Mitsubishi I-Miev 2016 News

Cars are either being built worse -- or companies are getting better at detecting faults.a range of models made over the last 10 years replacing potentially deadly Takata airbags in 1.3 million cars in Australia. a second, airbag-related recall for the Priusreplacing potentially deadly Takata airbags in 1.3 million cars in Australia

The electric dream is fast turning into a nightmare - Australian sales of electric vehicles have dwindled to a trickle.

Having created the first ever mass production electric car, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the innovative Japanese automotive company is certainly not resting on its laurels.  Mitsubishi continues its push on electric power in many different directions, taking advantage of its research and development knowledge to do everything from competing in electric motor sport to powering houses – that’s right, powering houses with cars!, more about that in a moment.  First, there are the obvious directions of improving the motor and battery efficiency of electric vehicles to increase their driving range; and of pruning production prices to make them moderately affordable. EVs are today extremely expensive and this is the biggest hurdle to be overcome.  Mitsubishi is also expanding the models to include a small van version based on the i-MiEV, even a crossover SUV. The all-new Mitsubishi Outlander, which is coming to Australia soon, will be offered as a plug-in petrol-electric hybrid in some markets. The final design of the hybrid Outlander hasn’t been – and may not come to Australia in any case. Our petrol is still too cheap and the reluctance of many Australians to admit that climate change is a reality means we may not see the low emission Outlander downunder.  The Japanese giant is also working on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (P-HEV) that also run on petrol as the best way to extend overall trip distances. But admits this is at the cost in mass and dollars of carrying two engines and two ‘fuel tanks’.  Range extenders, which use a petrol engine as a battery charger when power runs low are being built by other makers, particularly General Motors. During an interview with three Australian motoring writers, Mitsubishi president Osamu Masuko, declined to comment when I suggested range extenders were not an efficient way of running electric vehicles. The fact that General Motors had just suspended production, probably temporarily, on its range extender Chevrolet Volt may have been a factor in Masuka’s reluctance to become involved in a discussion. We will keep in touch with this controversial area of EV design. As well as the practical side of electric vehicles Mitsubishi is also working at two totally different extremes. Mitsubishi is keen to show that electric cars are more than economy-based vehicles, that they can actually take on petrol and diesel cars in competition. On July 8th a special high-performance Mitsubishi i-MiEV will tackle the famous Pikes Peak hillclimb in the USA. The competition car currently in the last stages of development is based on the structure of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, but has a special single-seat sports body and has an electric motor reputed to be developing somewhere between 250 and 300 horsepower (187 to 224 kW).  This will not be simply a demonstration run by a Mitsubishi electric special, there are reports that as many as six other electric cars will compete in this year’s Pikes Peak. It’s likely to be many years before electric vehicles are regarded as mainstream on the streets – and in competition – but events like this, the world’s best known hillclimb, certainly keep them in front of the motoring public.  At the other extreme from the Pikes Peak EV challenge is the Mitsubishi electric vehicle that can be used to power your house. That’s right, park your i-MiEV outside your house, plug it in and the vehicle’s batteries can run all the electrical systems within the house. The idea isn’t to do this car-to-home connection on a routine basis, but to have use the EV as a standby in case of a power outage on the electricity grid.

... so carmakers are turning to new-wave plug-in hybrid vehicles as a stop-gap measure. Mitsubishi - which is marketing Australia's first volume electric car, the i-MiEV - says it will release a production version of its PX-MiEV SUV concept as a plug-in hybrid by 2013. The Outlander-based wagon is a range-extender - it can use its petrol engine or an overnight plug-in system to recharge its batteries for the electric motors - similar in concept to the Holden Volt. Though the PX may be beaten to the showrooms by the Volt (expected in 2012), it will be first large vehicle that can source power from an internal combustion engine, an onboard generator, or batteries. It will also better suit the lifestyle of Australians, says Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd vice president of corporate strategy, Paul Stevenson."(With small-range all-electric cars) we're asking Australians to make lifestyle changes," he says. "We like bigger cars, like SUVs. But with plug-in hybrid and electric technology, it doesn't matter what size car you drive.  The PX is a vehicle that can use electric power for commuting and the petrol and all-wheel drive system for the highways and country driving." But Stevenson still terms plug-in technology as the "interim stage" in the march towards full electric power.  "We want to get to the stage where we have drivetrain options on models," he says. "That is, plug-in, hybrid, electric, petrol and diesel."  Ultimately, Mitsubishi sees all-electric vehicles as likely future personal transport.  It's vital that to get there, the aspects of battery cost, driving range and charging time are addressed," he says. "It is very difficult at the moment to achieve all three. Which is more important? We see range and charge time as being most important.  To get the cost down, we are using alliances with PSA (Peugeot and Citroen's parent) to make more electric cars. "The more we make gives us greater volumes which lowers the cost of the batteries - that should take three years."  Stevenson says MMAL's first fast-charge station for electric cars - primarily its own i-MiEV hatchback - can deliver 50 per cent of battery charge within 15 minutes. Mitsubishi has leased 115 i-MiEVs to Australian governments and authorities and will offer cars to private users from June next year.  The i-MiEVs will be leased, not sold, to private motorists, says MMAL president and CEO Masahiko Takahashi. Australia will get an upgraded i-MiEV next year but it won't be the wide-bodied version that is to be leased into the US next year.  Takahashi says the left-hand drive body is too difficult to be adapted for right-hand drive markets such as Japan and Australia.

 ... a SUV powered by a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain and can run on batteries alone for shorter commutes, as well as be recharged from the domestic electricity grid. The PX-MiEV comes packed with technologies that boost efficiency and cut emissions.  It even comes with a double dose of ‘cocochi’ – which is Japanese for ‘cozy’.  In other words, it’s a crossover that’s had all vestigial traces of ruggedness removed and is instead fully compatible with, and adapted to, the demands of urban automotive duties. A 1.6-litre petrol four provides the internal combustion-based motivation, together with a parallel system of electric drive from two permanent magnet synchronous motors. A bank of batteries allows the PX-MiEV to run up to 50km on batteries alone. The PX-MiEV uses an E-4WD system that shuffles torque between the wheels at will, using the S-AWC (super all-wheel control) and E-AYC (electric-powered active yaw control) systems more at home in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. A new centre rear differential setup – not from the Evo – tweaks the E-AYC’s drive distribution at the rear. An electronically controlled air suspension system gives the driver three ride height settings, depending on the size of the speed humps and traffic calming measures in front.

Mitsubishi boss Rob McEniry is making that promise as the company's first two electric cars roll off a container ship in Brisbane. The two Mitsubishi i-MiEV (Mitsubishi Electric Vehicle) models have arrived for an 'education and evaluation process' but not for sale, McEniry says. The vehicles will be issued to media and government officials for evaluation and to "start the public education process of future mobility and propulsion". McEniry says 40 more i-MiEVs will arrive later this year. "Governments will be the first customers in the market," he says. "I can't tell you what the price is yet, but the price of electric vehicles is coming down rapidly and that is why we are cautious of saying the price now. By the time the next batch arrives next year we will be ready to tell." "When it gets into volume production it will be affordable; not much more expensive than comparable sized cars. But running costs will make them cheaper over the whole of the life of the vehicle. I can tell you it will not be as expensive or as big a premium over comparative-sized cars as the (hybrid) Prius." Mitsubishi i-MiEV project manager Ashley Sanders says the car could be fully charged off the mains power supply in seven hours and would run for 160km on one charge. A quick-charge station would charge the battery to 80 per cent of its capacity in 30 minutes, but the infrastructure was not available here yet, he says. The 1080kg city car has batteries under the floor which will last 'the life of the car', or a minimum of 10 years, he says. Sanders says the first evaluation vehicle that arrived here last year for homologation and testing had experienced 'no major problems or battery overheating'. McEniry says the i-MiEV will "not only be able to plug in, but take its power when the grid is at its lowest demand. And the next generation model will be able to put back electricity that it has created into the grid at high demand times". The two cars here for evaluation are Japanese specification, but the models to be sold here will be European production models with higher specification. "They will arrive as one spec first up, but as volume increase, we will offer different specs," McEniry says. Queensland Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones says drivers could get incentives such as cheaper rego, be able to drive solo in transit lanes and get cheap or free city parking to switch to electric cars. The incentives are being considered under the government's new electric vehicle policy to be released by the end of the year. Jones says the arrival of the i-MiEV would draw attention to Queensland's electric vehicle policy. "We will look at a number of incentives for people to switch to electric vehicles," she says. "We are hoping Queensland can be in the forefront of electric vehicles when they hit the road in 2011. I was one of the first to drive a Prius and I still do, and I will put up my hand to drive one of these." She says electric vehicles would help reduce pollution in big cities. "Personal vehicles represent 80 per cent of the transport emissions in Queensland," she says. "If we see a significant shift to electric cars we would see that drop. Therefore we would look at incentives such as cheaper registration ... use of transit lanes as they do in California and I'm sure Brisbane City Council would look at the issue of (discounted) parking. We do not want to go into this without looking at all the issues. We also need to look at the waste products as part of our policy."

The Japanese automaker showed off its tiny electric vehicle in full police livery at the recent National Police Show in the UK. Mitsubishi says it has "inundated" with requests from British police departments to put the vehicle through local trials. The first i-MIEV police package will be used by the West Midlands Police.