Mitsubishi Said To Sell Electric Cars to Individual Customers by Next Summer

Mitsubishi Said To Sell Electric Cars to Individual Customers by Next Summer

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will begin selling a fully electric version of its gas-powered i minicar (pictured here) to individual customers in Japan next summer, slightly ahead of schedule, Reuters reported today.

Called the iMIEV, for Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle, the plug-in car is powered by an 88-module, four-cell lithium-ion battery pack located under the passengers and a motor, charger and inverter positioned above the rear axle.

The layout is based on the "rear-midship" platform of the gasoline-powered i that has been sold in Japan since 2006. As a result, the electric version can retain the car's full interior volume without reducing space for passengers or cargo.

Mitsubishi has said the electric car would be priced from $23,420-$28,100. The cars can be recharged by connecting to an ordinary household electricity socket.

The Japanese automaker, one of the frontrunners in the development of electric cars, had said it would begin offering the zero-emissions car mainly to fleet customers next summer and to individuals no later than 2010.

But according to an article posted on a Canadian Web site that cited Dow Jones as its source, Mitsubishi moved up the retail release in light of smoother-than-expected preparations for mass production and favorable sales conditions for electric vehicles created by runaway gasoline prices.

Tetsuro Aikawa, managing director in charge of product development at Mitsubishi in Okazaki, Japan, told Green Car Advisor in March that the car would not pass U.S. side-impact safety tests.

Nevertheless, the company will conduct fleet tests of the iMIEV with a U.S. power company beginning next fall, he said.

Aikawa said that the range of the iMIEV in the United States would be 80 miles in city driving or 75 miles at highway speeds, based on Mitsubishi's own tests.

It would not be possible to increase the range without a complete redesign of the present vehicle to accommodate a larger battery pack, he said, but Mitsubishi considers the range to be sufficient for in-city driving, which is the company's intent for the vehicle.

See Green Car Advisor's March 20 article for more details about the vehicle. For more details regarding today's developments, see the Reuters article.

Scott Doggett, Contributor

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.