Mitsubishi’s $50,000 Electric Car Makes Drivers Sweat

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Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Imagine ruling the highway with a car that revs like a medieval beast unleashed from hell, pulls 400 miles on a full tank, with the air-conditioner on full blast. Alas, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV is nothing like that.

Quite the opposite. The electric car is so quiet, it’s almost sedate. Without an engine, you don’t get that shuddering growl when you turn the ignition key or any rumble when you step on the accelerator to overtake rivals. Thank goodness for less noise, the civic-minded among us might say.

And certainly, i-MiEV’s benign quality jibes with the car’s green credentials (“Run With Zero CO2,” goes the advertisement, “the future chosen by Mitsubishi Motors.”)

Clean, correct and conscientious -- if a bit dull.

You would think the automaker that gave us bad-boy, road- wrecking machines like the Lancer Evolution X (with turbocharged four- cylinder engine and 300 pound-feet of torque) would make i-MiEV more exciting. And at 4.6 million yen ($50,000), almost the same price as the Evo, a driver should really be guaranteed fun and functionality -- or his money back.

No such luck.

The i-MiEV is modeled on Mitsubishi’s 0.66-liter “i” minicar, which is as round and bubbly as a Nissan Cube is boxy. It also has the same plastic-and-fabric interior as the $11,000 minicar. What makes i-MiEV almost five times as expensive is its lithium-ion battery, which isn’t produced in large enough quantities yet to offset development and other investment costs.

Since it doesn’t have a back-up gasoline engine like hybrids, one wonders: how far can this car really go?

Charged Battery

When I hopped in to test the car, I noticed the fuel gauge on the dashboard said the battery was fully charged. Yet instead of the 160-kilometer (99-mile) maximum driving distance advertised by Mitsubishi, the indicator read “83 km.”

That was with just the fan running. When I pushed the “max” air-con button, the number dropped further to 63. Having to trade air-con comfort for range is especially painful in Tokyo’s humid summer heat. In the i-MiEV, you might just have to keep your cool if you want to reach your destination.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. spokesman Kai Inada blamed the mismatch between the advertised and the actual range on the i- MiEV’s previous user, who might have accelerated for long spurts, draining the battery. The car’s computer then assumed I would do the same and calculated I could only cover 83 km on a full charge. Even so, Inada readily said the car rarely achieves the maximum driving distance.

Instant Acceleration

Once the car gets moving, acceleration is instant and gets to 60 kilometers- from 40 kilometers-per-hour 30 percent faster than the gasoline-powered i -- all without a rumble. It also has a top speed of 130 kmph. While that pales against a Porsche 911 Turbo’s 312 kmph, it is nothing to sniff at.

Ideally, driving should be a fun and stress-free experience. When the traffic is light and the weather fair, your mind should be free to wander. No chance of that with the i- MiEV; behind its wheel, mine was consumed with what’s showing on the dashboard.

Obsessing over the battery’s juice wouldn’t be necessary had a charger been readily available at a 7-Eleven or Tully’s Coffee. That’s just not the case; there isn’t a comprehensive public infrastructure yet in place for charging up electric cars.

That became a real problem for Keisuke Tanaka, who has been driving a company-owned i-MiEV since August 3 to visit the eight convenience stores he supervises for Lawson Inc. in Tokyo.

Tanaka said he was once stranded with a near-dead battery in the middle of making his rounds and had to switch to a Toyota Vitz compact for the rest of the day.

As for the driving experience, he said he likes the car’s quiet ride and instant acceleration, “which feels like a car with 2-liter horsepower.”

Then came the big question: would he pay for an i-MiEV?

“Unless the price comes down and the range reaches about 300 kilometers, I wouldn’t jump to buy one,” he said.

Neither would I.

The 2009 Mitsubishi i-MiEV at a Glance

Power source: Lithium-ion battery.

Driving range on a full charge: 99 miles; 62 with A/C on.

Battery charge time: 7 hours with a 200-volt charger.

Transmission: One speed.

Price as tested: 4.6 million yen.

Best features: Zero-emission driving, instant acceleration.

Worst features: Price, limited driving range.

Target buyers: Environmentally conscious early adaptors bored with the Prius who have a power outlet in the garage.
Mitsubishi?s $50,000 Electric Car Makes Drivers Sweat: Review - Bloomberg.com