The old Fiat 500, a small Italian car known as the model used by the main character of the popular anime Lupin the Third, was converted into an electric car by Il Museo della Cinquecento, a private museum in Nagoya.
Damages were fixed, rust was removed and the car was successfully modified into an EV without changing the vehicle's body. To have these cars run on the street -- in the hopes of preserving them -- the museum began selling the EV Fiat 500s last month.
The museum decided earlier this year to create an EV version because it wanted to produce "a classic car with modern technology." It was also converted into an automatic to allow more people to drive it.
There are two versions of the electric Fiat 500. One version can travel for about 40 kilometers on a single charge and is priced at 5.06 million yen, while the other has two EV batteries and can travel for about 80 kilometers on a single charge and costs 5.5 million yen.
It takes about six months for the museum to fully repair and convert a Fiat 500, so it can only sell 10 EV Fiat 500s a year. Also, since the car can be repainted, some customers have asked that their vehicle be painted the same color as Lupin the Third's car in the anime.
Between 1957 and 1975, a total of 3.67 million units of the Fiat 500 were manufactured.
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