Written by: Martin Ward
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 

David Blackburn has owned the Colt Car Company in Cirencester for many years and was the importer of Mitsubishi cars and light commercials. The company was sold to Mitsubishi Motor Company (MMC) earlier this year, so it is now wholly owned by the Japanese company. MMC is a huge company, with the production of vehicles being just a small part of its vast empire.

 

The I-MiEV is the first factory produced four seat, five door, all electric car to be built in the world. It is based on the i-CAR, which has a 1.0 litre petrol engine and costs around £9,500.The electric motor is very quiet and produces 47kw (63bhp) of power taking the I-MiEV from 0-62 mph in 13 seconds. This may not seem quick, but after having driven it around Cirencester, it did not appear to be lacking in power and was always the first away at traffic lights. There is an ‘eco-mode’ button that can be pressed, taking the power down from 47kw to 18kw, which dramatically reduces the available power, but does save battery life. A fully charged battery has a range of between 80 to 100 miles depending on the following conditions: the speed you are travelling at, the temperature, whether the heater or air conditioning is being used, if you have the lights on or off and steep inclines. It has brake regeneration so when you are slowing down, going down a hill or braking, this will put a small amount of power back into the battery. Mitsubishi do not know the cost of a new battery but they are offering a 10 year warranty on the battery and say that when it is 10 years old, it will still hold 80% of its charge. It is still unknown how insurance companies will react or how much they will have to pay out to replace or repair a battery if it is stolen or damaged in an accident. It takes six hours to fully charge a battery from empty but Mitsubishi are offering a quick charge option which will take 20 minutes to charge from empty to 80%. However, the cost of the quick charge machine, which is roughly the same size as a cold drinks dispenser, will be in excess of £30,000. These quick charge systems could be installed at filling stations or supermarket car parks, so the owner could charge up whilst they do their shopping. The I-MiEV is a true four seater with plenty of room for four adults as there is ample legroom and a lot of headroom. With the battery being stored under floor, it does not take up any boot space so this leaves adequate room for luggage or shopping.

 

Mitsubishi has calculated that it costs around 96 pence in electric to go 100 miles or £115 to drive 12,000 miles, in comparison to a Toyota Yaris which costs £3,711 to do the same mileage using petrol. Mitsubishi will build 2,000 units this year, 6,000 next year and 50,000 in 2011 for the world and they say that the more they build, the cheaper the models will become. The price though is going to be prohibitive and it is not a cheap run about. The cost will be in the region of £25,000 but with potential government subsidies, this could be reduced to £20,000. Unfortunately, that is still is still double the cost of the petrol version. The problem with electric cars at the moment is the poor range, high cost and hardly any charging infrastructure within the UK. It is said that they will improve over the coming years, get cheaper and look to be much better value, but why would anyone be the first to pay over the odds for what will be old technology in the next few years? Knowing that in the following incarnations there will be improved technology for considerably less money, it is sure to make consumers hesitant.

 

The plus side to these models is that they are available to order now, with the first deliveries due in November. It is also quick, quiet and relatively low cost to run and maintain.

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