The Mitsubishi iMiEV is a small, quirky entirely electric vehicle that could very capably ferry up to four passengers around town pollution free. How did it manage to get on this list?
A long article about a short (and thoughtless paragraph).
When I read the title of this recent article, I HAD to respond to it. Clearly, the author has either a very surface-level knowledge of all the cars on the list, or has none. I'd bet they've never even driven the Mitsubishi iMiEV, a pioneer of a car that they've relegated to the dustbin. I want to share my thoughts on current urban lifestyle, the place of the low-range electric car and why I'm still enamored by my little white electric marshmallow.
What's the point of having a car?
There are three reasons you drive a car. Function, pleasure and status. I'm going to argue that while the Mitsubishi iMiEV is a visually divisive car and seems to appeal more to elderly drivers of a Honda Jazz (US read: Fit), it is entirely functional, offers more driving pleasure than you'd expect and as it's fully electric, gives one a lofty sense of environmental regality. It should have been a far more successful car.
City dwellers, planes, trains and ev-mobiles.
If you ask someone who lives in the inner city area of Tokyo, New York City, Sydney or just about any large metropolis with at least a fair public transportation system if they own a car they'll probably laugh at you.
Populating dense urban city areas is becoming more and more of a phenomenon and has no sign of reversing. One aspect of the transition from regional to city life is called "rural youth migration" and it is exactly what it implies. Australia appears to be hell-bent on claiming its geographical different-ness from the rest of the world, insofar as all our capital cities are vast distances away from one another. And of course we all wax lyrical about life in the Australian bush. But the fact remains that close to ninety percent of the population live within cities and rarely spend more than 10% of their time more than 100km away from home.
However, having your own car does offer a few advantages of using the bus or subway including your own personal space and being able to go where you want around town when you want. Timetables can be a pain. Especially on public holidays. And did I mention track work? Ick.
Low-Range Electric Vehicles: Life with an electric marshmallow.
Bought in May 2017 with 27,000km on the odometer, our iMiEV has never ever run out of charge, can be charged sustainably or conveniently from home and the only repairs I've paid for were wiper fluid and two front tyres. That is my definition of winning.
Why low-range electric vehicles are useful.
Well, the author of the article "20 Cars From The Early 2010s No One Should Still Be Driving" listed the Mitsubishi iMiEV as number eight on their list. From what I gleaned, here are their reasons:
- You've never heard of it "because it doesn't do very well".
- Your expectations are too high.
- Brake problems.
- Better options available.
The retort.
I'm just going to ignore the first point because it's ambiguous and vague. Next.
What are you expecting? If you're in the market for an expensive convertible sports car, obviously this is not your car. And neither is a Toyota Corolla (one of the most successful cars sold in history!) It all comes down to getting what you pay for and what the car was designed to do. If your expectations are to be able to charge your car from your home and never go to a petrol station again (and free yourself from having to needlessly subject yourself and your children from breathing these toxic fumes) then this will fulfill them.
As for brake problems, I had found information about recalls that date back to 2014, but recalls for any issue aren't the sole domain of iMiEVs. The Holden/Opal Astra is a prime example of an awful car. There are plenty of others, too. However, a small brake issue shouldn't hold someone back from buying a small car absent of all the complexity and costliness of maintenance that accompanies any vehicle that extracts kinetic energy from an internal combustion engine.
Alright. I've got to the last flimsy argument. Better options available? I'll preface this by stating that each person's circumstances vary, but if you're in the market for a clean car with space enough to carry four people and groceries and run all your errands around town (and sometimes beyond) without having to spend a cent on petrol or costly regular maintenance on the vehicle, then there aren't that many options available as enticing as the now rare Mitsubishi iMiEV.
2018 Geneva Motor Show showcasing the 2019 iMiEV.
With some added carbon fibre, the iMiEV is still very much the same vehicle that launched almost a decade ago.
You live in the city. You live near a fast charger. You're an elderly stereotype. You're lifestyle-flexible.
If any combination of these apply to you, the iMiEV can suit your needs. I'm not exactly sure where this whole article is headed but it certainly feels like a sales pitch. My hope is that it is not only dispelling some myths about the iMiEV, but the capability of all electric vehicles (which I think Tesla have certainly put to bed long ago for the most part, with the exclusion of a truly budget electric vehicle).
You could argue that I am an exception. I live just 1.7km away from a DC fast charger (powered by an enormous roof-top solar array on top of Wollongong's Innovation Campus Sustainable Buildings Research Centre). In comparison to the 2010 model, the 2012 iMiEV is capable of charging at these specialised chargers which can recharge the battery from 0-80% in under 25 minutes. Let's talk about expectations once more. We owned a petrol burner and I wanted something that didn't. They break often and they cost a lot to run. When I heard about the fast charger, I did some thinking.
"Maybe I could take full advantage of that charger and never pay per kilometer driven again."
And, I rarely do. I don't own that charger. Nor do I own the solar panels on the roof of the building. I'll go a step futher. We don't even pay a single cent for using this charger. Two years ago (roughly) this fast charger was built at a cost of $50,000. I am fairly certain that it was constructed because of the Nissan Leaf that is owned by the University that permanently takes up a space here. To their credit, they did not limit public access to the charger, although only one car can charge at a time due to the Leaf occupying the second space.
I do not live in isolation. I live in an apartment complex with seven other households and I'm surrounded by hundreds of houses all at least within a 5km radius from that fast charger who could all be benefiting from it. Just like any movement, the EV movement is growing but will not explode (ie. everyone buying an EV next week) without a gradual shift in consumer education and mindset. So just as we benefit from free electricity so too, could others right now. If you live in Wollongong, there's ONE iMiEV for sale for $14k with fast charging capabilities (it's a 2010 model that was upgraded)!
Surrounding me are countless aging folk. We just had our neighbour leave who could very easily have been lumped into the pile of oldies who only drive their cars locally. How often do you see those mid nineties Toyotas for sale with low mileage? That's another demographic that should be driving an iMiEV. There are thousands of Australians in their seventies and eighties who literally drive to the shops or to their children's houses down the road or to choir practice to belt out some hymns (as was the case with my own grandmother). A small number of these people are even comfortable driving long distances let alone capable of doing so. If they can plug in their vacuum, then they can charge the car at home.
Simple.
I accept that both EVs AND internal combustion vehicles have advantages and drawbacks. I got rid of one in favour of the other.
Eating at me constantly was having to pay for petrol and knowing I was actively contributing to both global warming and polluting my local environment. We made a compromise to our lifestyle by weighing everything up - the cost of petrol, repairs to the aging Lancer, having to buy a replacement car, the virtually limitless range of the petrol car vs a loan for an EV, reduced range, the near zero cost of electricity and significantly improved reliability.
So how often do we need to drive to Sydney? Well, we don't. There's a train. We can if we want to, but the only other fast charger in Sydney is often plagued with problems. It's just easier to catch the train. Plus on Sunday, it's $2.50. For everything else, including road trips we do (less than 5% of the year) we can borrow an ICE vehicle. I'm not sure how many decisions you make based on something you do 5% of the time, but it certainly isn't how I make financial or environmental decisions.
Hyundai finally have their electric range in Australia.
[A slight detour].
While I attempted to find out if the media had written about the opening of Wollongong's fast charger (surely a BIG deal), I came across a review for the Ioniq. Great car. At $50,000 it is bit more than the asking price of a used iMiEV, though! And for what it is worth, there was nothing I could find using all of Google's refining processes to locate any articles mentioning the install date of the SBRC fast charger.
In a comprehensive review of the three new Hyundai Ioniqs available in Australia as of early 2019, some confusion still exists around connector types. What frustrates me is that the Ioniq can be fast charged from the onboard Combined Charging System (CCS) plug of which there is a cable available at SBRC. (And this is an article from a motoring journalist. Cripes!) It just goes to show the lack of knowledge still prevalent even within the motoring enthusiast community.
Spaces occupied by other EV owners? Ha. Not in Wollongong!
See those five PlugShare check-ins? That's me. While not everyone checks in using the app, lots do. We are in no state of emergency. In fact it is the opposite. So few people own an electric vehicle in the Illawarra that this space is vacant for days at a time. On a busy day, I'll be there charging for 20 minutes. It's a real madhouse.
Should you still be driving an iMiEV?
Owners of bought LEGO should still be playing with it, and of course pretending they're riding about on electric bicycles and charging them up on their very own charging stations!
If you have bought an iMiEV, you're an idiot not to drive it.
In my circumstance, as well as all the other potential owners of Eevie (EV), the cute electric-type Poké-vehicle, you should be clocking up the kilometres and proving to the misinformed the world over that the iMiEV is not only fit for purpose, it is a part of a four-wheeled revolution that will inevitably be entirely electrified.
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Nick.
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