By Mark Elias
Saturday, Jun 26th, 2010 @ 12:00 pm

After making its first (official) North American splash in 2008, Mercedes-Benz ’s diminutive Smart (or lowercase smart , as they prefer) unit is prepared to get green and urban-oriented. Enter the 2011 smart fortwo electric drive, which we had a chance to take for a quick spin through the new york, er, New York, borough of Brooklyn.

But before you run to your local Penske-owned Smart (we’re capitalizing it, dammit) dealership, you need to know one thing – actually several things, but the main one is that until 2012, there will only be 1,500 copies available worldwide. This second-generation vehicle is equipped with a new lithium-ion battery manufactured by California’s best-known EV startup, Tesla .

Power comes by a 47 horsepower rear-mounted electric motor, which provides 100 lb-ft. of torque. Battery charge is sufficient for up to 84 miles per the new European driving cycles.

Starting in 2012, the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive will be available to anyone in Smart’s 40 worldwide markets with the right amount of scratch to make the payments. In the meantime, though, if your taste runs to Smart, you’ll probably be cruising in the petrol-burning Smart Fortwo, which has never been our idea of fun. Using a quirky three-cylinder engine and a manual/automatic transmission that makes the gas burner feel like a motorcycle with a body, the ride is so lurchy that many owners thought they had defective cars.

Electile dysfunction
Our turn in the Fortwo Electric Drive was a case of apples and oranges, night and day, black and white. Smooth from the get-go, the Electric Drive easily left the stoplight without the characteristic lurchings that plague the fossil fueler. In fact, step-down mode gives the Electric Drive an added kick in the butt off the line that will give it a full dose of instant torque – at least for a short while. Electric power steering helps spin the fortwo on a dime and an iPhone app by Daimler helps keep track of power and charge levels and other vehicle issues. By the way, costs are considerably lower than on a Smart gas car because the battery, motor and other components on the Electric Drive are virtually maintenance-free.

At the end of the day, plug the Fortwo into the 220-volt electric outlet behind your household dryer. A full charge can be had once again in eight hours. It can also be charged for a longer time using a 110-volt outlet.

Jill Lajdziak, president of Smart USA says the company plans to be at the forefront of electrification in the U.S. To that end, we suggest you hurry up and get in line.

Most likely, though, you’re too late.

Of the 1,500 Electric Drives planned for import to the US, some 80 percent will be going to municipal and institutional purchasers. Initially scheduled for lease-only, they will require a $2,400 down payment and $599 a month which, at the end of the 48–month lease, works out to around $31 large. Ouch. In the grand scheme of things, that might be a bitter pill to swallow. Oh, that and the fact that a $7,500 federal tax credit is paid by the U.S. government directly to…Smart. In more ways than one.

Why you would buy it:
It’s the best Smart yet, and the perfect car for cruising the city—New York City

Why you wouldn’t can’t
Because of the 200 coming to the USA, most are already spoken for.

Leftlane’s bottom line:
We were never fans of the U.S.-specification internal combustion Smart Fortwo in the first place, what with a balky gas powered car that performed more like a mobile S&M chamber than a means of transportation. But this one changes things.

The Smart Fortwo Electric Drive is so good that it makes you wonder why they even bother with the gas-engined model anyway.

Words and photos by Mark Elias.

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