Fiat Phylla electric city car concept

The Fiat Phylla concept city car was developed by design schools IED (Europeo di Design), IAAD (Istituto di Arte Applicata e Design), and the Centro Richerche Fiat (CRF)’s Advanced Design department.

Phylla is the Greek word for leaf, and pays homage to the leaf’s ability to photosynthesize sunlight into energy, which the Phylla concept has via the use of solar panels on the roof. The 750kg (including a 150kg battery) green concept is built on an aluminium space frame with asymmetrical pillar designs, pretty much like a leaf’s pattern.

The car’s body is only 2995mm long with a 1,980mm wheelbase, but features 2+2 seating. Of course with all 4 seats up there is barely any luggage space, as that is created when you fold the rear seats down, which results in a luggage capacity of 584 liters.

Power is via two electric motors, one for each axle, effectively creating a 4WD system. The car’s specs indicate a nominal output of 27kW with a peak output of 54kW, which leads me to believe 27kW is only with one axle powered, with the other axle’s motor activating when maximum acceleration is needed. The vehicle can go up to an estimated 145km in lithium-ion batteries, or 220km on lithium-polymer batteries. It can be recharged in 4 hours max at 4.5kW, or 5 hours at 3kW.