Official Mitsubishi i-MiEV Thread

[GRA]

I would have bought (actually leased) the i-MiEV if it had been available a year earlier, and I rather expect that two years from now I'll turn in my leased LEAF and go i. I usually charge my LEAF from about 30% or 40% to 80%, and I don't charge every day. Yes, we have a Prius we can use for the occasional long trip.

Ray

Ray, given the choice, do you think you'd go for the Fit instead, now? It's more expensive than the i, but while I dislike the Auto CC and the lack of a flat load floor, it's a nicer, sportier car with considerably more range, much faster L2 charging (albeit no L3, a purely theoretical advantage for me at the moment), better handling, ride, noise etc. Absent the need to sleep in the car that I have, I'd think the Fit would be a better match for your needs than the Leaf is.

 

[planet4ever]

Ray, given the choice, do you think you'd go for the Fit instead, now? It's more expensive than the i, but while I dislike the Auto CC and the lack of a flat load floor, it's a nicer, sportier car with considerably more range, much faster L2 charging (albeit no L3, a purely theoretical advantage for me at the moment), better handling, ride, noise etc.

I have not driven a Fit, or even touched one, so my opinion might change in the next two years. At the moment, though, even though I plan to lease I am very suspicious of a car that can't be purchased. It's the knee-jerk EV-1 reaction. The original Insight was a huge leap forward, but since then Honda hasn't done anything in the hybrid market that impressed me. I really have doubts that they are serious about the Fit.

Faster L2 charging? Who needs it at home? And two years from now I expect that QC will be quite common, making "fast L2" away from home just a sad joke.

Ray

 

[TomT]

Personally, I would not ever consider the Fit as I see it as strictly a compliance car and do not desire to support such manipulations by manufacturers... I really don't want to pay for the "privilege" of being their beta testers...

given the choice, do you think you'd go for the Fit instead, now?

 

[GRA]

Personally, I would not ever consider the Fit as I see it as strictly a compliance car and do not desire to support such manipulations by manufacturers... I really don't want to pay for the "privilege" of being their beta testers...

I suspect that Honda is looking it as more like the Active-E (or Mini-E, as the case may be), getting them lots of data while being a good, useful car now. If all they wanted was a compliance car they could have done it a lot less expensively (there was certainly no need to use expensive LTO batteries). As it is, I think the HFE has the best combination of performance and features for the price of any available BEV.

While the lease-only option is an issue for those who don't want to get left out in the cold ala EV1, I think the much larger number of BEVs now on the market will avoid that. And, given the pace of BEV evolution, I think leasing makes sense now in any case. Nor would I be surprised if Honda decides to allow people to buy out the lease at the end of the term, if there's sufficient interest. Or they may have the next generation ready, and offer favorable terms for those who upgrade.

 

[GRA]

Ray, given the choice, do you think you'd go for the Fit instead, now? It's more expensive than the i, but while I dislike the Auto CC and the lack of a flat load floor, it's a nicer, sportier car with considerably more range, much faster L2 charging (albeit no L3, a purely theoretical advantage for me at the moment), better handling, ride, noise etc.

I have not driven a Fit, or even touched one, so my opinion might change in the next two years. At the moment, though, even though I plan to lease I am very suspicious of a car that can't be purchased. It's the knee-jerk EV-1 reaction. The original Insight was a huge leap forward, but since then Honda hasn't done anything in the hybrid market that impressed me. I really have doubts that they are serious about the Fit.

Faster L2 charging? Who needs it at home? And two years from now I expect that QC will be quite common, making "fast L2" away from home just a sad joke.

Ray

Ray, I hope you're right that QC will be 'quite common' 2 years from now. If so, then there's no way I would buy a BEV without it; indeed, I told Coda that IMO as soon as there are ~half a dozen QCs around each of the state's four metropolitan areas, any car without the capability would be functionally obsolescent. At the moment, though, there aren't any QCs anywhere I need one, and I don't expect that they'll pop up in those places anytime soon. But if you can talk someone into installing one in Gilroy and maybe another in Monterey (or at least some L2s there), I'm with you!

 

[DANandNAN]

Faster L2 charging? Who needs it at home? And two years from now I expect that QC will be quite common, making "fast L2" away from home just a sad joke.

Ray

It would be a sad joke if the L3 station costs weren't so astronomically expensive compared to L2 and Leaf owners were willing to pay to make the L3 stations profitable.

L2 stations are quite common (everywhere but Jacksonville) at restaurants, malls and store and a 6.6 means 20MPHC, not bad for a lunch stop. 20 extra miles when we stop at home would a great help.

Really, in the face of their current EV being range-limited, and the fact that they will likely buy another EV in the future, I'd think those owners would welcome faster L2 charging. And they probably would - if they had it available in their cars.

 

[cwerdna]

ABG: Discovery takes a look at the Mitsubishi i:
http://green.autoblog.com/2012/07/27/discovery-takes-a-look-at-the-mitsubishi-i/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Discovery Channel has turned its attention to the evolution of the Mitsubishi i electric vehicle. The channel will run an episode titled 'Birth of a Mitsubishi i-MiEV' on August 4. The show, which is promo'd in the awful short video below (just 15 seconds), will run in Canada, though no word on if or when it will run in the U.S., according to Green Car Reports....

 

[redLEAF]

This one isn't setting the world on fire either ... 33 sold in July (same as June)

http://www.hybridcars.com/news/chevy-volt-leads-growing-plug-electric-vehicle-market-49433.html

"Mitsubishi is now selling this car through certified i-MiEV dealers in all states except Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and North Dakota, with no plans for U.S. territories at this time."

on autotrader I see about 670 'in stock' in the U.S.; not the ~ 3K that Nissan is supposed to have in inventory but if anyone wants one they should be able to get one fairly easily with the small amount of sales

 

[WetEV]

Faster L2 charging? Who needs it at home? And two years from now I expect that QC will be quite common, making "fast L2" away from home just a sad joke.

Ray

It would be a sad joke if the L3 station costs weren't so astronomically expensive compared to L2 and Leaf owners were willing to pay to make the L3 stations profitable.

L2 stations are quite common (everywhere but Jacksonville) at restaurants, malls and store and a 6.6 means 20MPHC, not bad for a lunch stop. 20 extra miles when we stop at home would a great help.

Really, in the face of their current EV being range-limited, and the fact that they will likely buy another EV in the future, I'd think those owners would welcome faster L2 charging. And they probably would - if they had it available in their cars.

Faster L2 is handy. I've driven a car with a 6.6kW charger, and it is a feature I like.

L3 is more expensive, but need not be astronomically so, and I expect to pay for L3 (and L2) charging in the future. For example, if there was a hotel without chargers, and one with a L2 for $5 per night, which hotel would you pick? Sure, they are making money on the L2, but so? Even L1 at an airport would be useful and worth paying a little extra for. L3 is going to be more expensive than L2 and close to the current price of gasoline, and I'm OK with that.

Others might not be. So?

 

[edatoakrun]

http://insideevs.com/long-term-review-10000-miles-in-my-imiev/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well written and generally positive 10,000 mile review.

The only real "flaw" noted was the buyer's decision, now regretted, to not get the QC option...

 

[garygid]

Are there any iMiEV owners in the general vicinity of southern Orange County, CA?

I am in Laguna Hills, and I would like to use a GID-Meter on an iMiEV to make a short
driving log of the OBD CAN bus, and perhaps a longer log of L2 or QC charging.

Please PM me, Thanks, Gary

 

[scottf200]

Mitsubishi Blames Poor i-MiEV Sales In Europe On The Economy, Yen For Everywhere Else
23 hours ago by Jay Cole [19Oct2012 8:30am]
http://insideevs.com/mitsubishi-blames-poor-i-miev-sales-in-europe-on-the-economy-yen-for-everywhere-else/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So how to prop up sales? According to the company, it is apparently by moving away from the i-MiEV (and all electric cars), and into the extended range hybrid business:

“To solve this issue, our resolution was PHEVs, which accommodate the issue of cruising range, which now achieves 800km and also the infrastructure because using the petrol is actually generating the electricity, so I think we are accommodating those issues.”

<snip>
As for the i-MiEV, range anxiety is a very real hurdle to selling the car in a high, or even mainstream level volume, however the i-MiEV is far from even being considered a niche product at this point.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV, is not priced competitively in any market in the world, mostly thanks to Nissan’s willingness to sell the LEAF at a loss while they try to solve a bad currency exchange on their own Japanese made EV.

(Credit: Wayne Cunningham/CNET )

 

[garygid]

Are there any iMiEV owners near southern Orange County, CA?
If so, please PM me so that we can chat.

I am working on facilitating Logging the CAN data from the iMiEV,
and helping others to identify the data in the logged CAN Messages.

We are logging data now, and have identified several values.

I have a new version of CAN-Do that will read the Logs made by
the RealTerm program, using data from an OBDLink SX OBD reader.

 

[GRA]

One Mitsubishi dealer drops the i's price below the Smart ED's:

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1080166_dealer-discounts-2012-mitsubishi-i-electric-car-to-smart-level" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[edatoakrun]

Sad news, if not unexpected, IMO.

Mitsubishi's dilemma was that it could never hope to turn a profit in the US BEV market without the low costs provided by large volume production in a low-cost nation (which, particularly at non-union plants, the US now is).

It had to "get big, or get out" and the new investment capital simply was not there, given the relatively weak corporate financial outlook.

In the wake of the bankruptcy of American Suzuki Motor Corp., a lot of focus of has been put on the perceived next weakest player in the US auto market, Mitsubishi.

For its part, Mitsubishi says it has “no intention” of leaving the US. Quite the contrary actually...


While speaking about Mitsubishi US comeback plan to Automotive News, the Mitsu boss said Mitsubishi no longer plans a successor to the current i-MiEV, and that the company feels that traditional hybrids and plug-in hybrids will now take the stage over pure electric vehicles.

“Rather than EVs, we have greater expectations for plug-ins in the United States.”

The i-MiEV has sold 469 copies this year in the US, and despite a recent push by Mitsubishi to promote the car, including a reduction of the lease rate to peak customer’s interest, Mitsubishi has failed to sell at least 40 i-MiEVs in any of the past 5 months.

Mr. Masuko said that the Outlander plug-in hybrid crossover, with an expected all-electric range of about 22 miles (EPA), will go on sale in the US in January of 2014, and also that the new Mirage will get the electric vehicle treatment, but not to expect it in the US...

http://insideevs.com/mitsubishi-no-next-gen-for-i-miev-will-focus-on-phevs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Thanks for the heads up. Agree on it being sad but not unexpected. I've seen the US sales figures so it's not surprising that I've seen VERY few on the road here in CA.

 

[JPVLeaf]

Yes, it's unfortunate to see them fold. The LEAF was its nearest BEV competitor
in the US in price and range, and the LEAF won out.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

The iMiev was a joke. Totally sending the wrong signal for public perception of EVs. Good riddance.

 

[September]

It also shows priority for American customers, as car with worse economy, shorter range and longer charging time wins. When Ghosn announced that they entertain even shorter range LEAF, I was shocked but it seems way to go.

 

[mkjayakumar]

as car with worse economy, shorter range and longer charging time wins

I don't get what you are saying..