One day soon your electric car could be your backup house power as well as your means to getting to work – and if a research center called "M-tech Labo" just opened by Mitsubishi in Japan has anything to say about it, that's exactly where things could be headed.
Following lessons learned by its MiEV project, and investing heavily in future electrified vehicles besides, Mitsubishi Corporation, and its automobile and electrical divisions are working further along the lines of proving a smart grid whereby the large batteries in its EVs would be fully capable of two-way energy flow.
This week the first shipment of 2012 Mitsubishi i electric demonstrator vehicles were received for East Coast dealerships at the Port of Baltimore and said to represent its the debut for "most of the eastern seaboard."
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mitsu's little EV returns 112 miles per gallon equivalent (energy usage), the highest of all vehicles sold in the U.S.
This is among the many selling points Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) is making regular use of for its plug-in commuter which is also known as the iMiEV and has already successfully been on sale in other markets.
Although for the better part of a decade the Honda Civic Natural Gas was ranked the greenest car on the road by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), this year it was upstaged by a new contender, Mitsubishi’s all-electric i.
On ACEEE's 2012 Greenest Vehicle List, the Mitsubishi – still known in other markets as the i-MiEV – scored a total of 58 points, placing it ahead of the Civic Natural Gas, which had won the category the previous eight years in a row. The Civic tied for second place with Nissan’s all-electric Leaf, followed by the Toyota Prius Liftback and Smart ForTwo.
Earlier this week we saw how a startup electric vehicle maker dropped out of business saying support for the market is weak, but don’t try telling that to Mitusubishi.
The far-more deep pocketed company said it will push up plans for nationwide roll out for its four-door electric i from an originally planned December 2012 nationwide roll out to June 2012.
The plug-in commuter will be here six months sooner perhaps in part because it is six thousand dollars less than a Nissan Leaf while offering only 11 miles less EPA estimated range (62 vs. 73).
In the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, stories began to emerge of hybrid vehicle owners using their cars to power appliances and cook food when power was cut off for hours or even days at a time. Now, several manufacturers are reportedly working to add electrical output capacity to their hybrid and plug-in and vehicles.
This week Mitsubishi announced a few details about its limited-production U.S electric minicar due in November, including that it will be the lowest-price, highest-MPGe EV yet available.
The "i" is what Mitsubishi is calling the $27,995 “wide body” version of its EV, and just 2,000 will be made available for the North American market.
You may have read of other electric and petrol iterations of the car also known as the iMiEV in Japan and elsewhere, but Mitsubishi said it is taking the cautious route for year one in the U.S.
As it is, the all-electric North American version of the tiny city car earned a respectable 126 MPGe (mile per gallon equivalent) in city driving, and 99 MPGe on the highway (112 MPGe combined).
In the past two weeks, two different companies have announced plans to roll out public rapid charging for electric cars. These chargers will allow electric car drivers to roll up, fill up, and drive off almost as fast as they do today in gas-powered cars. In an interview with HybridCars.com, John Aker, president and CTO of Aker Wade, explains his vision of EV rapid charging.
Production of low-emission electric drive vehicles is no longer an interesting sideline for global automakers. It’s becoming the big show. Industry analysts—as well as consumers considering their next purchase—are now wondering which technology holds the most promise: Hybrids or Electric Cars?
The volume of announcements regarding hybrids, electric cars and other green offerings at the Los Angeles Auto Show expands every year. However, this year’s media days held few surprises for car fans following the green scene. Carmakers mostly confirmed and reiterated commitments to bring previously announced alternative vehicles to market.
Mitsubishi will show its ultra-compact i-minicar next week at the New York International Auto Show.
