federal tax credit.
With the tax credit figured in, the starting price works out to $17,500. Add in the required $825 destination charge and up to $2,200 for a home charger, and the 2013 ForTwo ED Coupe will essentially start at just $20,525 - $1,100 cheaper than the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Of course, customers who already have home charging stations can save even more. Smart has said that it will offer two different home chargers that range in price from $1,300 to $1,700, and it is estimating installation will cost somewhere in the $300 to $500 range.
While we do know the starting prices for the new ForTwo ED, options and lease prices have not been announced. For comparison, the previous-generation ForTwo ED had a lease price of $599 a month.

Consumer Reports says these are the worst new cars of 2014

Consumer Reports has announced its annual list of worst vehicles, a cringe-inducing contrast to its list of top vehicles. Ignominiously leading the way in 2014 is Chrysler, which has a staggering seven models listed.
Jeep nearly sweeps the small SUV segment by itself, with its Compass, Patriot and 2.4-liter version of the new Cherokee, while the only midsize sedans listed by CR were the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Avenger. The new Dodge Dart and the Dodge Journey round out CR's condemnation of Chrysler.
Ford is taking heat as well, with the Taurus, Edge and their counterparts from Lincoln all listed as the worst vehicles in their respective segments. Toyota doesn't fare much better, with its Lexus IS, Scion iQ and tC also making the list.

Car2go finds huge customer base waiting in China

Car2go appears to be struggling a bit in the US – ending its electric fleet in San Diego and not announcing any expansions here for a while now – but the news is different in China. After just two months of operations in Chongqing, China, Car2go is serving 78,000 customers. As the company itself admits in the press release below, that's almost as many as use Car2go in a North American or European city after five years in business. There, about 100,000 to 130,000 people use Car2go. Chongqing is Car2go's first location in Asia. Of course, population numbers are different in China. As they say, if you're one in a million in China, there are still 1,000 people just like you. And while you may not have heard of Chongqing, it's a metropolis of 30 million people. The biggest city in the US, New York, has about 20 million in its metropolitan area. And yet, for 30 million potential users and 78,000 actual ones, Car2go offers them just 400 vehicles. Since Car2go has served over 40,000 rentals in its first two months, that means someone is stepping into a blue-and-white Smart Fortwo every 1.7 minutes, on average. Car2go has been thinking about offering short-term A-to-B rentals in China since at least 2014, when we came across a Car2go booth at the Challenge Bibendum there. Related Video: After less than two months, car2go has 78,000 customers in China 07. June 2016 Stuttgart/Chongqing car2go makes free-floating car sharing popular in the Chinese metropolis Chongqing More than 40,000 rentals in the first few weeks A car2go vehicle is rented every 1.7 minutes in Chongqing Stuttgart/ Chongqing – In less than two months, more than 78,000 customers have registered with car2go in China. For comparison: After between four to five years, the biggest car2go locations in Europe and North America have approximately 100,000 to 130,000 registered customers per city. More than 40,000 vehicle rentals within this period mean that one of the 400 car2go vehicles in Chongqing is rented every 1.7 minutes. With this start, car2go has created an important alternative to owning one's own car and thus a valuable addition to the local public transport system in Chongqing with its 30 million inhabitants. "The start in Chongqing far exceeds our expectations", says Roland Keppler, CEO of car2go.