Anika Begay
It’s also nice to have a car with modern conveniences like lane guidance and automatic braking when it detects a pedestrian. Heck, even a rearview camera is nice. However, the Fiat 500e constantly warns me on the display about “emergency vehicles” ahead (it also makes a frighteningly loud sound), but unfortunately it gets it wrong 80 percent of the time. Stop giving me a heart attack!
The old problem of autonomy and charging
The Fiat 500e gets about 150 miles of range, which is decent for how often I drive. I don’t commute for work, so most of my trips are for pleasure. I drove the 500e more often than I probably would in a typical week, but after four days I went from 96 percent to 41 percent after about 53 miles. This presents a problem when I need to take longer jaunts, like visiting my in-laws or going on a road trip.
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Photography: Julian Chokkattu
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Photography: Julian Chokkattu
I have a house with a parking spot in New York City, which makes me very privileged and fortunate to be able to charge from home, however, the included Fiat charger was just a little too short to reach the charging outlet in the back of my house. Regardless, many people won’t have that luxury and will have to use charging stations. When I tried to search for charging stations near me, almost all of them were described as “slow.” Luckily, there was only one that was labeled “fast.”
But before that, earlier this week I found myself near WIRED’s Manhattan office, and I thought I’d find a place to park and charge my car while I sat in the office for two hours. The first lot I went to was full, so they turned me away. The second one I went to said it would cost $60 to charge and park for two hours because, in New York City, you pay not only for electricity but also for real estate. Sixty bucks increased my battery from 41 percent to 77 percent. It’s worth noting that I regularly pay about $35 every two weeks to fill up my gas-powered Fiat 500 (and it takes just a few minutes).
Find the Right the fast charging station is important. The one near my house had plenty of spots available (on a Thursday night), and I saw a lot of EV drivers hanging out in their cars charging, watching videos on their phones. I pulled over, plugged in, and after about 20 minutes I had gained 20 percent, which cost me about $4. Now I can get used to That.
I haven’t had a chance to test the Fiat 500e on a longer trip, though I guess I’d have to be a little more meticulous about making sure there are fast chargers on my route and timing it so that a 30-minute charge could perhaps fall right in the middle of a lunch break or bathroom break. It’s more complicated, and that’s probably the biggest pause I’d have before buying an EV if I were a frequent long-distance traveler (which I don’t).
Let’s talk about money
While looking for a car to buy, I often saw the acronym for Fiat: Fix It Again Tony. These cars seem to have earned a bad reputation for reliability and maintenance over the years. I had the 500 I purchased inspected and it was in fair condition, although the previous owner Done tell me they had to replace the car door handles after they broke. I have never heard of a car door handle breaking on its own, but apparently it is a common problem with Fiats. I can’t say much about the reliability of the Fiat 500e in the US, but I hope it has improved.
The elephant in the room is the $32,500 starting price (the model I tested starts at $36,000). You have tons of EV options with more space and better range, like the Nissan Leaf, Hyundai Kona Electric, and Tesla Model 3.
However, if you are looking for a small cars, there really aren’t many options in the US, aside from the new Mini Cooper SE, which starts at $30,900. I’m constantly envious of my UK colleagues enjoying a range of small, affordable electric cars – we need them here too. (I’d definitely drive the Microlino.)
The Fiat 500e is overpriced, but we’re running out of choices in the US, especially for cool-looking small EVs. The Fiat 500e is just that. I’d easily choose to drive it over my gas model; too bad it’s out of my budget. Also, it doesn’t come in yellow (boo!). If Fiat could fix those two problems, I’d open my wallet.
