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Sunday, February 16, 2014

How to Reboot the Fiat 500e Electric Vehicle

Fiat 500e Instrument Panel

The Fiat 500e all electric vehicle has been widely acclaimed by the experts and owners alike as a stylish, fun to drive car. Combining the award winning Fiat 500 with an advanced EV drivetrain at an affordable price has made the Fiat 500e a surefire winner.

Like any new technology, there is a learning curve where owners and the public get familiar with its operation and behaviors. On rare occurrences, if there is an issue with an electric vehicle, they may need to be reset or rebooted much like a computer. The following is a post from the Fiat 500 USA Forum that can help an owner of a Fiat 500e that has an issue with its operation. It's a quick and easy check that can keep you on the road. We'd like to thank forum member "inthemovie" for their helpful post in response to a member who had the "Service Electric Vehicle System" warning light illuminate.

You can solve these issues by this fix. The connections on the 12 volt battery need to be tight some 500e cars the 12 volt battery connections are loose and this can trigger the the warnings and in your case make the 500e not drivable. I'm including pictures so you can see how to fix this and reboot the 500e. Electric cars are very complex and 500e can only be rebooted this way. Other electric cars like the Volt can be rebooted by shutting the car down and opening the driver door.

The 500e cannot be rebooted this way. You can have to disconnect power from the 12 volt battery to reset the car. By performing this task I have eliminated the problem you have and I have eliminated the problem that few others have had of grinding braking when stopping. The 500e is very sensitive and to protect the main battery and other systems and it will go into a limp mode and in some cases the 500e will not be able to drive at all.

You can fix this very easy and and I encourage all 500e owners to make sure these connections are secure.

Fiat 500e Motor Cover

First remove this cover by pulling it up. It just pulls right off.

Now you will see the 12 volt car battery and it's the positive connection that we will remove to reset the 500e.

Fiat 500e Battery


Pull off the red plastic cover on the positive side of the 12 volt battery. You will see two ten millimeter nuts. Loosen the one the wrench is on then you can remove the terminal from the battery post.

Fiat 500e Battery Terminal


Keep the terminal disconnected for sixty seconds. Now put the terminal back on the positive battery post with one hand holding it there and with the one hand tighten the ten millimeter nut. Make sure the the other ten millimeter nut right next to this one is tight as well. ( mine was loose and causing the same problem as OP) also check the ten millimeter nut on the negative side a make sure it's tight.

Now turn on the 500e and the error code message will be gone. If not turn the 500e on and off five times and the codes will clear.

Fiat 500e and 10mm Wrench



I keep this ten millimeter wrench in the back of each 500e that I own. As this electric car is a very complex machine and like a computer is might need to be reset. And the only way to to this is the way I described above. Since resetting one of my 500e's back in November I have had no more error messages and that 500e has thousands of miles on it. I have also checked the nuts on the other 500e's that I own and made sure they were tight and have had no trouble with those cars as well.




Disclaimer: The information is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. The Fiat 500e has a long warranty, so if you have any doubts on you ability to do this work or have any issues, I recommend having it done by a professional. I am not responsible for any issues arriving from you reading this post. Use at your own risk.

Images: fiatgojo, inthemovie
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