SMART #1

Life with the first car from the reborn Smart brand has been a bit hit and miss so far

- Dawn Grant

IT'S been a while since I've run a fully electric car and I still have no way of charging at home, so with the arrival of the Smart #1, I'm back to relying on the public charging network. However, I have a lot less fear than before, thanks to the increased number of chargepoints near where I live.

To be honest, when I heard I would be running the Smart, I had very little idea what to expect. The #1 is a fresh start for the brand, and while its new all-electric range of cars still has some input from Mercedes, the platform and mechanics are provided by the Chinese company Geely. It's the same platform that's used by the Volvo EX30.

This leaves Mercedes to provide all the bits you can see, and Smart certainly hasn't played safe. The car has some real Marmite elements both inside and out that divide opinion or at least they do in my house. I haven't made my mind up about the exterior; from some angles it looks good, but I'm not convinced about the front view. Maybe it will grow on me, but my husband likes it more.