In recent years, electric vehicles have garnered significant attention due to their environmental and economic advantages compared to conventional vehicles, including reduced emissions and lower fuel costs. This study proposes an optimal fractional-order PID (FOPID) controller to regulate electric vehicle (EV) speed. The FOPID controller is advantageous due to its ability for stabilizing the system, managing parameter variations, and mitigating potential disturbances. The tuning of this controller's gains is achieved through an intelligent Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm. The selection of the gain values is strategically based on minimizing error, thereby ensuring a robust system response without overshoot or undershoots. The performance of the proposed controller is analyzed and compared to a classical PID controller for demonstrating its superior performance. Simulation results illustrate the efficiency of the proposed controller, which exhibits no fluctuation or oscillation in its response (zero overshoot) and fast settling and rise times of 0.0476 and 0.0297, respectively. By using the optimal gains determined by the smart ACO, the proposed controller achieves a satisfactory and robust system response in controlling EV speed.