The first official images of the Fiat 500e electric vehicle have come up on the forums, news websites and social media. The car is expected to be unveiled anytime now and reports say that the vehicle will be priced in the region of 30-32k Euros (Rs 24.4 lakh – 26 lakh) and will travel about 200 km per charge.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has completed the production lines at its new Mirafiori complex in Turin, Italy. The group has also started manufacturing of the pre-series prototypes of the all-new pure-electric Fiat 500.
FCA has stated that it is installing 15 MW of photovoltaic panels that covers 150,000 sq.mt that include 120,00 sq.mt of photovoltaic panels on building roofs and an additional 30,000 that covers 1,750 parking places. FCA has partnered with Edison for the roof top panels and with ENGIE for the car park units. The company has announced that it will be installing 850 charging points at the Turin manufacturing hub, including 750 points within employee parking areas.
The manufacturing plant will produce the Fiat 500 BEV, Maserati Ghibli hybrid, Maserati GranTurismo and GranCabrio BEVs (and ICEs). The 500 EV will enter series production in June, while the Fiat Ducato electric van will also see introduction this year.
The next-generation Fiat 500e electric car has been testing since last year in Europe. The car has been caught on the roads of Turin by EVW reader Patrick McCallion who permitted us to use the images and video shown below. Fiat will present the zero-emissions city car for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show next month (opens 5 March for the public).
The Fiat 500e is built on an all-new electric platform but still retains the overall shape of the 500. Reports suggest that Fiat would be investing 700 million Euros on the electric city car that will include a new production line in Mirafiori, Italy. Fiat hopes to produce 80,000 examples of the new 500e annually. The 500e is expected to spawn an Abarth version and perhaps a long-body wagon (with proper rear doors and back seat) in Phase 2 of the product program.
Fiat 500e, which would compete with the BMW i3, Honda e and the Mini Electric upon launch, also gets a completely revised dashboard with a new instrument cluster, large infotainment system and a new steering wheel.
It is unknown whether the new 500e will be a rear-wheel-drive like the original 500 or a four-wheel-drive. The range is expected to be lesser than the examples of Nissan Leaf, owing to the 500’s smaller body. And being a city car, we can expect a driving range of around 200 to 250 km.
The electric platform has been co-developed by the FCA group and the powertrain is one of the four developed. While one is fitted to the 500e, the other three will be doing duties in Jeep Grand Commander, Maserati Alfieri that is expected to be showcased at the 2020 Geneva Motor Show and the 2022 Maserati Quattroporte.
FCA is looking at introducing electric vehicles in India, but it is unlikely that a Fiat vehicle would be used to fulfill that ambition.
