Smart #2 Specs Revealed: Lightweight Two-Seat EV Bets on Less

A tiny EV with a big statement: what the Smart #2 is

The Smart #2 is a compact city EV designed as a two-seat electric car with a 2,751 mm length, 1,130 kg kerb weight, and an estimated 300 km WLTP range, targeting short urban trips rather than long-distance driving.

This car matters because it pushes against the EV bloat trend. While many electric models grow longer, heavier and more powerful, the Smart #2 doubles down on minimalism: two seats, a tiny footprint, modest power, and a clear focus on city use. Smart has already previewed the car in murals ahead of its full debut at the Paris Motor Show on October 12, but certification filings with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have now confirmed the design and key Smart #2 specifications. In other words, this is not a vague concept; it is a homologated product aimed squarely at people who want the simplest possible way to electrify their daily commutes.

Dimensions, weight and range: a compact city EV that stays small

Smart’s decision to keep the #2 tiny is deliberate. Initial filings show the car measures 2,751–2,764 mm long depending on bumper variants, 1,669 mm wide and 1,555 mm tall, riding on a 1,875 mm wheelbase. That makes it around 60 mm longer than the third-generation ForTwo but almost identical in other dimensions, reinforcing its role as a spiritual successor rather than a clean break. At 1,130 kg, it is described as “uncommonly light for an EV” and comes in about 40 kg under the electric ForTwo EQ despite carrying “just a bit more than double the battery capacity”.

Under the floor sits a 35.7 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery from CATL, targeted to deliver a WLTP-rated range of around 300 km. That figure plants the #2 firmly in the 300 km range EV bracket—enough for repeated city loops, not cross-country runs. Smart claims DC fast charging from 10 to 80% in under 20 minutes, and a turning circle of 6.95 metres curb-to-curb, again underlining the emphasis on dense urban environments rather than intercity cruising.

Design and engineering: modern style, familiar mission

Styling-wise, the Smart #2 looks like a modern riff on the ForTwo idea rather than a nostalgia piece. It has fluid surfaces, a contrasting “baseball cap” floating roof and teardrop-shaped headlights framing a protruding “forehead” above a large body-coloured grille with perforated openings. Mercedes-Benz handled the design as part of its joint venture with Geely, previewing the look with the Concept #2 shown in Beijing in April. Regulatory photos also reveal frameless windows and conventional pull-type door handles instead of flush units, plus simple round taillights and a tailgate with a separate, liftable rear window.

Underneath, the #2 rides on a bespoke Electric Compact Architecture developed for tiny city cars and uses a redeveloped tridion cell for improved crash safety. Power comes from a 60 kW motor, with filings listing a top speed of 140 km/h—enough for ring roads, but clearly tuned for urban and suburban duty rather than autobahn bragging rights. Wheel options range from 15-inch steel rims with hubcaps to 16-inch alloys with aero fairings, while optional bodykits, color-coded roofs and even a grille insert echoing the Concept #2’s bag-inspired design underline how much of the personality will be defined by spec choices rather than raw performance.

A return to the two-seat runabout in EV form

Smart openly bills the #2 as the reborn two-seater electric city car and the successor to the seminal ForTwo, bringing the two-seat runabout formula into the EV era instead of chasing mainstream crossover volumes. “When it goes on sale, the #2 will be the smallest car developed by the brand since Geely took a 50 per cent stake in 2020,” one filing-based report notes, underlining how much the brand had drifted toward larger models before this course correction. Crucially, the compact city EV sits on a platform specifically developed for tiny cars rather than being a shortened version of a larger architecture, which should help maintain proportions and manoeuvrability.

The interior has not been fully revealed, but Smart says the #2 will feature an S-shaped dashboard reminiscent of the original ForTwo and a bench seat with integrated storage and centrally mounted window controls. That detail matters: it signals that practicality, clever packaging and a sense of fun still sit at the core of the concept. The leaked specifications therefore describe more than a nostalgia play—they mark a deliberate decision to keep the two-seat electric car alive as a focused tool for cities, even as the rest of the EV industry chases bigger batteries, higher outputs and bulkier bodies.

Why the Smart #2’s timing and positioning matter

The way the Smart #2 has surfaced says as much about the car as its hardware. Smart had already painted murals of the new model ahead of its Paris Motor Show debut on October 12, but certification filings with China’s MIIT ultimately revealed its design and core Smart #2 specifications before the official launch. That sequence underlines how regulatory processes now leak many EVs before their public reveals—and how automakers try to control the narrative with art campaigns and concept previews. We already know it will be built on the Electric Compact Architecture, engineered by a Chinese partner and designed by Mercedes-Benz, before full details emerge at Paris.

From a market perspective, the Smart #2 is significant because it returns the brand to the small-car roots that once defined it, after a run of models over 4.2 m long and even a sedan comparable in size to a mid-size saloon. The #2 is the first sign that Smart’s Geely-era portfolio is not condemned to grow ever larger. Instead, it signals a renewed willingness to build a lightweight electric vehicle with a narrow mission: a short-range, two-seat city EV that treats size and mass as problems to solve rather than bragging points. We will find out how convincingly it plays that role when the full reveal takes place at the Paris Motor Show.