Fiat is the latest traditional auto maker to announce its plans to go electric. It will start phasing out internal combustion engines in 2025 and complete the process by 2030. By that year Fiat would have been making and selling only electric vehicles.
This announcement is coming soon after the Italian company released an electric version of it 500 city car, although its availability is limited by region. Fiat is keen about making EVs and charging facilities more accessible. Its overall aim is to make electric vehicle ownership as affordable as possible.
The 500e bears the fruit of Fiat’s collaboration with Google, as it comes with a feature called 500 Hey Google, an AI based assistant.
The 500e was built from the ground up as an electric car, rather than being a modified ‘conventional’ car. It uses a 42 kWh battery and produces 118 horsepower from its single electric motor.
Fiat hopes to lure its ICE customers over to the electric model by offering incentives and other bonuses, such as KIRI coins.
“It is our duty to bring to market electric cars that cost no more than those with an internal combustion engine, as soon as we can, in line with the falling costs of batteries,” Fiat CEO Olivier François said. “We are exploring the territory of sustainable mobility for all: this is our greatest project. Between 2025 and 2030, our product line-up will gradually become electric-only. This will be a radical change for Fiat.”
As further proof of its commitment to environment sustainability, Fiat says it will turn the popular track on the roof of the former Lingotto factory in Turin into a garden that will feature over 28,000 plants.
Other car makers have their own deadlines too, as Mini, Volvo and Ford are targeting to be free of hydrocarbons by 2030 while Honda will continue to make gas powered vehicles until 2040.