The Fiat 500e has been approved for the full £3,750 Band 1 electric car grant from the UK government, a discount which is applied at purchase to anyone buying a new EV.

There are a host of qualifying rules for cars to be considered for the discount (and manufacturers actually have to apply, it’s not automatically awarded), but the Fiat 500e qualifies for them all because it costs under £37,000, has a range over 100 miles and is assembled in Europe. 

The 500e is built at Fiat’s Mirafiori plant in Turin and the batteries are assembled in Hungary, an arrangement that doesn’t seem to have changed significantly in the last year or so – did Fiat just not get round to applying for the grant? It would seem on brand for an Italian carmaker, although the 600e model has been getting the £1,500 discount for a little while now. 

At any rate it means that the Fiat 500e now starts from a compelling £17,245 on the road, but that’s for the entry level 24kWh battery model with 118 miles of WLTP range that we probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone unless you’re sticking just to the city limits. 

Still, the 42kWh car and its 202 miles of WLTP range can now be had for £20,245, which is also a decent bargain. You get automatic aircon, cruise control, keyless entry, 16in alloy wheels, rear parking sensors and a 10.25in touchscreen infotainment screen with Apple and Android connectivity for that money. 

The Abarth version of the car also qualifies for the grant, which means you can get a decently fun electric hot hatch starting from £24,245. 

What's nice here is that Fiat already knocked a bit of money off the car at the beginning of January, and it's sticking to those prices for the electric car grant. Not looking anywhere in particular, Kia EV2 Long Range.

Abarth's perkier version of the 500e is surprisingly good fun, and you'll never lose it in a car park