2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
The electric Mitsubishi is still touring Europe as a pre-production model. We met him recently in Berlin and by and large we could get used to him.
By Martin Woldt
What makes the Mitsubishi interesting in principle: At the end of 2010 it will be the first large-scale electric car to roll on German roads. We encounter the 3.40-meter-long four-seater as a harbinger of a traditional manufacturer who, by 2020, has declared that it wants to send a fifth of its models onto the road using only electricity. At the same time, Peugeot is also underscoring these ambitions by bringing the identical car to the market in its own version called “iOn” at the end of next year. The i-MiEV actually seems to be meant seriously. During the Mitsubishi prestigious tour this week in Berlin, however, we had to do with a car in the test. As the brand managers explained, the look of the front will still change a little before series production begins.
Nothing to be seen of the battery
Nonetheless, the i-MiEV already seems to us to be an adult. It looks solid inside and out. Entry is easy, the interior appears spacious. The 200-kilogram lithium-ion battery underneath the floor pan and the rear seat have no noticeable restrictions. And even in the soulless plastic ambience of the cockpit, the familiar charm of a small Japanese car appears to us. Where the tachometer is usually located, the energy consumption is displayed, with the battery charge status shown next to it. The large windshield in front, the slightly narrowed view to the rear, the future picks us up from the present.
Liquid in traffic
At first glance, the narrow center console between the two front seats looks like a kind of automatic transmission. Which of course it is not, because an electric motor can do without a conventional gearbox. In addition to reverse gear and the park position, there is also the gear stick position "D" for a full 67 hp. «Eco» reduces the performance, but should improve the range. «B» increases the running resistance of the generator and can thus, for example on sloping stretches, increase the energy recovery yield. Starting with a rotary knob as usual, even if you then of course no longer hear anything. A light indicates that the engine is running. The noise of the air conditioning is louder than the hum of the rear engine below the trunk floor. The i-MiEV moves wonderfully smoothly and evenly into traffic. The steering is somewhat synthetic, the brakes a little spongy. A car that you will get used to in a short time.
Prices and costs
What our first short conclusion with the car of tomorrow cannot answer is the question of its suitability for everyday use. It starts with the price that the Mitsubishi people have no idea of yet that they would publicly name. In Japan it is around 34,000 euros, reduced by state and regional funding to 19,000 euros for end customers. Mitsubishi Motors boss Osamu Masuko wants to push the costs down to around 15,000 euros by 2012. How he wants to do it, he has not revealed.
Today, the average production costs of an electric car are 150 percent higher than those of a conventional vehicle with a combustion engine; some experts such as analyst Christian Kleinhans have calculated that the additional costs will only be halved by 2025.
The dilemma of reach
The i-MiEV is designed as a city car with a range of around 144 kilometers. Of course, this can and must develop with improved batteries. Because even if more and more automakers, such as VW head of development Ulrich Hackenberg, are constantly lowering the bar and viewing 100 kilometers as sufficient, the driver sees it differently. So far, only 13 percent accept ranges below 250 kilometers.
The i-MiEV can be charged in seven hours from a standard 15 ampere fused household socket. A quick charge to 80 percent battery capacity works in Japan using three-phase electricity and takes about 30 minutes. When the electric Mitsubishi comes to Europe, it will come with a conventional extension cable, which you can use to recharge cheaply at your own socket. But there are still doubts. After all, it would mean that neither the tax office nor the energy companies earn much money from refueling. Then something would have changed.
