Article Comments - 2010 Mitsubishi i MIEV Plug-In Electric First Drive

33 messages, Last post on Jun 16, 2009 at 8:45 PM

You are in the Electric Vehicles Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer

What is this discussion about? Mitsubishi, Alternative Fuels, Future Vehicle

First Drive: 2010 Mitsubishi i MIEV Plug-In Electric - First Impressions: It's quick enough to win the race at city stoplights, but what about cruising range?(more)

Outline

Messages Page 4 of 4: 1; 2; 3; 4; Prev; Next; Last

#25 of 33 Before we get too far off track... by pf_flyer HOST Oct 20, 2008 (10:15 am)
Let's stick to discussing the Mitsubishi article here. We have plenty of other place to go into the strange and unusual!
#26 of 33 Re: Here we go again [jerry_w78130] by gasgas1 Mar 02, 2009 (7:46 am)
Replying to: jerry_w78130 (Aug 07, 2008 9:19 pm) One key point to the EV strategy: We will need a Nuke plant in every other county of every state to keep the grid supplied with power at the time of widespread acceptance. What? Some of you thought all this power was "just there"? No, not really. Why the four -letter work Nuke? The only viable option for the US would be coal, but this is presently too toxic for my support. So as the EV trend is in it's infancy, the US needs to Launch a Manhattan Project for truly clean coal, and start building a new generation of Nuke plants. This should help to slow the rise in price of electricity as demand increases. Obama? You will know when Clean Coal is a reality when the power plants separate CO2 into graphite and free oxygen. Replies to this message: gagrice (Mar 05, 2009 6:07 pm) larsb (Jun 05, 2009 6:49 am)
#27 of 33 Re: Here we go again [gasgas1] by gagrice Mar 05, 2009 (6:07 pm)
Replying to: gasgas1 (Mar 02, 2009 7:46 am) There is NO interest on the part of the Obama administration to stop coal power. They look at it as a gigantic source of carbon credit tax. They plan on funding much of the stimulus with tax on coal generation. Of course the outcome will be about 30% increase in our electric bills. I agree nuclear is the cleanest best direction to go. Build more nukes. Replies to this message: larsb (Jun 05, 2009 6:49 am)
#28 of 33 OK article, until .... by thebike45 Jun 04, 2009 (6:44 pm)
I have to say, only getting 60 miles is rather discouraging. How in the world are you expected to know whether you can obtain the stated driving radius, which is a mere 50 miles? Pass on this useless vehicle. Very boring anyway and the price is totally outrageous. I note that the Chevy Volt can eliminate well over 90% of gasoline and CO2 emissions, sometimes close to 100%. So why would anyone pay more for something as impractical as this car? I suppose the brainless envirnomentalists will swallow just about anything, so I suppose they also stupidly believe that if its battery-only, there won't be any CO2 emitted. Simpletons. Replies to this message: elgatoloco (Jun 06, 2009 10:39 pm)
#29 of 33 Re: Here we go again [gagrice] by larsb Jun 05, 2009 (6:49 am)
Replying to: gagrice (Mar 05, 2009 6:07 pm) Gary says, "Of course the outcome will be about 30% increase in our electric bills." Gary - check out www.sunrunhome.com. They do leases in your part of Cali. They lease solar panels with only $1,000 down. Will insulate you against upcoming utility rate increases. I'm looking into it now, but it's almost a no-brainer that I will do it.
#30 of 33 Re: OK article, until .... [thebike45] by elgatoloco Jun 06, 2009 (10:39 pm)
Replying to: thebike45 (Jun 04, 2009 6:44 pm) In the last few days since Mitsubishi released a speculative price for their battery powered MiEV all the naysayers on the net have been busily typing away and predicting an apocalyptic disaster for MMC and the whole electric car concept. Sorry, not gonna happen. The #1 concern is that no one will buy this vehicle priced at 45K. The fact is that if Mitsu had 5000 MiEV's for sale at their dealerships in California tomorrow they would probably be gone in about one day. It wouldn't have anything to do with practicality or the price of electricity or CO2 or any of that crap. It would be about being the first one on the block to own one. Anyone remember when the first Toyota Prius hybrids hit the streets of LA? All the stars in Hollywood like George Clooney had to drive one to the academy awards so everybody would know they "cared" about the environment. That plus the fact that no one else could get them. I remember that Toyota dealers were getting around 30K for those things and customers were lined up around the block with cash in their hands. They didn't care if it was cost-effective or not. Whether it's a 700 hp Lamborghini or a battery powered eco car people love to have what no one else has. People buy certain cars for lots of different reasons, one of them is ego. Don't believe me? Ask somebody who works in advertising. The # 2 concern seems to be a fear that the electric suppliers will have a melt down. Does anyone remember when microwave ovens first appeared in the late 70's? The wise men all predicted this product was doomed to fail because we could NEVER supply enough electricity to make them cost effective. I think about every house, apartment, hovel, and cave in the world today has a microwave in it. Guess what, the free market saw a demand for more power and it miraculously came to be. If electric cars appear in large numbers, the supply of electricity will grow exponentially. If any political entity opposes this process, they will begin to lose elections. # 3 concern is "affordability for the masses". A few good examples here would be microwave ovens, VCR players, PC's, DVD players etc..etc.. the list is endless. As product sales increase the manufacturing costs go down due to cost effective improvements. I think that's a law of physics isn't it? Anyway, it happens. Today's 45K electric car is tomorrows 18K electric car. # 4 is cost effectiveness. I'm not a mathematician but if anyone out there is...crunch some numbers and tell us how much money you DON'T spend on fuel (at $2.79 per gallon) driving an EV 40 miles per day for 3 years. Also, how much you don't spend on tune-ups, oil changes, radiator fluid etc.. I have to laugh when I read talking points from Honda and Toyota about why these battery- powered- only EV's won't work ( But oh...btw, we are developing our own because, well..just because.) # 5 EV's cannot succeed because there's no place to plug them in dammit! Isn't that what the buggy whip manufacturers said about the lack of gas stations in 1910 Oklahoma? The best thing about these new EV's is that you can actually use solar or wind power to charge them up if you are so inclined. I can't drill an oil well in my backyard and I am getting pretty fricking tired of watching speculators jack up the price of oil with the excuse that a positive earning report on Wall St. means that everyone is going to get in their car and drive 500 miles to the beach. Imo everyone who simply dismisses the positive possibilities of the MiEV are the simpletons.
#31 of 33 Good article... by iluvmysephia1 Jun 09, 2009 (10:55 pm)
elgatoloco. I agree with you and to me the only good solution automotively is utilizing an all-electric powertrain. BYD of China states that on their Honda Accord-sized car there are some 14,000 moving parts interlocking and working together and friction-bearing, etc. But their new e6 only utilizes about 2,000 parts. It does not require rocket science to build them, but, and it's kind of a big but, we do need some lawmakers to step up and get behind the building of re-charging centers. Replies to this message: elgatoloco (Jun 11, 2009 7:20 pm)
#32 of 33 Re: Good article... [iluvmysephia1] by elgatoloco Jun 11, 2009 (7:20 pm)
Replying to: iluvmysephia1 (Jun 09, 2009 10:55 pm) I think that re-charge (or battery-swap) centers will be a natural progression in the era of EV's. However, I'm not too crazy about the idea of some dumb ass lawmakers (politicians) sticking their self-serving noses into the mix. They can do a heap of good by just standing back out of the way and letting the free market go to work. Just speculating here, but I think that the companies that produce EV's might want to consider having their dealers jump in right up front. It would most likely require evening and weekend hours for some employees but if a dealer could offer charges or swaps to their customers as they go around on their daily commutes - or cross country - that would be a serious incentive to purchase that particular brand of vehicle. for instance: "Free Swaps for One Year" something like that. Independent companies would most likely pop up also. Kind of like the numerous engine oil change / battery / brake centers that have proliferated so much in the last 20 years. Of course that would depend on how universal in style the batteries themselves were. I know that companies are already talking about a universal plug for re-charging. Patents would probably decide whether or not a one-size-fits-all battery would ever exist. I'm sure the politicos would want to get in on that debate. Just think of the money involved there! In 10 years the battery companies could be the new oil companies.. The oil companies and their station owners have a shot here as well. They already have the infrastructure. Shell Oil could just add a small extension to their thousands of stations, put in a "Swap Tech" and voila, no more relying on selling cigarettes and potato chips to make a profit. Heck, maybe it will be so simple some day that the customer could swap it themselves! Self service, what a concept! I'm not sure how it will all turn out, just as long as OPEC takes it up the ass it'll be fine with me.
#33 of 33 elgatoloco... by iluvmysephia1 Jun 16, 2009 (8:45 pm)
agree on what you're saying. I called the new Mitsubishi dealership in Tucson to talk about the new i-MiEV. I asked if I bought the new i-MiEV from them could I go to their dealership to charge up? The salesman said he didn't know the answer to that question yet. Kind of what I figured. We are way out in front of the general public, we car nuts. But it would sure be a big carrot to me if he would've just said, "Sure you can!" "No problem. And, if you like, you can also get free Snickers bars and Coca-Cola on Saturdays while we change your earl." "Hey, check me on that! These things don't need their oil changed, do they?" It's gonna take some time.