Charge ahead with this nippy fella
Christopher Tan, Straits Times 3 Jul 09;
YOU will not hear it coming because it is completely silent. And when you see it, there is little that sets it apart from any other car.
But this is not just any old car: Behold the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the first production, street-legal all-electric car to arrive in Singapore.
It is not cheap either, with an estimated price tag of a whopping $165,000 - the sticker price for a Mercedes- Benz E-class.
And that is after the green vehicle rebate, mind you.
Mitsubishi dealer Cycle & Carriage is not expecting any buyers, however.
The company brought in the car - unveiled in Japan last month - to take part in Singapore's recently announced $20 million electric vehicle trial.
The three-year trial, led by the Energy Market Authority (EMA), aims to examine the viability and robustness of electric vehicles in a hot, humid place like Singapore. It also aims to gauge the environmental impact of such cars, if any.
The i-MiEV is expected to be joined by other electric models from Nissan and Renault as early as the end of the year.
These might be joined by other models, such as the electric Mini and battery-powered Smart, later.
A spokesman for EMA said: 'We are happy to welcome Mitsubishi to be part of the trial.'
Based on the tiny but roomy Mitsubishi i city car, the i-MiEV is powered by lithium-ion batteries which can be fully charged from a garden variety power socket in about six hours.
If high-voltage fast-chargers, which Singapore's newly formed Electric Vehicle Taskforce will be setting up, are used, the car can be juiced up in 30 minutes.
A full charge is good for about 160km, claims the manufacturer.
However, a spokesman for Cycle & Carriage said that it would realistically do about 120km to 140km with air-conditioners running. But that should still be more than adequate for the average Singapore motorist, who covers 55km a day.
The car's lithium-ion batteries, developed by Lithium Energy Japan - a joint venture between Mitsubishi Motors, GS Yuasa Corp and Mitsubishi Corp - power a lightweight high-tech electric motor.
The car has brake regenerative power, meaning its batteries will be partially charged whenever the brakes are applied.
The i-MiEV's open-market value is estimated at $80,000 - more than six times that of a popular small Toyota.
The batteries and electric drive system are said to be largely responsible for the high cost of the car. Also, since such cars are produced only in small numbers, there are no economies of scale - yet.
Despite the hefty price tag, it is already beginning to look like a winner: Mitsubishi is ramping up production for corporate clients and the local authorities in Japan.
'The benefit is that the car is environmentally friendly,' the Cycle & Carriage spokesman said.
'And a full charge costs only $4. To cover the same distance in a petrol car will cost $30 or so.'
Meanwhile, despite the green attributes of petrol-electric hybrid cars, sales have been crawling. Making their debut in 2001, hybrids on our roads now number only about 2,300 - a mere 0.4 per cent of the total car population.
