Look up the model rather than reading down the page. The last column names the cable, the third tells you what the car will actually draw at home, and the link takes you to the rest.
One car here, and the important thing about it is the connector. The original 500e is a Type 1 car, so it needs a Type 2 to Type 1 lead. A Type 2 to Type 2 cable will not physically enter the inlet.
Type 1, and no rapid charging socket
The difference is visible rather than technical. Count five pins in a round opening and you have Type 1; count seven with one flattened side and you have Type 2. No adaptor exists that bridges the two, so order to match.
There is also no DC inlet on this car, which puts the entire charging job on the Type 2 to Type 1 lead. A motorway rapid is simply not available to it, and a used one that arrives from a dealer without a cable cannot be charged at all until one turns up.
What varies across the {M} range
Domestic supplies here are single phase, which puts the practical limit at about 7.4 kW.
The charger is 6.6 kW and single phase, so a British house supplies every watt of it. Do not read a lower number as a worse car. Single phase chargers hand over their full rating here; three phase ones do not, which narrows the gap to very little. and the 32 amp lead is what reaches that figure. On a battery this size that means a full charge inside an evening.
The socket sits on the offside rear side panel, the driver's side at the back. On a car under four metres long that is manageable in most layouts, though it is the far corner from a charge point mounted on the house wall.
Do not confuse this car with the later 500e, which is a Type 2 car with CCS. If yours is a recent registration you want the Type 2 page instead, and the two are easy to tell apart by counting the pins in the socket.
Which length to order
Work out the run, not the car. A socket on the far flank from your charge point adds the width of the vehicle to the distance, and a socket at the opposite end adds its length. The model pages give both so you can measure once and order once.
Five metres reaches in most arrangements on a car this short. Ten metres is worth it if your charge point is on the nearside and you park nose in, which puts the socket diagonally across the car.
Construction and delivery
Construction does not vary by model: IP67 sealed connectors, tinned copper throughout, a sheath that does not stiffen in the cold, two years of cover and free next working day delivery.
