Tending to produce current clever item too freely (13)
I believe the answer is:
electromotive
'tending to produce current' is the definition.
(producing electric current)
'clever item too freely' is the wordplay.
'freely' indicates anagramming the letters.
'clever'+'item'+'too'='cleveritemtoo'
'cleveritemtoo' is an anagram of 'ELECTROMOTIVE'.
(Other definitions for electromotive that I've seen before include "Like current producer" , "Producing current" .)