I'm assuming that the 240hp is from a single electric motor, the article doesn't say otherwise. It is quite a jump over the base Fiat 600's 154 hp. I also like that the Abarth people are offering a real mechanical, limited slip differential and not an imaginary one. This Abarth 600e is the antithesis of the Charger Daytona EV and the eRupt make believe transmission. The Abarth is simpler, lighter and genuine. It's too bad they didn't choose to put a real transmission in this Abarth model to go along with the differential. Major automotive suppliers are offering those to automakers for EVs as well as differentials.
I know we won't see this model stateside because of compliance issues,and offering a premium car of this size would be a very hard sell here. What bothers me is in the face of the CARB and CAFE requirements Dodge is giving us a three-ton lump. A company must first record a sale of a vehicle before it helps towards the average fuel economy. The public has an expectation that electric vehicles are supposed to be efficient, simple and reliable. This is mostly due to the propaganda GM pushed with their EV1 program and then it was cemented into the public's thinking with the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car.
I would like to see EVs that are simple and basic. While the features of the Abarth 600e are beyond basic, it still has some traditional knobs and switches. Also we don't have to worry about its weight collapsing a parking structure.
Perhaps the the B-segment is too small for our market, so maybe something a little larger will be needed. If half the US population is being corralled into driving EVs, automakers need to offer something which is more palatable, affordable, and easier to own.
