The current economic climate has really sharpened the need to ween ourselves off petrol (although the near $2 a Litre pricing six months ago helped form that opinion as well), so the idea of a $30,000 electric car hitting Australian showrooms next year is really quite appealing. Tony Hagon at the SMH is saying that Mitsubishi’ MiEV, which resembles a SMART car and runs exclusively on a 47kW motor, is currently undergoing feasibility studies. However, he’s also quoted Mitsubishi’s Australian CEO Robert McEniry as saying the chances of it being sold next year are “very high”.The car has a 160km range, and can be fully recharged over 8 hours through your standard powerpoint, or 20 mins from a high-voltage outlet. And therein lies the current problem with electric cars – even though the SMH article says Mitsubishi is in talks with two suppliers about recharging infrastructure, the fact that you can’t just quickly juice up the car is going to severely restrict early adoption of the MiEV. Well, that and its looks…
If you want to have a look at the MiEVs in person, Mitsubishi are bringing two to Australia in February – one for the Melbourne Motor Show, while the other will be “driven by potential customers”, whatever that means. Hopefully that they’ll be stopping by the Gizmodo offices, perhaps?
[SMH]
Erik Sydney
Monday, February 2, 2009 at 11:07 AMI think electrical based cars are a great idea.
However remember, MAN MADE GLOBAL WARMING IS A CON!
Google “the global warming swindle”.
Also if you want a great sporty electrical car, go check out TESLA MOTORS.
Greg Hartay
Monday, February 2, 2009 at 11:15 AMNuclear energy, anyone? At the moment, both federal and state Labor policy in this regard still appears more like hipocrisy. PR of environmentally friendly strategies – as long as we can keep up mining,selling and using vast resources of coal. The country is large enough for a couple of nuclear power stations – also for waste deposits in vast uninhabited areas. Otherwise, electric cars should be much cheaper, without the middleman sharks. Don’t expect any philantropy from large car and oil companies, ladies and gentlemen. That’s why they scrapped GM’s electric car project, too. Trouble is, the eyes of the people are opening, and they do not seem to wish to burn away their future for the sake of short-term profit of a small group of resources and car industry giants.