i-MiEV (and clones) in non-supported (?) markets

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thanar

New member
Joined
Jul 13, 2018
Messages
2
Location
Kozani, Greece
Hello,

First post here, been reading incognito for quite some time though.
I am located in Greece, where all three Mitsubishi/Peugeot/Citroen do not import the EV as new. Funny thing is, they have whole sections on all their websites regarding their "revolutionary" EV technology, but they seem they don't even know of the existence of their EV models on other European countries. I got a really strange feeling while trying to talk over the phone with them, one of them also told me that EVs in general do not exist and that they are "fake news"!

Bottom line is, I am interested in getting a used iMiEV/iOn/cZero from the local used market, or even from abroad. I want the vehicle for daily city commute, around 50km each day. Our ICEs are starting to fall apart, due to the fact that most trips are very short (under 10 minutes) and their engines don't even have the chance to reach proper working temperature, which results in very high consumption (we are feeding €150-€200 per month for gas).

Does anyone has any hints on how difficult owning a small EV would be in a country that supposedly doesn't offer any official support? Or should I wait for a couple of more years until Tesla officially sells in Greece, in which case everybody else will hurry to the same direction as well?
 
The triplets and Teslas are so worlds apart that I highly doubt getting Tesla there wouldn't do much. Other brands that are more into EVs might hurry in the same direction, but Peugeot/Citroen are clearly not very interested in EVs.
Here in Portugal we do have support for the triplets, but they are overpriced (same price as a 40kWh Nissan Leaf) and there is little interesting in selling them. That's why a lot of people import from France (me included).

While these little cars are usually very low-maintenance, if something happens in the High-voltage parts, you'd need specialized knowledge, so it's a risk if there is no single dealer that has a mechanic dealing with EVs.

So far I only had a problem with the A/C fan, which was resolved by ordering the piece online and replacing it in a common repair shop near my house. But someone I know had to replace the internal charger unit, and that's a whole different story.
 
thanar said:
Does anyone has any hints on how difficult owning a small EV would be in a country that supposedly doesn't offer any official support? Or should I wait for a couple of more years until Tesla officially sells in Greece, in which case everybody else will hurry to the same direction as well?
Two separate issues there - Buy a new Tesla when they become available or buy a used iMiEV now for perhaps 10 or 15% of the cost of the Tesla

For what you want it for, the iMiEV is almost unbeatable - Short, local everyday trips to and from your destinations at a minimum of expense. Here in the USA, 2012 models are roughly $5K USD used cars which are almost 'throw away' vehicles should you have a major failure. License plates are cheap because the cars are 6 years old, insurance is really cheap because you only need liability and not full coverage and the operational cost is super cheap compared to any ICE - Probably lots more so in Greece with what you pay for gas compared to around US $2.50 per gallon here

We have a longer range EV (a Chevy Volt) which we very seldom drive because our iMiEV's fully support more than 90% of our transportation needs - The cars are very easy to get into and out of, have more rear seat headroom than our Volt, carry many times more cargo without having to lift things over the trunk threshold. If we owned a Tesla, it would only be used for long trips because the iMiEV is better at what it does than the Tesla would be

In short, if you have an iMiEV and one other car, that other car will last you many, many years because you'll find you seldom need to drive it

The only issue is (of course) who will fix it in the unlikely event you have a major failure of some system which would make it undrivable? I would think you could probably get back much of your initial investment selling parts, especially in a country where they are very scarce - Used parts should be in fairly high demand. While we do have supporting dealers here in the USA, my closest one is about 110 miles away, so if something should go wrong, it would still be a major problem. Our solution was . . . . since used ones can be had so cheaply here, we bought a second one and if one dies, we would probably part it out and buy a third one. We feel like after 6 years, we are way ahead of the curve so even if we had to junk one, they've pretty much paid for themselves long ago

Don
 
I don't think triplets are that cheap in Europe. Like I said, the best deals for these cars are usually found buying in countries like France, and to find one at 5k€, it usually means it has a signifcantly degraded battery. And that's if you actually find one. Most of the offers are >7000€... Not exactly a discardable car when you consider southern european wages.
 
thanar said:
I got a really strange feeling while trying to talk over the phone with them, one of them also told me that EVs in general do not exist and that they are "fake news"!
I think that takes the trophy even over some of the wonkiest things US dealers have told potential buyers. According to http://pluginamerica.org , just about 890,000 EVs have been sold in the US. I now see a Tesla, LEAF, or i3 practically every day, even in the conservative corner of the state that I live in. Closer to Pittsburgh, the numbers go even higher, but still pale in comparison to the Bay Area in California (we lost count during our trip, but saw nearly every production EV ever made in the last decade).

I agree with the others. The i-MiEV or a clone would be an excellent vehicle for your use case. Besides the occasional bad cell (with only seemed to affect mid-2012 and earlier packs), the current expensive issues are the A/C compressor and on-board charger, which are being investigated by the community. My impression is that once the charger faults are figured out, those repairs may end up being pretty inexpensive. The A/C compressor on the other hand, who knows at this point. Up to now, I still get the impression that the i-MiEV has been one of the most reliable EVs. Teslas seem to go into the shop way too often, and Nissan had a lot of issues with the LEAF starting out. There's beauty in simplicity.

Besides those current issues, regular maintenance involves largely tires and windshield wipers.

Mitsubishi hit the market with a lot of fanfare when the i-MiEV was brought to the US, but that died off really quick. "Professional" car reviewers are where I put blame. They praised the JDM-spec demo cars but absolutely slammed the NA version we got.
 
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