When British car manufacturing giant, Daimler Motor Company Limited, came up with their Smart Ed or Electric Drive, the overall performance of the vehicle was not up to the mark. Since then, the company has improved the performance of its 3rd generation vehicle with maximum speed of 75 miles per hour and a 0 to 60 mph sprint in under 13 seconds. While the numbers are pretty good, maybe the automaker should have taken a few lessons from designer Yabert who has created his own Smart DIY version of the Smart Ed.
Yabert, also known as Yan, is based out of Quebec, Canada, and is a genius in vehicle conversions. He’s already worked on a motorcycle conversion and recently decided to give a shot at something much bigger than his Suzuki DRZ. Meet the Smart DC, which was built using the same formula Yan applied on his bike by taking out all the fuel guzzling parts and replacing them with electrical driven components instead.
The designer used a Daimler 2005 Smart Fortwo for his DIY project. The other parts included a Netgain Impulse 9 series Wound DC motor paired with a Volkswagen transmission, 12.3 kWh Headway Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, Evnetics Soliton 1 300kW brushed DC motor controller, Elcon 1500w charger and Meanwell SP-320 DC converter.
The Smart DC, with a curb weight of 818 kilograms, has a capacity to seat 2 adults. With a driving range of 50 miles per charge and maximum speeds of 100 mph, the car can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in under 6 seconds or 8 seconds when utilizing third gear. The conversion process took about a year and Yan worked on the vehicle only during his spare time. The entire project cost $14,400.
Via: Autoblog
