Mitsubishi Announces i-MiEV Foundation Group Members

CLOVELLY PARK, AUSTRALIA – July 14, 2010: Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL) has announced members of the inaugural Mitsubishi i-MiEV Foundation Group - organisations which have successfully applied to lease one of the company’s innovative electric vehicles when the first shipment arrives in Australia later this month. With the arrival of the vehicles, MMAL will officially become the first volume-production manufacturer to market electric vehicle technology in this country.

Members of the i-MiEV Foundation Group read like a veritable Who’s Who of Australia’s premium businesses and government divisions. Successful applicants include the federal government, a number of state government departments, and progressive corporations known for their forward thinking attitude and innovation. Each of these organisations will receive an i-MiEV electric vehicle for use on their company fleet, with employees and staff amongst the first Australians to experience the ground-breaking zero drive-time emissions technology on a daily basis.

The announcement of the Foundation Group members will be supported by a wide-ranging advertising campaign, commissioned by MMAL.

While Mitsubishi announced that 40 vehicles would be available in initial shipments, the company reported applications for over 100 vehicles from more than 40 companies and government departments – a demand for supply MMAL is keen to fill with follow-up shipments of the popular city commuter.

According to MMAL’s CEO and president, Masahiko Takahashi, demand for the vehicles has been high.

“The last twelve months have seen Mitsubishi conduct Australian trials of the vehicle with hundreds of potential owners, including local, state and federal government bodies, and major fleet operators, and the feedback from these test drives has been very positive.

“However, the proof of Australia’s acceptance of the electric vehicle comes down to whether people are ready to purchase the vehicle – and there is no doubt that they are. We have three times as many applicants as vehicles at this point.

“We could not have wished for a better response,” Takahashi said.

Released in Japan in July 2009, the i-MiEV, which stands for Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle, is one of the world’s first truly viable zero drive-time emission city commuters in volume production.

International interest in the vehicle has been considerable and the i-MiEV has undergone feasibility studies in several countries around the world, including the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Iceland, Canada, and more recently in Australia.

The i-MiEV’s electric motor is smaller, produces more torque at low revolutions and is quieter than a similarly-powered turbocharged gasoline engine (according to MMC in-house tests). Most importantly, the i-MiEV’s motor is cleaner, producing zero drive-time CO2 emissions. Utilising a large-capacity lithium-ion battery system and a compact, high-output electric motor in place of a traditional gasoline power train, the i-MiEV has some impressive technical specifications for a zero drive-time emissions vehicle.

Producing 47 kW of power and 180 Nm of instant torque, the i-MiEV’s permanent magnet synchronous motor is supported by a revolutionary lithium-ion battery from Lithium Energy Japan. The i-MiEV has a range of up to 160 kilometres, a top speed of 130 kilometres per hour, and recharges in less than eight hours from a standard 15 amp power point.

“When you consider that 85 per cent of commuters in urban Australian environments travel less than 100 kilometres per day, the i-MiEV represents an excellent solution to reduce our environmental footprint when green-energy is utilised,” Takahashi said.