Discounting the Tesla Roadster, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV will be Australia’s first readily available fully electric vehicle when it launches in Q3 this year. But in the leadup to that, a number of companies have incorporated the EV into their fleet, including Google Australia.
There’s no doubt that Google is an environmentally conscious company – while its server farms no doubt burn plenty of energy, the company is dropping plenty of cash on alternate energy sources. So it’s no real surprise to discover that Google Australia has a green commuting program, which staff can now use to claim time with the company’s new i-MiEV vehicles, be it on the weekends or during the week.
And with Google being Google, the company has also stuck an Android device into its i-MiEV to create a nice little portable office environment for staff using the car. Portable office FTW.
The i-MiEV itself still doesn’t have a local price, but it’s expected to cost around the $40,000 mark, with a five-year/130,000km warranty when it launches later this year. As the first readily available (and somewhat affordable) electric vehicle, it will be interesting to see how the car performs in a country known for large distances and relatively affordable petrol prices.
[Welcome to Tomorrow, via TechAU]
Anonymouse
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 6:10 PMWill be interesting to see some calculations on it’s equivalent fuel cost / km compared to petrol.
(Especially given you can “fill it up” during off-peak electricity times, or just get a long extension cord and plug it into a neighbours outdoor power point during the day)
Jon
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 11:52 PMyou’d think that for around 40K Mitsubishi would have been able to run the blueprints by a style consultant or something……because that sucker it U.G.L.Y!!!
It looks like something that I should drive from my work building across to the carpark to pick up my real car.
Good on Google for pushing green though.
JT...
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 1:03 PMI still wonder why these companies aren’t making smaller(3 door) versions. I have no stats but at a guess I would say that most cars travelling on the road at any point in time only have a driver. Yeah it’s nice to have the ‘convenience’ of a larger vehicle but for a large percentage of the journeys we don’t need one.
Yves Ev
Monday, April 25, 2011 at 12:01 AMPlugin Fleet is the best way to demonstrate EV to the rest of potential green drivers. This is because the Gov and large corporations like Google have the means to absorbe initial cost inefficincies and use brand / persuasive power to affect mass adoption. I applaud Google and the Austrian gov for the bold and audacious move. Australia EV revolution has finally really started.
Michael
Monday, April 25, 2011 at 9:44 PMWith the AU$ @ 1.075 US why should Aussies get a fair $ deal? I’ve seen estimated prices of the iMiev or “I” at $A60,000 ish and this one the lowest estimate at $A40 ishh. For your reference heres whats happening in the US$…..
http://www.mercurynews.com/cars/ci_17902261
The 2012 Mitsubishi i will have a base price of $27,990, Yoichi Yokozawa, the Tokyo-based carmaker’s North American chief executive, said Thursday at the New York International Auto Show. After a U.S. tax credit, the cost to consumers will be $20,490, making it the most affordable electric vehicle in the U.S., he said. The Leaf’s base price is $32,780, before the tax incentive.