Fiat 500e is finally equipped with some high-tech kit.

There’s heated seats for the first time ever, for example, and there’s 10.25-inch central screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and wireless charging.

There’s a digital driver display, too, plus there’s faux-leather on the seats and dash, a panoramic glass sunroof and fancy push-button front doors (though with a mechanical back-up lever hidden in the door pockets should something go pear shaped).

Outside, you’ll find 17-inch alloys, as well as LED lightning all around, including the DRLs, and there’s keyless entry and push-button start, too.

A single front-mounted electric motor delivers the power in the 500e, with 87kW and 220Nm on offer. There’s the usual EV single-speed gearbox, too, with power sent to the front wheels.

In the cabin, it’s definitely a more modern affair than in an ICE 500, with the big screen, the horizontal push-button gear selector, and nifty push-button door openers.

Still, it’s all pretty familiar Fiat 500, only a little nicer, even if some of the plastics are far too hard and scratchy for a vehicle this expensive.

The Fiat 500e will accelerate to 100km/h in 9.0secs, but it feels faster than that, owing to the way that electric vehicles deliver their power.

The Fiat 500e is a strict four-seater, but even having that many adults on board would be a stretch, with the backseat unsurprisingly tight on space.

It's a better story up the front, where passengers have enough room to get comfortable.

The Fiat 500e’s 42kWh battery provides a smallish 311km driving range on paper, but when we got in it was more like 290km at 96 per cent charged. A city car, then, rather than a long-distance hauler.

When it does come time to charge, you’re set up for 85kW DC fast charging which should take you from zero to 80 percent in 35 minutes.