Finally got a chance to watch this program on the Discovery Channel website. Makes me feel proud to own the i. They really put a lot of thought and effort into this car. I like the quote from the president of Mitsubishi motors, it goes something like this: "Accepting the electric car, means rejecting the technology of the past." That just resonated so well with me, its exactly the way I feel about the car.
Some interesting facts I gleaned from the program - don't be afraid to say I heard it wrong, but it seems to go like this:
A lot of the car is still hand built like the battery assembly which contains over 300 parts! No wonder those things are so expensive. They show some really good footage of the battery including the cooling/heating system and how it works with the cars climate control systems.
The motor is also hand assembled onto the rear subframe and then loaded into the engine bay on the assembly line. They mentioned that only the most skilled workers are allowed to build the motors.
We get more welds in the electric car than the gas car. 18 of them are still done by hand but once the car meets a certain production quota those will go robotic as well.
Very interesting program, I wish they would run this in the US. Probably sell a few more Mitsubishi i's.