There can be no car on sale today that looks better suited to the propulsion systems of tomorrow than smart's fortwo. Unlike most other electric cars, the utility of the smart fortwo electric drive is completely uncompromised by the need to package a battery pack and an electric motor, because it was designed for this development in the first place.

The visual differences between this second generation version and the internal combustion models are admirably slight. Most obvious is the bright metallic green paint of the electric fortwo's tridion safety cell structure, its similarly hued wheels and a modest ‘electric drive' script on the boot lid. The recharging socket hides under the fuel filler flap of the standard car.

Climb inside, and you might notice a gauge in one of the instrument pods marked ‘battery AMP' and another revealing the remaining charge in the battery, but if you overlook these you certainly won't miss the experience of twisting the ignition key and hearing precisely... nothing. Once you're over this surprise, you simply engage ‘D' via the usual transmission selector, sink the accelerator pedal and you're off, nice and smartly. Electric motors can deliver all their torque, or pulling power, instantaneously, maintaining a momentum brisk enough to make city driving fun.

The electric smart needs just 5.8 seconds to reach 30mph, and it's limited to a 62mph maximum - more than enough for urban hops. Driving it is supremely easy, too. There is only one forward gear, allowing the car to advance in an unbroken stream of acceleration that leaves you with little else to do other than steer and brake. Electricity is generated whenever you press the brake pedal and at a more modest level, when you release the accelerator too.

This latest electric smart has a range of 84 miles, a useful improvement on the 62 miles that the original version was capable of. That doesn't sound much, but studies of city traffic indicate an average daily journey length of between 19 and 25 miles, well within the range of this car. The improvement is down to new battery technology, more efficient lithium-ion batteries replacing the sodium-nickel-chloride of the last. Their greater capacity allows the electric motor to deliver more power, a boosted 40hp available for two minute bursts. A full recharge requires eight hours, the idea being that the fortwo electric drive's battery is reinvigorated overnight. Given its likely usage and the probability that it will have covered considerably less than its 84 mile potential each day, this arrangement is less inconvenient than it might sound, as UK users of the original electric smart trial cars found.

A full reduced-tariff overnight recharge costs well under £2 and this, combined with an equivalent fuel consumption of around 265mpg, makes the fortwo electric drive incredibly cheap to run. Some 1,000 smarts are now being manufactured for trials across eight countries, including the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the US and Canada, as a prelude to the fortwo electric drive going on general sale in 2012. The trial cars are to be run by individuals and organisations that applied for the opportunity last year, mainly to gain experience of the car's use in a domestic context. But it will not be long before this ground-breaking, zero-emission city car is available to a much wider public in 2012.

For more information on the smart electric drive, click here.