SPECIAL EARTH DAY DOUBLE ISSUE - AutoWeek

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thegreenissue AMERICA IS ONLY now starting to embrace the idea of B-segment cars such as the Honda Fit, the Nissan Versa and the Toyota Yaris. Is it ready for the K segment, which is smaller still? It might be, if the K’s are as practical as this one and powered by electricity. Mitsubishi showed the electric-powered i MiEV at New York, following its debut at the Tokyo show last fall. The “i” is for the name of the gasoline-powered version of this car already sold in Japan. The other letters stand for “Mitsubishi innovative electric vehicle.” In Japan, K-segment cars are usually powered by 660-cc or smaller gasoline engines and are meant to squeeze the absolute most efficiency 28 AUTOWEEK APRIL 21, 2008 i Mi, BABY! HERE IS A PRACTICAL, LIVABLE EV FROM AN OE BY MARK VAUGHN out of commuting and, at $13,000 to start for the gas version in Japan, purchasing. The i MiEV goes beyond that, squeezing even more efficiency out of the dinky car with an electric drivetrain. A pack of 88 lithium-ion batteries beneath the rear seat sends 330 volts to a 470kilowatt permanent-magnet synchronous motor driving the rear wheels. The car didn’t have to be modified structurally to accommodate the new drivetrain or the batteries. Gasoline and electric versions are both rated at 63 hp. It takes 12 to 15 hours to recharge with a skinny 110volt plug, seven to eight hours with 220. But the i MiEV we saw was ready for an industrial 208 three-phase, 50-kilowatt quick charge that would take just 30 minutes. While most SPECS ON SALE: Not yet BASE PRICE: $25,000 (est) DRIVETRAIN: 470-kw electric motor; rwd, one gear 0-60 MPH: N/A EPA MILEAGE: N/A homes won’t have that, fleet operators certainly would. Plus, if you’re supposed to be recharging it overnight during off-peak hours anyway, then 110 or 220 could do the job. Top speed is limited to 81 mph, though in theory, it could hit 100 mph. We maxed it out on the freeway near Mitsubishi’s U.S. headquarters in Cypress, California. The i MiEV accelerated briskly from stops, too, as electric vehicles are wont to do, since they have all of their torque available at 0 rpm. Traction control kept the drive wheels from squealing. We drove an i MiEV on a 10-mile loop that included freeway and suburban streets. It kept up with any and all traffic the whole way. The car had plenty of room for four
six-foot-tall adults—two more than would fit into the Smart Fortwo. The inside felt just as roomy as anyone would need in a car. There was even luggage space in the back. Heating and air conditioning are all electric, too. We could have kept going up to the car’s 70-to-80-mile range if we’d wanted. Or if they’d have let us. As it was, the car was going to be whisked back to Japan as soon as we returned to Mitsubishi’s headquarters. We also got to drive the 660-cc gasoline version, which performed admirably given its displacement, although we preferred the electric version. If you’re going to be funky, go all the way. So the question is, will the i MiEV go all the way to America? The answer: Not in this form. Japanese fleet customers will get electric i’s starting next year, and Japanese individuals can buy them the year after that. For us, there are “no plans,” though Mitsubishi officially will begin evaluating that question this fall. It’s not likely that the car’s configuration would pass our crash-test standards. So a U.S. i MiEV would have to come around on the next product cycle, which won’t be until 2011 or later. Given all that, what would it cost? The sticker price in Japan—without incentives— is as high as $45,000; with incentives, that drops to $25,000. Maybe we’ll have incentives in 2011? But you also have to consider that the cost of a cheap overnight recharge is 10 percent of the cost of a tank of gas, more or less. The problem is getting people to see it that way, that they’ll save big bucks over the long run and save the Earth at the same time. Now, that would be marketing. c CHARGED UP For now, GM says its much-anticipated Volt is on target for a 2010 launch BY GREG MIGLIORE THE RACE IS ON. General Motors has until the end of 2010 to meet its goal of bringing the highly anticipated, muchhyped Chevrolet Volt electric car to market. A setback in the development of the battery packs—the primary concern—could still throw the project off schedule. But for the moment, the automaker is adamant that its most significant vehicle in years is on schedule. “It is the No. 1 priority that we have,” says Frank Weber, executive in charge of the car. The most recent milestone is installation of lithium-ion battery packs in test-mule Volts— they look like older-model Chevy Malibus outfitted with GM’s E-Flex technology— undergoing proving-ground road tests now. E-Flex should allow the Volt to travel 40 miles on electricity alone before the batteries must be recharged by an onboard generator powered by a gasoline engine (potential diesel or fuelcell versions would come later). The Volt is expected to have a range of 400 miles. Earlier mules, using older nickelmetal-hydride cells and with battery-only range of only one mile, have been in testing since last fall. This new testing stage will take about six months, GM says, before the company can move on to the next phase of development. The design is largely complete, but a driveable Volt prototype likely won’t be ready until mid-2009. The design has changed significantly since the concept was unveiled amid great fanfare at the 2007 Detroit show. The front end has been rounded slightly to improve crashimpact safety and to accommodate an enlarged engine compartment. The roof has been raised slightly for passengers, and the company claims it can accommodate six-foot-two adults comfortably. It is based on GM’s global compact-car chassis, called Delta, which also will spawn conventional cars. The exterior appearance is nearly finalized. One challenge has been making the car sleeker, and engineers are working at all hours in GM’s cavelike wind tunnel to improve the drag—critical to achieve the 40-mile electric range. Aerodynamic drag accounts for about 20 percent of the energy consumed by an average vehicle. The original concept performed poorly in the wind tunnel, but GM says it has since reduced drag 30 percent. Even with the changes, the car is expected to bear a resemblance to the concept Volt, which attracted attention for its eye-catching looks, says Bob Boniface, the car’s design director. In February 2006, he got the initial orders from GM car chief Bob Lutz to start sketching out ideas. “All of those pieces that were important to the show car are still there. . . . If you see a car on the road, you’ll know it’s the Volt,” Boniface says. The interior design, also nearly finished, is similar to the inside of the new Malibu, and the dual-cockpit setting appears to take styling cues from early- 1960s Corvettes. It will seat four, and designers say it could have ambient lighting, a feature on some of GM’s upper-market vehicles. In keeping with the Volt’s green mantra, the headliner and carpet are expected to be made from recyclable materials, and seat foam will come from a soy-based derivative. The T-shaped lithium-ion battery pack will be positioned in the center tunnel of the car, under the rear seats. The pack is about six feet long and weighs more than 375 pounds. Offsetting the battery’s weight is a smaller-than-average fuel tank. One concern engineers must address is that commuters might be able to run the Volt on electricity alone for months on end, while gasoline sits unused in the tank. Gas doesn’t age well in such circumstances, yet the engine APRIL 21, 2008 AUTOWEEK 29
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