Speaker 1: If you've been holding your breath for acute compact electric car with just enough range that won't break the bank or your weight may soon be over be the all new IT leased for America feed 500 e electric hatchback hitting the road later this year.
Speaker 1: Now the 500 E returns to America after a brief hiatus in full electric form. And when it does get here, it will be one of the smallest electric cars that you can buy though in pretty much every dimension [00:00:30] inside and out, it is larger than the previous generation. Now, like the previous generation, the electric motor lives up front on the front axle and below us under the floor is a battery pack. Now for this generation, that battery pack is around twice as large as it was before 42 kilowatt hours as opposed to around 25. Now from that battery feed expects that you'll get around 149 miles of range on the EPAs combined testing cycle. Though if you stick to just urban speeds, they reckon you could probably get around 162 out [00:01:00] of the pack. Now if you plan to just use the 500 E as in around town runabout, maybe a separate car or just a commuter that's used to get back and forth to work, that may be enough range for you, but make no bones about it.
Speaker 1: This thing isn't a long range road tripper that the feed has seen fit to equip this generation of the 500 E with 85 kilowatts of DC fast charging capability, which gets you from flat to around 80% charged in around half an hour. Now the 500 E'S electric motor outputs around 117 horsepower and 162 [00:01:30] pound feet of torque, which isn't next napping, but is a good amount of torque, particularly at the low and mid range for the type of around town urban driving that this vehicle is designed for. It feels very responsive and pretty peppy. Like most EVs, the 500 E features a sound generator that plays sound at a low speed to alert those nearby that the otherwise silent EV is approaching. But this V takes things a step further with its pinging acoustic vehicle alert system. The first time the 500 E reaches 20 miles per [00:02:00] hour during a trip A VAS switches momentarily from its steady tone to a song titled the Sound of 500, the plays for all to Hear announcing the EVs acceleration
Speaker 1: If more subtle than it sounds. You can't really hear it inside of the car with the windows up and the song only plays once per trip, but it's a neat audible Easter egg that makes leaving a parking deck just a touch. More fun. Now, it said that they stuck the electric motor on the front axle in order to retain [00:02:30] the proportions of the previous generations of the 500 E, but this configuration also means that they save quite a bit of space out back, which allows you to offer more trunk space, which in the vehicle this small every little bit counts. We're looking at 7.6 cubes behind the rear seats and 101.2 cubic feet of total interior volume. The 500 e seating position has also been redesigned, so I now sit lower than before, freeing up loads of headroom for such a small footprint. Now in front of me, we've got a dashboard with the latest [00:03:00] generation of the Uconnect five infotainment suite.
Speaker 1: Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are built in and wireless, which frankly is pretty much all that you need. But if you want to use onboard navigation, that also comes standard for all 500 Eve. There's also Amazon Alexa integration. Front and center in front of the driver is a seven inch digital instrument cluster that allows you to see things like your speed, your efficiency turn by turn directions and more. The first examples of the 500 E to make their way to [00:03:30] the US will be the 500 e red special edition that I'm in right now, and it'll be joined by special design, inspired by beauty and design, inspired by music editions coming later on, and fiat plans to offer various special editions of the 500 e releasing new colors and partnerships as drops, sort of like you get with certain consumer goods in order to generate hype around the vehicle.
Speaker 1: Now, fiat plans to continuously release new additions of the 500 [00:04:00] E over its lifespan with new colors and new partnerships, maybe like the Gucci special edition that we saw in European markets over the 500 e lifetime. And that's going to help generate buzz and help generate a little bit of scarcity and hype around this thing. Treating it more like a fashion accessory than a vehicle that's used to get from point A to point B, though it has to do both. Well, the 2024 Fiat 500 E Inspire Red Edition here will start at just over 30 4K when it hits the road. The inspired by music and beauty editions will cost [00:04:30] 37 5 9 5, but they'll also come with upgraded driver aid tech. So it's stylish. Yeah, it's small and it has just enough range. Fine, I'm loving it. But for the money, it's also tough to recommend if the 500 E were significantly less expensive than its competition, this fumble will run about, might find itself in a sweet spot, but that 149 mile range will keep many drivers shopping at this $35,000 price point from looking twice at this little cutie pot, which is a bit of a shame because I mean, just [00:05:00] look at that face.
Speaker 1: So there you go. A first look at the all new Fiat 500 E before it hits the road in the states. Be sure to head seen at.com where we've got a full first look, more driving impressions and a closer look at the tech. I'll meet you there.
