[az4son]

I have a Fiat 500e and would like to increase the range. I heard that battery technology continues to improve.
Current battery cells would give the Fiat 500e over 160 miles on a charge.
Are there companies that offer battery cell upgrades??
This seems like a great service to offer since the Samsung Cells are readily available.

 

[rkw]

Are there companies that offer battery cell upgrades??

Scuderia-E in Europe does. As of a year ago, the cost was fairly prohibitive.
https://pushevs.com/2018/01/10/fiat-500e-improved-scuderia-e/

 

[Ironhydroxide]

since the Samsung Cells are readily available.

If you can find a source for less than thousands, or hundreds of thousands of these cells, I'd like to hear of it.
I have yet to find a verifiable source that wasn't disassembling a different vehicles battery.

 

[Jiri GrandPa]

The only feasible way is to get cells from totaled i3 with 90Ah cells. They are same size. You need 97 of them.
i3 has only 96 of them.
Basically if you need more range buy other car is rule of thumb for any BEV.

 

[Ironhydroxide]

They are same size. You need 97 of them.
i3 has only 96 of them.

Do you have specs on sizes for i3 and 500e battery? I've read (only one place) that the 90Ah are 1cm taller. but haven't been able to confirm/deny with datasheets (haven't been able to FIND reliable data sheets)

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

i3 cells have the same general size classification, but I read that they are 1cm taller than the 500e's, so double-check that first.

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

Sorry for the duplicate info. Iron's post didn't show on my phone until later!

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

Depending on your driving habits/goals, & current &/or near-future DC rapid chargers near your intended routes, that upcoming kit might be a viable option.

 

[RostHaus]

might look at Spiers New Technologies. its a Dutch company that repairs and refurbishes EV battery packs. among other things related to EVs

They have a fully operational location in Oklahoma City.

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

That DC rapid-charge kit is coming from QuickChargePower.com

 

[UrbanYeti]

Did QuickCharge power fold, or is there a different website? I’m just getting a GoDaddy landing page there now. Off to search more.

Edit: oddly, searching for those 3 words landed on a site that seems to have the same URL, but actually works.

 

[rkw]

Did QuickCharge power fold, or is there a different website? I’m just getting a GoDaddy landing page there now. Off to search more.

Edit: oddly, searching for those 3 words landed on a site that seems to have the same URL, but actually works.

Here is the proper link: https://www.quickchargepower.com/

 

[MDMTahiti]

Pardon me for a naïve question, but couldn't you add a second 63 Ah battery replacement pack? Of course figuring out where to put it would be an issue.

 

[SaltyPeanuts]

Pardon me for a naïve question, but couldn't you add a second 63 Ah battery replacement pack? Of course figuring out where to put it would be an issue.

The battery pack is very heavy so adding a 2nd one will make this worse. I suspect the engine would not provide adequate power at twice the weight. Also the cooling system is designed to serve 1 battery, not 2, so there are other upgrades that would be necessary. You'd do better by making the car more aerodynamic, which it clearly wasn't designed to be at all.

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

Agreed on the 2nd-last part (Cd is decent at 0.311). Lowering 2" reportedly adds 16-18% range. I wonder about extending the OEM rubber lip. Mirrors are really bad too. A sideview camera kit would probably help a lot.

My notes show the battery weighs about 400 pounds, so doubling that for double range would only be like carrying three 133Lb passengers, for which the motor, brakes & tires clearly have adequate power. It WOULD reduce any additional load capability though.

 

[rucallingmefiat]

Just as an FYI, I removed the rubber lip the other day and saw no change in range. Now I'm considering lowering the car with the madness springs and see if it'll make a difference.

 

[carrrl]

500e Cd is worse than pretty much all SUV and crossover EVs. Most of which have more ground clearance and a taller wider stance. But I am curious if that 16-18% increase from lowering can be reliably replicated since that is meaningful miles even in winter. I have always questioned it as you can gain that just by changing your driving habits. One soft datapoint isn't enough for me to pull the trigger.

RE Cameras - I have worked extensively with off the shelf car cameras and can say 99% of them are not a good replacement for wing mirrors. You really need to build your own HD system since all are analog signals with tiny sensors and poor dynamic range. HDMI into a 5" display on left and right could be interesting. I've parted it out even, stopping short of trying to fab something that doesn't look completely hacky.