Electric Smart possibly spotted at Tesla HQ!
It's beginning to appear more and more likely that my previous speculation about the nature of the relationship between Tesla Motors and Daimler may have been accurate. In a Fox Business News interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in June, he mentioned the company has deal of some kind with the parent company of Smart and Mercedes-Benz. Since then I have looked at the possibilities and determined that Tesla may be supplying lithium ion batteries and other hardware for the second-generation Smart ED that will go into fleet tests in 2009.
StreetImportOnline posted today that someone spotted a Smart ForTwo sitting in front of Tesla's San Carlos headquarters. This in and of itself means nothing since the Bay Area is a popular location for the little cars. There was one there in January when I visited to drive the Roadster, in fact. This time, though, the Smart had no tailpipe and was plugged into the charging station outside the front door. A quick call to Tesla SVP Darryl Siry yielded the expected "no comment." In general, suppliers are never allowed to comment on any potential work they are doing for client companies and this situation is no different.
If you happen to be in the neighborhood of Tesla's Bing St. headquarters in San Carlos, CA and you see a Smart plugged in out in the open, please feel free to snap some pics and send them our way. Just use the tips link at the top of the page and we'll give you an email address to send your shots to.
[Source: StreetImportOnline.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jorgbrown 2:20PM (10/22/2008)
http://homepage.mac.com/jbx/SmarTesla2.jpg
Note lack of tailpipe
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Sean 7:56AM (10/23/2008)
That's the same license plate Tesla uses on the test Roadsters! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq3Rbc1gHUs
carguy 3:58PM (10/22/2008)
it's "smart" not "Smart". It really does matter or the company wouldn't have a trademark with a lower-case s.
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Mike Silva 7:31PM (10/22/2008)
Actually my dream car would be an electric version of the smart Roadster.
I'm sure it would sell like the Google phone now.
I'd like to see a petition to Daimler start producing the smart Roadster EV
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David Ochser 9:35AM (10/23/2008)
I was by Tesla's showroom last evening and I did not see a smart car anywhere.
They had 3 or 4 Roadsters on the showroon floor and 3 were already sold with a sign on them but 1 was still available.
There were also a couple of prototypes on the floor as well...
Very Cool.
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Mario Azevedo 4:10PM (2/12/2009)
I am a subscriber to the Tesla Motors newsletter and just received confirmation that they are working with Daimler on the development of the electric Smart. They will produce a first test run of 1,000 units and upon selling those will put the car into regular production. I can't wait for the tests...
Reply