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Shankapotomus

(4,840 posts)
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 10:49 AM Jun 2014

Mitsubishi Adds Content, Lowers Cost of its Electric Car



"Mitsubishi’s tiny MiEV electric car has always been cute, but when I first checked it out at the Chicago Auto Show back in 2012, the high price, chintzy interior, and general lack of interior refinement in a car with a nearly $30,000 price tag made it a bit of a no-go … and it seems like Mitsubishi listened! Here is the 2014 Mitsubishi MiEV, packed with all the general adorable-ness of the 2012 model, but with a net MSRP of about $15,000.

...The 2014 model year Mitsubishi i-MiEV ES model including CHAdeMO DC quick charge port, battery warming system and heated side view mirrors now starts at only $22,995 – an astonishing $6,130 price reduction from the previous generation. After factoring in the Federal tax credit of $7,500, the net MSRP of the 2014 Mitsubishi i-MiEV drops down to only $15,495*."|continued]"

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Right now you can get a slightly used one for between $12,000-$16,000, depending on year and model features. Clearly the best price for an all electric. While not the best electric car out there, pretty good if it suits your needs and if you've always wanted to get away from gas prices.
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Mitsubishi Adds Content, Lowers Cost of its Electric Car (Original Post) Shankapotomus Jun 2014 OP
Neat car. hunter Jun 2014 #1
We want and would use an electric car PumpkinAle Jun 2014 #2
It would be a matter of attrition... hunter Jun 2014 #5
Link is fixed Shankapotomus Jun 2014 #4
Looks like the batteries in this car aren't lithium ion nationalize the fed Jun 2014 #3
LITHIUM titanate oxide -- still a lithium-ion battery, just not the most common design ... eppur_se_muova Jun 2014 #6

hunter

(38,264 posts)
1. Neat car.
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:16 AM
Jun 2014

Ooops your link is broken. I used this:

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1092441_2014-mitsubishi-i-miev-arriving-at-dealers-updated-cheaper

A small pickup truck version of this would be really cool.

Alas, I'm still hoping for an end to the car culture.

Comfortable walking shoes, sailing, bicycles, and electric rail transportation are among the great innovations of humankind.

Guns and personal automobiles, not so much.

PumpkinAle

(1,210 posts)
2. We want and would use an electric car
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:23 AM
Jun 2014

but for your end to the car culture - you have to remember not everyone lives in walking distance to water, rail, etc. Sometimes cars are the only way to get around for many.

Though as prices come down and ranges get longer - let's hope we see an electric car revolution.

hunter

(38,264 posts)
5. It would be a matter of attrition...
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 12:03 PM
Jun 2014

... reworking cities and dense suburbs into attractive places where high powered transportation is not required or even desirable.

My wife and I, by some good fortune, escaped Los Angeles and the commuter lifestyle in the mid-eighties.

But in the city we live in now it is still uncomfortable to go without a regular car. My brother-in-law does it, and quite a few of my adult kids' friends do it, but mostly for economic reasons. Their work simply doesn't pay enough to support automobiles. But the public transportation system in our city is merely adequate, not good.

Our city would work pretty well with improved public transportation, improved bikeways and walkways, and low power (less than 10 kw) personal vehicles.

Shankapotomus

(4,840 posts)
4. Link is fixed
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:51 AM
Jun 2014

Thanks.

Too bad the compressed air car is taking so long. You could have been riding around in one of these pickups:



They claimed they were going to have an air car in the U.S. by 2010. Never happened.

nationalize the fed

(2,169 posts)
3. Looks like the batteries in this car aren't lithium ion
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:39 AM
Jun 2014

like the Tesla.

In June 2011 Mitsubishi announced the introduction of lithium titanate oxide SCiB battery technology for its two new models of electric vehicles, the i-MiEV and Minicab MiEV. The SCiB technology was developed by Toshiba, which stated that its SCiB batteries can withstand 2.5 times more charge/discharge cycles than a typical lithium-ion battery
Wiki

Isn't the Gigafactory going to make Lithium Ion cells? And if they are, why would they if SCIB tech is better? It would be a pretty big blunder to build a LI-ION factory when LI-ION is obsolete.

The battery warranty is 8yr/100,000 miles and considering Nissan just announced that a replacement battery is $5,500 +tax and installation anyone thinking of buying one close to 100,000 miles should budget for a new one. That cost is left out of many calculations, not surprisingly.

eppur_se_muova

(36,227 posts)
6. LITHIUM titanate oxide -- still a lithium-ion battery, just not the most common design ...
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 06:36 PM
Jun 2014
Chemistry, performance, cost and safety characteristics vary across LIB types. Handheld electronics mostly use LIBs based on lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2), which offers high energy density, but presents safety risks, especially when damaged. Lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium manganese oxide (LMO) and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) offer lower energy density, but longer lives and inherent safety. Such batteries are widely used for electric tools, medical equipment and other roles. NMC in particular is a leading contender for automotive applications. Lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA) and lithium titanate (LTO) are specialty designs aimed at particular niche roles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery


Note that SCiB is a sub-variety of LTO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium%E2%80%93titanate_battery#Toshiba

None of these variations is "obsolete", it is simply that different types have their various pluses and minuses (snarf) and are used for different applications. For example:

A lithium–titanate battery is a modified lithium-ion battery that uses lithium-titanate nanocrystals on the surface of its anode instead of carbon. This gives the anode a surface area of about 100 square meters per gram, compared with 3 square meters per gram for carbon, allowing electrons to enter and leave the anode quickly. This makes fast recharging possible and provides high currents when needed.[5]

The disadvantage is that lithium-titanate batteries have a lower inherent voltage, which leads to a lower energy density than conventional lithium-ion battery technologies.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium%E2%80%93titanate_battery


So the choice of which technology to use is not a simple one, but must balance various advantages and disadvantages, including licensing.
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