Fascinating insights in the new Smart fortwo electric

The new Smart fortwo electronic will be available at the end of this year, but large-scale production will start in 2012. The first 1,000 cars produced this year will be provided to customers participating in test projects in major cities in Europe and the U.S. in order for Daimler to get feedback about everyday use of the cars which Daimler says has "the most modern lithium-ion battery."

Like conventional cars also electronic cars are also made from hundreds of components, but there can be massive differences between how environmentally friendly they are. smart look to use alternative materials & manufacturing concepts – to find the solutions that are best for the environment. At smart they have always considered how they can use eco-friendly materials in the production of their cars. Each individual smart component is subjected to a continuous ecological improvement process. And all ongoing development projects make the best use of recycled and sustainable raw materials.

At smart they produce an ‘eco’ balance sheet. It offers fascinating insights into the future, insights that are provided by GaBi, the software system that's used for life cycle engineering of new component concepts as they're developed. GaBi evaluates the demands on raw materials and anticipates emissions and assesses the volume of waste that's likely to be created. The entire life cycle is taken into account, from production through to recycling. It can even compare the specific consumption of energy by different means of transport per passenger kilometre. So it's pretty in-depth!

Picture: © RWE