Ditching internal combustion may be the best thing that ever happened to the Smart – could any other cars benefit?

What will the Goodwood Festival of Speed be like in 25 years’ time? Just as noisy and thick with the smell of tyre smoke and exhaust fumes I’d hope. And populated by our generation, misty-eyed at displays of the machinery of our youth being given a run out. Much as our parents may enjoy visits to volunteer branch lines to relive the glory days of steam or gaze in wonder at Spitfires looping the loop at air shows.

I’d expect there to be rather fewer internal combustion powered cars in the queues for the car parks though. A thought that struck me as I watched a Formula E car whistle past me at the Festival at the weekend. It was fast. But up against the mightiest examples of petrol-powered excess, an electric car was always going to suffer on the excitement stakes. An opinion perhaps not shared by the driver of the Rimac that very nearly ‘did a Hammond’ in front of the hospitality pavilions. But even that raised little more than a curious shrug from onlookers against the thunder of Jochen Mass power sliding a Mercedes W125 or the sound of the sky being ripped apart by an 8.4-litre McLaren M8F.

Will I be so nostalgic about the car I drive to the event though? Not sure. Accepted wisdom has it that electric cars are interesting. They can be fast – ludicrously so in the case of Tesla. But can they ever be better than their internal combustion equivalents? Does, for instance, the idea of an electric Porsche 911 fill you with hope? Or fear?

Read more: PistonHeads

When Mercedes first started this sub-brand, even it can’t have fully envisaged just how relevant a Smart car with an electric drivetrain would be in 2017

While the first-generation Fortwo Cabriolet Electric Drive was good, it had its limitations. Those limits have been pushed back by this new model.

When you hop in, and it’s easy to do, you realise that the new car is larger, in fact a whole 110mm wider, which makes it feel far more grown-up. There’s more stowage, a smarter dashboard and a useful 7in touchscreen controlling the integrated TomTom. It feels like just the place to go from one side of the city in some style.

The new electric motor is similar to the one in the Renault Zoe, and makes 81bhp and a relatively substantial 118lb ft of torque. That’s up on the first model, and it has a new battery pack that sits low under the seat for a great centre of gravity. That also allows another 10 miles of range, giving you a claimed range of 96 miles.

This is a city car, so you’ll need to be in a situation where you can recharge it easily, but Smart reckons a 2.5 hour charge using fast-charge software will give you a full battery ready to go again.

So this isn’t a car you’re going to want to use for pounding down the motorways, but in city streets you’d rather be in this than say a BMW 5 Series. Horses for courses, depending on your lifestyle. If you do need to spend time in congested, narrow streets, then the Fortwo Cabriolet ED is just the mode of transport.

Read more: The Independent

This is the 260th episode of Fully Charged and just possibly, the very first proper, informative and clear car review. This is very much down to the talent and experience of Jonny Smith, his first time on the series (but definitely not the last).

After watching this, I know I have to up my game, I’m so thrilled Jonny could do this show with us and I’m really intrigued to hear your reaction.

Thank you Smart for flying Jonny and Mark out to Toulouse and organising the cars.