A 'First Drive' of a car which is already three years old. How is that even possible?
Well, the Fiat 500E was only available in California, but since the lease contracts have expired,
so the market is being flooded with used 500E's. They're being sold for so little money, it's actually worth...
it to ship them to Europe, and that's why they're being sold in the Netherlands now as well.
There's quite a lot of them actually, so that's why we're testing it today.
Maybe a 500E has crossed your path already but you didn't notice.
That's because the differences with a combustion 500 are in the details.
Take these American side markers for example, or these wheels, which you've never seen on a normal 500 before either.
You've got these logo's here, and it stands out at the back because of the lack of...
an exhaust, and because of the license plate.
This has a normal sized, square license plate, but you can spot them with American sized license plates as well.
An electric car fits Fiat better than you'd think, because in 1992, they introduced the Fiat Panda Elettra.
The first electric car in modern history which was available to normal people like you and me.
The Cinquecento and Seicento had Elettra-versions as well. They didn't sell very well though, so you might not know them.
Anyway, if you look at it like that, this 500E has quite the pedigree.
The truth is that this car owes its existence to the legislation in California.
If you want to offer petrol and diesel powered cars, you've got to offer something electrical as well.
FiatChrysler didn't have anything electrical in store, so they developed the 500E.
Not that they wanted to, because Fiat did admit that they had to spend an additional $20.000...
per built 500E, so they hoped that they wouldn't sell a lot.
Right, on the Dutch second hand car market, I think the 500E is a very nice addition.
There's not a lot to choose from either. You've got the ZOE and the Leaf, but that's about it.
Inbetween those, this 500E is a very vivid, colorful car.
Driving the 500E isn't incredibly surprising. It reminds me of a normal Fiat 500,
however, I get the feeling it's less bouncy because of the extra weight.
That's a disadvantage in the corners, because this car just wants to go straight ahead.
Other than that, it's a little higher. Not a lot, but you're higher up than in a normal 500.
It offers the same as the normal 500 does. There isn't a lot of room on the rear seat,
and the boot suffers from the same problem...
The range then. It has a battery pack of 24 kWh,
and that shows that a second hand EV doesn't really match up to the advancing technology,
because having only 24 kWh is a little outdated.
The range will be about 150 kilometres if it all goes well, so you don't want to imagine what happens in the winter.
On the other hand, do you know people who drive more than 150 daily kilometres...
in a Fiat 500? I don't.
As we're filming this, there are a few dozen 500E's for sale in the Netherlands,
with prices ranging from €15.000 to €20.000. If I have to be honest,
the first number suits this car a lot better than the second number...