Mitsubishi hinting at dropping the i

[PV1]

On Mitsubishi's website under concept cars, they list the concept PX-MiEV, a plug-in hybrid. The first line of the description reads:

"Featuring Mitsubishi's all-new plug-in hybrid system, the Concept PX-MiEV showcases the future of electric-powered, eco-friendly vehicles."

It then continue's on describing how the system works, then at the bottom, it says:

"The Concept PX-MiEV truly is the bold next generation in electric vehicles."

My thinking is, we may see a repeat of what happened to EV's around the year 2000. Hyundai has developed a fuel-cell vehicle that they believe will replace BEV's. I have no concern over fuel cells being mechanically superior to battery-electrics, but the fact that people will ditch batteries over hydrogen (or the promise of), again. As for hybrids, even though the Mitsubishi concept retains a plug, a car manufacturer is still talking about ditching pure EV's for something that uses gas. While PHEV's may be more practical for people who don't fit the bill of EV's, I really hope it doesn't become an EV replacement.

As a side note, a modern 4WD plug-in vehicle is a first.


https://www.mitsubishicars.com/MMNA/jsp/company/concepts.do

 

[peterdambier]

An electric car than runs on gas is not an electric car and gas is not the future.

Compare the i-MiEV to the Citroen 2CV. It is a cult car. It never changed. It sold for years even more than the Volkswagen Beetle.

We do have a problem charging. The world is 230V/16A single phase or 230V/32A single phase. America is 230V/100A per household. Europe only has got 230V/25A per household. That is why we (Europeans) and the Russians have got 3 phases and 400V in the first place.

Solar Energy is DC in the first place. It does not make sense to invert and transform and rectify again. With Euro 0.35 per kilowatt hour it has become cheaper the make electricity yourself than to buy it from the mains and charging from DC is the future, your car as the heart of your house has high performance accumulator for solar energy is the future. Imagine an accumulator for your house that can drive. With CHAdeMO you can do that already.

Interestingly enough Citroen do sell the i-MiEV. I am sure we will see it for years.

Most electric cars in the streets are conversions. The i-MiEV is already electric but it still makes an ideal platform for conversions like the PulsaR DC-DC fast charger that most likely will adopt for European and American domestic and Big Money operated Fast Charging Standards should they ever see the daylight. You can use it to charge from the batteries that are fed from your solar panels on the roof of your house. Or the batteries - imagine a trunk full of batteries giving you a range of 500 kilometers, more than 300 miles.

The i-MiEV is ideal for hacking, much better than other electric cars. Ok it needs hacking but how much hacking does it need to convert a car that runs on gas to an electric car?

Electricity is not made out of gas. It is the other way round. You need electricity to make gas, more electricity than you need for driving an electric car.

Petrol has become an imaginery stuff like money. With money we have already found out that the are more debts than real money. Have a look at oil - there is already more oil on the market than down in the well. :lol:

 

[NeilBlanchard]

They should not "give up" on it - they should make serious attempts to improve the Cd, improve the defrosters and heating, and put a (slightly?) larger battery pack in it. Another thing they should do to improve the real world range is re-engineer the Eco mode to include free-wheel coasting when you lift your right foot.

Better range = better sales!

 

[PV1]

I wholeheartedly agree, do not discontinue EV's. Plug-in hybrids, although capable of suiting a few more drivers, are not the future. They can help as a transition tool for people not ready to jump completely into electrics, but they aren't the future. Usually, when a manufacturer talks about a product being the future and the next generation, that usually means that the previous/current generation will be dropped. Hopefully, this won't be the case. Mitsubishi has a great start in the i. Little tweaks for the most part would greatly increase the car's appeal and practicality.

Given that EV's are already this competitive with gasoline in their infancy with very little public infrastructure, imagine what they'll be in 5 years, 10 years. Battery prices will come down, newer chemistries will increase energy storage, Quick Charging and inductive charging will allow easy cross-country trips, and more and more of them will be powered by renewable energy. Nearly half of the EV's on the road already are.

As for charging, Mitsubishi is working on a V2H system. It uses the car as a battery in addition to the system's dedicated battery. Here's the link:
http://www.globaldenso.com/en/newsreleases/120724-01.html

 

[Don]

We do have a problem charging. The world is 230V/16A single phase or 230V/32A single phase. America is 230V/100A per household. Europe only has got 230V/25A per household. That is why we (Europeans) and the Russians have got 3 phases and 400V in the first place.

Actually Peter, the 'standard' household power here in the USA has been 120/240 volts @200 Amps for more than 30 or 40 years now

It's not uncommon to have an electric range on a 240/50A circuit, a household A/C system on a 240/40A circuit, a clothes dryer on a 240/30A circuit, a 40 to 60 gallon water heater on a 240/30A circuit and then many of us have other high load appliances. I have a 240/40A ceramic kiln in my garage right next to a 240/30A air compressor. Our water well on the 240/15A circuit is the baby of the bunch. Most every USA home has about 100A of 120 volt circuits to go with those 240 loads

Recharging the iMiEV on 240/14 amps is next to no load at all . . . . .

Don

 

[TXCharlie]

I think if they advertised it at all, they would explode sales, especially while the $7500 tax credit is still in effect.

I've yet to see a single ad on TV.

 

[iDriver]

I think if they advertised it at all, they would explode sales, especially while the $7500 tax credit is still in effect.

I've yet to see a single ad on TV.

Agreed.

Waiting on the advertising kind of makes sense in some regards.
This way, when they do start to advertise, they've already got a few of them "in the wild". Now, when they run commercial, people will see the commercial, see our car, and go "I know what that is!" Currently, no one has any idea what my car is. In some ways, at this moment, the cars advertise themselves. The car DOES turn heads. I constantly get asked about it.

So lets see what 2013 brings. Maybe we'll get some adds going. In the meantime, I'm totally happy driving a rather "unique" car. It's kind of cool.

 

[sandange]

Just saw a TV add for the car show here in Montreal and they announced
"Come and see the Electric Cars" and
flashed pictures of the Smart electric, Fiat electric and our I Miev.
The organizers partnered with CAA ( Canadian Automobile Association) are offering people test rides of electric vehicles, right at the show.
I don't see them downplaying or hinting at dropping the I Miev

 

[MLucas]

Just got back from Hong Kong and Beijing. Didn't see any i-MiEVs in HK or any ads for the car either, plenty of Leafs and ads for the Leaf though. Even the airport authority is test driving the Leaf. I was excited to see one on the tarmac. The i MiEV would fit in so much better in HK than the Leaf, I wondered how the heat of summer would affect the Leafs battery pack.

Beijing is all about gas, didn't see any advertising or electrics on the road there. That is one city that could sorely use them, or at least hybrids. They got every other kind of god awful automobile driving around those streets.

 

[iMiEVNZ7]

Hi MLucus,
My Partner got back from HK and sent me a photo of the Police using a iMiEV as a patrol car I think, I don't have a photosharing website thing and I can't see how the attachment to posts works, but yes they are testing them, I think my partner said they saw about three or more iMiEVs there in differing uses.

I think BVD is making electric cars too. I really think electric cars will be the normal type of car once charging stations are all fast ones or or larger batteries like the Tesla are standard.

The imiev was originally tested with a 20 Kw battery I think and that would give us another 25 % more range or thereabouts.

For here that would mean 125 kms @100 Km/Hr so easily making the trip from Sheffield back to base instead of the just making it at present. Mind you, if we added a set of Lithium Batteries available here in NZ for $ 1 per stored watt, and used that as a road side recharger via the inverter, we could do it for $ 4, 000 NZ for the batteries, and only take up the same space in the boot as 4 Hilux batteries or less. I am tossing up about adding another 8 Kw of storage to allow for heater use for 45 min on full, or to give another 50 Km range without the heater on.


It can be awkward to ask to borrow a powerpoint when visiting, so to be able to simply pull up and plug into our own powerpoint in the boot, would be cool. Only give the car a half charge but sometimes all we are short by is 10 km or 1.6 Kw or so, so a quick 30 minute or so charge is all we need usually based on our testing runs.

 

[MLucas]

Hi MLucus,
My Partner got back from HK and sent me a photo of the Police using a iMiEV as a patrol car I think, I don't have a photosharing website thing and I can't see how the attachment to posts works, but yes they are testing them, I think my partner said they saw about three or more iMiEVs there in differing uses.

I would have loved to see that. I think the i MiEV makes more sense for Hong Kong than the larger Leaf does. The narrow i MiEV would fit easilly down the tight side streets with parking on both sides and the range would be about perfect. I just don't think Mitsubishi is really trying hard enough to convince the public that they have an electric car for sale. They can only blame themselves for its failure.

Good luck with your i MiEV range enhancements, sounds like fun. I'm loving every minute of mine after six months of ownership. No problems with the winter so far, not that we get much of a winter anymore. Today, in Buffalo, NY - its raining at a lovely 7 degrees celcius.

 

[steph]

Not sure they have the battery production capacity for a large world demand...

But dropping the i seems strange, because PSA (Peugeot/Citroen) wich resale i-Miev with very little changes, anounced new delivery program for 2013 across Europe.

 

[jray3]

Not finding my HK iMiEV photo, but here's a police car in St. Peter's Square
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y259p9ld5n5uh3q/Polizia%20St%20Peters.png