PORTLAND, Oregon - I can’t believe the day has come. So many questions and speculations around electric cars are floating around. But the reality is that they are here and they are not going away.
It is 2011 and I have driven my second fully electric vehicle. Last month, I was invited to the Nissan LEAF launch in Montreal and today, I got to take the Mitsubishi i-MiEV for a drive.
First thing: this electric car is just like a ‘real’ car. I don’t know what I was expecting, something more futuristic or spaceship-like, maybe? Mitsubishi has put a lot of effort into making sure that consumers feel right at home in this EV. I open the door, put the key in the ignition and turn the key… nothing happens. Ok, a lot actually happens underneath, but there is no sound. The running motor is so quiet that adjusting the electric side mirrors is noisier.
The i-MiEV looks and feels just like a normal car. What else would you refer to it as? Unlike the Prius or the LEAF, the gear shifter on the i-MiEV is just what consumers are accustomed to. It’s not just me. The journalist that I am driving with today keeps saying the same thing: “I keep forgetting that this is an electric car!” I could spend all day behind the wheel and forget about it completely.
The Mitsubishi ‘i’ is a small fuel-powered car in Japan. The i-MiEV got its engine and gas tank removed, replaced by an electric motor, an inverter and lithium–ion batteries. The battery pack feeds the 63-horsepower electric motor through a single-gear transmission.
Mitsubishi says that this EV will travel approximately 155 km per full charge. Charging times with a 120V charging cable will take about 22 hours, while a 240V charger can do it in 7 hours. If you can find a DC quick-charge station, you can get an 80% charge in 30 minutes.
We pull into ‘Electric Avenue’ located at Portland State University, which is a research project that allows EVs to charge up. You pay for parking but the charge is free. After a bite to eat and a 30-minute charge, we are at just over 80% and we can head off again.
The exterior styling doesn’t look like any other car currently on the road, and we get a lot of looks from people. It’s a funny shape with a very short front end; evidence that there is no engine up there.
Rather, it’s located just forward of the rear axle and behind the rear seat, low and close to the center of the chassis, giving the car a low center of gravity. This is very noticeable on the road, as the i-MiEV has decent handling and stability. Taking corners, parking and passing on the highway just feels like you’re driving a real car. See what I mean? It’s so easy to forget this vehicle IS an electric.
The placement of the battery pack also allows maximum interior volume. There is lots of room to comfortably seat four adults. If you want to compare electric to electric, then the closest competitor to the i-MiEV would be the Nissan Leaf, and it is bigger with room to seat five adults.
Compared to the LEAF, the i-MiEV feels small. The seats are narrow and even though it is actually 110 mm wider than the Japanese and European versions, the cabin feels a little cramped. The roofline is high, though, and legroom for front passengers is more than adequate.
The second row has limited room, but if you are in the market for a small EV, you won’t be expecting much anyways. The rear seatback splits 50/50 and can easily accommodate grocery bags or luggage.
After driving all morning, feeling at home on the highway and in the city of Portland, I get to experience what has been aptly nicknamed ‘charge anxiety’. My co-driver and I are lost. We have a quarter of a charge left and are confronting some very windy and hilly back roads, looking for the portable charge station they have set up for us.
Despite being a bit lost, we marvel that one of the great things with an electric car is that the torque is immediate; you get 100% torque at initial throttle input. Unlike a gas engine, there is no vertical vibration and the interior is wonderfully quiet. So quiet, in fact, that I have no issues hearing the other journalist gasp as he notices that the charge is dropping – quickly.
What do we do? We are part of a group of 20 other journalists, on the same route in a car that won’t go unnoticed. I joke; can we shift it to neutral and drift on fumes? As we turn a bend in the road we see the portable quick charge station and we both breathe a sigh of relief.
For around $33,000, the i-MiEV comes standard with a 3-way charge system, speed-sensitive electric power steering, a CD player with MP3 file playback, air conditioning, the MiEV remote system (timer charging and remote climate control) a full compliment of airbags and antilock brakes.
An additional $3,000 gives the consumer the Premium Package with upgraded interior trim, premium audio, navigation with rear view camera, Bluetooth and steering wheel-mounted audio controls. Ontario and Quebec announced subsidies towards the purchase of EVs of close to $8,000.
Consumers will really enjoy being behind the wheel of this EV. It will be easy to forget that they ever drove a ‘real’ car. Unless of course, you run out of charge, but, for the time being, Mitsubishi offers a free tow if you get stuck.
