Any I Witnesses?

[jennrod12]

Saw a white one on Montague expressway the other day, turning onto North First Street in San Jose.

Jenn

 

[peterdambier]

Seen 4 of them today:

http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsinsheim.technik-museum.de%2Fnode%2F5&act=url

Lots of electric cars, all kinds, many built or converted by enthusiasts at home.

Seen Citroen, Peugot and 2 Mitsubishi plus our own.

 

[PV1]

The last time was while I was EVangelizing to my minivan mechanic, showing him NEDRA videos, and an i drove by as if on cue! :lol:

Had that happen with a LEAF. We were at a Chevy dealer looking at a Volt (about a month before buying the i), and while talking to the salesman about EV's, a Red LEAF drove past. That was the second LEAF I saw on the road, and the third pure EV on the road (first was an electric smart car clone, 2nd and 3rd were separate red LEAFs.

So far, I've seen the above three, a blue LEAF, a Plug-in Prius and Focus electric at a charging station, and a blue Tesla Roadster. I've lost count of Volts. Sadly, no i's yet. Maybe next weekend's Earth Day event will change that.

 

[JoeS]

Seen 4 of them today: http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsinsheim.technik-museum.de%2Fnode%2F5&act=url

Peter, what a FUN museum and exhibitions! To think I spent a few days in Heidelberg last year and didn't even know about it

In over a year of driving my iMiEV, I've only seen two other iMiEVs on the road. Around here, every trip one sees at least a half-dozen Tesla S and countless Leafs. Most of them are clueless that the iMiEV is electric, except for the Tesla Roadster folks who are tuned-in and always give a friendly wave.

 

[PV1]

Around here, every trip one sees at least a half-dozen Tesla S and countless Leafs.

Too bad it's not like that everywhere, with EVs in general.

 

[dumemama]

My meiv is a conversation starter. One day my car introduced me to a woman who said she used to work at Mitsubishi corporate. She told me stories about what she learned while working there... mainly that the Miev was made merely to satisfy federal requirements of having a PEV in the mfg lineup, but other than that, Mitsubishi has zero interest in EV marketing or engineering. Apparently this was one of the reasons she left. That matches my experience at the dealer that the miev is a curiosity and necessary evil rather than the new/cool thing. Nissan dealers are active EV advocates and I've met some at ride & drive events. There are also many more Nissan dealers than Mitsubishi, who closed many doors a few years ago.

I hope everyone excited about their miev and sharing that with others will register on drivingelectric.org. As an example, on that site, I can find 20 Leaf owners w/in a 200 mi radius, but only 2 miev owners, including myself!

 

[nsps]

I spotted my second (third counting mine) i-MiEV in Salt Lake City, this time a white one. I suspect this is the last one my dealership had. So I've seen two Raspberries and one white. Unfortunately I was driving my girlfriend's Fiesta at the time (we swapped cars that evening because she was going downtown and wanted free parking), so we didn't get two on the same road at once.

 

[Vike]

My meiv is a conversation starter. One day my car introduced me to a woman who said she used to work at Mitsubishi corporate. She told me stories about what she learned while working there... mainly that the Miev was made merely to satisfy federal requirements of having a PEV in the mfg lineup, but other than that, Mitsubishi has zero interest in EV marketing or engineering....
I hope everyone excited about their miev and sharing that with others will register on drivingelectric.org. As an example, on that site, I can find 20 Leaf owners w/in a 200 mi radius, but only 2 miev owners, including myself!

A little off-topic, but since you bring it up . . .

I can believe this story given the way things have turned out, but there was obviously some faction or other that cared - as an EV, the i-MiEV seems pretty well thought out, even if it's a middling effort as a car in the general sense. And if they really didn't give a hoot, why use the i, which had to be extensively modified for the NA market, instead of "EVing" something already U.S. ready? Perhaps that superficial thought reflects an underestimation of the complexity of electrifying, e.g., a Lancer (but hell, that's what Ford did, isn't it?), or an overestimation of how much it cost to modify the i.

Beyond that, there's Mitsu's decision, however weakly taken, to "market" the car nationwide, when so many others have launched "compliance" BEVs for CARB-standard states only - if you don't care about EVs, why not do the same? And why so many over the top pro-EV pronouncements a couple of years ago? (They sounded more gung ho than Nissan, boasting they'd have BEV or PHEV versions of nearly everything in their U.S. lineup). I love driving my i-MiEV and I'm glad to have it (a feeling that may change someday if/when getting it fixed becomes outrageously difficult/expensive), but the overall story of the car seems full of contradictions and mysterious behavior. I'd probably buy a book about it if anyone thought it worth writing. Oh well.

I checked out drivingelectric.org, btw. That is one hideously awful, underpowered, borderline unusable site. Perhaps they're having a bad day.

 

[nsps]

Yes, the fact that Mitsu released the car nationwide, and not simply as a compliance car, suggests that they wanted to push the car to a wider market. There are plenty of other companies making lease-only electric cars that are only available in markets that require it. If Mitsubishi only cared about that, they'd only sell the car where it's required. I wonder if there are add-odds forces within the company and that's where the contradictions arise.

 

[aarond12]

New i-witness report: From my office, I saw a white i-MiEV driving down Greenville Ave. near Campbell Rd. in Richardson, TX. Couldn't quite see if it was an ES or SE (though I think it was an SE). I wonder if someone in my building noticed my i-MiEV and got one for themselves! I'll have to check the parking garage...

 

[ElectricAvenue]

My wife and I were driving down the road and she holler's "Look! Another MiEV"! and turning left at the light we were at was a White "Graphics" model. I honked and the lady looked over at us and waved. My wife said she won that car when the dealership first started selling the i-MiEV's last year.

 

[PV1]

Finally met another MiEV'er at an EV gathering a few weeks back. A silver ES, no options other than the green i tailgate vinyl. She got the sweet lease deal a few months back. Absolutely loves it.

Also had two original RAV4-EV's, two Tesla Model S, and a converted Karmann Ghia (Minddrive project). They stopped by for a demonstration while they needed repairs (was at CMU's Electric Garage in Pittsburgh, PA after over-revving their motor, trailered to the garage).

Mine's the white one on the far left, the other i is on the far side of the Teslas.

 

[olagon]

Seeing a bunch in Honolulu. A few days ago I got in back of one down the highway while another was going up. I couldn't get all three in one shot but at the next light shot mine plus the one in front. I see Leafs ALL OVER HONOLULU.

 

[Vike]

Thrilled to finally add my own report - I've been driving my i for over a year in Albuquerque and until now the only other i-MiEVs I've seen were on the dealer lot. This is sort of disappointing, since I think of ABQ as being as close to perfect for EV use as it gets - mild climate (not much heater need on winter days, summers much milder than Phoenix's battery-baking inferno), compact footprint, pretty much nowhere else you need to go (you can take light rail to Santa Fe). There aren't even that many LEAFs or Volts around here, a smattering of C-Maxen (couldn't say if they were Energi, the one I saw parked wasn't).

But yesterday my wife spotted a plum i-MiEV motoring down a side street northeast of Paseo Del Norte & Wyoming (i.e., in the city's Far Northeast); she was in her Prius at the time, so no mutual recognition, alas. Still, that's near home, so a sibling sort of in the neighborhood - amazing!

 

[Ellen8]

I am new in your forum.

 

[PV1]

Welcome, Ellen8. Do you have an i-MiEV or interested in getting one?

My parents saw a white one cruising down the highway a while back. That puts us at 2 out of a known 3 (rumored white/blue SE nearby, haven't seen it yet.) It's almost everyday now that I see a LEAF or a Tesla Model S. Finally EVs are getting mainstream.

 

[jennrod12]

On Tuesday I was riding my bike on Homestead Road during the morning rush hour and looked down at Hwy 85 from the overpass and saw a white and blue i-Miev sitting in traffic in the carpool lane. Maybe it was JoeS?

When I got to Palo Alto, I saw an orange Fiat 500e! My first sighting of one of those.

Jenn

 

[JoeS]

On Tuesday I was riding my bike on Homestead Road during the morning rush hour and looked down at Hwy 85 from the overpass and saw a white and blue i-Miev sitting in traffic in the carpool lane. Maybe it was JoeS?

Not me, as you won't find me venturing into rush-hour traffic. Been there, done that, and one of the perks of retirement is not having to endure that - although on the rare occasion it is so wonderful to be able to drive the iMiEV solo in the HOV lane.

When I got to Palo Alto, I saw an orange Fiat 500e! My first sighting of one of those.

They're cute as a button - and I've also seen it around Palo Alto. Presumably Fiat has fixed the issue with the half-shafts falling off, but in perusing their forum they still have a few hiccups...

There's a raspberry iMiEV I occasionally see in Los Altos, as compared to a dozen or so Tesla S every time I go to town. Our rare i-MiEV is destined to be a collectors' item...

 

[fjpod]

I've never seen another iMiev in the wild. I have seen a Leaf twice (would that be 2 Leafs or 2 Leaves? gotta ask somebody from Toronto), 2 Volts and 2 Prius plugins. I like to watch the face of the other plugin driver as they stare down my iMiev. One time the expression on a Prius plugins driver's face was as if he wanted to trade with me right on the spot. He gestured as if he wanted my car. They are different cars though. I could see having both.

 

[Vike]

I have seen a Leaf twice (would that be 2 Leafs or 2 Leaves? gotta ask somebody from Toronto)

Since they aren't on trees, they aren't leaves. Probably less of a conundrum if you write it as "LEAFs" (ignoring our forum's insistence on automatically reformatting every reference to LEAF into a hyperlink with an added space). Remember that LEAF is not technically a "name" but actually the world's lamest acronym (Leading Environmentally friendly Affordable Family vehicle).

And here you thought "Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle" was weak. Ha! (okay, since it doesn't spell anything useful or pronounceable, I guess it is kinda weak , but anyway....)