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Monday, January 7, 2013

Fiat 500e Gets Best Highway MPGe Rating

Under the skin of the Fiat 500e

With a combination of good looks, personality and ecology, the Fiat 500e is already making a name for itself even before it hits the streets this summer. How? Because, in addition to being an attractive car, the Fiat 500e also offers best in class energy efficiency, and an unsurpassed EPA highway mileage rating of 108 MPGe! That's right, according to the EPA, the Fiat 500e beats all other EVs on the US market for Highway MPGe. The EPA also says that, on a full charge, the Fiat 500e can travel approximately 87 miles, which is again best in its class and out performs all other EVs built by major car manufacturers.




The nomenclature MPGe may be an unfamiliar one to those just getting into the EV market. It is a calculation devised by the EPA to determine how many miles an EV can travel on 33.7 kWh of electricity, which is the electric equivalent of how much energy burning a gallon of gasoline creates.

Besides the MPGe figures, there are two other calculations that are of importance to EV buyers. One is range, and the other is annual cost.

The Fiat 500e goes farther on a charge than any EV produced by a major car company. The Nissan Leaf, for example, only does 73 miles between charges compared to the 500e's figure of 87 miles.

Fiat 500e interior

Annual cost is also a key factor. The EPA estimates the annual cost to power the Fiat 500e is only $500. This cost compares well to the tiny Smart fortwo Electric Drive Coupe's annual cost of $550.

This is based on 15,000 miles annual driving with an electricity cost of $0.12/kWh and the Fiat 500e's combined city/highway performance rating of 116-MPGe (122 MPGe city/108 MPGe highway).

With best in class figures like these, a chassis tuned for driver evolvement and highly competitive pricing, the charismatic Fiat 500e is going to be a hot contender in the EV market this year.



Category Fiat 500e 2013 Smart fortwo Electric Drive 2013 Mitsubishi  i-MiEV 2013 Honda Fit EV 2012 Nissan Leaf
Price $32,500 or $199 Lease* $25,000 $29,125 $36,625** $35,200
Motor  83 kW  55 kW  49 kW  92 kW 80 kW
City
mileage
122 MPGe 122 MPGe 126 MPGe 132 MPGe 106 MPGe
Highway
mileage
108 MPGe 93 MPGe 99 MPGe 105 MPGE 92 MPGe
Combined
city/highway
116 MPGe 107 MPGe 112 MPGe 118 MPGe 99 MPGe
Cost per 25 miles   .87¢  $1.02    .90¢    .87¢  $1.02
Range   87 miles    68 miles    62 miles   82 miles 73 miles
Charge time
hr @ 240 V
Less than 4 hrs 6 hrs 7 hrs 4 hrs 7 hrs
Annual cost  $500  $550  $550  $500  $600

* Fiat 500e Pricing Revealed!.
** Lease only, price converted for comparison

Discuss this story on the Fiat 500 USA Forum

Specification source: US Government

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