@lordsummit
My model is the soft-top which is officially 305 km [190 mi] WLTP - like all soft-tops, it’s heavier than the base car, with higher aerodynamic drag. I got it at the end of Summer last year, and through August and September while it was still warm I could get about 250 km [155 mi]; in the coldest part of this Winter, that figure dropped to about 220km [135mi]. So, like you I get about 80% of the WLTP range in Summer, and 70% in Winter. Motorway driving will drop that further.
The 500 has faster DC charging (85 kW, and unlike some models, it genuinely transfers 85 kW for a long time during charging) but slower AC charging (11kW) than the Zoe.
@gintonic I don’t find it sluggish, certainly not around town - but, after the initial kick from 0~10mph the acceleration is very linear so you don’t really feel like you’re picking up speed until you look at the speedometer. That initial high-torque leap off the line makes it really fast to 50km/h [30 mph], but the car takes a lot longer then to reach 100 [62mph] - I think it’s officially around 9 seconds 0-100km/h, which is nothing to get excited about if you’re coming from anything with “sports” pretensions, but this is a city-car, and the very fast pickup to 50km/h makes it feel faster from traffic lights than any petrol car I’ve driven that had less than 300 bhp on tap.
On the subject of power, the electromotor is the high-capacity 500e models is around 122 bhp, and the car weighs about 1300 kg. That power figure is misleading, as it is for all EVs, because the torque curve is pretty much flat up to maximum motor speed: so, once you’re at open-road speed, acceleration is still more comfortable from 100~130km/h (60~80 mph) than you’d find in a typical small diesel or petrol car. Speed is capped at 150 km/h [93 mph], probably to save battery - it certainly keeps going after 140.
If the regular 500 is too slow, and you don’t care about range at all, then there is an Abarth model coming later this year, which will add another 30 bhp or so to the power - performance is supposed to be equivalent to the current Abarth 695 petrol. Even though there is no change in battery capacity, the WLTP range for the Abarth model is still around 320 km because EVs are like that: motors are pretty light regardless of output, and running a 150kW motor at 70kW has pretty much the same consumption as running a 100kW motor at 70 kW, so you will see the same official economy figures for a range of peak powers: but consumption in an EV depends much more on your accelerator-foot than it ever does in a petrol car.
500 will be less than that. The official WLTP range of the 500 electric is 320 km, while the official range for Zoe is 395 km. So, if your current driving style gets you 200 miles from your Zoe, you could expect around 160 from an electric 500 in summer.
My model is the soft-top which is officially 305 km [190 mi] WLTP - like all soft-tops, it’s heavier than the base car, with higher aerodynamic drag. I got it at the end of Summer last year, and through August and September while it was still warm I could get about 250 km [155 mi]; in the coldest part of this Winter, that figure dropped to about 220km [135mi]. So, like you I get about 80% of the WLTP range in Summer, and 70% in Winter. Motorway driving will drop that further.
The 500 has faster DC charging (85 kW, and unlike some models, it genuinely transfers 85 kW for a long time during charging) but slower AC charging (11kW) than the Zoe.
@gintonic I don’t find it sluggish, certainly not around town - but, after the initial kick from 0~10mph the acceleration is very linear so you don’t really feel like you’re picking up speed until you look at the speedometer. That initial high-torque leap off the line makes it really fast to 50km/h [30 mph], but the car takes a lot longer then to reach 100 [62mph] - I think it’s officially around 9 seconds 0-100km/h, which is nothing to get excited about if you’re coming from anything with “sports” pretensions, but this is a city-car, and the very fast pickup to 50km/h makes it feel faster from traffic lights than any petrol car I’ve driven that had less than 300 bhp on tap.
On the subject of power, the electromotor is the high-capacity 500e models is around 122 bhp, and the car weighs about 1300 kg. That power figure is misleading, as it is for all EVs, because the torque curve is pretty much flat up to maximum motor speed: so, once you’re at open-road speed, acceleration is still more comfortable from 100~130km/h (60~80 mph) than you’d find in a typical small diesel or petrol car. Speed is capped at 150 km/h [93 mph], probably to save battery - it certainly keeps going after 140.
If the regular 500 is too slow, and you don’t care about range at all, then there is an Abarth model coming later this year, which will add another 30 bhp or so to the power - performance is supposed to be equivalent to the current Abarth 695 petrol. Even though there is no change in battery capacity, the WLTP range for the Abarth model is still around 320 km because EVs are like that: motors are pretty light regardless of output, and running a 150kW motor at 70kW has pretty much the same consumption as running a 100kW motor at 70 kW, so you will see the same official economy figures for a range of peak powers: but consumption in an EV depends much more on your accelerator-foot than it ever does in a petrol car.
