Yahoo Autos The 2024 Fiat 500e Feels Like It Came Out Half a Decade Ago, Because It Did
In 2012, the world of electrified vehicles was very different. Fisker was manufacturing its well-designed but poorly received car. Aptera was struggling to sell people on its weirdly shaped electric three-wheeled vehicle. And Fiat was about to begin selling an electric version of its iconic 500.
A dozen years later all those names are still around. Fisker is still failing to win over reviewers, Aptera is still making big promises backed with minimal funding, and Fiat has an adorable little city car with a friendly face and limited range.
The original electric 500 was a compliance car, sold only in California and Oregon to satisfy the requirements for zero-emissions vehicle sales. Or rather, zero emissions vehicle "credits" based on range, size, and a few other factors. Fiat did not want to make the electrified 500. In fact, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said in 2014, "if you are considering buying a 500e I hope you don't buy it, because every time I sell one it costs me $14,000."
You could get the car for just under $32,000. For a while, you could get a lease for as low as $99 with $0 down. The car was reasonably well-reviewed and well-received, but Fiat didn't want to make it, and it didn't make any money on it.
Is this time different? Probably. The new 500e is the best-selling electric city car in Europe, and it will soon be on sale in all of the United States, instead of just two.
The old 500e was sold with a 24-kWh battery made of Prismatic Lithium Ion cells from Samsung and good for 87 miles of range. The powertrain was designed by Bosch and uses the SMG120/180, a compact permanent magnet motor making 111 horsepower. It was in a handful of other cars at the time, including the electric Smart Fortwo, and the Porsche 918.
The powertrain in the 2024 Fiat 500e is not substantially different. The motor is also a permanent magnet AC type, this time with 117 horsepower. Not very much, but with the low-end torque and the minimal vehicle weight (2952 pounds), it is enough to make the car fun to drive.
Looking under the hood you see the battery and powertrain electronics sitting atop the motor. No unnecessary plastic trim, but also no front trunk. The packaging seems inefficient, as though a small storage area would have been possible but was not chosen for cost or some other reason. The motor bay seems to have a lot of space, and if recent reports are true, it may have been a decision made to keep room for an internal combustion engine variant in the future.
The new 500e has a battery with more capacity, rated at 42 kWh with a usable 38 kWh. The stated range is about 150 miles which seems accurate based on my driving and battery use. The batteries are Lithium Ion with a Nickle Manganese Cobalt Chemistry, very similar to the original 500e.
The charging has also improved, adding much-needed DC fast charging. At 85 kW, it's nothing to brag about, but it will get you from 0 to 80 percent battery in just over half an hour.
Stellantis has stated its intention to move to the NACS charging standard, becoming the last major car company to do so. For now, however, the car gets a CCS charge port, which feels a little behind the curve.
Most of the technology on the car feels like this: not really dated, but not exactly new. It feels like a car that came out half a decade ago, because it is. It has been on sale in Europe since 2020. There are several variants overseas, including a "City Car" version that has a battery half the size. The larger battery has twice as many cells and is essentially two of the smaller batteries running in parallel. The larger battery, the one we get in the U.S., is called the "long-range" battery in the U.K. And I suppose it is if you live on an island half the size of California. In the U.S., this is marketed as a city car, and that is where it will sell. Fiat is specifically targeting buyers living in cities, and buyers looking for a second car in the household. It also seems to be targeting buyers who are looking for a car that makes a statement.
The car has a lot of style, a lot of marketing, and a lot of features that are aimed at people who might be less concerned about the technology under the hood. Fiat plans to sell the car in "drops" with different trim levels and styling available for a limited time. In some ways, the 500e has more in common with shoes than other cars. It has easter eggs all over, and it won't let you forget that you are driving a fashionable car from Italy. The Acoustic Vehicle Alert System (AVAS), required on EVs for driving at slow speeds, "sings” to pedestrians with a song titled, “The Sound of 500” when you exceed 20 miles per hour. There is no setting to turn it off.
Fiat has stated that the 500e is a way for the brand to explore the U.S. market. To see what sells and what works. If it does well we could see the larger Fiat 600 this side of the pond. And that, frankly, would be a better car for the U.S. market.
The new Fiat 500e is not a technological leap. The battery is very similar to the one from 12 years ago, the motor is the same type. The rear brakes are drums. It is better than the last one: it is cheaper, lighter, with more power and more range. But the electric vehicle world has moved a lot in that time, and it might not be the best car to buy if you are looking at it strictly by the numbers. But nobody is going to buy this car for the numbers. They are going to buy it because of its style, its uniqueness, how it makes them feel, and perhaps because of what it tells people about them. And for that, it is a perfectly fine car.
Just don't expect to put adults in the back seat.
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