Fiat X 1/23
Unveiled at the 1974 Turin Motor Show alongside the new Fiat 131, the Fiat X 1/23 was a compact electric two-seater designed specifically for navigating city traffic.
The 1970s were a turbulent decade for the global car industry. The oil crisis forced manufacturers to rethink their dependence on petroleum, accelerating research into alternative propulsion systems. In this environment, Fiat presented a forward-looking prototype that not only abandoned fossil fuels but also offered an early blueprint for future city cars.
Designed by Gian Paolo Boano at Fiat Centro Stile, the X 1/23 was an evolution of a 1972 study. Just over 2.5 metres long, it seated two people comfortably and used an electric motor mounted at the front, paired with a voltage regulator. The batteries were positioned at the rear to balance weight.
The exterior featured prominent rubber bumpers and side guards, reflecting experimental safety work done for the Fiat ESV (Experimental Safety Vehicle) program, which had focused on energy-absorbing bumpers, reinforced chassis sections and safer door structures.
Its sharp wedge shape, extremely compact footprint and strong emphasis on passive safety made the X 1/23 a futuristic proposition. Despite its small size, Fiat equipped it with a genuine air-conditioning system, a necessity because the front windows were fixed; only the rear quarter windows opened, scissor-style.
The prototype also became a rolling laboratory. Fiat used it to experiment with a variety of emerging battery technologies—at a time when modern electronics did not yet exist.
Transistors had only recently replaced vacuum tubes; miniaturized components were still rare; integrated circuits were mostly confined to military and medical applications. None of the electronics that underpin today’s electric vehicles were available to designers in the early 1970s.
Battery technology was similarly primitive. Lead-acid units dominated the automotive landscape, and their weight and bulk meant most electric prototypes of the era were large commercial vehicles. Fiat itself was simultaneously testing electric powertrains in the 900 T and 242 vans. Attempting to fit significant battery capacity into something smaller than the city cars of the time was considered bold—if not reckless.
The X 1/23, however, became Fiat’s platform for close collaboration with battery manufacturers. After initial testing with lead-acid units, the Centro Ricerche team installed nickel–zinc batteries supplied by the American firm Yardney.
These offered a far better energy-to-weight ratio: conventional lead-acid batteries delivered around 35 Wh/kg, while nickel–zinc variants reached 70–90 Wh/kg. With them, the X 1/23 achieved a range of roughly 70 kilometres.
As always, cost and practicality ultimately determined the fate of the technology. While battery research continued on a long and difficult path toward lithium-based systems, Fiat pushed ahead with practical electric city cars. The company launched the Panda Elettra in 1990—the first mass-produced electric car from a major automaker—followed by the Cinquecento Elettra in 1992 and the Seicento Elettra in 1998.
The idea of a Fiat electric city car finally reached production in the United States in 2012 with the 500e, derived from the 500 BEV concept shown in 2010. The model paved the way for the New 500, launched in 2020 and now one of Europe’s best-selling electric cars.
Today, the original Fiat X 1/23 prototype is preserved in the “Eco and Sustainable” section of Fiat’s Heritage HUB in Turin—a reminder of how far ahead of its time it truly was.
