New Zealand’s first mainstream electric car
As Mitsubishi shapes up to release its electric iMiEV in New Zealand, Chris Keall runs through the reasons for leaving the world of petrol, and even hybrids, behind
1. They go like stink
Let’s start with one of the electric car’s less obvious advantages. You’d assume an electric vehicle has all the grunt of an electric toothbrush. In fact, they can fly. At the top of the food chain, US startup Tesla Motors’ electric sports car—the Tesla X1—can outpace a Porsche Carrera GT or a Lamborghini Murcielago. Although it has a much smaller engine than the X1, Mitsubishi’s iMiEV is no slouch, able to hit a respectable 120 kilometres per hour.
2. They’ll leave boy racers for dead
Keeping with our petrol-head (or should that be battery-head?) theme, it might also surprise you to learn that electric cars accelerate faster than petrol cars.
The trick is that electric cars generate maximum torque more or less instantly, at 1 rev per minute. A petrol car typically develops maximum torque at around 1,400 rpm. (Torque is pick-up power, a measure of the speed with which an engine can deliver its power to the wheels and get the vehicle moving forward—as opposed to horsepower, which gauges a vehicle’s potential maximum power.)
Tesla’s X1 can accelerate from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in a neck-breaking two seconds. Mitsubishi’s iMiEV doesn’t have nearly that kind of torque, but veteran New Zealand motoring journalist Peter Gill, who drove the iMiEV during a Tokyo preview, tells me it still accelerates with more pep than equivalent small petrol cars.
3. Better handling
Still not sold on performance? The iMiEV’s lithium-ion batteries lie under its floor pan. That makes for a lower centre of gravity than for an equivalent petrol car, which translates into better handling through corners.
4. Zero emissions
Petrol cars are one of the planet’s biggest CO2 offenders. Electric cars, by contrast, produce no emissions.
Of course, you have to charge an electric car, and that electricity has to be generated somewhere. But Mitsubishi’s New Zealand launch partner, Meridian, also just happens to be the world’s first carbon-neutral power company.
5. Zero noise
All electric cars—and the Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid operating in electric mode—run almost totally silently. Cyclists, watch out.
6. Overnight recharge
Pity the Yanks. Their 110-volt grid means it takes 14 hours to recharge an iMiEV. Kiwis are blessed with a 240-volt system, meaning an iMiEV can be recharged in just six hours. That’s short enough to fill ’er up as you sleep, during the period that electricity is charged at off-peak rates.
7. much smaller ‘fuel’ bills
Petrol and electricity prices both fluctuate wildly. But overseas studies have found the electricity required to run an electric car costs only around one-fifth of what it would cost for petrol to drive the same distance. That’s because electric car engines are around 85 percent efficient, while internal combustion engines waste around 85 percent of the energy they generate as heat.
8. Lower running costs
The iMiEV won’t be cheap. According to Mitsubishi New Zealand’s Daniel Cook, given currency fluctuations it’s difficult to say what the sticker price will be when the car is commercially released around 2010. But he agrees that the price of US$30,000 (NZ$52,000) mentioned in some US media reports is “not out of the ballpark”. By way of comparison, the hybrid Prius sells here from $44,000.
Against this, electricity is cheaper than petrol, plus the iMiEV’s engine has almost no moving parts. There’s only one gear, so there’s no clutch. With none of the grinding histrionics of internal combustion, there’s also no oil to change. Then there’s the lifestyle benefit of never having to visit a petrol station again.
9. A little government dosh. Maybe
In Japan, the government will subsidise one-third of the cost of buying an iMiEV. So far, our new biofuel-hostile government hasn’t put itself in line for any green awards. But Meridian is a big player with some lobbying smarts. By 2010, with the recession over and a new election looming, green motoring may be back in vogue.
10. No ‘range anxiety’
Meridian spokesperson KJ Dillon says Americans have not taken to electric vehicles because they suffer from ‘range anxiety’: the fear that their electric car will run out of juice when they are far from home.
Mitsubishi’s Daniel Cook says that shouldn’t be a factor here, where commutes are generally shorter.
“We’re in Porirua. Most people here work in Wellington, which is 42 kilometres—a big round trip by New Zealand standards,” but still easily within the iMiEV’s range of up to 140 kilometres on a single charge. (As with petrol, economy depends on how much you have to stop and start, and how heavy your foot is—see page 70 for tips.)
“This is a second car, a runabout,” says Daniel.
Unfortunately, if you do get stranded, the iMiEV can’t just be plugged into the nearest power socket; the car requires a slightly modified AC adapter with a heavier than usual earth pin. Mitsubishi hopes that if electric cars take off, charging stations will become commonplace.
