Fiat 500e – the best electric vehicle that doesn’t cost $100,000

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Fiat 500e is the best electric vehicle that doesn’t cost $100,000. And it’s the first EV I’d consider owning.

I’ve been looking for an affordable, entertaining EV for years. And failing. The Nissan Leaf has all the charm of a dishwasher. The Ford Focus Electric is a litany of compromises. The Honda Fit EV – while fun – feels like a plastic penalty box. And it’s best to not even mention the Mitsubishi i or the forthcoming (and poorly named) Smart ForTwo ED.

All of these EVs are an uninspiring mishmash of an existing model with a hastily engineered electric drivetrain stuffed inside. You could say the same about the 500e. But you’re wrong. By slapping an electric motor up front and a battery pack from stem to stern, Fiat has managed to make the 500 better than its gas-powered siblings. And here’s the kicker: After spending a day with one, I can say it’s arguably a better value.

Allow me to explain.

I leave a parking lot in the outskirts of L.A. and lay into the throttle. All 147 pound-feet of torque is delivered in a millisecond to the front wheels as I screech down the road. Yes, I just did an (admittedly short) burnout in an EV. Awesome.

As the initial wave of twist begins to fade, the 83 kW electric motor begins delivering 111 horsepower, which is 10 hp more than the standard 500. At just under 3,000 pounds, it’s more than enough to squirt the electrified Fiat through small holes in traffic, despite the extra 600 pounds of weight saddled to the bottom of the chassis by the 24 kWh, liquid-cooled and heated battery pack.

As any driving aficionado knows, extra weight is bad, and two linebackers worth is worse. But in the 500e the extra tonnage is used to shockingly (sorry) good effect, lowering the center of gravity and increasing the structural rigidity by 10 percent. That makes it an even more competent handler than the rest of the 500 fleet, which – if you’ll excuse the gearhead geekery for a moment – has a less-than-optimal weight balance of 64:36 front-to-rear. The 500e has something closer to a BMW, with a spread of 57:43. You just don’t find that in other EVs – except for one.

As you’d expect of something this relatively heavy and underpowered, it’s not exactly a track tool. Zero to 60 mph takes 9.1 seconds, but let’s forget about that outmoded metric for a moment and talk torque again. From zero to 30 mph, few things this side of an Italian exotic could keep up, and over that speed – like cruising on the freeway – all that’s necessary to make a pass is a quick mash of the accelerator. I’ve also have to give props to Fiat’s engineers for refraining from saddling the 500e with some some kind of ECO-mode frippery. It’s one setting, all the time, and you choose how to expend your electrons. And over a 50-mile route, I chose to have fun and still managed a respectable range, with 48 miles left on the battery.