Fiat 500e comes with free extra cars (well, rentals)

Bigger trips + little electric car, = no problem. That's the message Fiat is sending with a new announcement of an agreement to offer gas-powered rentals to range-anxiety-stricken road-trippers.

The Italian automaker, which plans to debut the all-electric 500e in California this summer, has reached an agreement with car-rental giant Enterprise to offer gas-powered cars to 500e owners who want to go on longer trips, Automotive News reports. Buyers of the 500e, which has an 80-mile single-charge range, are eligible for a dozen day's worth of gas-powered car rentals a year (insurance and, of course, gas, not included). Fiat unveiled the 500e at the Los Angeles Auto Show last November and plans to detail pricing later this month.

The company isn't the first to make such an offer to EV buyers. Ward's Auto reported last month that BMW was going to enact a similar, though self-administered program, for its i3 all-electric model, though the German automaker didn't disclose usage-allowance details. And in late 2011, General Motors started this microtrend a few months after a Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in caught fire subsequent to a crash test by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) by offering gas-powered rentals to owners stricken by "fire anxiety."