Mitsubishi shows off sporty all electric i-MiEV car, Tesla puts up its dukes

Granted, we'll still give the Tesla Roadster the upper hand in terms of sheer sexiness, but Mitsubishi is hoping to attract any wandering eyes by unveiling a sporty new all electric whip of its very own. Shown recently at the Tokyo Motor Show, the compact i-MiEV will reportedly be powered by a pack of Li-ions that can enable drivers to scoot about 100 miles before needing a recharge. After it's out of juice, it'll take around 7-hours at 200V or 14-hours at 100V to charge it back up. Most notable about this ride, however, is the proposed release date: 2009. This figure was recently moved up a year from the original 2010 projection, but unfortunately, no details surrounding a price or specific launch markets have been disclosed. Be sure and hit the via link for a bevy of photos.

[Via Autoblog]

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 29th 2007 8:06AM]

BUT, why aren't these future electric cars being built using popular small SUVs like the:

Nissan Murano
Ford Edge
Toyota Rav
Mercedes Benz ML
BMW X5
Lincoln MKX

or even large SUVS like the Ford Expedition, Armada, Sequioa, etc?


I don't consider efficiency doing less work with less power.

Efficiency is doing MORE WORK with LESS ENERGY.

[required @ Oct 29th 2007 11:41AM]

it takes a lot of bad energy and material to even make things like the nissan moron and since only one person with no luggage rides in these monstrosities 99% of the time they're the antonym of efficiency

[Jimmy Onibs @ Oct 29th 2007 8:23AM]

I personally think this is a VW Bettle rip off except this time it is not a chinese knockoff. I'm hoping some portion of their i-MEV profit goes to VW.

[tony @ Oct 29th 2007 8:29AM]

I welcome any attempts to help clean up the mess we have made, they are long overdue. The problem I have is, living in Dallas, it seems I would do more bad than good since most of the electricity generated around here is from coal burning power plants. What's really sad is they intend to build more of the same.

[tony @ Oct 29th 2007 8:34AM]

I welcome any attempts to help clean up the mess we have made, they are long overdue. The problem I have is, living in Dallas, it seems I would do more bad than good driving a plug-in electric since most of the electricity generated around here is from coal burning power plants. What's really sad is they intend to build more of the same.

[Ignatius @ Oct 29th 2007 7:50PM]

There was a comparison done on one of those hybrid websites. They found that a car with an efficiency of 25MPG would produce 17 pounds of carbon dioxide with every 25 miles travelled. An electric car with an efficency of 150wH per mile powered on a completely coal-powered plant would only produce around 5 pounds of carbon dioxide per 25 miles. I can't find the website that did this, but simply because electric cars COULD potentially be powered by coal (which is only 65-85% of the power supply in any area of the US) would produce less pollution regardless.

Hell, if you live on the west coast, you most likely will have power from nuclear power plants, which produce no pollution.

[tony @ Oct 29th 2007 10:23AM]

Thanks for the info. One more excellent reason to move to the west coast.

[Tommy @ Oct 29th 2007 4:52PM]

"Hell, if you live on the west coast, you most likely will have power from nuclear power plants, which produce no pollution."

Except for 25-30 tons of highly radioactive spent fuel per year!

[Frankenstein Black @ Oct 29th 2007 12:18PM]

Exactly Ignatius. I wish people would STOP THIS INCESSANT COMPARISON TO COAL offsetting gas usage due to coal’s use in generating home electricity! Many of the EV manufacturer’s commonly discuss a SHITE LOAD OF ALTERNATIVE CHARGING TECHNOLOGIES the most promising being solar (with others include charging stations that use wind, nuclear, hydro, etc,).

“Buy an EV and for X you can add a Solar panel clip on charger option for when your car sits in the parking lot at work for 8 hours”. Better still, talk of actually including solar panel tech into hoods, roofs and trunks (that carbon fiber look), and what you end up with is a TRULY ENERGY POSITIVE VEHICLE WITH NOW AND NOT FUTURE TECH!

Can you imagine a Tesla WhiteStar SR with solar body panels? It will produce more energy than it actually uses. You will actually be able to plug your house into you “solar battery powered” ride and not the other way around. This is not “pie in the sky” people. It’s off the shelf, existing tech. And cost will only come down if we adopt it and stop letting you know who fool us with constant 8MPG SUV adds.

HOLY-ish! A BULLET FROM AN OILGARCH SNIPER JUST CAME WHIZZING THROUGH MY OFFICE WINDOW ;^o...

[Tommy @ Oct 29th 2007 4:57PM]

that's per nuclear plant, not total!

[Mark @ Oct 29th 2007 9:04AM]

i first read it as "reportedly be powered by a pack of Lions", caused some very funny mental images :)

[iridium @ Oct 29th 2007 11:08AM]

We should start measuring electric motor output in LP (Lion Power) instead of HP

[t-bone @ Oct 29th 2007 9:24AM]

It is sporty if you consider the ugly step-child of an Eclipse and Beetle to be sporty.

[Ed @ Oct 29th 2007 1:27PM]

Calling it sporty is like calling Bill Gates cool.

[nano404 @ Oct 29th 2007 6:47PM]

Fugly. Apple lawsuit for the 'i' before the name. Get rid of it people! Hardly anything with 'i' before it I take seriously. Sounds awfully childish for a car.

[Temple @ Oct 29th 2007 10:38AM]

Hopefully they can release this car cheap since its using the Mitsubishi i platform that currently sells in Japan for starting a little over US$10k. Being that the platform is a mid-engined RWD (with 4WD option) it makes good platform for a electric sports car.

[niteryder @ Oct 29th 2007 11:27AM]

It goes 100 miles and takes 14hrs to recharge? This just shows that electric cars are hardly ready for public use.

[OddManOut @ Oct 29th 2007 12:02PM]

I dunno about that. Been to Japan in the last 20 years ? They got these things called "K-cars" ("Kei-cars"?) that are wildly popular. They get fantastic mileage, like 50 - 60MPG because they have tiny little ~1 litre engines and can barely go 60 mph. In fact they aren't allowed to go on the freeways, so they're only useful for tooling around town. But since Japan has such a great train system, most people don't drive inter-city anyway...hence the popularity of these cheap, small, fuel efficient, if slightly aneamic, cars.

In a place already populated by cars like these (and where gasoline is still significantly more expensive than it is in the US), I think 100 mile range plug in electrics would fit right in (though 14 hours to charge IS a bit much...).

[required @ Oct 29th 2007 11:49AM]

Most commutes are far below 100 miles (more like a forth of that) as is the distance to most groceries and/or shopping malls.

Electric cars are most definitely ready for public use.

Besides who the heck are you to decide what is ready for me? Gasoline cars are no longer "ready" for you.

[t-bone @ Oct 29th 2007 1:20PM]

Most commutes are indeed under 100 miles but suddenly out of town trips aren't feasible. My grandparents live only 250 miles away, a trip that would take days in an electric car. Why would I do that when my current gas car can make the trip in only a few hours? It seems like a step backwards.

[Lex @ Oct 29th 2007 3:23PM]

Why do the cars with tech in them always look like crap on the outside?
Is this some kind of unwritten law?

[mike @ Oct 29th 2007 12:27PM]

Odd, bubble-shape, 'futuristic' design = you'll never see it.

[Mark @ Oct 29th 2007 5:02PM]

17 hours to charge?....I don't think they are serious about electric vehicles at that point. Decrease the charging time to about 10 hours...then you'll get my dollar..

[Ryhan @ Oct 29th 2007 4:22PM]

Cool, but what's with the "i"? Come on Toyota, Mitsubishi, HP, & Apple; these iNames are starting to get iCliche. Capiche?

[mmm @ Oct 29th 2007 5:52PM]

7 hours is if all you have is a lousy 200V/15A hookup. That wouldn't even power up my kitchen stove. Get a proper outlet, say 32A/380V and it should be less than 2 hours loading time.

[Jeff @ Oct 30th 2007 12:55AM]

that thing is fugly... but i suppose it's in line with other fugly mistu's.

[TEKHED @ Nov 2nd 2007 1:35AM]

"Get a proper outlet, say 32A/380V and it should be less than 2 hours loading time."

I believe there is a limit to how fast these batteries can be charged. Charging them too fast reduces there life span dramatically.

[DToms @ Nov 25th 2007 3:49PM]

Does many of the naysayers here vaguely sound like the horse driven buggy enthusiasts of the last century..

Check out this site: http://www.teslamotors.com/

A 200mile per quick charge roadster that does 0-60mph in 4 secs flat

or this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXqYbNEiW0Y&feature=related

This actually an Ariel atom electric convert ion with the same motor technology used by Tesla

This thing is rocket with under 3.06 secs envelope to 60miles

Now aint that a rocker???