Japans Mitsubishi Motors has just unveiled its new i-MiEV electric car. The vehicle is priced at just over 47,000 U.S. dollars, less than other rival electric cars but still a hefty price compared to popular hybrid combined gas-electric vehicles.
Plug it in, charge it up and drive it away. The new age of EVs, or electric vehicles, has come along and Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors hopes the new I-MiEV will energize the otherwise slow electric car business.
Mass production has already begun with over 2,000 on order. With Mitsubishi Motors’ president saying output will hit 30,000 over the next few years.
The president is also sending a strong message that electric cars are not only more economic to run, but also have less effects on the environment.
[Osamu Masuko, President, Mistubishi Motors]:
“We believe that EVs are the ultimate solution to atmospheric pollution, global warming and the end of oil. Introducing the 100 percent - electric i-MiEV onto the market will both test the pinnacle of current technology and lead the way to a new era.”
The I-MiEV, which gets 160 kilometers on a 30-minute quick charge, will be sold at about $47,600 U.S. dollars.
The I-MiEV takes about seven hours to charge on a 200-volt outlet, and will soon be ready to roll onto roads in both Japan and abroad.
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A video by Plug-in Partners promoting the many benefits of Plugin Hybrids Electric Vehicles. If the current U.S. vehicle fleet were replaced overnight with PHEVs, oil consumption would decrease by 70 to 90 percent, eliminating the need for oil imports and leaving the U.S. self-sufficient in oil for many years to come. Even if the electrical power for those vehicles were drawn from coal-fired power plants, CO2 emissions would drop by more than half. If the power were produced by renewable energy sources, and the fuel in the tank were biodiesel or ethanol, the proposition gets exponentially better.
Learn more about EVs
“Who Killed The Electric Car?” explores the creation, limited commercialization, and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the General Motors EV1 of the 1990s. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, the oil industry, the US government, the Californian government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers in limiting the development and adoption of this technology.