Australia's first electric car on sale next year

Shock news! Australian motorists will be able to buy an electric car from new car showrooms by the middle of next year. That's the news from Mitsubishi, with plans to launch its iMiEV locally at a Prius-like pricetag all but complete.

Destined to be the first mass-produced plug-in vehicle to go on sale in Australia, the pint-sized Mitsubishi will be on local roads in limited numbers from January 2010 -- but the first people to get behind the wheel of those early evaluation cars will be politicians, energy industry executives and the media. However, everyday motorists won't have to wait too long, with plans to sell the cars in larger numbers my mid-year.

"We hope to have a handful of cars here by January at the latest," Robert McEniry, the president and CEO of Mitsubishi Australia, told the Carsales Network at a media event in Byron Bay in northern NSW last night.

"We were hoping to have it here by the end of this year but it looks like we may just miss the cut."

But McEniry said he has made it his personal task to get the car here as soon as possible. "We will have the first electric car on sale in Australia if it's the last thing I do. It's my mission."

It was thought the iMiEV would be under evaluation and not available for sale to the public for at least two years. But it has already been approved for local regulations.

"I think by about mid next year Joe Public will be able to buy them," McEniry stated.

And though expensive, the iMiEV won't be priced at impractical levels, McEniry hints. Mitsubishi had previously speculated that the iMiEV could cost as much as $70,000 because of the high cost of technology, however, the Mitsu boss says the price of the technology is coming down by the month.

"We are aware the price will start to come down and that's partly the reason for the delay. We're waiting for the volume to build up and the price to come down."

When asked what the final price might be, he stated: "Well, some people in fact expressed interest at $70,000 but we want it to have wider appeal. Most of the people who are showing interest have indicated that if it's Prius money or a couple of grand more than a Prius, they'd buy it."

The cheapest Toyota Prius petrol-electric hybrid car costs $40,000 plus dealer and registration charges.

The iMiEV was originally designed for the streets of Tokyo and will be one of the smallest cars on Australian roads. In size, it sits somewhere between a Smart car and a Toyota Yaris.

The four-door four seater iMiEV is powered by solely an electric motor and has a range of between 90km and 130km, depending on driving conditions.

It takes up to eight hours to recharge it fully from a household power socket, or about 45 minutes to recharge it to 80 per cent capacity using a fast charger.

Top speed is 130km/h and it accelerates with about the same zip as a regular small car.