Category: MiEV

Electric cars will be so affordable and have such a long range between re-charges that petrol cars will not be able to compete in the next generation of cars, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation president Osamu Masuko predicts.

He said car and battery manufacturers were working on a seven-fold increase in battery capacity, increasing potential car driving ranges to more than 1000km, and major reductions to battery cost, one 20th of 2009 prices, that would drive the growth in electric cars.

“Once these things are achieved, the petrol engine can't compete,” he said, adding: “In 10 years time, we might see a dramatic change.”

He likened the rise of EVs to that of mobile phones, which had had a major impact on old style land-line telephones.

“The world is changing, and it is definitely advancing, this battery technology,” he said.

Mr Matsuko said the lithium-ion batteries for an electric car in 2009 cost as much as a Toyota Yaris, but had more than halved since.

He said the Japanese government had a target to reduce the cost of batteries for cars to one 20th of the price of the 2009 variety, and with seven fold capacity.

A 2009 electric car could travel 150km, he said, meaning the EV of the future should do more than 1000km.

Mr Masuko said Mitsubishi would not be able to meet future fuel consumption and emissions regulations in the United States, Europe and China if it did not introduce electric and PHEV cars into its mix.

He said car companies who failed to meet the regulations would have to pay penalties.

“Paying penalities is not realistic,” he said.

Mr Masuko said the fact that China – along with Bolivia and Chile – controlled one of the few sources of raw lithium for the making of current batteries was a concern, meaning the product was often used as a political bargaining tool.

However, Kazakstan supplies were now coming on stream, reducing the risk of supply instability, he said.

In the longer term, new battery substances possibly would further reduce the reliance on Chinese lithium, he said.

Mitsubishi Motors North America have announced the 2014 Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric-powered production vehicle not only receives an expanded standard equipment package but also sees a considerable price reduction of $6,130 over the previous 2012 model year vehicle.

The 2014 model year Mitsubishi i-MiEV ES model including CHAdeMO DC quick charge port, battery warming system and heated side view mirrors now starts at only $22,995 – an astonishing $6,130 price reduction from the previous generation. After factoring in the Federal tax credit of $7,500, the net MSRP of the 2014 Mitsubishi i-MiEV drops down to only $15,495.

With a net MSRP of only $15,495 after factoring in the available EV federal tax credit of $7,500 and, for example, with the California state EV financial incentive of up to $2,500 (other generous financial incentives are available through numerous states and municipalities), residents in California can obtain the technologically-advanced 2014 Mitsubishi i-MiEV for as low as $12,995.

To date, more than 30,000 Mitsubishi i-MiEV and i-MiEV-based production vehicles have been sold around the globe. In such diverse markets as the U.S., Europe and Asia, the i-MiEV has proven to be a safe, convenient and utterly reliable eco-friendly form of personal transportation in any market in which it is sold.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp has slashed the price of its first generation electric kei-car the i-MiEV in Japan by up to $9,100.

Japan's sixth-biggest carmaker, which started selling the i-MiEV 4 years ago in 2009, said on Thursday it was dropping the price of its top of the range i-MiEV by around 25 percent, or 900,000 yen ($9,100), to 2.9 million yen

With government subsidies, the model can be bought in Japan for around 2 million yen, it said (AUD$ 21,500).

"The main purpose of cutting the price is to strengthen our ability to sell these cars," a Mitsubishi Motors spokesman said.

Mitsubishi Motors also cut the price of the entry level i-MiEV by 190,000 yen to 2.5 million, which with subsidies can be bought for about 1.7 million yen (AUD$ 18,250).

In just over four years since the vehicle first went on sale, Mitsubishi has manufactured some 30,000 i-MiEVs. The car was rebadged and sold by PSA Peugeot Citroen as the iOn and the C-Zero.

Mitsubishi is still betting on the electric powertrain technology and is aiming for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids to account for 20 percent of the vehicles it produces by 2020.

Mitsubishi and Nissan Motor Co recently announced plans to expand a joint venture to develop a new small car including an electric version.

Nissan, maker of the Leaf electric car, also said on Thursday it would start selling its second all-electric vehicle, a commercial van called the e-NV200, in Japan in the financial year through March 2015.

Mitsubishi Australia were generous enough to recently loan EV News an iMiEV for a week.

On sale in Australia since 2010, the Mitsubishi iMiEV is based on a Japanese Kei class Mitsubishi I that was first released in 2006.

The iMiEV has the same sized lithium ion battery (16 kWh) as the Holden Volt but because it is a much smaller car and doesn't cart around a full sized 1.4 Lt petrol engine range extender the iMiEV weighs only 1,080 kg Vs 1,715 kg for the Volt. Where the Volt routinely achieves 70 - 80 km from a full charge in EV mode the book spec for the iMiEV is 155 km which is approximately twice the distance for the same battery capacity.

For a 5 door hatchback with only 47 kw (63 hp) and 180 Nm (133 lb/ft) from it's BLDC permanent magnet electric motor mated to a 7.065:1 single speed reduction gearbox, acceleration, while not startling off the line, is very impressive above 50 km/h right up to the cars top speed of 130 km/h. The combination of small road foot print and brilliant mid-speed acceleration brings a whole new dimension to 'gap-shooting' in heavy urban traffic.

The iMiEV's dash board instruments aren't as flash as a Volt with a basic set of segmented LCD meters instead of the all-singing all-dancing colour graphics of the Volt, but the relevant information like State Of Charge (SoC), energy consumption and predicted range are all present.

During our week long test drive we didn't quite get a handle on the algorithm behind the iMiEVs range meter. Driving the iMiEV on surface roads at speeds below 60 km/h with the 'gear' selector in the 'B' maximum brake regeneration position, it was possible to not only travel many kilometers without the indicated range changing at all, but we even managed to leave one morning with a full change indicating 106 km range and travelled to our destination 24 km away having used 2 bars on the battery meter (12.5%) with predicted range having gone UP to 113km by the time we arrived?

While low speed urban driving is definitely the iMiEV's forte, high speed motorways are not. We all know that aerodynamic drag increases in proportion to the square of speed ie doubled speed results in four times as much drag. Unfortunately, despite the blunt nose and steeply raked windscreen the iMiEV's coefficient of drag is no better than a large family sedan @ 0.33 Cd. We even double checked by multiplying the frontal cross sectional area to get the CdA figure but the result was still about equal.

Aside from the fact it doesn't have a cruise control which is unusual for a modern car, the range meter plummets when driven for sustained periods above 100 km/h. This serves as a graphic illustration of the extra loads ALL cars face at higher speeds. It only becomes much more noticeable in the iMiEV because a/ The battery capacity is equivalent to having a 1.5 litre fuel tank (petrol contains 10 kWh per litre) b/ ICE cars are so inefficient at low speeds compared to the iMiEV the difference between high and low speed fuel consumption of an ICE car isn't as noticeable as with the iMiEV.

Like Charging an iPhone

Here in Australia 240 VAC is the standard voltage that all appliances run off so the iMiEV can be fully changed in 8 hours using a standard 10 amp supply (although the iMiEV lead has a 15A plug). In the week we had the car we never used much more than ½ the battery on any given day of running errands so plugging it in for a 4 hour re-charge didn't seem much different to plugging in the iPhone / iPad on a daily basis.

The iMiEV has 2 charge sockets, one on either side of the car, with 240v on the drivers (right) side and a large CHAdeMO charger socket under the left hand side filler flap.

In order to test how practical fast charging is we took a drive to the the NRMA DC Fast Charger installed across the road from their North Strathfield head office. Arriving with 55% charge remaining the battery quickly accepted the 359 volts / 125 amps on offer and was topped up to 80% in 11 minutes flat. While the NRMA fast charger is located near a popular restaurant/cafe precinct, and is free of charge to use, 10 minutes isn't even enough time for a coffee although a full 20 min charge might allow enough time for a stroll to get a cappuccino.

With an introduction price of A$65,000, which was reduced to A$48,880 in 2011, the Mitsubishi iMiEV hasn't exactly been selling like hot cakes with only 227 cars delivered locally. Yet 33,000 have been sold worldwide including Peugeot and Citroen versions with Japan, France and Norway being the top selling countries.

Mitsubishi Australia are now selling the last of their 70 remaining iMiEVs and have no plans to order more unless there is customer demand. Dealers have reduced the new price to A$24,990 with rumours doing the rounds that an ex-demo with 10k on the clock can be had for as little as A$20k.

Sure it is a first generation EV in a market where the technology is evolving rapidly, but with local fuel prices currently above 2008 levels and oil prices having just passed A$120, anything electrically powered is looking better by the day.

I certainly wasn't keen to return the iMiEV, which cost approx $2.00 a day to charge, to resume pumping the usual $80 worth of fuel per week. Anyone with a roof-top PV solar system should be giving an iMiEV serious consideration as they can dramatically shorten the payback period of the PV system by eliminating fuel costs instead of utility bills and effectively power the iMiEV free of charge for the next 10-20 years. The EV grin as you drive past $1.70/Lt fuel billboards is almost priceless.

Mitsubishi Australia were generous enough to recently loan EV News an iMiEV for a week.

On sale in Australia since 2010, the Mitsubishi iMiEV is based on a Japanese Kei class Mitsubishi I that was first released in 2006.

The iMiEV has the same sized lithium ion battery (16 kWh) as the Holden Volt but because it is a much smaller car and doesn't cart around a full sized 1.4 Lt petrol engine range extender the iMiEV weighs only 1,080 kg Vs 1,715 kg for the Volt. Where the Volt routinely achieves 70 - 80 km from a full charge in EV mode the book spec for the iMiEV is 155 km which is approximately twice the distance for the same battery capacity.

For a 5 door hatchback with only 47 kw (63 hp) and 180 Nm (133 lb/ft) from it's BLDC permanent magnet electric motor mated to a 7.065:1 single speed reduction gearbox, acceleration, while not startling off the line, is very impressive above 50 km/h right up to the cars top speed of 130 km/h. The combination of small road foot print and brilliant mid-speed acceleration brings a whole new dimension to 'gap-shooting' in heavy urban traffic.

The iMiEV's dash board instruments aren't as flash as a Volt with a basic set of segmented LCD meters instead of the all-singing all-dancing colour graphics of the Volt, but the relevant information like State Of Charge (SoC), energy consumption and predicted range are all present.

During our week long test drive we didn't quite get a handle on the algorithm behind the iMiEVs range meter. Driving the iMiEV on surface roads at speeds below 60 km/h with the 'gear' selector in the 'B' maximum brake regeneration position, it was possible to not only travel many kilometers without the indicated range changing at all, but we even managed to leave one morning with a full change indicating 106 km range and travelled to our destination 24 km away having used 2 bars on the battery meter (12.5%) with predicted range having gone UP to 113km by the time we arrived?

While low speed urban driving is definitely the iMiEV's forte, high speed motorways are not. We all know that aerodynamic drag increases in proportion to the square of speed ie doubled speed results in four times as much drag. Unfortunately, despite the blunt nose and steeply raked windscreen the iMiEV's coefficient of drag is no better than a large family sedan @ 0.33 Cd. We even double checked by multiplying the frontal cross sectional area to get the CdA figure but the result was still about equal.

Aside from the fact it doesn't have a cruise control which is unusual for a modern car, the range meter plummets when driven for sustained periods above 100 km/h. This serves as a graphic illustration of the extra loads ALL cars face at higher speeds. It only becomes much more noticeable in the iMiEV because a/ The battery capacity is equivalent to having a 1.5 litre fuel tank (petrol contains 10 kWh per litre) b/ ICE cars are so inefficient at low speeds compared to the iMiEV the difference between high and low speed fuel consumption of an ICE car isn't as noticeable as with the iMiEV.

Like Charging an iPhone

Here in Australia 240 VAC is the standard voltage that all appliances run off so the iMiEV can be fully changed in 8 hours using a standard 10 amp supply (although the iMiEV lead has a 15A plug). In the week we had the car we never used much more than ½ the battery on any given day of running errands so plugging it in for a 4 hour re-charge didn't seem much different to plugging in the iPhone / iPad on a daily basis.

The iMiEV has 2 charge sockets, one on either side of the car, with 240v on the drivers (right) side and a large CHAdeMO charger socket under the left hand side filler flap.

In order to test how practical fast charging is we took a drive to the the NRMA DC Fast Charger installed across the road from their North Strathfield head office. Arriving with 55% charge remaining the battery quickly accepted the 359 volts / 125 amps on offer and was topped up to 80% in 11 minutes flat. While the NRMA fast charger is located near a popular restaurant/cafe precinct, and is free of charge to use, 10 minutes isn't even enough time for a coffee although a full 20 min charge might allow enough time for a stroll to get a cappuccino.

With an introduction price of A$65,000, which was reduced to A$48,880 in 2011, the Mitsubishi iMiEV hasn't exactly been selling like hot cakes with only 227 cars delivered locally. Yet 33,000 have been sold worldwide including Peugeot and Citroen versions with Japan, France and Norway being the top selling countries.

Mitsubishi Australia are now selling the last of their 70 remaining iMiEVs and have no plans to order more unless there is customer demand. Dealers have reduced the new price to A$24,990 with rumours doing the rounds that an ex-demo with 10k on the clock can be had for as little as A$20k.

Sure it is a first generation EV in a market where the technology is evolving rapidly, but with local fuel prices currently above 2008 levels and oil prices having just passed A$120, anything electrically powered is looking better by the day.

I certainly wasn't keen to return the iMiEV, which cost approx $2.00 a day to charge, to resume pumping the usual $80 worth of fuel per week. Anyone with a roof-top PV solar system should be giving an iMiEV serious consideration as they can dramatically shorten the payback period of the PV system by eliminating fuel costs instead of utility bills and effectively power the iMiEV free of charge for the next 10-20 years. The EV grin as you drive past $1.70/Lt fuel billboards is almost priceless.

Australian Brumbies rugby union club player, Scott Fardy will lead a charge with a difference this month as he takes to the streets of Canberra in a 100% electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV.

It’s all thanks to Rock Development Group and the ACT Electric Vehicle Council (the Council) to help support and promote electric vehicles as a viable transport alternative for the ACT.

Scott Fardy said “When I travelled to Japan in 2009 I couldn’t believe how many electric vehicles were on the road. I’m so excited that I get to cruise the streets of my home town in one for a month.”

Scott will share his electric vehicle experience via the social media platform Twitter using the handle @scottfardy and hashtag #EVsrock. “I thought this would be a really fun and interactive way to share my adventures with everyone and I really hope to hear from lots of other Twitter users who see me cruising around town.”

The Council approached Scott because he has a demonstrated commitment to promoting community-orientated charitable and environmental causes, and educating youth about the benefits of team sport in Canberra and the surrounding regions.

“To me, electric vehicles are a no brainer.” Scott added. “I know that at times I cringe at petrol prices. An electric car sure has less of an impact on your wallet. I couldn’t believe it when the Council told me I could charge it up overnight for less than the price of a pie at a Brumbies game!”

The ACT has the cheapest electricity in the country whereas the price of petrol is 10c/L higher than the national average at $1.47 a litre. This is an indicator that Canberra has good reason to consider an electric vehicle when making a new car purchase.

Other benefits of owning a 100% electric vehicle in the ACT are that under the Green Vehicle Scheme no duty is payable at registration time. not to mention that going electric helps reduce vehicle pollution and decrease carbon emissions.

Follow Scott’s electric vehicle adventures on Twitter: @scottfardy and #EVsrock