Mitsubishi to Present iMiEV Plug-in EV at Confab Tuesday, But Here It Is a Day Early
By Scott Doggett July 21, 2008
Mitsubishi is slated to give a presentation at the 2008 Plug-in conference in Northern California Tuesday on why it has decided to enter the electric-vehicle market with its iMiEV.
We got our hands on a version of their PowerPoint presentation and, well, we're making it available, in the more common PDF format, to you a day early: Mitsubishi 2008 Plug-in Presentation.pdf .
The slide show starts off with some facts you likely know, such as EVs have: the most efficient well-to-wheel energy use, the lowest carbon-dioxide emissions, and the lowest per-mile fuel cost.
But then it rather quickly gets into information that you likely don't know or forgot, such as Mitsubishi began building EVs in 1971 and has built them nearly every calendar year since.
Of course the heart of the presentation isn't a ride down memory lane, but rather an introduction to Mitsubishi's iMiEV, from how it works to dimensions and specifications to details regarding the iMiEV's prototype battery pack.
Did you know that the iMiEV's onboard charger can switch to 110-volt or 220-volt power automatically? No need to worry that you might forget to leave it on the lower setting and damage the vehicle when you plug it into a 220-volt outlet.
Two other cool things: First, the iMiEV can be 80 percent charged in a speedy 30 minutes using a supercharger or fully charged in six and a half hours using a 220-volt outlet.
Second, the iMiEV's battery pack can be completely charged in just 13 hours using a standard 110-volt outlet. A Tesla Roadster, plugged into a 110-volt outlet, requires 32 hours to be fully charged from fully discharged.
Granted, a Tesla Roadster is a high-performance sports car, it's carrying a 53-kilowatt-hour battery pack, it has a 220-mile range on a single charge, and it costs $109,000, while the iMiEV will pack a 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack, its range is limited to 75-80 miles between charges, and it will be priced between $23,000 and $29,000 when it is sold to individual customers in Japan starting next summer and U.S. and Europe the following year.
The show includes photos of the iMiEV undergoing cold-weather testing (frost, frost and most frost) and driving through flooded areas where the water line is nearly as high as the headlights. The show is worth a scroll.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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