The launch of the smart #1 finally happened this week after a long gestation period that started way back in early 2022, when Proton signed a memorandum with smart to be the EV brand’s distributor in Malaysia and Thailand. The first media preview happened in July before the #1’s public debut at EVx in the same month. After that, the Brabus version was previewed in October.
But the smart #1 is now in showrooms, and you can take one home from RM189,000 for the Pro single-motor. The Premium single-motor goes for RM219,000, while high-performance Brabus dual-motor range-topper goes for a reasonable RM249,000. You’re getting a lot of EV for your money, as Hafriz Shah points out in the video below.
Here’s the gist of it. The new smart is an EV-only brand owned by Geely and Mercedes-Benz. The smart #1 sits on Geely’s Sustainable Electric Architecture (SEA) but the design was done by Mercedes-Benz, which is pretty obvious actually.
The #1 is powered by a single rear motor with 272 PS (200 kW) and 343 Nm of torque going to the rear wheels. That’s good for a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 6.7 seconds. Top speed is capped at 180 km/h. The high-performance #1 Brabus adds on a front motor to make it AWD, 428 PS (315 kW), 543 Nm and 3.9 seconds in the benchmark sprint.
The #1’s battery is a 66-kWh lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) unit providing 440 km of WLTP-rated range (Brabus 400 km). The maximum charge rate is 150 kW DC, which means that if paired to a compatible fast charger, the #1’s battery can go from 10-80% state of charge (SoC) in 30 minutes.
That’s decent, but it’s in daily AC charging that the #1 stands out – with 22 kW AC (most rivals max out at 11 kW), going from 10-80% SoC takes just three hours. This gives added flexibility to the owner – imagine having a long lunch and your EV is fully charged, without paying DC rates. There are many other unique things in #1, such as a thumping Beats sound system, an elaborate song and light show, and even a fox ‘living’ in the touchscreen.
Watch the video tour of the smart #1 above and tell us what you think of this funky EV. Full details here.
GALLERY: 2024 smart #1 Premium
GALLERY: 2024 smart #1 official images
The post 2024 smart #1 in Malaysia – walk-around video tour of EV, up to 440 km range, 428 PS Brabus, from RM189k appeared first on Paul Tan’s Automotive News.
