Fiat’s upcoming 500 EV has been given the top spot of Car of the Year by Driving Electric.

It’s the brand’s first electric car to be sold in Europe and, despite looking similar to the standard petrol 500, sits on a completely different platform – designed with electrification front of focus and allowing for a range of connected and driver assistance technologies to be introduced.

Two battery packs are on offer – 24kWh and 40kWh, with the latter offering an impressive electric range of 199 miles, which is more than the majority of its rivals.

And while it’s not set to arrive in dealerships until March, it’s already scooped electrified vehicles website DrivingElectric’s title of 2021 Car of the Year.

Richard Ingram, editor of Driving Electric said: “The winner of our Car of the Year title has to be more than just a good electric car: it needs to move the game on in a big way and really stand out from the competition.

“The brand new, electric-only Fiat 500 does just that, with its tastefully updated styling, high-tech interior and usable pure-electric range. The icing on this impressive cake is a satisfyingly affordable price: the new Fiat 500 starts from less than £20,000 – and as such, is a truly worthy winner of DrivingElectric’s overall Car of the Year.”

Elsewhere, other notable winners include the Volkswagen ID.3, which was named as the ‘Best electric family car’, while the Honda Jazz scooping ‘Best small hybrid’.

In terms of the used car awards, the Nissan Leaf was named as the best used electric car, with the Kia Niro PHEV and Toyota Prius being awarded best used plug-in hybrid and best used hybrid respectively.