Derry Journal Motoring with Jim McCauley: Poles Apart

The Italian car brand has also written an open letter asking the UK Government to join it and reintroduce an incentive grant to help buyers make the switch.

In the letter signed by the Managing Director of Fiat UK, Damien Dally, he points out that electric vehicle data suggests that the exponential growth of the vehicle segment in the UK is starting to slow. Furthermore, some data has revealed that demand for electric cars has fallen 65% year-on-year.

While the Plug-in Car Grant has been removed, similar schemes continue to operate in 21 European countries today, with countries such as Germany and Spain offering significant incentives of up to €9,000.

Dally continued, saying, “There’s no doubt the government’s Plug-in Car Grant successfully kickstarted the UK’s electric car revolution – it supported the sale of nearly half a million electric cars.

“However, with the cost-of-living crisis and rising cost of electric vehicles, coupled with our net zero climate targets, we believe more needs to be done to incentivise individuals to be able to afford to make the switch.

“That’s why we’ve taken it upon ourselves to launch the FIAT E-Grant, a £3,000 incentive towards the 500e and 500e Convertible”.

The ‘NEW Fiat 500’ is a little wider and longer with a broader wheelbase than its petrol powered stablemate, based on an entirely new floorpan from Fiat-Chrysler, designed specifically for electric-only application.

The car is available with two battery options – 24kWh and 42kWh with 85kW fast charging on the higher trim levels. The higher output model has a given 0-62mph time of 9.0 seconds, hitting 30mph in just 3.1 seconds.

Although the 500 model range is the smallest in the FIAT line-up, they have just gone even smaller with the first details of an ultra-compact city car.

Following in the tyre marks of Citroen with its similar compact Ami, the new model retrieves a name from the company’s past – Topolino. The original put Europe back on the roads post World War II and FIAT is hoping to again revolutionise city transport with this all-electric newcomer.

At the other end of the scale, Volkswagen has announced the expansion of its ID.Buzz model with a long wheelbase version stretching to just under five metres in length. The extra length of the all-electric van creates room for a third row of seats, providing up to 2,469 litres of storage space, and for a new, larger 85 kWh battery, giving even more range. Power choice is between a 150kW and 250kW motor with a performance all-wheel drive model planned to follow.

Features of the long wheelbase electric VW Bus include a head-up display, an upgraded infotainment system, and remote parking via smartphone. A high-tech panoramic sunroof with smart glass is the largest glass roof ever built by Volkswagen and can be changed from transparent to opaque and vice versa using the manual controls or voice assistant.