Mercedes-Benz has run out of batteries for the electric Smart ED3
Mercedes-Benz has run out of battery stocks for the electric Smart 451 series (Smart ED3) produced from 2012 to 2015. Instead, the company is now offering a "repair solution" through a third-party partner.
Here's What We Know
The ED3 was Smart's first mass-produced electric car available to the general public and one of the first mass-produced electric cars in Europe. In total, around 16,000 of these cars were assembled in France. Initially, Mercedes had no problem replacing defective batteries under warranty or as part of a battery rental programme, but new or remanufactured units are now not available.
Since 2019, replacements have used modules assembled from so-called "mixed cells" - working cells removed from batteries with damaged sections. Now they have run out of them as well.
The company did not confirm the complete lack of batteries, but said it had developed a repair option with an external service, presumably through the Bosch network. Some independent workshops, such as the EV Clinic in Berlin, can also repair batteries - replacing three damaged cells there cost the owner 900 euros and increased capacity from 75 to 95 per cent.
A drop in capacity in ED3s is often caused by the failure of the 12-volt battery, which leads to a deep discharge of the high-voltage block and cell damage. Cells for the ED3 were manufactured in Germany at the Li-Tec plant (a joint venture between Evonik and Daimler), but following a full buyout by Daimler in 2014, production was discontinued at the end of 2015.
Source: Electrive
