An interesting google query:
"fiat panda elettrica"
turns up lots of mainly italian links on what is apparently a Panda Electric version, using Zebra batteries and converted by Swiss MES-DEA. Anyone having italian friends or speaking italian willing to do some investigation on this ? Are they on sale ?

Found some more information, also on price:
http://infovel.tio.ch/eng/veicoli_inter ... pulsione=1
List price: CHF 41'426.--

Thats roughly ~25 000 EUR or ~17 000 GBP.

dammit, why does all the good stuff have to be in italian ?? i found another link discussing this in depth, and also user comments on MES-DEA converted Electric Twingo
http://translate.google.com/translate?u ... uage_tools
Hard to read, but intelligible

I know someone who drove the electric Panda. They were very impressed, except that the car interior got very hot.

Which I guess is not surprising, because the batteries have to run at something like 270 degrees Celcius before they start to work properly.

So not only do you get to work nice and warm, you can cook your bacon-and-eggs on the batteries on your way in!

Apparently, as well as Mes Dea there’s another company in Italy - EcoLori spa - doing conversions of the Fiat Panda but with a different battery. You’ll have the same problem trying to translate the pages but the photos look good.

http://www.ecolorispa.com

Matt

I see that the ECOLORI still has MES-DEA inverters and motors in the vehicle.
http://www.ecolorispa.com/schede_tecniche_modelli.html

i wonder why these havent been reported more widely ? trying to google up pages on electric Panda in english yields practically nothing.
at 25K EUR, it starts to approach "financially feasible", if not affordable price range.

The problem is, €25,000 for a small city car is a lot of money in anyones language.

What has made GoinGreen successful with the G-Wiz is that they managed to build an electric vehicle and sell it for south of £7,000 - thats around €10,270.

People are prepared to pay that. I'd doubt that many people are prepared to pay £17,000 for a Panda though.

When the price drops by another £6,000 - 7,000 I think we'll see some takers. Until that time, it is always going to be a very niche product.

in other words, double the doors, double the comfort, double the speed and double the range, does not warrant double the price ?

Hi,

I'm a swiss italian, and I live near the MES-DEA factory. I can confirm you about the electric panda. This company also offer an Electric Renault Twingo and a Smart.

You can find on my site some documents: http://www.rivola.net/file/ev/ (sorry for the french)
The documents are a bit old so the prices are no more valid.

MES-DEA also offer the possibility to lease the battery for 280 CHF/month. In this case the selling price of the Twingo is in example 28000 CHF.

I agree with you that the price is really high, but with these cars you can go without problems on highway. I regularly see them in the highway at 120 km/h.

in other words, double the doors, double the comfort, double the speed and double the range, does not warrant double the price ?

Correct.

Now if the conversion was done on a car with a higher perceived value... such as a Mercedes A class, then yes, the car is worth double the price. After all, you can spend £20,000 on a Mercedes and its a cheap Mercedes - people have been known to spend ten times that amount on a Merc.

Tell people you've spent £17,000 on a Fiat Panda though, and you'll just get looks of disbelief. Perceived value, rather than real value, is the problem.