The new electric 500, one of the flags of made in Italy abroad. For every hundred cars that leave the gates of the Milafiori factory in Turin, 76 are headed across the border, while 24 remain in Italy. The success of the iconic car of the Fiat brand is also repeated for the Bev version, a model that for Eligio Catarinella, Fiat & Abarth country manager, “leads the energy transition in Italy”. The executive of the Stellantis group, despite the bad market data of the last quarter with a drop in electrical sales in March and the complex situation, between the microchip crisis and the conflict in Ukraine, is happy with the numbers of the brand: “I am very satisfied of commercial results in the first three months of the year which confirm Fiat’s leadership. “And the 500e deserves a separate analysis:” Last year it registered 1,500 registrations in Italy, where it was the best-selling zero emission, and 11 thousand globally. From its launch to the end of 2020, there have been over 50,000 registrations ”, explains Catarinella. A car that women like? In general, yes, when it comes to endothermic, but the electric version has less appeal. Electric mobility has yet to be understood by the female public. Also in the first quarter of 2022 the 500e offered good performances. “And we await the effects of the new state incentives because government support is fundamental, such as the growth of infrastructures, the increase in the number of columns.” In Italy there are less than 30,000, half of Germany and a third of France.
The occasion, to take stock of the situation, is a visit to Mirafiori, the factory where all the activity linked to the 500e is concentrated. Factory, as pointed out by the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, which will be one of the central points of the group in the race to electrification outlined by the “Dare Forward 2030” plan. And it will remain the only plant from which the small Fiat house will come out when the car with an internal combustion engine ceases to be produced. In the complex there is the Battery Hub, where the batteries will be assembled, and Lab, in addition to the Vehicle-to-Grid system, which allows an exchange of current between the network and the connected cars, avoiding waste. In the historic factory of the group born from the merger of FCA and PSA, over two shifts, 1,300 workers work on the small Fiat house that is powered by the plug. “The 500 was our past, now it is an icon that takes us into the future – he says the plant manager Luigi Barbieri – today we work on two shifts, but the line is very flexible, we are ready to accept any request that comes from the market “.
The Turin factory is ready to bet on its future. The bodywork, painting, assembly and logistic warehouse parts cover an area of 737,000 and 500 square meters, of which over 451,000 are covered. Departments where 2695 employees work. Over the last 3 years, 700 million have been invested on the 500e line and electricity also changes production: high electric voltage requires particular precautions, so the High Voltage Manager was born, a figure who identifies the person responsible for specific safety parameters in the final production phase in which the car is powered and the voltage in the cables is 400 volts. New systems have been adopted from the point of view of safety, starting with the improvement of work and process ergonomics, such as the Manufacturing Execution System (Mes). A software thanks to which it is possible to monitor orders and control the quality of external suppliers in real time. The team leaders of the different areas of the assembly line have the possibility to interact with the system from their smartphone. The electric also changes the air quality at the factory: there are, of course, no exhaust gases and the floor-mounted exhausters in the final stage of the line have been deactivated. As well as noises are minimized.