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Comment by edent | Hacker News Reader

I just want a two-seater EV. The Smart ForTwo hasn't been updated in ages and the only other ones are either quadracycles of vapourware.

Where are the runarounds for people who don't need to lug around kids or baggage?

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I guess you look for the car like Fiat 500e [0]. It is a two-seater with an electric drive.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_500e

It's a 4 seater no? Even if the rear seats are small.

Technically yes - it is a 3-door car with two seats behind the driver. However, in my experience only small persons or kids will enjoy sitting on the rear seats. I recall that the rear seats were good as an extra space for the backpacks or shopping bags.

Good looking but also a quite expensive one! If it will be for masses the prices will likely need to become substantially lower.

And we need the charging capacity for all those vehicles which is a huge issue. For example in the Netherlands this shows the capacity available to use extra power connections:

https://capaciteitskaart.netbeheernederland.nl/capaciteitska...

All red. The goals of the environmental improvements should connect with the actual real world available capacity. Otherwise it's just a dream.

> quite expensive

Open Autotrader -> Fiat 500e -> New -> First car: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202506113398641 discounted to £15k. That is just a really cheap car. Even the nominal RRP £23,685 is cheap. If you want cheaper there is Dacia Spring and the cheapest BYD.

> The goals of the environmental improvements

The Netherlands of all people should understand about sea level rise and the real world capacity available to absorb CO2.

Ah wow, they got down quite a bit already! Here it's around € 20k it seems. Not bad.

> The Netherlands of all people should understand about sea level rise and the real world capacity available to absorb CO2.

That's interesting!

The 500 has four seats and is available in 3 or 5 doors!

If you want a really small car, which Americans don't, there's the Topolino.

Topolino is not a car, but a quadricycle with the same regulation applied (45km/h max speed)

Fiat Topolino / Citroën Ami / Honda Super-N

Honda e? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_e

Discontinued (tbh don't know why - i think it was limited run, closer to a concept car than a full production) - but a good looking little city car.

It’s a cute car and I really wanted one but it was similarly priced to a Tesla whatever and could barely do 200km on a single charge.

Honda projected sales to be 10k annually in Europe and 1k in Japan.

They sold less than 12,000 of these globally over a span of 5 years.

Possibly not what you're after, and possibly not available to you even then, but there is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_Cyberster

I guess the target market is small, otherwise more options would exist.

If you buy a car anyway, might as well pay a bit more and get one that is useful in more situations.

I think battery size is also an issue.

But there are very few small gasoline cars as well, even in Europe.

Quite a lot of Fiat 500s around me in the UK, as well as various species of Mini. But you can see the bloat even there. There's the Fiat 500X, which is a "SUV crossover" (the hilarious concept of a large small car), and the Mini Countryman.

Wanting a large small car is understandable from a certain point of view. People want a car where their line of sight is higher and where they don’t have to do squats while getting in and out.

This leads to taller cars, which are unstable so they have to fatten it as well. That leads to the models you mention.

Weirdly enough, when these smaller two seaters show up, they are almost always overprice and getting a four seater, and just not using backseats, are a better deal. E.g. the Microlino is €20K, so why not just get the Citroen ë-C3, it's the same price, with better range?

Crash safety design features are a decent contributor to cost. I suspect manufacturers think shrinking the frame a bit, removing two doors and back seat won't drop the cost enough to convince people to buy them.

There is the Fiat Topolino if you are ok with a pure city car.

I get that it's supposed to be a low speed city car where parking ease maybe matters more, but it's hilarious to see an EV where every newton of drag matters designed like a rounded brick on wheels. In fact most modern cars except for sedans seem to not give two shits about aero anymore which is leaving so much range on the table.

The Topolino is a type approval hack: it's an "electric quadricycle", ie legally a golf cart, and limited to 28mph in the UK and not allowed on motorways.

There's been a few of these like the Renault Twizy, and the limitations make them a gimmick that doesn't sell very well.

Have we forgotten the monstrosity that was the G-Wiz?

> Renault Twizy

Ah so that's where the Fiat Multipla designers went after getting fired.

Electric Miata when?

"Soon (tm)", say Mazda: https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterlyon/2026/07/31/can-the-ma...

Mazda and Toyota have dragged a bit on pure-EV designs despite Toyota's excellent hybrids, because they're unwilling to give up on petrol engines. But they seem to be gradually getting the memo.

Smart ForTwo Has been discontinued no?

Apparently, someone heard you:

https://uk.smart.com/en/models/hashtag-two/

That's a concept car only with no intention if being in sale.

well according to that site, they intend to ship it in 2027

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