2016 Smart Fortwo Prime on 2040-cars

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Car2go brings incentives to charging in San Diego

Plugging in a vehicle to get power makes sense when that vehicle is owned by one person or family and – like most of the cars on the planet – sits still for most of the day. But when you're trying to share an EV, or a few hundred of them, charging time becomes doubly important. You need those electrons to move but every minute spent charging is time the car can't be shared. So, in San Diego, the all-electric Car2go program is changing how it gets more juice into its battery-powered Smart cars. While Car2go users have always been able to park at a charging station and plug in, Car2go has needed to use a fleet team to move the cars around and make sure they're charged up. To encourage users to leave the cars in a new downtown "Incentive Zone" (where, we presume, the fleet team will have an easier time recharging the cars), they can get free drive time just for parking the car in the right area. If the drive is over 10 minutes, they'll get a 10-minute credit. Since the Smart EDs can take up to six hours to charge, parking them in a central are should simplify things. The new policy started yesterday and the free minutes will last until the end of the year.

German man buys 2 Smart cars just to keep driveway clear

Don't you just hate it when someone parks too close to the shoulder of your driveway? Yeah, life is tough. For one man who lives in the tony Oberkassel district of Dusseldorf, Germany, it was apparently enough to devise a novel solution: buy two Smart cars and leave them parked as bookends, assuring plenty of real estate for him to navigate in and out of the driveway. First reported by German publication RP Online, the unnamed man lives in a five-story building on Kaiser-Friedrich-Ring across the street from a park and greenspace along the banks of the Rhine River. Parking is apparently at a premium in the densely populated neighborhood, and more so because of its proximity to the park and its tennis courts. The man enjoys what appears to be a fairly broad, brick-paved driveway and a garage, but that apparently wasn't enough for the "powerful SUV" that neighbors told RP he or his wife drives. So he bought what a photograph appears to be two Smart fortwo minicars in metallic silver. And left 'em there. Neighbors at some point caught on that the cars, which are reportedly popular in the neighborhood full of row houses, never moved. They say they've been parked in the spots for at least three years, having only once been temporarily moved. RP reports that lush weeds have taken root on one of the car's tires and in the adjacent gutter. Local traffic authorities say it's perfectly legal to keep them there, so long as they can be moved if necessary. We can't say this is a terrible idea. It's also not a terrible use for a Smart. Related Video: Image Credit: Google Maps Auto News Weird Car News smart parking minicar

Smart Fortwo gets Twinamic dual-clutch transmission

When we drove the new Smart Fortwo and Forfour back in November, Daimler was still working out the kinks in its dual-clutch transmission. But a few months later, the German automaker has apparently finished tinkering with the automatic, and now Smart is introducing it as an option on the new Fortwo in its home market. The six-speed DCT - dubbed "Twinamic" - is being rolled out initially on the 71-horsepower version of the 1.0-liter naturally aspirated inline-three, netting a 0-62 time of 15.1 seconds. That's slow, but it's a solid 0.8 seconds quicker off the line than the same engine with the six-speed manual. Top speed (not exactly a city car's forte) remains pegged at 94 miles per hour. Fuel consumption and CO2 figures remain virtually unchanged, quoted at the same 4.1 liters per 100 kilometers (57 mpg converted from the more lenient European cycle) and a slightly worse 94 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer (instead of 93 with the manual). The first Fortwos with the DCT are slated to be delivered in March, available on the base model for an extra 1275 euros, tax-in (equivalent to $1,500 at today's rates) or 1000 euros ($1160) on the Passion, Prime and Proxy trim levels. Shifting is actuated automatically or can be controlled by the gear selector, but opt for the Sport package and you'll get shift paddles as well. Either way, it promises to deliver a much smoother experience than the widely lambasted robotized gearbox on the outgoing model. We suspect North American buyers will get this transmission at some point, but thus far, it remains unconfirmed. We've reached out to Daimler officials and will update this story if we hear more. smart fortwo now available for ordering with twinamic dual clutch transmission: Hands-on or automatic gear shifting As the first model of the new smart generation, the smart fortwo rated at 52 kW/71 hp is now available for ordering with the twinamic dual clutch transmission. This enables gear shifting to be carried out either fully automatically or manually. Manual shifting is possible using the selector lever in a separate gate or by means of the shift paddles included in the Sports package. The additional charge for the twinamic in Germany in the standard version is 1275 euros (RRP, incl. 19% VAT); in combination with the passion, prime and proxy lines 1000 euros (RRP, incl. 19% VAT). The dual clutch transmission is available in combination with the passion, prime and proxy equipment lines.