sustainable style foundation*

Following up on our earlier post about smart car's coming to the US comes the news that the DaimlerChrysler-owned diminuitive cars will soon come in an all-electric version. DaimlerChrysler showed a prototype of a smart fortwo (their two-seater) electric vehicle (ev) in 2005. The prototype smart fortwo ev featured electricity consumption of 12 kWh per 100 kilometers, giving the car a range of about 60 miles per eight-hour charge. The real deal will appear next week at London's British International Motor Show, and we think they might be a big hit with those in the UK; with London's congestion charge, high price of gas, parking incentives that some councils give for electric cars and the government's road tax exemption all mean London is at the forefront of the electric car boom. The caveat: DaimlerChrysler reportedly will only offer the smart ev for leasing at about £375 (US$690) per month, mainly to large companies wanting to use them as pool cars. They're cool enough that we hope they ev's can swim and that we'll see them soon in the States. [Guardian] via [Green Car Congress]