Daimler Smart’s new EV: solar energy and plastic tires

Daimler’s subsidiary Smart, maker of seemingly impossibly small cars, is set to present its new electric vehicle at the Frankfurt Auto Show this week.

“With the Forvision Smart is doing justice to its role as Daimler’s think tank for urban mobility,” said Dr. Annette Winkler, Head of Smart. “With the clear objective of greatly increasing the zero-emission range we concerned ourselves with all factors that influence this on the vehicle. 

This resulted in completely new concepts and materials in the areas of insulation, reflection, lightweight design and energy management.”

Notably, the diminutive car uses solar energy, featuring invisible organic solar cells on top of the car. During the day, the cells provide light and energy, and at night they become built-in LED lights.

The Forvision’s also sports all-plastic wheels, the first of the kind suitable for high-volume production. Their composition makes each wheel three kilograms lighter than normal wheels. 

The car has a tridion passenger cell, and doors made of carbon-fiber-reinforced epoxy resin make the car 50 percent lighter compared to those made with steel, and 30 percent lighter compared to those made with aluminum.

Features like a heat shield made of infrared reflective film keep the car from overheating, while a metallic-looking white special-effect coating and special color pigments provided by BASF reflect heat radiation from the sun.

“This leads to a temperature reduction of up to 20 degrees Celsius on the paint surface and of up to approximately four degrees in the vehicle interior,” according to a statement from Daimler.

Daimler says the new version will have 20 percent more range than the Fortwo, its predecessor, getting around 96 miles on a single charge.

Photos: Daimler

Frankfurt Motor Show: Volkswagen packs a Powerful Punch

Andrew English, the Telegraph Motoring Correspondent, tries out VW's L1, an 180 mile-per-gallon, two-seater hybrid car, at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

In many ways this 840lb, tandem-seat machine is the most important car at the show and just as much a supercar as the Lamborghini Reventón or Bugatti Sang Bleu.

It teaches people that 'super’ powers don’t have to equate with a gargantuan size, weight and fuel consumption. Super is as super does and the L1 has super in spades.

Very much Dr Ferdinand Piëch’s baby (he ordered former R&D boss Ulrich Eichhorn to build a one litre per 100km or 283mpg car in 1998), the L1’s the result of VW’s heavyweight research into using lightweight exotic body materials such as carbon fibre in less expensive ways.

"It's a real Head Turner", said one hardnosed critic

It uses one half of a 1.6-litre TDI engine in a hybrid installation to give amazing fuel economy. It also looks the business. The 800cc, twin-cylinder, common-rail, turbodiesel is joined by a 14bhp electric motor.

The engine operates in two modes with the eco mode giving 7bhp and sport mode 29bhp, the electric motor provides extra acceleration and can power the L1 on its own for short distances.

"See More of the Frankfurt Motor Show Highlights Here"

....and finally here's another 3 things that could thrill and excite you beyond belief. One of them is Volkswagen's new Lamborghini's Reventon Roadster, and wherever it goes, I think the others will follow. Vroom! Vroom!