Mitsubishi i MiEV electric car going to California

There are reports that Mitsubishi could be about to test their i MiEV electric car in California. The car maker wants two utilities to put the small electric vehicles through their paces and hopes to get an idea at just how well they perform in everyday life.

Mitsubishi has now signed a deal with Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison; they will be adding the i MiEV EV to their fleets in October. The demonstration program will last for three years and in that time the two Californian utilities will test to see how well the drive train works, along with reliability and usage on the grid.

Mitsubishi executive for the i MiEV program, Tohru Hashimoto has said that “its work with the two California utilities will yield valuable data and a greater appreciation of the practicality of an all-electric vehicle in California.”

The i MiEV EV is based on the “i” gasoline-powered cars that Mitsubishi sells in Japan. The electric version of the car will do away with the 64-horsepower engine and will replace it with a 47 kW electric motor and 330-volt lithium-ion battery. The battery takes 10 to 16 hours to charge when plugged into a standard 110 volt electrical outlet. When you plug it into a 220 volt outlet it will take just 6 to 8 hours to charge.

Even though the electric motor is only small, it still manages to produce 63hp and around 133 pound-feet of torque. The car should go from 0 to 60 in less than 9 seconds and have a top speed of 82mph.

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