Tag Archives: driving range

News, Transportation

Mitsubishi’s All-Electric i Car Visiting Eastside, Westside, All Around the Town

The Mitsubishi i (Photo: Mitsubishi)

Move over, Nissan Leaf! Mitsubishi’s all-electric “i” is going on a test-drive tour to flaunt its lower cost: after your federal tax credit of $7,500, just $21,625 for the ES model ($23,625 for the SE). That makes it “most affordable 100% electric-powered mass-market production vehicle available in North America,” say the bean counters at Mitsubishi. See the locations and times of its local “appearances” at the end of this post.

If for some reason you didn’t collect a federal tax credit, you’d shell out $29,125 for the base model. (Less the tax credit, Tesla’s Model S, by contrast, rings up for about $50,000.) How does the i compare to the Leaf? Well, don’t visit the Leaf’s site to find out. It’s a hideously useless “online experience“–I clicked around it for five minutes unable to find estimated charging times. Go to Wikipedia for better information.

That said, the Leaf’s sound system seems superior. The i’s interior styling is “Euro-classic”–with the dials dialing back on computer animation. The rear seats fold down to create more cargo room (as does the Leaf’s). It uses regenerative braking to add power back. For the doubters, there’s an 8-year / 100,000-mile limited battery warranty.

As of tomorrow, when it will be in Redmond, until this Sunday, when it will be in Issaquah, the i is visiting the Seattle area, and ready for your hands-on inspection. You can even take it for a test drive–but not for more than 62 miles presumably, because that’s about how far it’s rated to go on a charge in “real world” conditions (also similar to the Leaf).

What makes it go, you ask. And how fast? Well, the people at Mitsubishi are happy to tell you.

[T]he rear-wheel drive vehicle’s drive system includes a 49 kW (66 bhp) AC synchronous electric motor; an 88 cell, 330V lithium-ion battery pack for a peak storage of 16 kWh; and a single fixed-reduction gear transmission. This electric motor is capable of producing its peak torque of 145 lb.-ft. almost instantaneously when accelerating from a standstill; the vehicle has a top speed of approximately 80 mph.

The i can be recharged three different ways, though one option is for the most patient among us. Plugging it into a standard 120-volt wall outlet at your home takes some 22 hours to get from E to F. More likely, you’d purchase a  240V/15A Level 2 home EVSE Eaton charging system (estimated max. charge time: 7 hours), which by the way, comes with a $1,000 tax credit.

In and around Seattle, of course, you have your choice of public charging stations. Mitsubishi says a CHAdeMO Level 3 public quick charging station will take just 30 minutes to go from very low battery to 80 percent full (you’d also need an optional DC charging port for your i), but you’re more likely to find 240-volt Level 2s along the highway at this point.

At Seattle City Light residential electricity rates, it should cost you about $220 to drive 10,000 miles, or a little more than 2 cents a mile. Charging rates at city-owned facilities, says Seattlepi.com, have been set by the City Council at $1.50 to $4 per charge.

You should be able to find a Mitsubishi i at local Mitsubishi dealers (and in California, Oregon, and Hawaii) this November.

  • WED 12-Oct
    Redmond Town Center
    11am – 7pm
    7525 166th Ave. NE Redmond, WA 98052
  • THURS 13-Oct
    Best Buy Everett
    10am – 2pm
    1130 SE Everett Mall Way Ste A, Everett, WA 98208
  • THURS 13-Oct
    Younker Mitsubishi
    4pm – 8pm
    3820 E. Valley Road, Renton, WA 98057
  •  FRI 14-Oct
    Whole Foods, Roosevelt Square
    11am – 7pm
    1026 NE 64th Street, Seattle, WA
  •  SAT 15-Oct
    Z-Homes
    10am – 5pm
    Highland Drive NE & NE High Street, Issaquah, WA 98029
  •  SUN 16-Oct
    Z-Homes
    11am – 5pm
    Highland Drive NE & NE High Street, Issaquah, WA 98029
Business, News, Transportation

What Makes Tesla’s Model S Like the iPad?

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Tesla's Model S, coming to market in mid-2012, holds up to 7 passengers.

Two Tesla Motors stories surfaced this morning: GeekWire reports that Tesla will be opening a “store” at the Bellevue Square Mall, “on the second level, just north of Center Court.” That will double Tesla’s Seattle-area tireprint–they opened their South Lake Union show room in late 2009.

In contrast, Fortune‘s Alex Taylor III wonders whether Tesla isn’t simply running on fumes at this point. This weekend, Tesla Motors will test drive its all-electric four-door Model S flavors for an eager audience of “reservation holders.” While the price tag for the Roadster ranged from $110,000 to $155,000, the Model S is designed for the masses of less-well-to-do tech titans. The Model S base is supposed to be $57,400 (less a $7,500 tax credit).

Taylor is critical of Tesla’s business plan because of the car maker’s relatively tiny sales goals (20,000 Model S per year), the losses the company has incurred (over $300 million from 2009 to mid-2011), and the challenge it has set itself in producing cars built from the ground up at a faster pace than when Lotus was supplying the chassis.

Still, the “running on fumes” comment displays a mindset that isn’t asking in what ways Tesla isn’t like Detroit. When I picked up my iPad 2, I had a choice between 16GB, 22GB, and 64GB, just as Tesla buyers can choose between batteries with driving ranges of 160, 230, and 300 miles.

Did I really think it cost Apple $100 to add each 16GB of flash memory? Do Tesla buyers really think the extended-range batteries cost Tesla $10,000 or $20,000 to insert? Tesla’s Elon Musk points to the battery options as one of the areas that he hopes to make the Model S profit margin rise to about 25 percent.

Tesla remains a gamble, of course, but when driving range is akin to RAM, this is not your father’s Oldsmobile. Imagine taking your car into the shop and driving back out with a car that goes 60 or 120 miles more per “tank.” That’s fairly disruptive technology.