Mitsubishi announces EV intent

Mitsubishi will give Australia a taste test of electric vehicles (EVs) next month -- and based on the result could sell a production electric car locally by late 2010.

The announcement of a trial of a plug-in pure-electric Mitsubishi was made yesterday by Mitsubishi Australia boss, Rob McEniry. McEniry told the Carsales Network the February-March feasibility study was "a serious effort to ascertain the interest of corporate, government and private buyers" towards EVs.

The study will take place in-part in conjunction with the Melbourne motor show which opens on Feb 27. It will, however, take in each of the east coast mainland capitals plus Canberra and Mitsubishi Australia's hometown of Adelaide. Mitsubishi has secured two of the company's i MiEV electric minicars for the trial -- one is a 'driver'; the other will be used in the study's static elements.

Each capital city event will be a three-day affair including drive programs for key potential corporate and institutional partners and the media. Though the public will not be able to drive the electric vehicles, they will have open forum access to the cars and Mitsubishi personnel.

According to McEniry, the company will make decisions around the brand's local EV future based on the response from the events. Indeed, he says on the assumption of a strong response to the initial i MiEV trial, Mitsubishi could have a "handful" of evaluation vehicles here as early as late 2009, with a view to limited availability of production EVs "earlier than most people would have anticipated".

McEniry confirmed the i MiEV goes into limited production later this year for fleet and institutional sales in Japan. "Stage 2" series production will be ramped up in 2010 at which point private Japanese consumers will be able to purchase i MiEV, he said. It's this roll out that the local Mitsubishi boss says he would like to be able to capitalize upon.

McEniry cautions, however, that evaluations currently under way in Europe, the UK and also the USA could place pressure on production slots for Aussie i-MiEVs.

"How much demand there is versus capacity is going to be the question at that stage," McEniry hedged.

McEniry believes the time is right to float the EV solution Down Under largely because Mitsubishi's entrant is a production reality. He says, however, Mitsubishi Australia is still at the start of its local EV timeline.

"We really haven't talked much about i MiEV even though it's been sitting there," the Mitsubishi boss told the Carsales Network.

"Main reason is there has been a lot of talk about electric cars but most of the talk's about development and 'maybes' and so on. As part of our overall strategy for the company -- two key platforms of fuel-efficient, environmental-friendly cars and safety -- our decision really was to say: no, it is not in the future, it's here and now. So we're bringing it out and want to let people see it and start the process now for the total industry on the vehicles themselves and what's required for infrastructure," 

"Even though we've been talking to some potential partners on energy provision and that sort of stuff we don't have any firm arrangements yet.

"This [feasibility study] is saying the car is here and available if the market wants it -- and if they want it we [therefore] have to think about how we support the car and provide [infrastructure] for the car."

The Mitsubishi Australia boss insists that the trial is a true feasibility study and says Mitsubishi Australia has not yet made a decision to import i MiEV. He dismissed the premise that the national tour is just 'window dressing'

"No, we haven't made the decision [to push the button on EVs] at all. This [study] will be measuring support levels from key stakeholders. There's been a lot of talk and discussion about EVs in Australia but not much substance behind 'okay how do we actually introduce them'...

"The options are that you try and go through all that [infrastructure discussion and provision] first, and it wouldn't be hard to guess there's a few challenges in that... Or you actually say, we're not talking about the future, we're actually talking today and if we want this we have to accelerate how we're going to support programs -- not just for Mitsubishi but for the whole EV mobility concept going forward," opined McEniry.
 
McEniry says it will take more than a token level of interest to kick the i MiEV  project into action locally.

"One government state department saying it's interested is not going to tell us [the market's ready].

"Simply because the car's been out and promoted internationally, we've already had companies that want to take a carbon footprint reduction position contact us... [But] It'll be the breadth of the interest that will really be the indicator [for us to push ahead].

"I think we'll also get a lot of private interest -- and that will be important to look at from a generational point of view," McEniry said.

In product terms the i MiEV has a claimed range of around 160km -- according to Japanese testing. A diminutive four-door, the current version uses lithium ion batteries to power a 'conventional' mid-rear two-wheel drive electric powertrain. Unlike early Mitsubishi EV prototypes, i MiEV does not use in-wheel motors. In addition to the hatch i MiEV, Mitsubishi displayed its i MiEV Sport 2+2 at the 2007 Tokyo motor show (2007).

In Japan, Mitsubishi is conducting i MiEV fleet testing programs with a number of electricity utility companies.

Mitsubishi Australia has previously stated that aspects of the i-MiEV's base design have posed some problems with existing Australia Design Rules. These were particularly the case when the company consider adding the conventional petrol-powered 'i' kei car (the minicar upon which i MiEV is based ) to its local line-up.

The Mitsubishi boss is confident, however, that solutions can be reached for the EV version of the vehicle.

Though McEniry would not comment, one option open to the company with the small anticipate volumes of an EV versions of is to homologate the vehicle under one of the Australian Government's low volume import schemes.