I seriously would probably never use the heater. I live in southern California and I even turn on the ac in my car during our winters. I get hot very easily. But I do blast the AC.
From what I heard, the battery degradation is never linear and after it hits about 70-80% of its original capacity it levels off and degrades at a slower rate. This is at least what the case was with the very first gen Nissan Leaf. The 500e has better thermal battery management (liquid cooled and heated) so in theory, it'll be real hard to kill it. Have a 500e myself and absolutely love it.
@@OvalboreCars Exactly. The lack of DC fast charging additionally helps since there are no high input currents either. Anyway, great little car and I certainly hope mine lasts at least next 4 to 5 years, just to pay for itself. Just love driving it and am always finding excuses to do so.
well, lots of leafs have 50kW chademo, and I think the new + range one has 100kW.. very scary. either way, I heard the 500e manage a fair bit when charging even on level 2 speeds on a hot day.
Nice info, I want to try preheating and using my heat this winter, 500e & BMW I3. I want to change the sound or reduce the volume on my noise generator.
@@OvalboreCars Agreed, want to move there so bad. I'm originally from Alaska but now live down in hot and humid Alabama and I hate it so definitely going to law school in D.C. or Minneapolis depending. Thanks for the EV vids, love em
The 500e sounds like a fun little DD to geek out about. We have a gas 500 and it's a fun little commuter and fits just about anywhere, would definitely buy another one.
I started out with the gassers, but after I bought the E, I sold off the others in short order. the weight distribution, the torque, and standard equipment is just excellent on the E. has the biggest friction brakes of any 500 as well!
I thought it funny the comment about 1000 suns. I have a 500e being delivered soon, so I am looking at these videos. The 500e seems like a car to have and keep. Like a fine piece of stereo equipment, it will age well. I think I'll throw a knit hat over the TomTom if it bothers me. Thanks for the videos.
Your videos on this car have been great, thank you. I'm really torn between the 500e and the spark ev. Either can be had for similar prices... The spark ev having a nice back seat and 4 doors is compelling, so is its massive torque output. They claim the same range EPA but the spark having such a smaller battery on paper, is that something to worry about? I feel as though the heater and AC would be a big impact in a spark vs the 500e because of this but it's something I've yet found.
Spark is fast and has cool electronics. Fiat has faster level 2 charge time, I'd rather have that than DC fast charging. +Fiat"s cheaper, better looking?
Use the heated seats over the vented heat, uses much less power. Also look into a milwaukee heated jacket to wear, if you already have the tools the M12 batteries are used in the jacket.
Had my 500e since October. Didn’t even attempt to drive it during the polar vortex week. Good info about the climate control consumption. Will keep that in mind...now I don’t have to freeze when driving in the cold anymore. 😬 I wish there was a way to set a precondition schedule in the car via the instrument cluster like you can on the i3 via iDrive. I preheat for about 10 mins while plugged in, but I’m concerned that that is not long enough for the battery to precondition. The i3 starts preconditioning the battery ~3 hrs before your set departure time. I’m not getting up 3hrs early just to go out to switch on the Fiat, but I bet it would certainly have a positive effect on range. You’ve mentioned checking the battery degradation. Would you mind sharing how you did that? I’d like to check mine, as well, just so I know what condition it’s in. I’m in Chicago, and shipped mine from Cali....so I would think it’s had a pretty easy life.
unfortunately -- just with the App which is not supported after lease. there is now a fellow that makes a $400 module with $60/year telematics that gives you full preconditioning again though. you can take care of the battery's hunger by setting your charge timer to start 3-3.5 hours before you leave in the AM though. you need AlfaOBD app on android device and Konwei OBD2 bluetooth adapter. not too bad
Getting a 2017 500e with 20,000 miles soon. I understand that the seats heat from the 12v battery. I saw some aftermarket under panels that smooth the air flow beneath the car. Your high speed driving could have been improved 8%.
What is that noise if you run your car after charging using the cruise control that sounds like grinding? I got that same phenomenon in my 500e from 2015. It only appears at low motor power and disappears if you brake or accelerate. Good Video though. The reason why your heater jumps to zero draw is because the electric ceramic heating element was still hotter/warmer than needed to serve the lower temperature in that moment. I use step 2 or 3 on the blower, no air con and just the window/feet button to prevent the blower running full speed when using the windscreen button.
It does, but they're disabled by FCA after 3 years. There's a fellow in the Netherlands that sells a $400 OBD interface telematics box and engineered his own app to mimic these preheat/check features though. it's also $60/year for telematics. I've considered it, but yet to take the plunge.
So I'm thinking on getting a 2016 with 29k miles on it. I'm from Chicago, and my commute will be 76miles every day. You think this car will be able to get me to work, and back? Thanks
no. that number of miles isnt possible in a climate where you see under 40 degrees unless its 100% city driving. limit is probably 40 miles round trip in the dead of winter in Chicago. look at a first gen Soul EV. that MIGHT do it, just.
You are cutting it close! The only way it can work is if you have a level 2 charger at your first half of your commute so it will be fully charged up and can get you home. I highly recommend a level 2 charger for the home the level 1 is slooooooooooow to charge.
I own a 2016 500E with 15,000 miles and absolutely love the car! My commute is 44 miles round trip so I’m ok with the battery consumption but again get that level 2 it’s a must have.
@@OvalboreCars id like to see how your main battery floor pan is holding out , alot road salt is it rusty i be worried that small hole in the bottom could leak water into the case ?
I own a fiat 500e 600ft elevation change 52 mile round trip With weather and using air conditioning both heat and A/C The best - 41% battery left The worst - 18% battery left Don’t look at miles look at battery %
I just purchased a 2017 Fiat 500e with 13,000 miles from Walser Nissan in Wayzata. I live in Rochester Minnesota so it was an adventure just getting it home. Had to do a full recharge in Apply Valley to make it home. I have a question about the battery percentage gauge. Mine has now on two occasions when the battery is below about 40% where it will rapidly start losing percentage. I am talking go from 34% to 20% in a matter of a half mile. Has that ever happened to you? I have looked though the forums and cant really find anything relating to this issue. Thanks for the videos they have been very helpful in making my purchase.
unfortunately that is a cell degradation issue. the packs are warrantied, but you will have to get it back up to the dealer off of HWY 100 in SLP for a diag (they work on 500Es, they worked on mine a lot). I would recommend driving it down to 1% and charge up to 100 just to let the car do a real deep top balance.
@@OvalboreCars Thanks for the help. I will try running it way down and see if it does anything. I was also thinking of doing a battery reset to see if will recalibrate the system. Worth a shot anyway before i bring it in.
After watching videos on Wisely Automotive, I don't think the battery capacity information is accurate. Great info on using heat. The worst is having to use the defogger and getting the cold air in your face. I use seat heaters gloves and hat, I will use more heat now, I have to charge at work anyway. TheTon Tom power consumption gauge is too bright to use at night. I wonder if it would be worth trying to replace the battery in the TomTom, if you use the nav, you could take it out of the car and enter the destination in your house.
76% capacity? The data sheet for these sdi 64ah prismatic cells have a 3000 cycle life . At that many cycles the capacity should be at 80% of original capacity. You are at 76 % capacity meaning it's technically at its "end of life" . The battery in reality should be fine and still work as seen in the video . My opinion the battery will make it to 200k miles but you will have to do it before its calendar life causes a battery failure.
While I agree it should be better... I do everything in my power to abuse the battery to see if I can reduce its lifespan. drive down to or below zero, charge to 100% every time. leave car sitting at 100%. high kW discharge events, high kW regen events, operating in -35*F and +110*F temperatures, etc. I may contact FCA out of curiosity at some point to see if they'd be interested in swapping my pack so they can study this one, but I doubt it. Car still works fine for what I need.
Battery should still be under warranty. 8yrs 100k miles. You might be able to get a warranty replacement! People have caught on to what a great value these little cars are, wish I would’ve bought one a couple years ago. Thinking about getting one in the near future as a daily driver/Turo rental car. Edit: Just saw that there’s no capacity guarantee on the battery... maybe an opportunity to try experimenting with upgrading the battery, which gets into the realm of cost vs. returns... but Samsung’s newer cells are the same form factor with better capacity (as you said, like in the i3). Perhaps if you could source an i3 pack with the 93ah cells you could swap cells while retaining the original BMS and get well over 100 mi or range. I left a comment on one of your earlier videos about the DC fast charging kit for this car that the company I work for will be working on soon. Maybe something that may be of interest if you wanted to keep this one, or get another one in the near future.
Daily commuter EV for $5,500?!? That's crazy awesome, dude!
I seriously would probably never use the heater. I live in southern California and I even turn on the ac in my car during our winters. I get hot very easily. But I do blast the AC.
From what I heard, the battery degradation is never linear and after it hits about 70-80% of its original capacity it levels off and degrades at a slower rate. This is at least what the case was with the very first gen Nissan Leaf. The 500e has better thermal battery management (liquid cooled and heated) so in theory, it'll be real hard to kill it. Have a 500e myself and absolutely love it.
you mean the 500e HAS thermal management. the leaf does not what so ever. mainly omitted for cost cutting.
@@OvalboreCars Exactly. The lack of DC fast charging additionally helps since there are no high input currents either. Anyway, great little car and I certainly hope mine lasts at least next 4 to 5 years, just to pay for itself. Just love driving it and am always finding excuses to do so.
well, lots of leafs have 50kW chademo, and I think the new + range one has 100kW.. very scary.
either way, I heard the 500e manage a fair bit when charging even on level 2 speeds on a hot day.
Weird flexing with remote exhaust cars
Nice info, I want to try preheating and using my heat this winter, 500e & BMW I3. I want to change the sound or reduce the volume on my noise generator.
so cool to see EV's in extremely cold weather, and I love seeing Minneapolis
we live here on purpose - some people understand, some don't :)
@@OvalboreCars Agreed, want to move there so bad. I'm originally from Alaska but now live down in hot and humid Alabama and I hate it so definitely going to law school in D.C. or Minneapolis depending. Thanks for the EV vids, love em
oof. Alabama?! how did that happen? haha
best of luck. HMU when you move up here and I'll give you a tour of the madness.
The 500e sounds like a fun little DD to geek out about. We have a gas 500 and it's a fun little commuter and fits just about anywhere, would definitely buy another one.
I started out with the gassers, but after I bought the E, I sold off the others in short order. the weight distribution, the torque, and standard equipment is just excellent on the E. has the biggest friction brakes of any 500 as well!
Buy 2
I thought it funny the comment about 1000 suns. I have a 500e being delivered soon, so I am looking at these videos. The 500e seems like a car to have and keep. Like a fine piece of stereo equipment, it will age well. I think I'll throw a knit hat over the TomTom if it bothers me. Thanks for the videos.
the tom tom is removable, but I highly suggest using it for the data display.
Excelente 👍🏼
Useful thank you.
I've been thinking of buying one of these just form my daily commute of 22 miles round trip
they're pretty great. I miss mine pretty often.
Your videos on this car have been great, thank you. I'm really torn between the 500e and the spark ev. Either can be had for similar prices... The spark ev having a nice back seat and 4 doors is compelling, so is its massive torque output. They claim the same range EPA but the spark having such a smaller battery on paper, is that something to worry about? I feel as though the heater and AC would be a big impact in a spark vs the 500e because of this but it's something I've yet found.
first gen Soul EV is a car you're overlooking too. tiny bit more $ but 28kWh batt.
Spark is fast and has cool electronics. Fiat has faster level 2 charge time, I'd rather have that than DC fast charging. +Fiat"s cheaper, better looking?
Use the heated seats over the vented heat, uses much less power. Also look into a milwaukee heated jacket to wear, if you already have the tools the M12 batteries are used in the jacket.
I do. not nearly enough in these temps. keeping cabin at 60 degrees helps a lot though, and preheating.
fogged up glass is a big one in the winter.
Ovalbore this technique works in our frigid Southern California winters.
What year is your 500e? I am seeing 2014s n up claiming 100 miles on full charge
3:16 The moment you crossed 70k miles, the Fiat got so confused it turned the EVIC backlight off xD
Had my 500e since October. Didn’t even attempt to drive it during the polar vortex week.
Good info about the climate control consumption. Will keep that in mind...now I don’t have to freeze when driving in the cold anymore. 😬
I wish there was a way to set a precondition schedule in the car via the instrument cluster like you can on the i3 via iDrive. I preheat for about 10 mins while plugged in, but I’m concerned that that is not long enough for the battery to precondition. The i3 starts preconditioning the battery ~3 hrs before your set departure time.
I’m not getting up 3hrs early just to go out to switch on the Fiat, but I bet it would certainly have a positive effect on range.
You’ve mentioned checking the battery degradation. Would you mind sharing how you did that? I’d like to check mine, as well, just so I know what condition it’s in. I’m in Chicago, and shipped mine from Cali....so I would think it’s had a pretty easy life.
unfortunately -- just with the App which is not supported after lease. there is now a fellow that makes a $400 module with $60/year telematics that gives you full preconditioning again though.
you can take care of the battery's hunger by setting your charge timer to start 3-3.5 hours before you leave in the AM though.
you need AlfaOBD app on android device and Konwei OBD2 bluetooth adapter. not too bad
Hey bro I think I bought your car did you trade yours in recently that was a lease? With 15k miles on it?
Keep us posted with the warranty issues! I have a Tom Tom but I can’t get to that menu.
Maybe you need to pair it with blue &me ?
I can hear the bumps, normal for small wheel bases. Thinking about getting a 2017.
my car was lowered about 5" and suspension was rock hard due to temperature.
Getting a 2017 500e with 20,000 miles soon. I understand that the seats heat from the 12v battery.
I saw some aftermarket under panels that smooth the air flow beneath the car. Your high speed driving could have been improved 8%.
not really interested in improved efficiency, just wanted to see how it behaved in the worst possible weather.
What is that noise if you run your car after charging using the cruise control that sounds like grinding? I got that same phenomenon in my 500e from 2015. It only appears at low motor power and disappears if you brake or accelerate. Good Video though. The reason why your heater jumps to zero draw is because the electric ceramic heating element was still hotter/warmer than needed to serve the lower temperature in that moment. I use step 2 or 3 on the blower, no air con and just the window/feet button to prevent the blower running full speed when using the windscreen button.
with that description unfortunately I cannot help.
Update please! What’s your average cost per mile driven? Any maintenance or repairs since this video?
sold the car about 1.5 years ago.
no idea. I uploaded a video on all maintenance items I ever did to the car. simply search.
during your time of ownership, how much have you paid for maintenance on your 500e? Like a firmware update or anything of the sort.
I wrench on everything at home. so, $0?
what model tomtom is that? which model has the cradle for the e500?
factory
Is a 60mile commute pushing it on the 500e? I found some 500e’s going for 3,500 with 15k miles
depends on hwy/city split and climate usage. Yes if you use heat. I would not expect more than 40 miles when cold.
Do you still hit those numbers or have they drastically decreased?
this is a 5 part series with two cars. please watch the whole set as it answers all of these questions
Where did you get a TomTom for $100 ?
I shopped for a LONG time on owners forums.
Does the car have any remote features? Would be handy to be able to enable the cabin heating hour or two before leaving while the car is plugged in.
It does, but they're disabled by FCA after 3 years.
There's a fellow in the Netherlands that sells a $400 OBD interface telematics box and engineered his own app to mimic these preheat/check features though. it's also $60/year for telematics.
I've considered it, but yet to take the plunge.
So I'm thinking on getting a 2016 with 29k miles on it. I'm from Chicago, and my commute will be 76miles every day. You think this car will be able to get me to work, and back? Thanks
no. that number of miles isnt possible in a climate where you see under 40 degrees unless its 100% city driving. limit is probably 40 miles round trip in the dead of winter in Chicago.
look at a first gen Soul EV. that MIGHT do it, just.
You are cutting it close! The only way it can work is if you have a level 2 charger at your first half of your commute so it will be fully charged up and can get you home. I highly recommend a level 2 charger for the home the level 1 is slooooooooooow to charge.
I own a 2016 500E with 15,000 miles and absolutely love the car! My commute is 44 miles round trip so I’m ok with the battery consumption but again get that level 2 it’s a must have.
How do you pre-heat your 500e ?
go outside and turn the key when its plugged in
Can you do it through app?
could you do the heater while its charging id like to see the tom tom results
I will add that to video update #5
Anything else you'd like to see?
@@OvalboreCars id like to see how your main battery floor pan is holding out , alot road salt is it rusty i be worried that small hole in the bottom could leak water into the case ?
@@OvalboreCars does your battery lose energy rapidly when going 50 Miles straight towards the last quarter of the remaining charge?
70,000 miles ? Damn I have only 45,000 on mine.
I drive a bunch!
I just hit 40k on my 2013 last night
I daily drive my car to work and it is about 64 miles round-trip, is this car able to be handle 64 miles on freeway?
if you don't need the heater ever, and you drive sensibly, it should.
That's tight. Gets better range in a heavy traffic.
I own a fiat 500e
600ft elevation change
52 mile round trip
With weather and using air conditioning both heat and A/C
The best - 41% battery left
The worst - 18% battery left
Don’t look at miles look at battery %
How is this thing holding up?
just fine - another MN owner now a bit further west. Im in a model S now.
How severely has the battery degraded throughout all these miles?
pretty much all of the degradation, which is not significant, happens by 30 or 35k miles. it doesnt seem to be any worse after 70+k than it was at 30.
@@OvalboreCars does battery cooling works good?
I just purchased a 2017 Fiat 500e with 13,000 miles from Walser Nissan in Wayzata. I live in Rochester Minnesota so it was an adventure just getting it home. Had to do a full recharge in Apply Valley to make it home. I have a question about the battery percentage gauge. Mine has now on two occasions when the battery is below about 40% where it will rapidly start losing percentage. I am talking go from 34% to 20% in a matter of a half mile. Has that ever happened to you? I have looked though the forums and cant really find anything relating to this issue. Thanks for the videos they have been very helpful in making my purchase.
unfortunately that is a cell degradation issue. the packs are warrantied, but you will have to get it back up to the dealer off of HWY 100 in SLP for a diag (they work on 500Es, they worked on mine a lot).
I would recommend driving it down to 1% and charge up to 100 just to let the car do a real deep top balance.
@@OvalboreCars Thanks for the help. I will try running it way down and see if it does anything. I was also thinking of doing a battery reset to see if will recalibrate the system. Worth a shot anyway before i bring it in.
at least the pack has a 10 year 100k mile warranty if a cell is dying.
Did your pack do better with low discharge and full recharge cycle?
@@My2JZandMe It does seem like running the pack to almost 0 and recharging fully worked. I haven't had the issue since.
Curious if you got it to fail. (I'm at about 60K.)
nope. hardly changed at all before I sold it at 73k. there are folks over 100k out there now. my new one has 68k on it and about the same SoHc
After watching videos on Wisely Automotive, I don't think the battery capacity information is accurate.
Great info on using heat. The worst is having to use the defogger and getting the cold air in your face. I use seat heaters gloves and hat, I will use more heat now, I have to charge at work anyway.
TheTon Tom power consumption gauge is too bright to use at night. I wonder if it would be worth trying to replace the battery in the TomTom, if you use the nav, you could take it out of the car and enter the destination in your house.
I'm very confident everything I said in these segments is accurate to real world usage.
I'm not contradicting anything in the video, I'm suggesting the battery information from the car might not be an accurate condition of your battery.
Why does it sound like the drive-train is falling apart?
probably because you have something wrong with your hearing?
I don't hear anything lol don't be hating this is a nice car
Wow 2 yrs later and zero dislikes. I admit it... I”m verrrry tempted.
hey, someone has to be a douche on the internet - fuck it. give it a go!
76% capacity? The data sheet for these sdi 64ah prismatic cells have a 3000 cycle life . At that many cycles the capacity should be at 80% of original capacity. You are at 76 % capacity meaning it's technically at its "end of life" . The battery in reality should be fine and still work as seen in the video . My opinion the battery will make it to 200k miles but you will have to do it before its calendar life causes a battery failure.
While I agree it should be better... I do everything in my power to abuse the battery to see if I can reduce its lifespan. drive down to or below zero, charge to 100% every time. leave car sitting at 100%. high kW discharge events, high kW regen events, operating in -35*F and +110*F temperatures, etc.
I may contact FCA out of curiosity at some point to see if they'd be interested in swapping my pack so they can study this one, but I doubt it.
Car still works fine for what I need.
@@OvalboreCars when you do contact them I am interested in what happens.
Battery should still be under warranty. 8yrs 100k miles. You might be able to get a warranty replacement! People have caught on to what a great value these little cars are, wish I would’ve bought one a couple years ago. Thinking about getting one in the near future as a daily driver/Turo rental car.
Edit: Just saw that there’s no capacity guarantee on the battery... maybe an opportunity to try experimenting with upgrading the battery, which gets into the realm of cost vs. returns... but Samsung’s newer cells are the same form factor with better capacity (as you said, like in the i3). Perhaps if you could source an i3 pack with the 93ah cells you could swap cells while retaining the original BMS and get well over 100 mi or range.
I left a comment on one of your earlier videos about the DC fast charging kit for this car that the company I work for will be working on soon. Maybe something that may be of interest if you wanted to keep this one, or get another one in the near future.