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.