Sam's Club to sell lithium-ion electric car in Christmas promotion
It's kind of a joke to say Wal-Mart sells everything. Does Wal-Mart sell electric cars? Well, this Christmas... they do sell electric cars! Sam's Club, a unit of Wal-Mart stores Inc, will sell an electric car in a Christmas promotion November 8 through December 29. The car is the Mercedes-Benz Smart and it's actually on Sam's Club front page right now below a pre-order of Guitar Hero.
For the low, low price of $35,000 you also get lithium-ion batteries from Hybrid Technologies, bringing the car's range to over 100 miles per charge. That bouncy, yellow, happy face is not done with you yet: Along with being the only owner of the Hybrid Technology's Smart, you also get a trip to the Kennedy Space Center! The Sam's Club site says this is a Once-in-a-Lifetime offer "you won't get a second chance at."
[Source: Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
juliana 9:24PM (2/11/2009)
THATS STUIP? I WOULD NEVER EVER PAY 4 A CAR 4 THAT KIND OF PRICE. WE ARE TRYING 2 LIVE DAY BY DAY AND SURIVE DAY BY DAY.
Reply
Tony Belding 5:05PM (10/06/2007)
That would be the same Hybrid Technologies whose Li-ion powered taxicab (a converted PT Cruiser) was tested in New York City. It fell far short of the claimed range and had to be taken out of service.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/16/electric-pt-cruiser-couldnt-cut-it-as-ny-taxi/
Caveat Emptor.
Reply
BlackbirdHighway 8:19PM (10/06/2007)
Sam's Club goes on and on with full details about the trip to NASA, but has very little actual information about the car. I wonder how much the car is without the trip to NASA, since that doesn't interest me much. But then without a lot more detail, the car doesn't generate much interest for me either.
Reply
Brian Hague 1:21AM (10/07/2007)
wow... one car...
Let me guess, some "Verucha Saltz" type girl doesn't want the golden ticket anymore. "Willy Wonka be damned!"
Reply
Domenick 1:31AM (10/07/2007)
It's first come, first served and only one is being served.
Darn the luck.
Reply
tim 10:01AM (10/07/2007)
$35K? Thanks anyway, but I'll wait for the Volt.
Reply
rgseidl 10:19AM (10/07/2007)
They could have taken the EV system developed for the old smart fortwo in Switzerland and fitted it into the new one that meewts US crash safety specs. MES-DEA uses zinc-chloride Zebra batteries rather than the newer - and still unproven - Li-ion units.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2006/09/04/smart-ev-now-available-in-switzerland/
Also, am I the only one to notice the rich irony in this offer from Wal-Mart of all places? You buy a very expensive EV hoping to conserve energy and then, fly out to Cape Canaveral to marvel at the most stupendously energy-intensive form of transportation ever devised. Please file under Whiskey Foxtrot Tango.
Reply
mike 10:54AM (10/07/2007)
Why can't we get the smart EV from SMART?
Reply
rgseidl 2:13PM (10/07/2007)
@Mike -
because $25-$35k it's way too expensive to generate significant volume, which is what a big manufacturer really cares about. Smart do offer a microhybrid in Europe now, but the only full EV option is still the one from Switzerland.
Reply
Gary 2:56PM (10/07/2007)
Mike, it IS from Smart. They just screwed up when they called it the "Mercedes-Benz Smart." It's made by Daimler-Chrysler's Smart division. Daimler-Chrysler owns Mercedes-Benz.
As for the price, this about what California-based Zap! Motors was selling the gasoline version for - until Daimler-Chrysler announced they would be selling them in the U.S. starting January 2008. So, Tim, don't wait for the Volt. Get a Smart in January. You want electric? Have it converted. That's all they're doing.
The list price of the Smart (gasoline powered) will be $12,000 to $14,000 with three models available in that range, starting in the U.S. in January 2008. Visit the Smart website for details. (www.smart.com)
Reply
ChuckP 4:14PM (10/10/2007)
I don't get it. Why is it that almost all electric cars are designed to look as ugly as possible? Even worse, they seem to deliberatly designed to as aerodymanically inefficient as possible. Am I missing something? Wake me up when someone comes out with a car designed to mimimize power expenditure, that looks good, and is something that I can afford. I can only dream of a Tesla.
Reply
Lascelles Linton 4:24PM (10/10/2007)
ChuckP, Sundance Channel's Big ideas for a small planet once said, the greens that designed them hated driving and did not care much about the design. I don't think that's true. There are few good sports cars like Tesla and regular cars are coming Miles and Phoenix motor cars make good looking cars. EV1 did not look that bad. The Prius can grow on you.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/09/22/nyt-normal-affordable-electric-cars-dont-exist/
Reply
carnagex2000 8:40AM (10/13/2007)
If you read their disclaimer, there is only one car for sale.
Reply
Chris M 8:43PM (10/13/2007)
This is the kind of promotion that I'd expect from Neiman-Marcus, not Sam's Club!
Of course, if Neiman-Marcus did it, the car would be more stylish, cost more, and would have more than one available...
Reply
Sean 10:52AM (10/17/2007)
@ChuckP
As for aerodynamics, check out the Aptera. www.aptera.com
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/02/interview-with-steve-fambro-from-aptera-motors/
Reply
@Mich 11:59AM (11/09/2007)
You can order an EV Smart @ www.hybridtechnologies.com for $45,000. The $35,000 was a one time promo deal with Wal-mart.
Reply
John 9:40PM (12/23/2007)
Why not a $10,000.00 EV. with better performance from Zapworld.com
Reply