I've taken my second plunge into electric cars with a 2017 Fiat 500e. Dirt cheap and only 10k miles on it. Battery and drivetrain on this car was developed by Bosch and it uses the same Samsung battery cells as the first generation BMW i3 electric. Plus the Fiat has a pretty interesting liquid cooling/heating system for the battery that not only uses a radiator but also can use the air conditioner to cool the battery when needed. So this attention to thermal battery management should translate into a longer lasting battery.
My first electric was a 2015 Nissan Leaf so I can give you a pretty fair comparison between the two. On the down side, the Fiat is much smaller so while it is OK for two people, not much back seat or luggage room. But on the plus side, the Fiat has better range than my Leaf did even though it has a similar spec 24KW battery. My Leaf was wheezing at 60 miles and the Fiat seems to be closer to 90 miles true range. The Fiat is a bit quicker than the Leaf with very strong off the line acceleration! I'm still getting used to the seating position in the Fiat; arms out in the Italian tradition, sitting up pretty straight but overall it's pretty comfortable as was the Leaf. The Fiat rides a bit stiffer though and bounces a bit more due to the short wheel-base.
With the Bosch connection I felt a little bit better about this than if Fiat/Chrysler had done it themselves. I can't decide if the styling whether it's "cute" or just weird. ‘Course, I had the same problem looking at my old Leaf! By the way, I traded in my old Leaf after a couple of years while it still had some value given the battery issues with high mileage Leaf's but I always enjoyed owning my first electric and wanted another one… Now I have it!
My first electric was a 2015 Nissan Leaf so I can give you a pretty fair comparison between the two. On the down side, the Fiat is much smaller so while it is OK for two people, not much back seat or luggage room. But on the plus side, the Fiat has better range than my Leaf did even though it has a similar spec 24KW battery. My Leaf was wheezing at 60 miles and the Fiat seems to be closer to 90 miles true range. The Fiat is a bit quicker than the Leaf with very strong off the line acceleration! I'm still getting used to the seating position in the Fiat; arms out in the Italian tradition, sitting up pretty straight but overall it's pretty comfortable as was the Leaf. The Fiat rides a bit stiffer though and bounces a bit more due to the short wheel-base.
With the Bosch connection I felt a little bit better about this than if Fiat/Chrysler had done it themselves. I can't decide if the styling whether it's "cute" or just weird. ‘Course, I had the same problem looking at my old Leaf! By the way, I traded in my old Leaf after a couple of years while it still had some value given the battery issues with high mileage Leaf's but I always enjoyed owning my first electric and wanted another one… Now I have it!