Fiat Grande Panda Electric Review 2025
Fiat Grande Panda Electric At A Glance
Bold, angular styling isn’t yet another 500 derivative. Set to be a good value proposition. Sensible range for a city-centric EV.
Rear seat is tight for a trio of adults or two child seats plus a grown-up between. Coiled charging cable could be redundant for many.
Although some car manufacturers have abandoned the small hatchback market altogether, others — such as the giant Stellantis combine — still consider it important, embracing hybridisation and electrification along the way. Among those newcomers is the angular and robust-looking Fiat Granda Panda Electric.
Two things immediately spring to mind with the Grande Panda Electric: It’s refreshing to see a new model from this storied Italian brand that isn’t another Fiat 500 pastiche but has a trick been missed by not calling this the Giant Panda?
What’s undeniable is that the perpendicular styling of the Fiat Grande Panda Electric — as well as its Hybrid-badged sibling we’ve reviewed separately — is reminiscent of the original 1980s Fiat Panda without being slavishly retro. In fact, many of its styling details are bang up to date and novel, such as the LED graphics of the head and tail lights as well as the PANDA lettering embossed into the lower sections of the doors.
Not as small as the recently discontinued Fiat Panda, hence the Grande element of the newcomer’s name, it nevertheless just nips below four metres in length and has an interior that will — just about — accommodate five passengers, although three on the rear bench will be a squeeze if they’re all adult-sized, just as they are in its sister car, the Citroen e-C3.
Both the Grande Panda Electric and e-C3 share the same underpinnings, including the 44kWh battery pack and 113PS motor powering the front wheels. The Fiat and Citroen have the same limited top speed of 82mph in common, although the former accelerates a tad slower with an 11.0-11.5-second 0-62mph time compared with the latter’s 10.4-second claim. Note that this is another different mechanical arrangement to that found in other Stellantis small hatchbacks such as the Fiat 500 Electric and Peugeot E-208.
Alternative choices from other manufacturers include the cutesy, four-seater Hyundai Inster and the very highly regarded Renault 5 E-Tech, which itself also forms the basis of the all-new Nissan Micra set to go on sale before the end of the year.
Those are all a mite larger and pricier than the Grande Panda Electric, yet car buyers could be tempted to spend less for an EV that’s smaller still. For those consumers the Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03 are likely to ping on their radars.
Utility was a watchword of the original Panda — while this newcomer has many modern touches that mean its interior isn’t so stark or basic, Fiat has graced the Grande Panda Electric with a number of practical touches including 13 litres of storage space around the dashboard and a 361-litre boot with the rear seat in use. That’s significantly more than the 310 litre volume Citroen quotes for the e-C3.
On the WLTP Combined cycle designed to reflect driving at a variety of speeds, Fiat claims the Grande Panda Electric can drive up to 199 miles between recharges. When it comes to plugging it in to replenish the battery’s energy levels, Fiat’s unusually provided a couple of choices.
Behind a flap on the grille panel is a coiled charging cable that pings neatly back into its recess when not required. Handy unless your domestic wallbox chargepoint has a tethered cable itself. The coil’s capable of managing a 7kW AC charge, taking 4 hours 20 minutes for a 20%-80% energy increase.
For a faster 11kW AC alternative it’s the more conventional socket behind a flap on the rear wing you’ll need to use, reducing that same state of charge increase to 2 hours 50 minutes. It’s the same location for rapid DC charging at speeds of up to 100kW — here the 20%-80% recharge takes just 27 minutes.
Although the Hybrid-badged versions are available across three trim levels, the Fiat Grande Panda Electric will be sold in just two, using the familiar Red and La Prima labels employed for the 500 Electric. Both versions have a 10.0-inch driver’s display screen and a 10.25-inch multimedia touchscreen, cruise control and air-con.
Orders for the Fiat Grande Panda Electric open in late spring 2025 with the Red costing £21,035 and the plusher La Prima version an additional £3000. Customer delivers are set to commence in the summer.
Keep this page bookmarked to read our forthcoming full and comprehensive Fiat Grande Panda Electric review in the weeks ahead.
