Mitsubishi sprints ahead with i-MiEV sales launch on July 31

July 22, 2009 | Camille Ricketts | Comments | |

mitsubishi-i-mievMitsubishi announced today that it will begin taking orders for its zero-emissions car, the electric i-MiEV, on July 31. As soon as tomorrow, it will deliver the first few hatchback models to several electric power corporations in Japan. Individual buyers will receive them as soon as next April, the company says.

With a pricetag of about $49,000 in mind, Mitsubishi says its target is to sell 1,400 cars in the next year and 5,000 in Japan between 2010 and 2011.

For a while now, the i-MiEV has had the distinction of being the first all-electric vehicle out of any marquee name manufacturer to be mass produced. The company already plans to launch the car in Oregon, where the state’s primary utility, Portland General Electric, has agreed to build a large network of street-side charging stations.

Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV can reportedly travel at up to 80 miles per hour when its lithium-ion battery pack is fully charged — a process that takes between 12 and 14 hours via a standard wall outlet. Of course this time would be much shorter at the higher-voltage charging stations.

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About the Author, Camille Ricketts

Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.

  • Charbax
    What is the range? Why not make it compatible with project Better Place, so batteries can be swapped out and to make sure all electric cars use the same charger connectors?
  • neildelm
    Are u nuts??? Why make anything compatible with a better place battery swapping system that has yet to proove it wotks - let alone more than one prototype in Japan shown 3 months ago. Better Place is built on hot air and nothing tangible. Technologically speaking, their credibility is nowhere to be found as far as being able to disconnect, swap and re-connect in a safe, secure and effective manner. In countries with snow, salt and gravel during cold months, it is destined to fail. Denmark will find out soon enough, but its utility customers will pay the price - and Aggassi is laughing all the way to the bank. Wake up - no car manufacturer will produce EV's with swappable batteries. Renault has committed one as well as Nissan, but both will produce multiple EV's in addition without swappable batteries. Better Place will ultimately offer charging stations - which will be the future as it is already being implemented as opposed to Better Place battery swapping yet-to-exist technology.