A German automotive tuning company Brabus launched their second electric car, this time created from a Smart Fortwo and at this year's Auto Show in Geneva, smart brand and BRABUS celebrated the world debut of an electric Smart Fortwo Brabus, powered by state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries. Telling the world when being environmentally friendly you don't have to ride a bike! The Smart Fortwo ED electric drive brings in a zenn era (zero emission and no noise) driving with lithium-ion battery-driven vehicles and will have a very small series production of the Smart Fortwo electric drive for 2009 in Europe and 2010 for the U.S.A. While the Smart Brabus ED may be an electric car that runs silently, Smart engineers have fitted a sound generator in the car that imitates the sound of a souped up sports car engine whenever you floor the car, giving you the impression that your driving much faster.

The Electric Drive Smart Brabus is still a concept car and won't be launch till the consumer version of the standard Smart ED, in 2011?

BRABUS High Voltage

It turns out no one is exempt from addressing the 'Green' issue. BRABUS, together with their new Mighty E V12, unveiled their BRABUS High Voltage, a Smart ForTwo with Tesla-developed 83hp electric motor.

It's only got a range of 60 miles, but can go 0-62mph in just 3.7 seconds.

The very special Fortwo Brabus comes with a metallic "melon green" paint job, exclusive supple leather in matt green and Monoblock light-alloy wheels. The Fortwo Brabus's instrument panel is accented in beautiful brown leather and matt silver parts round off its cockpit.

This Smart Fortwo Brabus edition is available in either the cabriolet or coupe. Additional features are a soft-touch automatic gear program, air conditioning, power windows and loads of other goodies.

A previous version of a Smart ED, celebrated its world premiere in 2006. The electric drive EV Fortwo was tested in several urban areas in Europe.

In 2007 smart, GmbH leased 100 electric first generation Smart EVs in (London) a pilot project used to gain real-world experience with electric drive.

Customers who leased these cars had very positive reviews for this zero emission no noise Smart. These pilot projects Smart ED's were equipped with Zebra Sodium Nickel Chloride batteries.

The Smart fortwo EV had a top speed of 75 mph and a range of 70 miles. Acceleration was very good with a time of 0-30 mph in 6.5 seconds. This was a quicker time than a gasoline-powered Fortwo. A re-charge can be achieved in 2-4 hours and a complete recharge took 8 hours.

However, the special edition Smart Fortwo Brabus is powered by state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries and is in fact the world debut for a second generation Smart Fortwo available with Lithium Ion batteries.

These Lithium-ion batterers have several benefits over Sodium Nickel Chloride batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries are exceptionally compact, offer superior performance, a longer life cycle, more dependability and offer faster charging times.

The Smart Fortwo is represented on five continents and in 41 countries worldwide. While last years' sales improved to a record 134,700 of these smart and clever cars.

This is an increase of 39% from the previous year and in the USA sales top out at 24,600 units, making America the third leading market for the Smart.

Smart has many new and planet friendly ideas on the drawing boards.

BRABUS REVEALS 230MPH E V12, TESLA-POWERED FORTWO

800hp, 230mph saloon shown alongside steroidal electric city car

You can always rely on the fine people at Brabus to come up with something genuinely insane, and the Bottrop-based tuners have once again delivered. This is the Brabus E V12 'One of Ten' and it is without question the most mental saloon ever - and that's from a car maker known for its mad metal.

The latest E V12 extracts a genuinely terrifying 800hp from its 6.3-litre twin-turbo V12 power plant, enough to push the W212 E-class to a top speed of 231mph. It'll get you there quickly, too - 0-62mph is dealt with in 3.2secs, while 186mph can be reached in 23.9 seconds from a standstill.

The matt-black E V12 looks magnificently aggressive as well. The outrageous carbon fibre rear wheels covers - Brabus describes them as 'aero spats' - help to reduce drag at seriously high speeds, while the carbon fibre rear wing keeps the rear planted.

For people with less-than-regular access to empty autobahns, Brabus will also do you a gentler version with 'just' 750hp and minus the spats and rear wing. That will limit you to a top speed of 219mph, however...

All that speed doesn't come cheap - to get your hands on one of the 10 Brabus E V12s you'll have to shell out £440k (498k euros) before taxes.

Even Brabus can't ignore the 'green' issue, however. Revealed alongside the Mighty E V12 was the Brabus High Voltage, a Smart ForTwo with Tesla-developed 83hp electric motor. It's only got a range of 60 miles, but it does have 206lb ft available from zero rpm, and will do 0-62mph in 3.7sec. Enough for a 'quick' trip to the shops, we should think.

Source: PistonHeads.com® Speed Matters® Author: Riggers