atteries fully charged. Departure from the Ile Saint-Germain in Issy-les-Moulineaux, neighboring municipality of Paris. The car is a right hand drive (in Japan they drive on the left). To start you simply touch a small connector on the scoreboard with a small “key” to be recognized. Then you turn a rotary switch, which is supposed to drive the vehicle, but nothing happens. Finally nothing, say you hear nothing but a number of lights on the dashboard. The car is running. Zero noise.
The shifter looks like an automatic car, with the traditional positions P (parking), R (reverse) and D (forward average). Lever on the grid are two other positions, one marked Eco and one B (like boost) – we will return. The silence that it’s hard to believe that we are running.Normal shutdown no mechanical parts turning. I press the brake pedal, the gear selector positioned at D, let go of the pedal, and it beforehand. I am now familiar ground, everything works like a normal automatic car and there is no time to adapt. This is a car like any other, except it is 100% electric.
I can not wait to set foot on the board starting to feel the effect of the engine’s maximum torque at zero turn, the exclusive prerogative of the electric motor. To be honest I’m not glued to the seat, but at relatively low engine power (47 kW or 64 hp), startup is substantially identical to that of a car heat in the same category. With this exception: there is no speed to pass and the acceleration is constant. I speed all the way until the speed limit.The box is a single speed, and stretching a bit the ear we hear the hiss of the electric motor takes turns continuously. The hiss is reminiscent of a turbo-compressor.
While this silence?
The coast of Meudon, and then three lanes of the N118, allow me to test the car-like road.Despite the limited power, propulsion and a rear center of gravity more in the middle of the car (because of the battery 180 kg), provides a friendly behavior of karting. Rolling on the floor, and the flow of air over the car generates a noise which is not very different than a normal car, this difference in load, ie in the coast or in the times, do not add the thump of the engine that devours explosive gases. But one passenger did not know that this is an electric vehicle could not notice any difference. At least until you stop at a traffic light, where there’s no noise is obvious. I note however that this silence is a danger to pedestrians in the measure, or me, nor did anticipate pedestrians. The use of horn, though prohibited, is useful, but creates a stupor. A small “ring ring” discrete and non-stressful would be welcome …
Side panel
Side panel, the biggest indicator is the power meter. The red pointer indicates the instantaneous power consumption. Over the needle deflects to the right, in the white area, the more power debit. But when I lift the foot, the needle share upside in the blue area, indicating that the motor acts as a current generator: the battery is charging, the principle of regeneration. It works when you lift your foot (actually it simulates the engine brake).
Visually, the wattmère has the lion’s share, pushing the speedometer in the background.Because of its relatively small size, it is digital display, the interpretation by the brain is less effective. The proportion of the meter relative to other indicators reveals the obsession of engineers for consumption throughout the development of the car. But the driver is the speedometer should prevail, it seems necessary to restore the order of values.
A gauge that goes up in the raids
I’m trying to return the Eco mode that reduces torque and increases regeneration. It is the ideal city location to limit consumption. Clearly in this position the car loses its vitality, but the trend in urban areas do not suffer too much. Mode B (Boost) enhances regeneration. Tried in the descent of Meudon, yet stiff, he slows the car too and I am obliged to speed up or return to Eco mode or D. With practice, it should be possible to play with the selector for virtually no brake.Surprise is good to see the gauge go up on the descent!
Autonomy
I travel a total of 20.8 km. Gauge battery which has 16 divisions lost 4 (see photo above). Each division represents 1 kWh of electricity consumed, the battery having a capacity of 16 kWh. A very rough calculation, based on this test not standardized, would give a consumption of about 20 kWh per cent, a range of 80 km for a term urban. Autonomies announced by the manufacturers are 160 km for the Japanese standard combined cycle (which according to Mitsubishi, would correspond to 140 km for the NEDC), and 120 km for urban driving (standard Japanese measurement), a value that down to 100 km with air conditioning and heating 80 with (again according to the Japanese standard of measurement). No approval has yet been done in Europe. The figures come from the manufacturer.
Charging
In return, I park the car at the appropriate place to recharge the car. The socket at the rear right, and the charging cable short enough (the amperage at stake, does not allow a cable too long), requires to park in reverse, with precision. It seems to me that the gesture a priori simply plugging the car into a wall, because of its necessary frequency should be robotic in one way or another (see charging times in the specifications below ).
CO2
Despite the big banner Zero CO2 given to me on arrival, Mitsubishi does not seek to deny the reality of CO2 emissions, or discharges and radioactive waste from power plants that produce power. Our interlocutor Nacass Daniel, managing director of public relations for Mitsubishi Motors, even considers that “the marketing of the i-MiEV in Poland, where electricity is mainly produced by coal, does not make sense from a standpoint environment.
In Japan, emissions of CO2 are quoted to 41g per kilometer. In France, where electricity is mostly from nuclear power, calculated on the same basis, they would be less than 20g/km (our estimate). They would be 130 g / km based on electricity production and Polish 111g/km of China (based on figures given byCarma and according to our calculation) and in the consumption figures indicated by the manufacturer. However, it has not been possible so far to take the analysis of full life cycle, from production of electricity from the power plant to the transmission of mechanical energy to the wheels the car (or analysis PTW for Plant to wheel in English). In particular we do not know if consumers are given consumption “charged” by Battery or “measured” by the electric meter that provides charging). In our opinion, in our test, it is the consumption of electricity from the battery. What indeed, from the perspective of the automaker, is the most important criterion, indicated by the gauge dashboard. Note, to conclude on CO2, that Mitsubishi is working on a 50% reduction (compared to the average of its 2005 model) CO2 emissions of future generations of cars heat (see the figures of the major manufacturers).
Marketing
The price of the car is not yet known. For good reason, his method of marketing (rental or sale of the car battery rental alone) has not yet been decided. One thing seems clear: the system Better Place battery exchange standard, is not on the agenda because of the monopoly it would create. Mitsubishi’s European tour is precisely a laboratory to answer these questions. Peugeot, Citroen and Mitsubushi will market the i-MiEV in their respective colors with variations cosmetics. Production in 2010: 5,000 vehicles for Japan and 1000 for export by Peugeot and Citroen. Production for the European version (LHD begin in October 2010). Evolution of production to 55 000 cars per year from 2013 including 25 000 for Peugeot-Citroen.
Specifications
Car type: Mini-car
Dimensions (LxWxH): 3395 x 1475 x 1600 mm
Weight: 1080 kg (200 kg more than the thermal version)
Passengers: 4
Maximum speed: 130 km / h
Battery life: Up to 160 km
Battery : Lithium-Ion 88 cells in series, 330 volts; 16kWh capacity, charging time of 7 hours on 220V, 30 minutes at 80% load on three-phase 50kW/220 V.
Electric motor : permanent magnet synchronous motor in neodymium. Maximum power 47 kW. Max torque 180 Nm Engine speed 8500 rpm.
Single-speed transmission. No turning back. This is the motor rotation is reversed.
Drive: Propulsion
CO2 emissions: 41g CO2 per kilometer based on the mixture of electricity production from Japan (35% nuclear).
Full price of electricity: less than 2 euros.
Environmental bonus: 5000 euros.
