FIAT’s All-Electric 500e City Car Takes On The Famous “Moose Test”!

Since the 1970s, the Swedes have been performing evasive maneuver tests (commonly called the “moose test”) to see how well a vehicle can avoid a suddenly approaching obstacle. While its nickname came to light in the late 1990s after a German magazine termed the phrase, the test is constructed to simulate, a reversing car or a child rushing out onto the road.

Many of the tests performed over the years have highlighted vehicles getting up on two wheels and how a vehicle performs can make or break a vehicle’s sales reputation around the globe. One vehicle that received a lot of negative attention after failing the test was the beloved Jeep® Grand Cherokee (WK2). It later had to redeem itself, but not before millions of people saw it perform poorly online.

But another Stellantis vehicle is being put to the test, the 2021 Fiat 500e city car. Km77 put the electrified city car through its paces during the test. 

The third-generation 500 features a 42-kW battery guarantees extended range, up to 320 kilometers (199 miles) in the WLTP cycle, increasing to 450 kilometers (280 miles) in the urban cycle, and comes with an 85-kW battery charger as standard in both the Passion and Icon models. It only takes minutes to charge the electrified 500e 50 kilometers (31 miles). The fast charger can also charge the battery to 80% in 35 minutes.

When it comes to performance, the 500e batteries are combined with an 87-kW (118-hp) electric motor, delivering an automatically limited maximum speed of 150 km/h (93 mph), acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 9.0 seconds, and from 0 to 50 km/h (31 mph) in 3.1 seconds.

After a few runs on the course, the small FIAT was able to perform the maneuver at its highest speed of 75 km/h (47 mph) which is about average. They also said the electric 500e had precise steering, providing confidence for much faster attempts. But, because of the skinny 205/45 R17 Bridgestone EcoContact 6 series tires, the car could not make faster runs due to understeer. 

Source: KM77.com