Mitsubishi to Make 2,000 i MiEV Electric Cars in 2009
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 08.28.08
i MiEV Electric Car: What We Know So Far
The saga continues. First, we learned about some improvements to Mitsubishi's i MiEV prototype. Then the company announced that its electric car would go global. We had a peek at the New York Auto Show, learned that it would be sold 1 year ahead of schedule in Japan (2009 instead of 2010), and that a small fleet was already being tested in the USA. So the i MiEV might not be as fast as those, but at least its development is moving along briskly.
New Details on First i MiEV Production Run
Now we learn that Mitsubishi plans to make 2,000 i-MiEV electric vehicles in 2009, and 4,000 units in 2010 before acceleration mass-production to a higher volume. "Most of the vehicles will be sold in Japan for some ¥3 million (US$27,530) each." We can speculate that prices might be lower by the time they get to the US. More photos below.
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More on i MiEV Production in 2009
Mitsubishi Motors to Make 2,000 i-MiEV EVs in 2009
JCN Network
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I want one! The downtown areas of SO MANY cities would be infinitely better if cars like this were common. Less noise, better air, easier to park, and less CO2.
I want one!
Interesting Stats from Wikipedia:
The car has a range of 130 kilometres for the 16 kW·h lithium-ion pack and 160 kilometres for the 20 kW·h pack. Top speed is 130 km/h.
The batteries can be charged from a standard 15 A/200 V car charger in seven hours and with a three-phase electric power charged in 25 minutes (for up to 80 percent of full capacity).
That's 100 miles at 80mph. A 300 mile trip would only take 1.5 hours extra waiting at electric station filling up. There doesn't seem any reason why every gas station couldn't be upgraded to have this 3-phase power.
Still at least three years away from having a non-NEV, street legal, fully electric car for sale in North America.
That can work in the winter.
By then, I'll have upgraded my Prius to NEV-10 for just a few K$ (5 today...) and get 150+MPG, for To Work & Back. Can't wait to get that number to zero gas used.
So the iMIEV would be the perfect To Work & Back car, the Prius for the weekend road trips.
I cringe at what the price will be for the battery pack to have such a large range.
Then again, it's still three more years out.
Then again, it's at least one year ahead of GM's Volt.
Goning to sell like cupcakes here in Europe, but I still hope that the emerging investment in public transportation and pedestrian and bycicle traffic doesn't fade because they're all crucial parts of the same solution.
"The car has a range of 130 kilometres for the 16 kW·h lithium-ion pack and 160 kilometres for the 20 kW·h pack. Top speed is 130 km/h."
"That's 100 miles at 80mph. A 300 mile trip would only take 1.5 hours extra waiting at electric station filling up."
I seriously doubt that its maximum range is AT its maximum speed. More likely that its 100 mile range is obtained at a very low speed, and at its top speed the battery would be emptied rather quickly, in which case a 300 mile trip would take far longer as you would be either charging more or driving much slower.
That's on problem with specs of electric cars right now. There is no standard as far as I can tell for how a manufacturer measures range.