Should I buy a 2010-2011 i-Miev here in Brazil???

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CGauer

Active member
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
26
Location
São Paulo, Brazil
Hey guys, first post!

I just stumbled on a 2010 iMiev for sale with just 7000km (4k ish miles).

This was a internal Mitsubishi car used solely for events, press and also driven by the former president of Brazil, yep Lula...

90 day warranty! Yep!

Would you buy it?
What should I look for?
What is the impact of letting it plugged over tha last 8 ( lithium hates 100% soc)?
A place I could source parts in US? I.e. single cells, brake pads, bushes, struts, etc...
Is the workshop manual available?
Besides the MUT3, any other scanner I could use?
In case something pops, do you guys have a place to go for 2nd hand parts?

Too many questions... rsrs

Best regards from São Paulo

Clemente
 
Howdy Clemente,

They are a lot of fun to drive, so that is a good reason to but it.

But it would be good to first know the condition of the energy storage battery pack, either from a service dealer's check/scan with the MUT tool, or using an OBDLink scantool.net dongle and the Canion app on an android phone or tablet, or the apple version for iphones, or using the iCarsoft 909 scanner. Lithium cells are robust--they are either good or bad, so leaving it plugged in for 8 years shouldn't be a problem. The cell voltage scan of all the cells will tell the story you need to decide.

The only replacement parts are rubber: tires and wipers . Maybe the cabin air filter.

Anything else that breaks will be expensive and likely need dealer service, e.g. A/C compressor, charger, motor controller, unless you are good at electronics and electrical repairs. So far only a few folks have reported any failures, so most of us have a positive attitude about the cars.
 
Are the main batteries still under warrenty? Are there Mitsu dealers there?
Does it have a quick charge port? If not thats a big down side to me. This lets you charge 80% in 20-30 minutes.
It's a great car - I love it. If you are into simple things that work and are inexpensive.
 
Hey @kiev , hey @bradleydavidgood777,

I do have the 90day warranty, just... So, this is it.

If it went south, busted cell, I do have the plan to sell the bits and use the remaining cells for an off grid solar project, so, still relative a good deal. ± USD 15k, which for this country is almost a bargain.

Good to be part of the group.

See you folks around!

Clemente
 
Hello Clemente, and welcome to the forum. Exciting that there is an i-MiEV in Brazil and you might actually be able to get one!

Before you buy, the most important aspect will be to assess the condition of the battery - specifically,

1. The overall capacity of the pack
2. The relative charge level of all the individual 88 cells inside the pack

kiev mentioned a number of alternatives. Perhaps your simplest and least-expensive option os to obtain a bluetooth OBDII adapter from https://www.scantool.net/scan-tools/, either an LX or MX (must be a genuine OBDLink and not an imitation) and an app called CaniOn for an Android phone or tablet https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=emobility.canion&hl=en_US.

This CaniOn app will provide -

1. A battery capacity reading in ampere-hours (Ah), which, in your case, anything over about 35Ah would be a good reading. The maximum of a new battery pack is around 45Ah.
2. A graphical display of the instantaneous voltage of each of the 88 cells within the battery pack. The voltage itself is not important, but what you would be looking for is one or more cells that are significantly lower than all the others. Significantly lower meaning a number larger than about 0.15 volts. If you get to that point be sure to take a screenshot or photo of that screen and post it here so we can discuss it.

As far as spare and repair parts are concerned, most of us have not had a single issue with the car but recognize that parts are both difficult to obtain and expensive. With a 90-day warranty I would expect any problems to show up immediately and would hopefully be taken care of by Mitsubishi. With that low a mileage, nothing would be worn out on the car at all!

Regarding price, I hope it is reasonable - compared to other EVs or purchasing a used i-MiEV overseas and having it shipped to you.

Hopefully this will allow you to make an informed decision. Good luck, and do let us know how things turn out for you.
 
Joe,

this is excellent!

I'll be getting the OBDLink MX, the WiFi one. Will it work with Canion too ou just BT ones? WiFi because it also works with iOS devices, handy for my Subaru Forester...

Is there a Canion equivalent for iOS? I'm an Apple Systems Engineer, can't be caught using Android! :D

I do have other cars in case this one decides to let me down, but apparently the battery is pretty durable (longevity/chemistry wise), unless a cell decides to go bonkers..

I'll keep you posted.

I should be receiving the car in about two weeks for inspection.

Kindest regards

Clemente

JoeS said:
Hello Clemente, and welcome to the forum. Exciting that there is an i-MiEV in Brazil and you might actually be able to get one!

Before you buy, the most important aspect will be to assess the condition of the battery - specifically,

1. The overall capacity of the pack
2. The relative charge level of all the individual 88 cells inside the pack

kiev mentioned a number of alternatives. Perhaps your simplest and least-expensive option os to obtain a bluetooth OBDII adapter from https://www.scantool.net/scan-tools/, either an LX or MX (must be a genuine OBDLink and not an imitation) and an app called CaniOn for an Android phone or tablet https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=emobility.canion&hl=en_US.

This CaniOn app will provide -

1. A battery capacity reading in ampere-hours (Ah), which, in your case, anything over about 35Ah would be a good reading. The maximum of a new battery pack is around 45Ah.
2. A graphical display of the instantaneous voltage of each of the 88 cells within the battery pack. The voltage itself is not important, but what you would be looking for is one or more cells that are significantly lower than all the others. Significantly lower meaning a number larger than about 0.15 volts. If you get to that point be sure to take a screenshot or photo of that screen and post it here so we can discuss it.

As far as spare and repair parts are concerned, most of us have not had a single issue with the car but recognize that parts are both difficult to obtain and expensive. With a 90-day warranty I would expect any problems to show up immediately and would hopefully be taken care of by Mitsubishi. With that low a mileage, nothing would be worn out on the car at all!

Regarding price, I hope it is reasonable - compared to other EVs or purchasing a used i-MiEV overseas and having it shipped to you.

Hopefully this will allow you to make an informed decision. Good luck, and do let us know how things turn out for you.
 
CGauer said:
Is there a Canion equivalent for iOS? I'm an Apple Systems Engineer, can't be caught using Android! :D
Nope, there isn't - Do it hiding in your garage after dark and hopefully nobody will notice :lol:

Don
 
JoeS said:
As a lifelong Apple supporter (still have my 1984 512K Classic Mac), I sympathize.

Dang, I had one of those also. Upgraded the memory to 1M and added a 20 MB hard drive, thought I had the King. Used it extensively from 1985 through 1994 or so.

Now we have iMacs, MacBook Air, iPad, iPhones, ho hum...
 
Amazing!

I'm a also a computer collector/accumulator. Apple Quadras, Apple II, Mac 128, Portable, etc... Good old times, all repairable, durable and playful.

Best

Clemente

JoeS said:
As a lifelong Apple supporter (still have my 1984 512K Classic Mac), I sympathize. There is an app that runs on iOS called EVBatMon
http://evpositive.com/ios-apps.html
It does provide battery capacity in Ah and some cell min/max information, but without the view of all 88 cells that CaniOn shows.
Perhaps good enough for your purposes.
 
1MB at that time was like USD 3-5k, easy!!

20MB SCSI HD!! Quantum?

My first Mac was a IIvx (early 90s) featuring a Sony CD-ROM with caddy! It was amazing!

Guess what, it still works!

I don't know if I got used to it, or if computers kind of lost its joy, but I don't have the same passion for todays stuff.

I'm still evaluation the i-Miev purchase....

Best

Phximiev said:
JoeS said:
As a lifelong Apple supporter (still have my 1984 512K Classic Mac), I sympathize.

Dang, I had one of those also. Upgraded the memory to 1M and added a 20 MB hard drive, thought I had the King. Used it extensively from 1985 through 1994 or so.

Now we have iMacs, MacBook Air, iPad, iPhones, ho hum...
 
Guys, I must say that I'm still unsure about buying it...

If something like this http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3897&start=40#p35561 happens to me, it's a game-over. Ok, super rare, but chances are great on a 8y car sitting in a tropical country. I'd still have the cells and the motor, but what a cost of time and money...

BTW, is this true??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwLjpgNYE2Q

Furthermore, and I quote Yuasa's PDF http://www.gs-yuasa.com/en/technic/vol5/pdf/05_1_021.pdf "regarding the calendar life, capacity retention of 65% is anticipated after 10 years storage at 25 °C" in storage, this is a lot!

I'm waiting to check the car in person, let's see...

I'm a bit sceptic...

:?
 
That's why you need to either see a complete cell data scan from the dealer, or get the OBDLink LX from scantool.net and use the android app, "Canion", to check the cell voltages. You could get each of the 88 cell's voltage to see if one or more is weak or out of family with all the rest.

This should be read out while the car is fully charged and ready to go, then drive it down to below 2 bars on the fuel gauge and see how far it travelled from the odometer, then charge it back up to full and wait for the balancing to occur and read the cells again.

Several cycles like that would be ideal, but even just one complete cycle like that would tell you much about the pack's condition.

By the way, the obdlink tool works with any obdii car, just using other apps to display data and trouble codes. so it's not a waste of money to buy one--it is a handy tool and i've used it to reset DTCs on several gasoline cars and vans.

The iCarsoft 909 scanner can also read the data and any stored or set diagnostic trouble codes, and allows clearing of some DTCs. No phone app for this one, but it works for all mitsubishi and mazda cars.

Good luck, i hope everything measures okay, but if it doesn't then probably better to avoid it
 
Trying to get it to turtle (below 9.5% SOC - no bars at all) is best to observe possible imbalances in the cells. So yes, Canion is a must-have. It's unlikely that you'll find someone in Brazil that will lend you an OBDLink, since triplets owners (imiev, c-zero, ion) there should be quite scarce. Still, you could try to search in a local auto forum or something. You might have some luck.

I also bought a used triplet with close to 7000km in very good batery condition, but mine came from France, which is a considerably different climate. Battery capacity measuring apps didn't exist at the time, so you have an advantage I didn't back then.
 
Just another data point on battery health. I pushed my luck and drove 3.4 miles on the turtle in my 2012 with 86,500 miles on the clock this past weekend. That's farther than I've gone since the only time I killed it, a year ago at 5 miles into the turtle. Next morning after recharge? 54 miles RR and 62 RR on the following day.
 
So folks,

I've tested the car today. Couldn't run Canion or the MUT3. By the time I showed up, the car was plugged (EVSE 240V) and charge was complete. Yet two bars were missing on the Charge Indicator! The estimated range was 51km (± 30miles). And driving it conservatively proved the the guessometer is ok.. With the AC on, range dropped to two thirds.

So... Bad luck, right?

I tried to plug it on a BMW L2 charging station, but they use a different plug! Is there an adapter between the standards?

Best regards!

Clemente
 
If the "fuel" gauge is not indicating the full 16 bars after charging has completed using either level 1 or level 2 EVSE, then there is at least one bad cell in the pack. The charger cuts off when the cells reach the highest voltage allowed (4.15V) and the charge current drops below the cut off threshold. Then it calculates the fuel gauge based upon the average voltage of all the cells in the pack. If one or more cells is lagging, then it brings down the pack average and that is seen in the not-full and less-than-16-bars gauge reading. Of course Canion or the MUT3 could show you immediately which cell(s) were the culprits.

If Mits would replace the pack under warranty, then it would be a good find and purchase. if the price was discounted very low due to the defective pack, and you were skilled at electrical repairs, then the pack could be opened and the bad cell replaced with a used cell from a salvage yard pack. Otherwise it is just a big el gallo azul that will drain your wallet.
 
So...

I had the opportunity to drive it again. This time though it did charge to 100% prior the test drive. Diving like a grandpa, ± 70km/h 100% flat, it did 91km, with 21km and 4 bars left. Is this ok?

PS: it lost the first bar after just 3km. Is this ok?

best

kiev said:
If the "fuel" gauge is not indicating the full 16 bars after charging has completed using either level 1 or level 2 EVSE, then there is at least one bad cell in the pack. The charger cuts off when the cells reach the highest voltage allowed (4.15V) and the charge current drops below the cut off threshold. Then it calculates the fuel gauge based upon the average voltage of all the cells in the pack. If one or more cells is lagging, then it brings down the pack average and that is seen in the not-full and less-than-16-bars gauge reading. Of course Canion or the MUT3 could show you immediately which cell(s) were the culprits.

If Mits would replace the pack under warranty, then it would be a good find and purchase. if the price was discounted very low due to the defective pack, and you were skilled at electrical repairs, then the pack could be opened and the bad cell replaced with a used cell from a salvage yard pack. Otherwise it is just a big el gallo azul that will drain your wallet.
 
Sound like the pack is 'waking up' after its long hibernation. My naive theory is that some capacity should return with regular use, though the first few weeks of regular use should also be when any defective cell shows itself.
I don't see your original mission parameters. If a car with 50 kilometer range could meet your needs, just as it worked for those of us with lead-acid cars 'back in the day', I'd take of roll of the dice on this car....
In the worst case, the parts that aren't VIN-locked should be worth reselling, if you have the patience for that...
 
Good point!

The motor is quite nice! For a VW Bus or something else... I'd love to use the battery for an off-grid solar project. Any good thrird-party BMS?

What are the odds of sourcing a compatible controller for the motor (DC-AC)? Is the DC-DC converter VIN locked too? CAN bus managed?

I hate this VIN lock and CAN buss proprietary crap..

Best


jray3 said:
In the worst case, the parts that aren't VIN-locked should be worth reselling, if you have the patience for that...
 
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