…which is rather ironic given that the Fiat Cinquecento’s original goal in life was as a Vespa replacement.
Back in post-war Italy, the primary mode of transport for the masses all around the boot-shaped country was the Vespa. Though this was till someone at Fiat realised that having a family of four (or more) be precariously balanced on two tiny wheels is likely not the safest activity in the world, and hence introduced the cutesy 500 (aka cinquecento) in 1957 as an affordable four-wheeled alternative to the aforementioned scooter.
It is rather funny (for the lack of a better word) then that some seven-decades on, an all-electric scooter will debut with design cues lifted straight from a Fiat 500. Talk about history going round in circles…
Now this ouroboros of history here is to be known as the Platum E-Moped 500, and the headline detail about this two-wheeler that its maker wishes everyone to know is for its 500-aping aesthetic was done by famed design studio Pininfarina. What is more interesting here regarding who did what for how this scooter looks is however for its design to have received official creative input from the people who penned the current cinquecento, at Fiat Centro Stile.
Setting the foundation for this two-wheeler’s 500-inspired aesthetic comes first from its single-piece rounded front, complete with a single massive split circular headlight and twin smaller oval side lights mimicking what is currently seen on the latest all-electric iteration of cinquecento. Its sole trapezoidal rear LED light meanwhile is curiously to an inverted version of what is seen on the current models, with its wider top and narrower base being more akin to the units found on the original Fiat people’s car instead.
This moped’s 500 aesthetic incidentally extends to its two wheels, which mimics the multi-spoke style of the current all-electric Fiat city car right down to the chromed tips at the ends of each alternate spoke. And just for those who may have missed out on all these visual clues as to what exactly this bike draws its design inspiration from, the 500 badging prominently placed on its smoothed flanks are present just to hammer home that point.
In terms of what lies under the skin of this moped on the other hand, Platum has remained surprisingly schtum on the powertrain specifics of its first all-electric two wheeler. What its maker has nevertheless said is that this scooter belongs in the L3 category (equivalent to 125 cc) and tops out at approximately 80 km/h, with it to also feature a removable battery that is capable of granting it a riding distance of 115 km on a single charge.
Unveiled at EICMA motorbike trade fair in Milan last week, Platum has thus far not commented on when exactly this all-electric moped will make it into production. Expectedly too then, it has also not announced a price for this eco-friendly urban mobility tool.
Though to those who are perhaps interested in a Fiat 500 and scooter hybrid right now, it is perhaps worth knowing then that a German company actually makes a trike version of this city car. Now admittedly it still has four wheels, but with the rear pair being inboard and so close together, Germany actually classifies this thing as a tricycle.
And why you may ask such a thing should even exist? Well, it is such that 16-year-old Germans on a provisional license can have the chance to go on the road already.
