Only in Berkeley could an egg-shaped car with the steering wheel on the wrong side and the words electric vehicle all over it garner absolutely no attention.
I thought people would point, or at least look at Mitsuishi's i-MiEV with the same slack-jawed "WTF?" looks I got when I drove the Aptera 2e. This is an eco-crazy town that outlawed styrofoam, declared itself a nuclear free zone and celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day, for cryin' out loud. But no. Aside from one guy exclaiming, "Hey -- check it out!," this thing's gotten as much attention as a Cal hat on game day.
So far that's been the only surprise I've experienced in the four days since I've gone electric.
Mitsubishi dropped off a Japanese market i-MiEV on Friday, which happened to be Alternative Fuel Vehicle Day. A fitting coincidence, don't you think? I'll have the car for three or four weeks.
Mitsu was kind enough to send it on a flatbed truck so as not to suck any juice out of the 16-kilowatt-hour lithium ion battery. Good thing, because in addition to right-hand drive, the car I'm driving has a range of 50 to 80 miles. The model headed to the United States next year will be left-hand drive with a range closer to 100.
That said, range hasn't been a problem so far. I've been driving the i-MiEV daily and, so far, haven't used more than two-thirds of the juice.
The first thing I discovered is driving an EV forces you to rethink how you drive. You become much more aware of how much energy you're using, because you've got a limited amount onboard and no easy way to quickly replenish it. You learn to drive much more efficiently -- which, frankly, is something all of us should learn to do. I'll go into more detail later, but in a nutshell I'm using a light touch on the accelerator, minding my speed and maximizing the amount of regenerative braking I do.
The i-MiEV has three modes -- D, Eco and B -- selected using the gearshift. For an experience most like a conventional subcompact car, Drive is the best mode, but it takes the biggest bite out of your range. B maximizes the power and regenerative braking, which sends energy back to the battery. I've been spending most of my time in Eco, which Mitsubishi recommends for around-town driving. It cuts output of the 47-kilowatt (63-horsepower) motor while providing good regen. But now that I've actually read the manual (I found it this morning in the glove box), I'm going to try B because that's how you maximize the range.
I've been charging the i-MiEV with a conventional 110-volt wall socket using a 50-foot 10-gauge indoor-outdoor extension cord. I plug it in when I'm done for the night and unplug it when I leave for work. Piece of cake. I haven't drained the battery -- yet -- but Mitsubishi says you'll need 12 to 14 hours to fully charge it using a 110.
I don't have easy access to 220, but there are a couple of public chargers in San Francisco that I plan to check out soon. Plug it into 220 and you're fully charged in six to eight hours. I haven't done the math, but I expect to pay less than two bucks to fill the battery if and when I ever drain it completely.
My daily commute is a breeze, just 17.4 miles each way. But it's all highway driving, so that sucks down the juice. A handy state-of-charge meter on the dash helps keep track of your energy use, and I got to work this morning with about two-thirds of the pack left. Not bad.
I've been driving the i-MiEV exclusively and so far haven't had any concerns about running out of juice. Granted, I live in a dense urban area where everything I need is within a couple of miles of home, but then the i-MiEV is designed for exactly that kind of driving. Mitsubishi makes no bones about it being an urban commuter.
On that score, it's actually a pretty nice little car. Out on the road the i-MiEV is just like any other subcompact. I don't have access to all kinds of fancy testing equipment, but Mark Vaughn of AutoWeek does. He spent the summer driving an i-MiEV and blogging about it daily (definitely worth reading). He ran the car through AutoWeek's standard tests at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona and came up with:
- 0-60 mph: 11.9 seconds
- Quarter-mile: 18.7 seconds @ 72.6 mph
- 60-0 mph: 159.6 feet
- Slalom: 38.3 mph
- Skidpad: 0.62 g
Nothing fabulous, but hey -- it's a subcompact EV based on a subcompact Japanese Kei car with a 660-cc engine. It'll keep up with traffic, even when accelerating into the insanity that is I80, and it can hold its own over the Bay Bridge. We keep hearing that the model headed to the United States will have a little more oomph, and it will be bigger, too.
Not that the i-MiEV is small, mind you. It looks small, but there's plenty of room inside. A friend of mine who tops 6 feet and is well over 250 pounds had no problem getting into the back seat, and he actually found it comfortable. Another friend complained that the front footwells are a bit narrow and he kept bumping his knee on the cupholder (which pulls out of the dash like a drawer), but other than that no one who's ridden with me has had any complaints.
If you're wondering about the name -- which, frankly, sucks -- the car is based on the Mitsubishi i. The rest of it is an acronym for Mitsubishi innovative electric vehicle.
If you're wondering about the looks, well, I can't help you there. People will either love it or hate it. One friend of mine took a look at it and asked, "Why do electric vehicles always have to look like hamstermobiles?" I think it's kinda cute, but then I always buy Charlie Brown Christmas trees and pick the runt of the litter. It looks to me a bit like a Honda Fit without the sharp edges. It's certainly distinctive.
But not distinctive enough to make much of an impression in Berkeley, even if it is a lot of fun out-smugging all the Toyota Prius drivers.
Photos: Jon Snyder / Wired.com
