The President and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd. (MMAL) Robert McEniry has announced that two units of i-MiEV will be delivered to Australia as part of an extensive feasibility study and EV promotion media glitz.
No specific dates on their arrival were revealed but MMAL did mentioned that it will be well in time for the upcoming Melbourne International Motor Show on February 27th. One unit of the i-MiEV will be used for exhibition purposes while another will be test drivers by key stakeholders and opinion leaders. The i-MiEVs will be touring across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia in March 2009. The vehicles will be used for public awareness events, and also for test drives by city councillors, government authorities and fleet vehicle buyers.
Prior to this Mitsubishi Motors is already working with power utility companies in numerous countries to promote the use of EVs and also improving access to EV recharge facilities. Among the countries and power utility companies involved in the study are :
New Zealand - Meridian Energy
USA - Southern California Edison (SCE) and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
Japan - Tokyo Electric Power Company, Kyushu Electric Power Co., Chugoku Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co., Okinawa Electric Power Company, Hokkaido Electric Power Co., and the Hokuriku Electric Power Company.
In Australia, power utility company AGL is already working on a separate EV project with Project Better Place to supply renewable sources generated electricity to Australia's power grid.
i-MiEV is based on a standard gasoline powered Mitsubishi i "kei" car. The i is short for innovative while the acronym MiEV is short for Mitsubishi In-wheel Motor Electric Vehicle. Mitsubishi have earlier introduced a few EV concepts featuring in-wheel motors. Mitsubishi's in-wheel motor concepts is a brilliant idea as it does away with the need for complex and heavy transmission and differentials while allowing maximum use of interior space. It is also able to provide 4WD traction without relying on complex transfer case / transmission. The i-MiEV however drops the in-wheel motor idea in favour a more conventional electric motor and battery setup as the i-MiEV is based on a regular production ready Mitsubishi i.
MMAL has repeatedly mentioned that it intends to be the first car company to offer EVs on sale in Australia. The i-MiEV is also expected to go on sale by this year, making it the world's first production 4-door EV on sale and also the first EV on sale in Japan. Renault-Nissan have also set some very ambitious targets for EV introduction however, so far Mitsubishi Motors is the only one that has been showing significant progress beyond prototypes, concept cars or limited trial runs and is well on track for production. The i-MiEV's lithium ion battery pack is manufactured by Lithium Energy Japan, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Corp, Mitsubishi Motors and Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa.
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