Fiat 500e & Cupra Born EV road trip Scotland to South Coast. Can electric city car do a long trip?

What’s one of the least likely electric cars for undertaking a road trip from Edinburgh, Scotland to Bournemouth, South Coast? Apart from Renault Twizy… the Fiat 500e is mainly pinned as a city car, so what’s it like for doing a long road trip?

How much charging time and how many stops will it need? Will it be a complete nightmare?
ABRP says 9 charging stops will be needed! Yes 9!!!

Alongside me is a Cupra Born level 2 with 58kwh useable battery. (The Fiat has 37kwh useable). How much quicker will the bigger battery car be? How many hours behind will I be?

In this video you are about to find out!

I even remember when Robert Llewelyn did the journey for the first time man at years ago in a Nissan Leaf….

I hope you enjoy the video.

Richard Symons

Simply search RSEV or copy the links below

[tricky]

In 2019 I took my family of 4 to Italy in my BMW i3 -
We took our time - 3 days there and 3 days back, and spent many hours at Lidl’s along the way - but the whole trip cost around £20 in charging fees (Lidl chargers were free at the time)

I loved it, but the rest of the family said they would prefer to fly next time 😂

[jordanjames]

Renting a 500e at the moment and have to say I’ve fallen for it. Peppy around town and was fine cruising on motorways. It’s done some big journeys and has coped well.

[SS-ywvo]

Thanks for the metric conversions. I appreciate it

[hareshkaria]

Great review again but I must say what a beautiful country we live in - all those fabulous scenes as u drove down - amazing - thanks Rich

[gileshalliwell]

I’m glad to see that you calculate your journeys that way, I find it the best way... I have a 500e and for what we need it’s perfect though I agree it’s occasionally pessimistic re range, I’m not sure I’d go to Scotland in it, no matter how much I love it! I’d take the Tesla!

[theelectriccarguy]

Good to see smaller battery capacity vehicles been long range tested, anyone who travels that far in an ICE vehicle should regularly stop anyway but as we know they all use the charging stops as an excuse not to buy. I deliberately went for the 58kWh IONIQ 5 (delayed delivery until Apr 23) as my regular trip from Wiltshire to North Yorks is 300 miles, even my current Kona EV has to stop as do I - I think us men of a certain age require more breaks anyway :-p

[colinrenfrew]

Enjoyed this real world video. Driving on U.K. motorways is always unpredictable, so to have to factor in multiple charge stops…not for me. With this kind of journey, I’d be looking at alternative ways to get there.

[rogerjeck]

Glad to see you are getting some press cars (?) to review. Really enjoy your sorta real world meets a guy who knows a bit about ele vehicles. really nice combo and nice to see your youtoobs taking off a bit! cheers...

[MagicRat]

Great vid👍

Pushing the little Fiat out of its comfort zone and it still did pretty well, especially bearing in mind prolonged motorways speeds are the worst case for EV’s. I could live with that for the occasional long journey.

A head to head with ICE & EV versions of the same car on a similar trip would be interesting

[barryo]

There’s half a dozen go to sites to get an easy and accurate review. This is one of them. Great stuff

[tesla-spectre]

Great video as always! ❤

When I saw 9 stops for just 500miles (800km, right?) in the beginning, I thought "goodness me" 😂

4 is then a lot better, with such a small battery. I just doubt that most family members would enjoy so many and long stops. The 500e for me is a brilliant city car and might manage an occasional long trip if absolutely needed. One just better goes alone and sends the family by plane 😂

Still having done 32000km in 11 months on my Model 3 LR now, in summer at 120kmh, I would to it with one stop (480km first leg, 40min stop for a break, rest then). In winter might need a second charge, esp with strong winds or rain. But never more than 2. for me still the ultimate EV for long distance business trips, esp if one does not want to invest 3-4x the money for an EQS

[nigelhudson]

Last Friday I drove my current loan car, a Hyundai Ioniq EV, 400 miles from mid-Northumberland near the Scottish border to the South Coast near Brighton. The Ioniq EV has a 38 kWh battery similar in size to the Fiat. I managed to do it in 3 recharging stops - Gateshead, Doncaster and Milton Keynes and I had 50-60 miles range left when I got home. I wasn't hypermiling, it cruising at 70ish on the motorways. 9 recharge stops from Edinburgh sounds ridiculous.

[therutlandflyer]

As ever, enjoyed this very much. Your videos are always fair, impartial and relevant. I did laugh when you left Ginz’s door open to delay him - a tactic worthy of Terry Thomas in the old film Monte Carlo or Bust (ask your Dad)

[Todunsoetan]

The 500e is my favourite ev. Can't wait to purchase one in the new year

[karmanline]

Excellent video thanks. We happily accept occasional Mway charges, the upside being never stopping for fuel. It depends how you use your car but for most people the time saved not visiting petrol stations is huge, compared to a few minutes a year on a public charger. This is assuming that the network can cope!

[sevensixtysteve]

Really interesting review and good to see how EVs actually perform on a route like this. What surprised me most was the charging cost. This has obviously taken a big hit from the increased cost of electricity but still quite a shock. Just for comparison, the same journey would cost me around £78 in diesel, so it seems one of the big incentives to switch to to EVs has vanished. I also wouldn’t have to stop for fuel, only for comfort breaks and in fact could almost complete a return journey without refuelling. I guess the various membership schemes bring down the cost of charging so hopefully people will still convert to EVs and I certainly plan to one day when I can afford one. The new Abarth 500 looks good !

[richardh]

Really love your channel on EVS I have just brought
my first ev it's a kia Niro 64khw base model. love it.

[ouethojlkjn]

Full disclosure - we were completely smitten by the little 500e. A gorgeous Italian chic go-kart! We could not shoehorn two labradors in the back and therefore we had to pass. But I urge anyone thinking about an EV to go and have a close look at this very pretty little machine. And Its charms are more than skin deep!

[scottwills]

Great video! I see you have the slightly lifted dash (the HUD surround) on your car too! Common fault, Cupra will replace it if you ask.

[bernardhilton]

I agree with your comments about Gridserve. Sometimes their chargers can be slow. I use MFG stations when I can. Shevington Moor ( Wigan ) is just down the road to me so I don’t use that one. I normally head for Wednesbury. I discovered Banbury a couple of weeks ago. All I can say is WOW! Keep up the good work.