On display at Sydney’s Darling Harbor is the new all-electric MiEV ‘production’ display vehicle.
MiEV dashboard... mmm... round, we like round...
Although I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, a colleague from the office did and here is what he had to say…
The Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car is on display today in Darling Harbor, I stopped in to take a look this morning. They had some example batteries and a motor on display too.
It’s on a stand, and you can’t get close enough to touch it or see what the internal space is like, or how much boot space there is.
According to the Mitsu sales guy, they will be available in 2010, or maybe 2011, as they are still working on the fast charge system. The web page claims 30 minutes fast charge time to 80% capacity, but he quoted 1.5 hours today. The batteries are Lithium Ion (cobalt), not Lithium Phosphate, so I would guess they are still developing the systems to ensure that charging is safe and the batteries cannot overcharge and overheat. Li-Ion have higher energy density, but Li-Po are safer.
There are 2 charge sockets, the fast charge on the nearside under a petrol-type fuel filler flap, and an ugly looking domestic socket on the offside, both on the rear wings. I asked if the domestic charger (7hrs to 100% charge) could take 15A or 20A from an appropriate socket, but he couldn’t answer. I suspect it is limited to 10A.
The motor is 46kW, liquid-cooled, and looks like it is probably 3-phase induction. A single fixed-ratio reduction gearbox driving the rear wheels, reverse is by electrically reversing the motor. The ‘gear shift’ has 3 modes – ‘D’, ‘E’ and ‘B’ – which seem to be all about how the car responds when not accelerating:
D – Drive will simply coast with foot off the accelerator
E – Economy has mild engine braking (regenerative) so the car slows down slightly with foot off
B – Brake has strong regenerative braking – like using a lower gear to maintain speed when descending hills
If I understand it right, there is no actual difference in acceleration or performance under power between the 3 modes, it is purely about how much engine braking effect there is.
Claimed stats are top speed 130kph and 160km range (ie, 100 miles for the US market), 10 year battery life. No 0-100 time quoted, but reported to be quite nippy and ‘fine for in-town’ (so it should be with full torque available from 0 speed.)
Overall it’s a small car but not a tiny car, although somewhat narrow as is common for many domestic Japanese cars (for fitting down the narrow streets.) 4-seater, no idea of the (front??) boot capacity (but it doesn’t look very big). Layout is rear engine, batteries under the floor in the middle and rear of the car.
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written by Carmel Duryea Morris
\\ tags: Electric Car, Li Cobalt, Li-Ion, Li-Po, Lithium Ion, Lithium Phosphate, MiEV. EV, Mitsubishi, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Yuasa
