Giorgio Armani has collaborated with Fiat to design an all-electric car made of all sustainable material as part of a charity project, Earth Alliance.
The limited-edition Fiat model 500 bears the designers’ signature embedded at the front. This edition will be auctioned off with two other designer made 500s—by Bulgari and Kartell.
The car was unveiled on March 4 in front of the Duomo Cathedral in Milan, which was reopened to the public after some precautions against the Coronavirus. Italy is under a complete lockdown now to prevent any further spread of the contagion.
The electric car will be made in Turin, Italy. The EV Fiat 500 car will run up to 320 kilometres or 199 miles on a single charge. It gets 85 kW fast-charge at a time. The fast charger can power the battery to 85 percent capacity in 35 minutes. It takes only five minutes for the 500 to get the charge to run 30 miles on fast-charging system. It comes with a combo socket able to accept both AC and DC charging.
Its lithium-ion batteries have a capacity of 42kWh.
This fast-charging system and its mileage make it a total city car. The Fiat 500 also comes with a home charging system called the ‘easy wallbox’ that can be connected to any normal home electric outlets for charging. It takes nearly 6 hours to be fully charged. Alternatively, a specially adapted cable allows one to charge at public outlets too.
The electric motor has a maximum speed of 93mph/150kph and acceleration from zero to 62mph/100kph in 9 seconds and zero to 31mph/50kph in 3.1 seconds.
The car is priced at $43,000/$33,000 (€37,900/£29,000) and can be pre-ordered in some markets.
The car has been laser-etched to give a fabric-like feel and has a grey-green colour. Its metal body features innovative anti-pollution and anti-bacterial technology that helps purify the air. The car’s launch edition is available in three colors: mineral grey (metallic), ocean green (pearlescent), and celestial blue (three-layer). It comes with 17-inch diamond-cut wheels, its windows and side panels are chrome plated.
The car comes with a folding fabric roof with the GA logo. The four-seater electric car’s interiors are a mix of leather and wool fabric with wood and aluminium finishing—all in eco-friendly materials (recycled).
The lights are clustered as in older designs of Fiat but now come in LED.
For cars with speeds of 20km/h an acoustic vehicle alert warning system (AVAS) for pedestrians is mandatory. The Fiat 500, in keeping with its designing credentials, has come up with a unique sound for the AVAS, the music of Amarcord by Nino Rota.
The Bulgar and Kartell models come with the Altagamma logo, the icosahedron designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. The logo is in the acknowledgment by the luxury goods association’s recognition last year of the Fiat 500 as an “icon of Italian Lifestyle.”
“With its extraordinary popularity over more than 60 years, the Fiat 500 has become a symbol of our lifestyle,” said Altagamma’s president Matteo Lunelli.
The Fiat 500 was launched in 1957 as a practical and inexpensive city car. In 2007, on the 50th anniversary of the Fiat 500, the 500 was relaunched.
Fiat was started in 1899 with the 3½ HP. And the same year the automobile factory was established in Turin. From then on, Fiat has become a part of Italy’s mobility history.
