Mitsubishi I-MiEV: Greenest Car of the Year

I was fortunate enough to have a chance to check out the Mitsubishi I-MiEV early in it’s release cycle. Hopping into the driver’s seat, it didn’t feel all that different from a regular vehicle—until I pressed the start button and put my foot down. The car has instant torque, and instead of engine noise, whispers a faint hum. I was instantaneously whirring down the road, feeling like I was riding something out of the Jetsons.

Roomy, practical, and electric, I’m not surprised it was recently announced as the greenest car by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy—the first electric vehicle to take the top of the list. Their ranking takes into account not just mileage, but also the energy invested in making and handling the car at the end of it’s life. People often think that because electric cars have such a high up-front investment in materials they aren’t as green as they’re cracked up to be. Fortunately, the technology used to make, and also to recycle these cars at the end of their life, has now caught up to their potential. The greenest car is still likely the one you already own, as long as it isn’t a gas hog—however, if you’re in the market for something new—or driving an SUV—this might be the car for you.

 

I say might because it is still an electric vehicle. Let’s take a second to get the facts straight. Electric cars are awesome. People talk about range as being the vehicle’s Achille’s heel—but this is really a phantom argument made by petrol-heads and pollutocrats/ For the most part. Here’s the deal: they’re perfect for the daily commute, going to the grocery store, and even camping nearby, but they may not be the best choice for a trans-American road-trip.

The car has a range—a total distance it can travel between charges—of around 100 miles / 160 kilometres, and I’d say that this figure is fairly accurate. Though range does decrease when going mostly uphill, or in start/stop traffic; the car features a very intelligent, and thankfully conservative on-board computer that tells you how much juice and distance you have left in accordance with your current driving style. Going up to hilly North Vancouver from Vancouver proper, you lose range at a faster rate as the car chugs up steep grades. Going back downhill the car is a lot more efficient, and you gain most of that lost efficiency back—unlike a typical gas engine the car does not use ‘fuel’ when idling, or going downhill. Since most of us drive far less than 50 km a day, the range is more than adequate to the average North American’s needs. And because batteries take exponentially longer to charge when empty then when near full, if you use half the battery, you only need to charge for a fraction of the total charge time.

The I-MiEV’s battery pack takes up to 14 hours to charge at a standard 120 v home outlet from empty to full, charging times from 220 v outlet are in the area of 7 hours, and the car is capable of charging in 30 minutes from a dedicated charging station. Dedicated charging stations are currently few, and they aren’t likely to crop up everywhere—but just think of all the times your car is parked and could be charging. In Vancouver several garages and businesses now have EV charging stations that offer a minimum of a 220 V charge point. This means that your car can be re-juiced while grocery shopping, visiting City Hall, or at work—should you need to top-up mid-day.

It’s hard to wrap your mind around. I think when we buy cars it’s partly about romance, and that’s fine.

But what if the romance wasn’t about cruising along the highway going nowhere, but the ability to inject a little romance into your drive to work in the morning?

The I-MiEV is a comfortable car to be inside. It has all the modern conveniences—air conditioning works great, the seats are comfy, and the car is huge inside—better yet it doesn’t lurch and spew toxic fumes while you’re sitting in traffic. Being stuck in traffic in a sporty car is hell, not least because you can practically see the fuel tank gauge falling as your huge engine idles. Being in the I-MiEV is relatively serene.

There are a few other electric cars on the market. We love the Nissan Leaf for it’s truly luxurious interior and space-age dash (tied for second with the Prius it might be the one we’d buy), we dislike the Volt because the added gasoline engine means the car has a lot more resources put into it up front (and it’s like driving an elephant). But it’s clear to see why the I-MiEV has come out on top from an environmental standpoint—it’s pared down to the essentials. The design philosophy manifests in the car’s interior in clever ways. In particular, the battery pack for the car runs beneath the floor-boards, meaning that the trunk is totally available for your use.

I remember a Wired article where the author compared driving a plug-in Prius to driving an appliance. The I-MiEV is quite a bit more car than that anyway, I didn’t like the plug-in Prius either. I’d say the I-MiEV is more responsive and a better ride—but though the author meant the metaphor as a put-down, I’m not sure that it is. The I-MiEV is smarter than the average car, like a Dyson vacuum, it’s an efficient machine designed with a single purpose in mind: transporting you and your family safely from point A to B, a task at which it does a more than excellent job.

Sold as the Mitsubishi I in the US, the Mitsubishi I-MiEV in International and Canadian Markets and available rebadged from Citroen C-Zero / Peugeot iOn in Europe, this car is in limited release in many markets. US versions are around $30, 000 before government incentives.