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OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, August 26, 2009 · 18 Mitsubishi's electric i-MiEV lets you plug into the future today By Jim Robinson Metroland Newspapers Carguide Magazine I have driven the future and it is quiet. It's generally believed the future is plug-in electric cars. But you don't to wait for the end of the next decade to get one. The Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle or i-MiEV (pronounced I-My-Eve) is not a glorified golf cart but a true four-seat plug-in electric subcompact sedan that can travel up to 120 km (75 miles) and, if need be, 130 km/h (81 mph) on the highway. Based on the successful Mitsubishi "i" city car sold in Japan, the series production version of the MiEV was announced June 5 for Japan. It is being used initially on a lease basis to corporations and utilities. The company plans to start sales of i-MiEV to individuals in April 2010. Closer to home, Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada (MMSCAN) has announced it could be on the streets of Canada as early as November 2009 as part of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Mitsubishi Canada Ltd, the Government of British Columbia, BC Hydro and the City of Vancouver. Under the terms of the agreement, one car would be added to BC Hydro's fleet of vehicles and one to the City of Vancouver's fleet for demonstration and evaluation purposes. The agreement also allows for the addition of more cars as they become available. And if you see a pert little red and white car come bombing silently by, that will be the i-MiEV that Mitsubishi Canada has at its Mississauga national headquarters and is currently being tested. It's actually simpler to operate than a car because there's a lot less to worry about like a transmission, water and oil levels and temperatures, no emissions, and of course, no MITSUBISHI i-MiEV ZERO PLUG-IN ELECTRIC AT A GLANCE BODY STYLE: Subcompact sedan. DRIVE METHOD: rear motor, rearwheel-drive. ENGINE: 300-volt permanent synchronous magnet/inverter (62 ho, 133 lb/ft) FUEL ECONOMY: 120 km per charge. PRICE: NA. You won't believe how it comes off the onramp to the highway. Instead of white knuckles and beads of sweat looking for someone to give you a break, the little i-MiEV makes short work of getting into the cruising lane. Instrumentation is simplicity itself, but needs watching. At the centre is a digital readout for what "gear" you are in. The outer half circle starts in blue at the left and arcs through green in the centre and white on the right. There are two sub gauges on the main half circle making the whole thing look like the Disney logo. The one on the left is power level and the one on the right of the odometer/trip gauge. The i-MiEV uses regenerative braking to convert energy back into battery power. The idea is to keep the pointer at the blue/green junction. Brake hard and the needle swings left into the blue. The faster you go, the further the needle swings to the right. Green is good, white is bad and that's all you have to know. The "transmission" uses the standard "i" shifter but the difference, of course, is like all electric motors, it can run in forward and reverse. Continued on page 22 Photo by Jim Robinson Production has started in Japan on the Mitsubishi i-MiEV plug-in electric car and testing is about to start in Canada. It can travel up to 120 km on one charge and has a top speed of 130 km/h. service stations. As a true plug-in, it can be charged from any household 110-volt outlet in 14 hours and half that from a 220-volt outlet. If the owner installs a 200-volt three-phase quick charging machine, the i-MiEV can pack in an 80 per cent punch in 30 minutes. At current electricity rates, the I-MiEV is two-thirds cheaper to operate than a gasolinepowered subcompact. By charging during offpeak hours, the cost drops to one-ninth. But the statistic that caught my eye was that, even taking into account the CO2 emissions from power plants used to generate electricity, the I-MiEV still puts out a third of the CO2 compared to a subcompact. Mitsubishi began working on lead acid battery electric cars back on 1980 and switched to lithium ion in about 1994. In the i-MiEV the battery pack is composed of four high-density lithium ion cells than can be placed horizontally or vertically. This allows them to fit flat under the floor. Not only does this help in the packaging (no intrusion into the cabin) but it lowers the centre of gravity. The I-MiEV uses the same architecture as the smart car. In fact you could call the gasoline "i" the half sister of the four-door smart. And like the smart, the gas engine of the "i" is located in the rear. As it happens, it's the perfect place to put the permanent synchronous magnet electric motor and inverter. What's most surprising is how fast the iMiEV goes. If you've ever ridden a streetcar, you know how quick it gets up to speed. Same with this I-MiEV except it just keeps on accelerating until you lift off. The 300-volt motor puts out 47 kW or roughly 63 hp. Yet it also produces 133 ft/lb of torque, more than a Honda Civic. At 1,080 kg (2,376 lb), it also weighs less than most compacts and a few subcompacts to boot.