After nearly one and a half years since its launch, the all-new second-generation (third?) Fiat 500 has finally received its Green NCAP certification – and what do you know, the fully-electric model has received a near-perfect score for the test cycle, making it the “most environmentally friendly electric car on the market”.
The compact EV scored five stars in all three tests: Clean Air Index, Energy Efficiency Index, and Greenouse Gases Index, making it the first and only electric vehicle to do so. In fact, it’s also the first car to score a maximum score of 10/10 in the Energy Efficiency Index!
Introduced in 2019, the Green NCAP assessment is designed to test the environmental friendliness of new cars, using results from both laboratory and real-world driving tests. Ratings are then published online (the results for the Fiat 500 can be found here), so consumers can check independently how green a car is before their purchase.
The laboratory tests include cycles in artificial cold and warm ambient, while real-world tests consist of typical on-road driving, on-road driving with heavy load/light load, on-road short trips, and congestion scenarios.
All three indexes are rated equally, signifying equal importance to health, which is affected by pollutant emissions; consumer spending, influenced by a vehicle’s energy efficiency; and the Earth’s future, affected by greenhouse gasses.
The range-topping variant of the Fiat 500 EV is powered by a single electric motor generating 87 kW (117 hp) with electric juices supplied by a 42 kWh battery. Based on Green NCAP’s tests, the Fiat 500 achieved an average consumption of 20.9 kWh/100 km, giving it a driving range of 230 km in a single charge.
Read more about the all-new fully-electric Fiat 500 here.
Apart from its eco-friendly purpose (the seats are wrapped in a fabric created from recycled plastic bottles!), the Fiat 500 also comes equipped with a whole slew of advanced safety features, making it one of the few cars in its segment to offer full level 2 autonomous driving capabilities.
For comparison’s sake, Volkswagen’s ID.3 EV also scored five stars in the Green NCAP assessment, although it only achieved a score of 9.6/10 in the Energy Efficiency Index. The Honda Jazz e:HEV hybrid, meanwhile, scored 3.5/5 stars.
