Fiat 500 electric - long-term review

It’s tough to breathe new life into things we think of as classics of their genre – just ask the makers of the 2003 iteration of The Italian Job. Or Chris Evans.

Anyway, from our time with the little electric Fiat so far, we reckon that the Italians have done a very decent job indeed. The new 500 looks clean and modern, but it still references the original nicely without straying into pastiche. We could do without the creepy Amarcord soundtrack at slow speeds, but crucially the 500e drives much better than the internal combustion-engined car that went before it. In fact, it makes you wonder why Fiat will still sell you a petrol-burning 500 at all.  

Interestingly, pretty much exactly the same can be said for the Vespa you see above. Well, apart from the bit about it being a car. Fairly obvious that one. 

This is actually the Vespa Elettrica – a new-age EV scooter/moped thing with some of the looks of the classic 1940s-and-beyond originals, but this time reborn with a 4.2kWh lithium-ion battery and a monstrous 5bhp electric motor driving the rear wheel. Woah, steady now. 

The Elettrica comes in two forms, one with a 45kph (28mph) top speed and one with a bump to 70kph (43mph), and like the Fiat it seems to have been a successful reincarnation. The higher top speed comes from a software update and modified battery tech, so both versions get the same 62-mile range from the aforementioned 4.2kWh unit. Plenty for a week in the city, and who uses a Vespa for anything else?

Charging is simple too, with a built in three-pin on a stretchy cord that means you can plug in anywhere and fill the battery in around four hours. Plus, because the battery is mounted right down in the structure there’s a low centre of gravity for a nippy turn of pace and ideal in-town manoeuvrability. Oh, and there’s even space under the seat for a helmet. 

The dash gets a little TFT screen that can connect to your phone via Bluetooth and shows the essentials like speed and remaining range/state of charge, but the switchgear could feel a little more premium particularly at this price point.

Ah yes, we should probably mention the price of both of these renewed icons here. As tested our Fiat is £30,132 – a hefty chunk of change for a citycar. The Vespa starts from £6,300, with the faster one just £300 more. Sounds okay in this company, but when you compare that to the less stylish and rather simply-named 1 from parent company Piaggio which starts at just £2,500, it can make the Elettrica seem like poor value. 

Like with the Fiat, you’re paying for the Vespa style. Still, now they both come with a guilt-free powertrain, LED lights, a super smooth power delivery and almost perfect silence. They’re Italian icons reinvented for the EV era, and we're big admirers of both.