Nobody picks a Fiat 500e for a road trip. That’s not an opinion. That’s practically written in the owner’s manual, somewhere between the charging instructions and the part where it reminds you this is a city car. And yet, Canadian YouTuber Simply Gregster EV decided that social convention was overrated and took Canada’s most affordable electric vehicle out for a full day of real-world driving.
The plan was straightforward enough. Leave Montreal on a cold, breezy spring morning, cover roughly 200 kilometers without plugging in once, and see what was left of the battery by the time the driveway came back into view.
The 500e started with a full charge and a manufacturer-estimated range of 225 km. Under the “hood” sits a 42 kWh battery, 117 HP, and a DC fast-charging ceiling of 85 kW. It’s not a spec sheet that screams highway dominator, but it’s more than enough to turn heads.
Early efficiency numbers came in at a reasonable 13.7 kWh per 100 km. Then the wind picked up. With winter tires still mounted and a crosswind doing its best to push the little Italian sideways, the 500e required constant steering corrections.
Still, the Fiat 500e pushed on without complaint. At the halfway point, with over 75 km covered, 66% of the battery remained. That’s the kind of number that quietly tells you everything is going to be fine.
The return leg added highway miles and a headwind, nudging consumption up to 15.2 kWh per 100 km. Not ideal, but not a crisis either. When the battery dipped below 20%, range anxiety knocked on the door.
He pulled back into his driveway with 14% remaining, having covered just under 190 km on a single charge, impressively close to the official estimate, under conditions that were anything but official.
The verdict is clear. For urban commuters and suburban daily drivers, the Fiat 500e is not just adequate. It’s genuinely compelling, especially when leasing costs drop to around $108 USD per month and a full home charge costs a handful of dollars. Long road trips and brutal winters will expose its limits quickly, but for everything else, Canada’s cheapest EV just made a very loud argument in its favor.
