New Smart #5 electric SUV: rugged looks, huge 100kW battery and 2025 launch date

Next year’s arrival of the bulky Smart #5 electric SUV will be a “milestone” for the brand, according to European boss Dirk Adelmann.

“We have reinvented ourselves a couple of times, most recently in 2019 when Smart went all-electric, and now with the #5 we are going into a segment that we have never dared to touch,” he told Auto Express. He revealed Smart had plans to enter the mid-sized SUV market under previous ownership, but it never came to fruition. 

“It’s unexpected, it’s unconventional, the design language that we use with the #5, but it’s still Smart,” Adelmann continued. “And for me, the cool thing to see is that you can give Smart a form, shape and size that are unexpected, but people still see the family, still see the heritage, still see where we come from.”

“The boxy shape gives confidence to customers that this is something robust if they go out of the city,” added Smart designer Mo Aminiyekta, team manager at Mercedes Vans and Smart. “ForTwo was designed purposely as a car in the urban environment, but this one is designed if you want to have fresh air, leave the city and visit nature.”

Aminiyekta said the #5 is deliberately not just an enlarged version of the smaller and more rounded #1 and #3 models. “Nowadays when you look at cars, a lot of companies have a template and apply it in different segments, but at Smart we don’t do that; we want to establish individual identities for our cars,” he said. “There are enough streamlined SUVs out there; there’s not the need for another one.”

The #5 will come with a huge 100kW battery, as well as 800V fast-charging capability. This means the brand is pledging a 10-80 per cent charge in 15 minutes, which would add around 200 miles of range. 

Although European homologation is ongoing, tests have shown the car will charge at speeds of 250-300kW, which only a small number of chargers in the UK would be able to supply. Figures in China have the smaller of the two battery options giving a 354-mile range, while the larger offers 460 miles, although European tests may see lower results before the car hits the road in the first half of 2025. 

European CEO Adelmann said that 800V charging is key to reducing buyers’ range anxiety. “If you have a decent battery, 100 kilowatt-plus in that segment, and a super-fast charging capability, your range anxiety is next to zero,” he said. “I’m not a big fan of making even bigger batteries; I’d rather say after 500 kilometres, take a few minutes and recharge from 10 to 80 per cent, so you don’t need to waste too many resources into even bigger batteries. 

“And obviously, the battery adds a lot of weight, so then the efficiency goes down. I’m a big fan of enhancing the fast-charging capabilities instead, which you might need maybe twice a month for when you are travelling longer distances.”