Regular Town Crier readers may remember that I waxed eloquently about the divide between how most of us actually drive and the capability we want our vehicles to possess “just in case” in my review of the 2023 Mini Cooper SE (“On The Road,” December 2022).
I don’t appear to have swayed American motorists, … um, … how do you say, “en masse” in Italian?
Now comes a car nine inches shorter and two inches narrower with 39 more miles of range per charge than the electric Mini (149 vs. 110).
I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Italy earlier this year, and the Fiat 500e is everywhere. It’s also been on sale there for four years. But Fiats are Italian; the small streets demand small cars and gasoline there is $8.29 a gallon. Oh, and there’s a comprehensive rail network, including high-speed trains that can go 248 miles per hour at low fares (even fewer Euros are required to ride the ones that only go 60 mph), so road-tripping isn’t quite the thing it is here.
Can the 500e, … um, … “translate” here?
Our test vehicle is the 2024 Fiat 500e (RED) – a partnership to raise awareness for the fight against global health emergencies and support the Global Fund.
The 500e is as simple as electric vehicles get. One motor produces 117 horsepower and a 42 kWh battery. Range per charge of 100% – 149 miles. And it can charge either on 110-volt household current, 240 volts, as is found in most dedicated home chargers, or on DC fast chargers at up to 85kw (so, good news – you don’t have to go searching for the 350kW chargers – a good old 100kW unit will do).
Let’s talk real-world.
For battery life, you should avoid charging to 100% all the time. The experts recommend 80%. That means your range is then 80% of the EPA estimate – in this case, 119 miles.
You also don’t want to run out of charge. You need to leave a margin in case your planned charging stop isn’t available or practical. 20% is my bare minimum. Which reduces the effective range between taking the car off the charger and putting it back on again to 95 miles.It’s 105 miles from Los Altos to Santa Rosa. It’s 106 to Big Sur. Either of those is going to require a stop to charge.
Those are just the realities of the car itself. If your daily driving is less than that, or you have charging capability at home, work, or both, the 500e could be a great little commuter car for you.
Now, let’s talk about charging infrastructure.
Most (but not all) EV owners have 240-volt chargers. This, of course, excludes people who live in multi-unit dwellings that don’t have chargers. I live in a single-family home, don’t own an EV, and don’t drive enough of them (yet) as an automotive journalist to justify installing one at home, so I use the public chargers. Fiat suggests the 500e can charge from 20% to 80% in 35 minutes on a DC fast charger (again, the vehicle limits the peak charging speed to 85kw).
I drove the 500e right down to the 20% mark and pulled into an Electrify America charging station with six chargers.
One was working. There was a long line for it. This could be hours. So I went to an EVgo 50kw unit near my house, eating another 4% on the way, … plugged in, used my app, and got a “connecting” message repeatedly with no actual connection. There are other chargers in the general area, but by this point, I was at 17%, and if there was an issue at those, I could run out of charge.
So, I just headed home to plug it into the 110V from my garage with the standard home charging cord – with an 80% charge expected in 19 hours.
Too bad it’ll be parked for so long. It’s great fun to drive. No, it’s not terribly quick, but it’s not slow (zero to 60 is under eight seconds) and that small footprint makes for a feeling that you’re going faster than you are. Turns are tight, the steering is quick and the accommodations are nice.
Rear cargo? Eight cubic feet behind the rear seats. Fold those down and it’s a flat load floor capable of handling 101 cubic feet.
Rear seat legroom is skimpy – 29.5 inches.
The Fiat 500e (RED) is the lowest-priced of the three 500e models currently available, with a base price of $34,095 (including destination). Standard at that price: 17-inch aluminum multi-spoke wheels, cloth bucket seats with red accents, a 10.25-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
One more thing to like about the Fiat 500e (RED). It’s a one-price deal. No extra-cost packages, stand-alone options or colors. So the window sticker ends where it begins – at $34,095.
The Fiat 500e is a charmer. American city dwellers who fly long distances actually need a car like this. And there are millions of suburban households for whom this would make a lot more sense as a second commuter or errand car than what they’re driving now.
Mike Hagerty, past vice president of membership for Western Automotive Journalists (waj.org), has been writing about cars since 1997. Read more of his reviews at MikeHagertyCars.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter (X.com/mikehagertycars).
