EVChels....can we bother you to give us a bit of a rundown on the iMIEV?

[aptera1213]

http://evsandenergy.blogspot.com/2010/02/zan-and-paul-test-mitsubishi-imiev.html

Thanks in advance...and I understand completely if you can't tell us much.

That said, I know I would love to hear your impressions of the iMIEV.

THANKS

me=jealous... :)

Gavin


http://www.blogcdn.com/green.autoblog.com/media/2010/02/imiev-and-chelsea-630.jpg

[aptera1213]

As for me...

For a long time the iMIEV was my back up choice if the Aptera failed.

But I hadn't heard much about it lately. The LEAF, and even the Th!nk City, have been getting more press.

For my needs I still prefer the iMIEV to the LEAF. And the City probably fits my needs better too. I would probably get a Fiat 500 EV ahead of both the iMIEV and City (mostly because that 500 is pretty as hell...never underestimate the attraction of beauty), but I have no idea when an EV 500 is coming.

The Th!nk City and iMIEV are about neck and neck for me behind the Aptera. I do wish Mitsubishi would "step on the gas" (ha) and get the iMIEV to the states this year.
Hey Mits, you're competing against the LEAF and City. The LEAF will get here this year. The City might get here this year too. Get moving.

If Aptera fails, I could see getting an iMIEV or Th!nk or even a LEAF. Whoever lets me give them my money soonest will likely get a sale. Take my money EV makers...please.

If one of these three EVs goes on sale this winter (or the Aptera actually gets, gasp, into production), well the only reason I could pass over getting one this winter is if Fiat tells us the 500 EV is coming in 2011...I could see waiting for that.

Gavin

[evchels]

Sure!

I've driven the iMiEV a few times before, and wrote up a quick little story about it last year: http://evchels.wordpress.com/2009/05/29/the-hero-and-the-sidekick/ so last week's drive ended up being for us more about the adventures than any actual assessment of the car itself. And it really was fun to put an EV in my garage for a few days. I'm hoping to get a post up about our experiences with Mr. Bean (my kid insisted we name him) in the next few days, but in the meantime:

Paul covered quite a bit of the general stuff in his post. It is a quick (enough), fun little run-about. It's quiet and more stable than the skinny little wheels would suggest. Low center of gravity from the batteries obviously helps. This particular car is a right-hand drive prototype, and based on a gasoline car sold in Japan- so the interior and gages are indeed very spare. They were serviceable, but comprised only of a speedo (in km/h), state of charge gage (comprised by digital bars not unlike that in the EV1) and an analog power use gage where the tach would be- all useful in their own way, but hardly the level of info desired by most EV drivers. At the same time, these- and the interior features in general- are the sorts of things that would change from prototype to showroom, so I wasn't fussed about it.

Like Paul, we charged on a 120v outlet at home, which worked fine for us, but is hardly the appropriate long-term support for a BEV. The iMiEV will be capable of 240v charging at 15 amps (3.3kW) and fast charging. This is my personal pet peeve not only about this car but this generation of BEVs. All of the last generation full-performance cars charged at 6.6kW- basically a standard 40 amp circuit. This generation's vehicles (based on what's been said by OEMs so far) will max at 3.3kW, limiting a home 240v circuit and the existing public network to half of its capable speed. Not a big deal for the PHEVs and EREVs, but I'm expecting this to become a consumer experience issue for the BEVs. Worse, it makes Level 3 charging look that much more necessary, moving it from a "nice to have" to "need to have".

That digression aside, the iMiEV is a great car, and if they can get the price to a more reasonable level (esp given a real-world range of 60-70mpc), it'll sell like hotcakes. Mitsu has not said, however, if this is the configuration of plug-in they'll bring to the states, so will be curious to see how this play out.

[aptera1213]

Thanks!

Yes, I would love to have at least 30 amp charging...My garage is waiting to be wired for my EV ;)

Last year we added a pool in the back and had to update and enlarge the "juice" to our house. So I added a much bigger box than we needed and ran some extra wiring to the garage. But I didn't complete it as I am waiting to see just what I need to add. But I have a big, thick copper wire just waiting to get the right outlet connected to it.

Gavin

ps...have you driven a Th!nk City? If yes, how does it compare to the iMIEV? If no, dang it young lady, pull some strings and get Th!nk to send you one... :)

[evchels]

Have the same issue w my garage- just waiting to see what'll fill it full time before I wire anything in.

I used to drive the old Th!nk City on a near-daily basis, but haven't driven the new one. Looking forward to it though. Obviously the iMiEV has the advantage of being a 4-seater, as does the Leaf- which I've also driven and was impressed by, but my experience was a quick little spin around Dodger Stadium's parking lot. Still waiting to get that out on the road too for a fair assessment.

I, too, am governed a bit by what will be available first, and am, of course, curious to see what pricing is on all of them. I'm also considering the Volt- I require a respectable amount of EV range, but am not wedded to a BEV, and I've had some good seat time in the Volt. Reality is that any of them will be far more than I've ever spent on a car- but I can say that I've never been so excited about a car payment!

[aptera1213]

Cool...Did you like the old Th!nk. I like that it has those low batteries to keep the CG down by the road so the balance is good on these tiny cars.

I would like to like the Volt, but truth be told I just want a BEV. Haven't owned a car in 5 years. My commute is about 12 miles a day total. So I usually scooter or bicycle it.

I would like my next car to never have gas at all. If I was concidering the Volt I would likely just bite the bullet, and the huge car payment, and get the Tesla S...pretty car, good range, no gas. But I haven't had a car payment since 2002, so I really don't want the first car payments I had in a decade to be about the same as my mortgage payments :)

Also I commute by myself so I really don't need more seats. Kids are in college so I don't need to carry more than the wife and I.

And the wife has a "regular" car, so we have back up for longer trips and picking family up at the airport and such.

So the City is a great size for me. The iMIEV would be a great size too. The LEAF also would be fine, but almost over-kill.

Thanks again....and can you get FIAT to bring the 500 in EV form ASAP....like next week. Come on, you gotta have some wicked pull over at Plug in America...That 500 EV might well be the only car currently that I would pick over the Aptera.

Gavin

[aptera1213]

And convince Ford to make the Fiesta an EV instead of the Focus.

Start small, work to bigger as batteries and such get better.

I know you have that kind of pull. ;)

Gavin

[evchels]

I did like the old Th!nk, yes- and I still think there's a place for a true "city car" class w/in NHTSA. Not an attempt to legalize NEVs at higher speeds (not at all a fan of that) but an actual middle ground in performance and proportional safety requirements. The Th!nk, smart and iMiEV are all endearing little buggers, easy to anthropomorphize. Th!nk's biggest challenge will be its competition w the smart ed, though if they do get cars on the road this year, they'll at least have first-mover advantage. But pricing and distro will be key for Th!nk. Given that they're still new and unknown to most, it would be helpful to have a known distro partner to back them up.

Yes, obviously my personal choices for what I'd buy vary from my more public opinions about various cars and technologies in general. As it is, we have two gas cars: one smart and one Saturn coupe. Likely the Saturn, being the older one-and the only 4-seater- will get replaced- since my youngest is 11, we need one car w 4 seats. It makes sense that that car could also be the one that goes longer distances, but it's not required. And personally, I really prefer smaller, more nimble cars, no matter the propulsion. That leaves me looking at Volt and Leaf, based on what we know in terms of availability. The Model S is gorgeous (albeit a big car), but not due for at least 2+ years...and I don't know that I'm that patient. ;o) Ultimately, I'd like to end up with one BEV and one EREV/PHEV in the family, so this is something of an ongoing conversation. Bob will have to choose what replaces the smart.

Oh, and I do adore the Fiat. Spent my time in Europe last fall wanting to put a gasoline version in my pocket, before learning of the possibility of an EV- seeing the EV in DC a couple weeks ago only made that worse! As for my pull, I'm just an advisor to PIA these days...and just a fan with respect to the automakers...

[NeilBlanchard]

Robert Llewellyn is starting up a video series called "Gearless" and the first videos all involve the iMiEV:

http://www.youtube.com/user/GearlessUK

[evchels]

It's more fun than comprehensive, but I promised I'd post about our little adventures in the iMiEV a couple weeks ago: http://evchels.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/mr-bean/

[drivin98]

It had looked as though Mitsubishi were going to bring a slightly bigger global version of the i MiEV (http://green.autoblog.com/2009/03/05/geneva-2009-mitsubishi-global-i-miev-prototype/) to the States but they have been pretty quiet about that since its unveiling at last year's Geneva Motor Show. I'm hoping for some news concerning their American product plans at this year's Geneva Motor Show this week.
http://www.blogcdn.com/green.autoblog.com/media/2009/03/mitsubishi-global-i-miev-prototype.jpg

[evchels]

Yeah, they also unveiled the PX-MiEV at the LA show; I'm definitely getting the impression that the iMiEV version I drove won't be what comes here, but I'm curious to see what does.

[aptera1213]

Well Mits is telling us the iMiEV will come to the States in 2011 at a price under 30K...WOW.

Great time to be looking at EVs. I thought for sure the early adopters would be paying way more. But with rebates we now have:

Nissan LEAF at 32k minus 7,500 plus whatever state rebate you can get.
Coming Dec 2010, so really early 2011.
Mits iMiEV at 30k or less minus 7,500 plus whatever state rebate. Coming 2011.
Ford Focus EV coming 2011...probably around the same as the Nissan.
Fiat 500 EV at 32k (maybe less by then) minus 7,500 coming in 2012.

So three EVs in 2011 from major car companies. One 25k after fed rebate, one 22k after fed rebate and one likely to be around 25k after fed rebate. Then another around 25k coming in 2012.

Sweet.

ABG post (http://green.autoblog.com/2010/04/02/mitsubishi-aims-for-sub-30-000-price-tag-on-u-s-i-miev/)

Gavin

[SlowSRT4]

I knew it all along. Who says major automakers can't make 30k EVs? BS

But Gavin I think you are forgetting a certain other EV from a major automaker coming out early 2011, called the Volt.

Yes, it has a generator, but still...

[aptera1213]

Ha, sorry. Yes the Volt is coming too. Though we still don't have a price.

Also I'm only interested in pure EVs. Just what I want. No Gas at all.

But the Volt looks like a very nice car. Just bigger and heavier than I want.

Gavin

[chijayhawker]

From everything I've seen, the Volt is supposed to be around 40K, before rebates, so it could be in the hunt, but for some reason I think it will miss the boat and be in the upper 30Ks.