Have you ever had a plain T-shirt just not quite feel right? It’s easy to assume that everyone shopping for an EV would be happy commuting in a Chevrolet Equinox EV or a Volkswagen ID.4 but sometimes, practical concerns like long range and being able to benefit from 150 kW DC fast chargers aren’t top priorities. After all, not every car suits everyone. Sometimes it’s just about feeling good, and the 2024 Fiat 500e understands that mission.
See, if car-buying were purely rational, we’d pretty much all be driving Priuses and hybrid Mavericks and minivans and whatnot, but when you’re spending a significant chunk of your paycheck on something, you might want something different. The new Fiat 500e is certainly different, and wonderfully irrational in the North American landscape, but is it good? Well, let’s find out.
[Full disclosure: Fiat brought a 500e to Canadian Car of the Year testing, so logically, I needed to have a go. Twice. Travel to and from the event was provided by me, juice in the 500e’s battery pack and accommodations were provided by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada, of which I’m a dues-paying member.]
The Basics
As-tested price: $34,095 ($42,190 Canadian).
Battery pack: 42 kWh NMC lithium-ion battery pack.
Motor: Single 118-horsepower front motor.
Range: 141 miles (227 km).
Peak DC fast charging speed: 85 kW.
Curb weight: 2,952 pounds (1,339 kg).
Why Does It Exist?
While the Fiat 500 isn’t an immensely popular car in America, it is popular in the rest of the world, and going all-electric really just felt like the next logical step for the model. Of course, since the Fiat brand has presence in America, and since Stellantis needs EVs on its plate, it’s come here, a retro-cool electric car in the underpopulated subcompact segment.
How Does It Look?
If you liked the way the reborn Fiat 500 looked, chances are you’re going to love its sequel. It’s hard to believe that 17 years ago, the cute city car throwback that felt properly small in all the ways the second reborn Mini didn’t was revealed to the public. Needless to say, manufacturing and tech has come a long way since the days of the Blackberry, so everything’s just been smartened up on the 500e.
It starts with more complex surfacing that adds depth to the styling without trying too hard. There’s just the right amount of push and pull to the lower doors now to break up the sheetmetal without resorting to the hard character line the old car used. Likewise, semi-circular headlights with daytime running light elements placed in the hood and ring-like indicators thoroughly modernize the forward lighting. Speaking of modernity, I’m a big fan of the tricolore winglets on either fender, but the electronic door handles are probably unnecessary.
Still, taste often requires restraint, and by keeping things subtle and cohesive, Fiat’s built a more modern cinquecento without falling into the trap of just scaling everything up at random, which would just make a caricature out of a good car. Even the badge is measured and economical, rolling a lowercase ‘e’ into the ‘500’ numeral.
How About The Inside?
Step inside the 2024 Fiat 500e, and you’ll find an interesting mix of upscale design touches and obvious whiffs of entry-level city car. For example, the ornate electronic door release buttons are set in a door car largely made out of hard plastic. As such, the pull to close the door feels rather cheap, but it’s offset by a cheery painted dashboard face, a well-damped rubberized roller for stereo volume, and surprisingly soft fabric upholstery. You wouldn’t expect the seats to be as comfortable as they are, but they’re closer to furniture than buckets, which feels apt for the shocking amount of space available for the front two occupants.
The partial center console gives you room to stretch out, huge windows really let in the breeze once they’re rolled down, and it’s just easy to take things a bit carefree with a coffee in the cupholder and upbeat tunes on the stereo. Oh, and despite the 500e’s stubby sub-12-f0ot length, space in the back isn’t as tight as you may expect. I’m about average height for a guy, and I was able to sit behind my own driving position without my knees hitting the seat structure.
How Does It Drive?
The driving experience of the Fiat 500e is dominated by one thing, and it certainly isn’t torque. It’s actually weight, or rather, the relative restraint of it all. See, rather than try to cram a big 65 kWh battery pack in the 500e, Fiat’s gone with 42 kWh of energy-dense NMC cells, and the result is a curb weight that does an alright impression of seeming subcompact in 2024. Hey, 46 fewer pounds than a Civic Si isn’t world-changing, but it means a lot here. That’s because this electric car doesn’t drive like an electric car past the initial hit of tire-torturing torque. The right-now Jack Russell Terrier immediacy of the steering, the jaunty demeanor of the suspension over pockmarked roads, you can actually feel the relative lightness of the car all the time. There’s still noticeably body roll and you can only really push the chassis so far, but there’s an inherent nimbleness to the 500e that feels like a breath of fresh air.
Sure, 118 horsepower and 162 lb.-ft. of torque mean it isn’t super quick, but acceleration is actually quite fine. It’s the same deal with using drum brakes in the rear, it still stops exactly how you’d expect a regular car to. What matters is that despite little in the way of steering feel, it’s fun in the corners, and fun is fun to have. The 500e is also hilariously easy to park for a modern car, thanks in part to superb visibility, but also in part to a footprint the size of a Sperry.
Does It Have The Electronic Crap I Want?
For the most part, yeah. Sure, you won’t find hands-free Level 2 advanced driver assistance systems or cooled seats here, but you get a digital gauge cluster, a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, USB-A and USB-C ports, heated front seats, and a wireless smartphone charger, all as standard equipment. Best of all, the in-cabin tech all works as you’d expect and looks sharp. Job well done there.
As for charging, while 85 kW isn’t an enormous peak speed, a 42 kWh pack isn’t an enormous battery. Add in the fact that the 500e uses the common CCS connector, and supports 11 kW Level 2 charging, and it should be fine for jolt-and-bolt stops at public charging stations around the city.
Three Things To Know About The 2024 Fiat 500e
- It feels surprisingly light.
- It’s more spacious and comfortable than you’d think.
- Only 141 miles of range, though.
Does It Fulfill Its Purpose?
Yeah. Look, the 2024 Fiat 500e was never going to be the affordable long-range EV that everyone’s clamoring for. Instead, it’s a modest, measured distillation of fun that just happens to have no tailpipe emissions. It can make a cold, damp, overcast autumnal day feel bright and sunny as you view the road through a rose-tinted windscreen. Simply put, it’s hard not to feel good driving a 500e, and its low-end pricing lets the more hopeless romantics among us it also lets you dream in other ways too.
For a brand new electric car, this thing’s pretty cheap, which means that for road trips, you can acquire something ridiculous. Something heavily depreciated with considerable performance and maintenance bills. Maybe an S-Class. Maybe a Quattroporte. Maybe an Alpina B7. Maybe even a cheap Porsche or a Corvette or a 500SL. Something worth fantasizing about. The Fiat 500e isn’t for practical people, but that’s part of what makes it great. Not only does it have character, it’s just liveable enough to be usable every day, just impractical enough to make your weekend car that much more special, and just so damn cheerful.
What’s The Punctum Of The 2024 Fiat 500e?
Lovers, dreamers, and parallel parkers, your EV is here.
(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
The Fiat 500e Abarth Is A Great Hot Hatch That Argues Engines Don’t Matter
-
The New 2024 Fiat 500e Is An Adorable $34,095 Electric Car With Acceptable Range
-
The Spike Lee Commercial For The Electric Fiat 500e Is My Everything
-
The Fiat 500e Is Coming Back To America In 2024 And This Time Not As A ‘Compliance Car’
-
The 2025 Mini Cooper E Could Become America’s Best City-Car Since The BMW i3
Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.
“the ornate electronic door release buttons”
Yeah, no thanks