Fiat 500 - New EV v. Used Petrol - Bigger Footprint?

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Sun 23 May 2021 20:05
Fiat 500 - New EV v. Used Petrol - Bigger Footprint? - Nsar1

Hi considering going EV on contract hire while the market settles down a bit and some clarity on depreciation emerges. BUT would a near new petrol Fiat 500 acutally be better for the environment than a new EV, over say 4 years, once you've factored in the CO2 in manufacturing stage of a new EV? I've tried a few Google searches and did a forum search but not seen anything which answers this.

Thanks in advance.

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Sun 23 May 2021 20:15
Fiat 500 - New EV v. Used Petrol - Bigger Footprint? - badbusdriver

Opening a can of worms there!.

It will be a real struggle to find 'unbiased' info one way or t'other. But remember you also need to factor in where your electric is coming from. Which in itself is something which could easily change as more electricity is produced from greener sources.

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Sun 23 May 2021 21:42
Fiat 500 - New EV v. Used Petrol - Bigger Footprint? - veloceman
Better for the environment - who could say.
Used petrol 500 is around £7-8k for a three year old one. You can get anew one for £10k.
I seen the new electric one, looks well smart. However would you pay 3x more for one?
Electric cars are a novelty at the mo and if you buy the wrong one could be an expensive white elephant.
You could do what I have just done and swap your 1.2s for an Abarth 595.
b***** good fun for little cash!
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Mon 24 May 2021 15:19
Fiat 500 - New EV v. Used Petrol - Bigger Footprint? - SLO76
I maintain that a small petrol engined car is still the least environmentally damaging vehicle you can run. Battery powered cars are not zero emission despite what fans would love you to believe and the battery pack manufacturing process is far from environmentally friendly plus you have to factor in that it’ll need at least one battery pack swap during its lifespan or it’ll be written-off much earlier than the equivalent petrol powered car.

Financially it depends on the sort of usage it’ll see, but here’s a few quick figures.

A new 87kw (you’ll need this one for any meaningful range) Fiat 500 Electric will cost approximately £289.05 pcm to lease if we assume a term of 4yrs and a deposit of £289.05. At the end of it you walk away with nothing, except maybe a bill for any paintwork damage.



A budget of say £8,000 is enough to buy a good used 19 plate 1.2 Lounge with low mileage with a bit of bartering at a dealer with a bit of warranty. Via a low rate bank loan at 3% APR over 5yrs this will cost £143.26 pcm and a total of £8595.60 and at the end of 5yrs you have a car that should still be worth £3-£4K to show for it.

To me it’s a no brainer, a good used petrol example makes more sense unless maybe you’re a company car user or you drive into a emissions zone with free access and parking for electric vehicles, barring this I’d have the petrol car and I would buy used. A new one would be around £14k for example.


I just found a great car on Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105112464522


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Tue 25 May 2021 13:03
Fiat 500 - New EV v. Used Petrol - Bigger Footprint? - Nsar1

Thanks for that, yes inclined to agree with that thinking.

Now need to persuade my wife that we *really* need an Abarth to replace the 1.2 Lounge we have.

Edited by Nsar1 on 25/05/2021 at 13:04

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