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"   MORE BRAND-NEW ALT-FUEL REPORTING TODAY! \u2022 REALITY CHECK: Experts See Challenges for Mainstream Plug-ins  \u2022 PARIS MOTOR SHOW: Honda Insight Hybrid Matches Prius Price &amp;amp;amp; MPGs  \u2022 DRIVE GREEN: On Rural Farms, Saving Cash &amp;amp;amp; Gas With Poop Power   \u2022 FROM JALOPNIK: More Live Reveals of New Cars at the Paris Auto Show!    PARIS \u2014 While it may be a bit early to plunk down a deposit, expect to see Smart brings its new fortwo ED to the United States, possibly as soon as late 2009. With a hybrid-electric Mercedes also up his sleeve, Daimler&amp;#039;s chief confirmed to PM that the electrified Smart car was headed across the pond\u2014and that it&amp;#039;s just a matter of time.   The ED, short for electric drive, is Smart&amp;#039;s new battery car, which can deliver up to 150 miles on an overnight charge of its lithium-ion battery pack. It joins an expanding line-up of high-mileage powertrains offered by the Mercedes-Benz sibling division, an assortment that also includes diesel and the new Micro Hybrid Drive, or MHD system\u2014all of which PM recently test drove here across the pond after the fortwo&amp;#039;s decidedly slow start.   &amp;quot;Electrifying cars is one option for safer, sustainable mobility,&amp;quot; declared Thomas Weber, technology chief for parent company Daimler AG.   A small number of fortwo EDs are already being field tested in London, and the program is rapidly being expanded to other cities, including Berlin, where a network of charging stations has been set up to support what has been dubbed eMobility Berlin.   Smart expects to have 100 of the battery cars in place in Berlin in the near future, and will continue growing the eMobility project to other urban areas over the coming months. According to Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, the goal is to have 1000 of the EDs in operation around the world by the end of 2009.   Smart&amp;#039;s battery car &amp;quot;will be in the States, though the final decision [as to the timeframe] hasn&amp;#039;t been made,&amp;quot; Zetsche said in an interview with PM. &amp;quot;I consider it likely we will see some of that 100 in the U.S.&amp;quot; But if not, Zetsche added, expect to see an American version by 2012, when Smart expects to push production up to somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000.   Smart&amp;#039;s battery-powered car is just the first for Daimler&amp;#039;s brands. Mercedes is also working on electric propulsion, and used the Paris Motor Show as the backdrop for revealing its first hybrid-electric vehicle, the S400 Blue Hybrid. The system will require just 7.9 liter of fuel per 100 kilometers, in European lingo, the equivalent of almost 30 miles per gallon for a big Mercedes S-Class sedan.   The new technology, which emerged from a joint venture between Daimler, Chrysler, General Motors and BMW, is &amp;quot;a modular system,&amp;quot; explained Zetsche, &amp;quot;so we can use it hybridize all our vehicles rapidly.&amp;quot;   Mercedes&amp;#039; interest in what industry insiders now like to call &amp;quot;electrification&amp;quot; should come as no surprise. The industry, as a whole, is facing some daunting new standards that will sharply reduce both emissions and fuel consumption. For a brand like Mercedes, it will be extraordinarily difficult, for example, to meet the new U.S. 35 mpg Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard, and the new European CO2 rules could prove even tougher. In some instances, the carmaker will be able to offset its bigger gas guzzling Benzes with 0-emission, ultra-high-mileage Smart cars, such as the fortwo ED.   Of course, Smart and Benz aren&amp;#039;t alone, as anyone visiting the this year&amp;#039;s Paris Motor Show quickly recognizes. Virtually every major automaker has some form of &amp;quot;electrified&amp;quot; vehicle on display, from the tiny Nissan Nuvu to the Active Hybrid version of BMW&amp;#039;s big 750 sedan. But unlike years past, where such models were largely in Paris for show, the 2009 event finds virtually everyone getting ready to charge into the world of electric power. \u2014Paul Eisenstein   RELATED STORIES \u2022 TEST DRIVE: Smart&amp;#039;s EV, Diesel and Micro Hybrid on the Road!  \u2022 TEST DRIVE: 2008 Smart Fortwo Is Slow but Solid American Start  \u2022 PARIS MOTOR SHOW: More Live First Looks From Europe&amp;#039;s Car Party  \u2022 COMPLETE COVERAGE: Breaking Alt-Fuel News, Videos &amp;amp;amp; More   Smart ED Smart ED Smart ED "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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