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Recharge Wrap-up: Charging in Iceland, Smart "For" campaign, Honda open sources Smart Home

Iceland's EV charging network is expanding by 200 units. A subsidiary of Northern Lights Energy called EVEN is providing and installing the rapid chargers, which it hopes to have installed by the end of the year. EVEN's Gisli Gislasson says, "We couldn't wait for the government and decided to do our part in this." Iceland's government hopes to have 10 percent of the cars on its road powered by sustainable fuels by 2020. Read more at Iceland Review. Argonne National Laboratory is working to create universal charging for electric vehicles. Through its new Electric Vehicle Interoperability Center, the group is studying ways to standardize charging so any type of electric vehicle in any country can charge at any charging station. Additionally, the research is working on ways to better integrate electric cars to a smart grid, to the point where EVs could even act as part of the grid, charging when they need it and providing electricity during peak hours. Go to Phys.org for more details. Smart has launched its "For" campaign in Europe. The maker of the tiny city cars is reaching out to the public through updated branding, ads through various channels and social media engagement to get people thinking about Smart in fresh ways. The campaign emphasizes the "For" idea, as in "For challenging the status quo," "For loving the city," etc. Also as part of the campaign, Smart will be embarking on a Europe-wide roadshow to 15 different cities, where the public can learn more about the cars – particularly the Fortwo and Forfour models – and even arrange a test drive. Read more in the press release below. Honda is publicly sharing plans associated with its Smart Home project. The project, which goes beyond cars and into the home to look for ways to live efficiently and reduce CO2 emissions, involves sustainable energy and heating and cooling methods, smart lighting, sustainable building materials and waste management, passive design and, of course, vehicle charging. Now, technical details such as architectural plans, mechanical drawings, furniture specs and CAD data will be open-source and publicly available for any interested parties. Check out the Honda Smart Home website to learn more, or to start downloading the plans yourself. "FOR" brand campaign: smart: More than just a car Functionality, innovation and joie de vivre – these are the brand values that make smart so unique. smart sees itself as a future-oriented, visionary brand that stands for a great idea.

Daimler to sell half its stake in Smart to Geely, Reuters reports [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Reuters on Tuesday reported that Daimler AG is nearing the sale of a 50 percent stake in its small-car brand Smart to China's Geely Automobile Holdings, the Financial Times said on Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the matter. The sale will be confirmed before the Shanghai Auto Show in April, FT said. Both Daimler and Geely declined a Reuters request for comment. Last year, Geely built up an almost 10 percent stake in Daimler in a $9 billion bet by its chairman and became the biggest shareholder in Daimler. Previous story appears below: A new report from Germany's Handelsblatt says Daimler will decide the fate of its money-losing Smart microcar brand by year's end. Dieter Zetsche and his signature white mustache will retire in May, taking his support for the brand with him, and designated successor Ola Kallenius was steeped in Mercedes-Benz's AMG world of performance cars. Meanwhile, Kartrin Adt, a former Daimler Human Resources VP who took over as head of Smart last September, has yet to formulate a strategy to steer the brand to profitability and has reportedly focused on energizing the brand and looking for a partner in China, including with Volvo owner Geely. "Ola has no history with the Smart," Handelsblatt quotes an unnamed insider as saying, and no scruples about burying the brand. It's not the first time the brand's future has been cast into doubt. Last fall, rumors circulated that Renault was likely to pull the plug on its partnership that created the Smart ForTwo and Renault Twingo, which share a platform. The publication said the brand hit an all-time global sales high of more than 150,000 in 2004, and it's been mostly downhill since then, having never turned a profit since its introduction two decades ago. According to CarSalesBase.com, sales of the ForTwo have dropped from a high of 24,622 in its first year in the U.S. in 2008 to just 1,276 last year. In Europe, Smart sold 62,361 FourTwo models last year, and 97,346 vehicles in total. Smart's latest plan is to convert to an all-electric urban mobility brand, though that might be too costly, and hence the shopping for a partner in China. At the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, Smart showed what it called the Forease+, a curious two-seater concept and update on the Forease shown last year in Paris. It features a hard fabric shell roof with a soft fabric cover with no side or rear windows and no climate control.

Fashion designer Jeremy Scott gives Smart Fortwo Electric some wing bling [w/video]

If you were to gaze upon the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive and ponder what you might add to sort of, you know, set it off a bit, you probably wouldn't consider adding a pair of wings. That's because you are not Jeremy Scott. He, on the other hand, would do exactly that. And has.
That's right, that winged wonder you see pictured above is not some sort of Redbull-induced hallucination. Rather, it is the result of a creative collaboration between Mercedes-Benz Cars Advanced Design Studios and the aforementioned famed fashion designer called, appropriately enough, the Smart ForJeremy. And, it has just made its debut at the LA Auto Show.
Besides the faux-feather flourishes that light up when the brakes are applied, the outward appearance of this 2013 limited special edition is tarted up with a custom set of propeller-inspired wheels with just enough shiny to balance the chromed finish of its tridion shell, mirrors and, um, "eyebrows."