Next is the 500e’s charging prowess. It’s not a fast charging car by any means, with a maximum speed of 85 kW. In 35 minutes, the battery can be charged from 0-85% per Fiat. A Level 2 charger as you’ll probably want at home takes six hours for a full charge. It’s strictly confined to the city with those metrics. Fiat also has no plans to integrate the 500e into Tesla’s Supercharger network, further limiting charging options.
149 miles of range also makes it one of the shortest range EVs on the North American market. For comparison, the outgoing Chevy Bolt can go upwards of 259 miles on a charge. The 500e is exactly a city car and nothing else. If you need to venture outside the confines of dense urban environments with lots of charging stations, the Fiat 500e cannot take you.
The first 500e available in the U.S. is the RED special edition made for the RED AIDS charity. Later in the third quarter of 2024, meanwhile, we’ll also get the “Inspired By” versions that include a more powerful JBL sound system, additional driver assistance features like adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist, and a few more color choices. The “Inspired By” will retail for $36,000. I did not drive any of the upcoming versions of the 500e, although two Inspired By cars were present at the event.
