Paris 2010 preview: smart escooter

By George on September 22nd, 2010

smart-escooter According to smart, in urban traffic, the electric scooter is an intelligent amendment or alternative to the car – with its superior manoeuvrability, exemplary comfort and pioneering safety features. The latter include an airbag, ABS anti-lock brake system and a Blind Spot Assist.

The electric scooter’s supporting chassis structure is consciously modelled on the tridion safety cell of the smart fortwo. Its steel and aluminium frame is clad with fully interchangeable plastic bodypanels.

The smart escooter guarantees distinguished impact in terms of “see and be seen” by means of state-of-the-art LED technology. Both the front headlamp, backlight and brake light are equipped with it.

The smart escooter’s white paintwork with green accents underlines its relationship to the smart fortwo electric drive. It is driven by a disc-shaped wheel hub motor in the rear wheel, which offers a powerful 4 kW despite its compact size. The brushless direct current hub drive transmits its power directly to the rear wheel, and is clean and maintenance-free. A further advantage: as the motor does not take up any space in the chassis, more stowage space is available there.

The smart escooter has a top speed of 45 km/h. The traction current is supplied by a state-of-the-art, 48-volt lithium-ion battery pack. Thanks to the battery’s capacity of 80 Ah, ranges of up to 100 kilometres are possible. The escooter can be charged at any standard household power socket, within three to five hours.

The smart escooter also offers driving fun for two: that is enabled by a fold-out seat which looks elegant when in use, and which appears to “hover” over the rear wheel. The footrests for the pillion rider automatically move into position when the second seat is folded out. If, instead, the rider requires more storage space, the pillion seat can be replaced with a luggage rack.

The smartphone plays a special role for the escooter, serving as the scooter’s control and communication centre. Before starting the electric scooter, the rider simply places the smartphone in a specially-designed mount in the centre of the handlebars.