Fiat has begun selling a car in the United States that costs less than almost any new electric vehicle on the market. The catch is that it is barely a car at all. The Topolino, a diminutive two-seat electric microcar, starts at $13,995, CNBC reported, a figure that easily undercuts conventional EVs but comes with real limits.
What you get
The Topolino is tiny, a little over eight feet long, and light, and it is powered by a small electric motor rather than anything you would take on a road trip, Carscoops reported. Fiat pitches it at short trips in places like resorts, gated communities and coastal towns, as an alternative to a golf cart rather than to a family car. Its battery offers only a modest range, on the order of a few dozen miles, and it recharges from a standard household outlet.
The speed and legal catch
Out of the box the Topolino is capped at about 19 miles per hour, which is slow enough that it does not meet the US definition of a low-speed vehicle and can initially be driven only on private property, TechTimes reported. Fiat plans to offer a conversion that raises the top speed to about 25 miles per hour, which would let it qualify as a low-speed vehicle and use public roads where the limit is 35 miles per hour or lower. Even then, it cannot go on highways. And like other vehicles in this class, it lacks airbags and is exempt from the crash-testing that normal cars must pass.
Why it exists
The Topolino lands as interest in small, cheap electric runabouts grows in parts of the US, especially in warm-weather communities where journeys are short and speeds are low. For the right buyer in the right place, a simple, inexpensive electric two-seater has obvious appeal, and its retro styling is part of the pitch. For everyone else, the important point is the one Fiat's headline price can obscure: this is a neighborhood vehicle, not a substitute for a car that can carry a family down an interstate. Called "America's cheapest new EV," it is that, as long as you know exactly what you are buying.
