Gadgetory

and like I said that instant torque speed bump Wow like that like I said my cameraman sitting next to me you guys in his flipping out so what do you get when you combine Italian styling with just a little bit of eco-consciousness no it's not that green pasta that we all love so much it's this the 2015 Fiat 500e and that's right it's electric baby Fiat says that ugliness is the worst pollution of all and frankly I tend to agree with them there's no reason that V's need to look space-age there are a few tweaks on the body of the Fiat that the eagle-eyed might see like a lower front fascia and rear spoiler for better air oh and a rear diffuser but beyond that and some simple 500 badging the electric version looks just like the gas-powered 500s so like a giant roller skate so how does it all work well first of all we get rid of this trend piece of plastic because we don't need it and I've got a high-voltage lithium-ion battery here I've got my regular battery that just powers all my accessories and then tucked underneath that is the electric motor now here is where all the magic happens this is the inverter what that does is that inverts that see what I did there that inverts the DC power from the battery into AC power that the electric motor wants and that will give you a range of 87 miles per charge but of course this baby needs some juice right there's a couple different ways you can do that the first way is through just a regular 110 volt outlet that is just what you would find in your home so you just plug this guy in and then you just plug this guy in and simple but you're going to have to wait 24 hours for a full charge another way to do it is via a level-two charger and that is like you would find in your washer and dryer 240 volts you need to install a power unit in your home for about two thousand dollars but that will allow you to charge the car to a full charge in four hours now unfortunately the Fiat 500e does not support the high-speed the level three charging which would charge it up in about a half an hour boo boo boo boo but the good news is the battery is covered by an eight year limited warranty and you can charge this from the mid-cycle all the way up full and it will not diminish your battery life now you've only got seven cubic feet of space back here that is less than the regular 500 so what does it mean for my trademark laundry basket rating well looks like I can shove two in there but don't think the door is going to close so trademark laundry basket rating of zero but don't despair you can fold those receipts down and get about 26 cubic feet of space now the interior of the cabin is pretty sparse and unfortunately you got a lot of plasticky materials but in terms of the tech they've kind of taken a cafeteria approach and that you've got a big plate and maybe a couple of different small plates to make a whole meal now my big plate is right here in the center and that's what gives me all the information about what I need to see while I'm driving then I've got some little plates now one of them is a TomTom navigation system which unfortunately our test model didn't come with for some reason but that would sit right here right in your line of sight and when most people use navigation on their phone anyway it's kind of a wonder why fiat still offers the TomTom but right in here I do have the blue and me system it's pretty easy to hook up your cell phone and the sound quality is pretty good there's no HD radio but there is Sirius XM satellite radio which is awesome when you have to sit in traffic but does that range live up to the hype well my first time in the car I've made an 11 mile commute that dropped my perceived range by 3 miles but on the reverse that dropped my range by 36 miles so essentially 87 mile range is 87 ish miles okay it's all going to depend on road conditions traffic conditions and driving style but here's what's great I have a hundred and forty-seven pound-feet of torque and that is all instantly available going through the front wheels so that means I just mash the gas and it's right there it isn't so much fun and that's what makes this car really cool to drive around in the city I've only got one forward gear here I just press D on the push button in the middle here and I just go you can't get a six-speed manual so I can't even give you guys props about when you choose the manual over choosing their automatic because this is all you got I do have a hundred and eleven horsepower which is more than the regular Fiat 500 but it is significantly less than the turbo model but it still is enough to propel me up to 70 miles an hour out on the highway maybe even a little bit faster if you want to take your life in your hands just a bit but I have great really quick steering it's an electric setup but the feel is nice and heavy and I've got this short little wheelbase which means that driving through the city taking turns accelerating out of them is a lot of fun I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this car next to the a bar is the most fun Fiat 500 that you can drive so how much is this going to cost you well the 2015 Fiat 500e starts at thirty one thousand eight hundred dollars which is a lot but you do get a seventy five hundred dollar federal rebate and then depending on where you live you can save up to fourteen thousand dollars on this car that's right that's like there's like two European no three European vacations of course there are other options out there for example the spark TV gives you twice as much to work and it starts at five thousand dollars in less that's it for now thanks so much for watching I'm Emmy Hall hey be sure to find me and CNET on all those crazy social medias see you later you