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Some of these are in the Owners Manual, some are not
1) When you first start your electric Smart and drive off, you will hear 5 or 6 tapping noises. That is normal, it is the ABS doing a self check. The gas ones do it as well, but they are so noisy that no one notices
2) If you really press HARD on the accelerator pedal, you will feel it 'click' and WOW, you are in hyperspace mode. Watch your Power Meter when you do this, it uses 100% available battery power and you are limited to 2 minutes of use, which is way more than normally needed. It is a bit of a rush...
3) When you take your foot off the accelerator pedal, the car does not coast like a gas car, it slows down a lot, because you are generating battery power and putting 'juice' back in the battery instead of taking it out. Watch your Power Meter.
4) If you LIGHTLY press on the brake pedal, the car gets even more regeneration power put back in the battery pack and the car slows down even faster, even though the brake pads have not engaged. This is the same regen mode that folks whose ED have the steering wheel paddles get by going to D+. Again, watch your power meter and you will see how much charge you are giving to the battery; it will peg to the 9:00 position at full regen.
Press a little harder and then you will actually be using the brakes, which you rarely need. Regen power is why you will get better mileage in stop-and-go traffic than on the freeway.
5) You CAN coast in your ED, just adjust your accelerator pedal pressure and watch the Power Meter. When the needle is straight up on "0", you are coasting. Not using power, not regenerating power, just coasting.
Yes, that is different than a gas-powered car. Your car is special, get used to it, that's what electric vehicles do.
6) There are several modes of information available to you on the dash, you can access them by giving the "ring" on the right-side wiper stalk 1/4 twists. Play with it and you will get the hang of it.
7) Your yellow charging cord has two modes, slow and fast, and always defaults to slow. You will have two lights blinking on it, and be drawing 8 amps. It will take you a long time to do a full charge in that mode. If you have a dedicated 110v circuit or are not blowing any breakers or fuses, you can push the big button on the charger box and you will get 4 lights blinking. Now you are drawing 12 amps and charging a lot faster.
8) Your ED's speedo is probably inaccurate. When it says you are going 60mph, it could be anywhere from 2 to 6 miles high, and they all are optimistic like that. Variations of 10% are legal and somewhat normal with several car manufacturers, nothing you can do about that but compensate for it. Your odometer IS accurate, not to worry about that.
9) You may have a drip or two of a honey-colored oily liquid coming off the bottom of the differential (silverish-metal thingy that you can see from the rear of the car, behind the rear bumper). That is NOT normal, you need to see the dealership for the free fix. You have an axle shaft seal leak, which is fairly common, but needs to be handled.
10) Our cars make a whirring noise up to 43mph, generated by a speaker near the right headlight. That is an intentional pedestrian warning, since our cars are so quiet that people don't hear them coming up behind in a parking lot. It is a safety item and may save your dog or cat or kids life someday.
11) Your tires should be inflated to the pressure that is displayed on a placard in your drivers door jamb. Check the pressure first thing in the morning before driving, not when the tire is warm. Ignore the "max psi" rating on the tire itself, that number has nothing to do with your car.
12) Using the heater in your car sucks away between 5 and 10% of your range, depending how much you have it on. Just watch your Miles Remaining readout on the dash when you turn on the heater and you will see an instant drop in range.
13) Every time you turn your ED off, you will see that it says "CHARGE NOW" on the dash. That does not mean you need to charge it right now, it means the charger is set to charge as soon as you plug it in, as opposed to "charge later". Read the manual if unclear...
14) Check with your electric company and see if you qualify for a Time of Use (TOU) plan as opposed to the normal Tiered electric plan. It may save you money on your electricity bill, if there are no people at home during the day using a lot of power.
15) Your rear wiper automatically comes on if your regular wipers are on and you put your car in reverse. How cool is that?
Other folks can probably think of some more commonly asked questions or important things you should know, but that's all for me, for now at least. Just don't forget number 16
16) Plug in, charge up, and enjoy!
1) When you first start your electric Smart and drive off, you will hear 5 or 6 tapping noises. That is normal, it is the ABS doing a self check. The gas ones do it as well, but they are so noisy that no one notices
2) If you really press HARD on the accelerator pedal, you will feel it 'click' and WOW, you are in hyperspace mode. Watch your Power Meter when you do this, it uses 100% available battery power and you are limited to 2 minutes of use, which is way more than normally needed. It is a bit of a rush...
3) When you take your foot off the accelerator pedal, the car does not coast like a gas car, it slows down a lot, because you are generating battery power and putting 'juice' back in the battery instead of taking it out. Watch your Power Meter.
4) If you LIGHTLY press on the brake pedal, the car gets even more regeneration power put back in the battery pack and the car slows down even faster, even though the brake pads have not engaged. This is the same regen mode that folks whose ED have the steering wheel paddles get by going to D+. Again, watch your power meter and you will see how much charge you are giving to the battery; it will peg to the 9:00 position at full regen.
Press a little harder and then you will actually be using the brakes, which you rarely need. Regen power is why you will get better mileage in stop-and-go traffic than on the freeway.
5) You CAN coast in your ED, just adjust your accelerator pedal pressure and watch the Power Meter. When the needle is straight up on "0", you are coasting. Not using power, not regenerating power, just coasting.
Yes, that is different than a gas-powered car. Your car is special, get used to it, that's what electric vehicles do.
6) There are several modes of information available to you on the dash, you can access them by giving the "ring" on the right-side wiper stalk 1/4 twists. Play with it and you will get the hang of it.
7) Your yellow charging cord has two modes, slow and fast, and always defaults to slow. You will have two lights blinking on it, and be drawing 8 amps. It will take you a long time to do a full charge in that mode. If you have a dedicated 110v circuit or are not blowing any breakers or fuses, you can push the big button on the charger box and you will get 4 lights blinking. Now you are drawing 12 amps and charging a lot faster.
8) Your ED's speedo is probably inaccurate. When it says you are going 60mph, it could be anywhere from 2 to 6 miles high, and they all are optimistic like that. Variations of 10% are legal and somewhat normal with several car manufacturers, nothing you can do about that but compensate for it. Your odometer IS accurate, not to worry about that.
9) You may have a drip or two of a honey-colored oily liquid coming off the bottom of the differential (silverish-metal thingy that you can see from the rear of the car, behind the rear bumper). That is NOT normal, you need to see the dealership for the free fix. You have an axle shaft seal leak, which is fairly common, but needs to be handled.
10) Our cars make a whirring noise up to 43mph, generated by a speaker near the right headlight. That is an intentional pedestrian warning, since our cars are so quiet that people don't hear them coming up behind in a parking lot. It is a safety item and may save your dog or cat or kids life someday.
11) Your tires should be inflated to the pressure that is displayed on a placard in your drivers door jamb. Check the pressure first thing in the morning before driving, not when the tire is warm. Ignore the "max psi" rating on the tire itself, that number has nothing to do with your car.
12) Using the heater in your car sucks away between 5 and 10% of your range, depending how much you have it on. Just watch your Miles Remaining readout on the dash when you turn on the heater and you will see an instant drop in range.
13) Every time you turn your ED off, you will see that it says "CHARGE NOW" on the dash. That does not mean you need to charge it right now, it means the charger is set to charge as soon as you plug it in, as opposed to "charge later". Read the manual if unclear...
14) Check with your electric company and see if you qualify for a Time of Use (TOU) plan as opposed to the normal Tiered electric plan. It may save you money on your electricity bill, if there are no people at home during the day using a lot of power.
15) Your rear wiper automatically comes on if your regular wipers are on and you put your car in reverse. How cool is that?
Other folks can probably think of some more commonly asked questions or important things you should know, but that's all for me, for now at least. Just don't forget number 16
16) Plug in, charge up, and enjoy!
