Saw a Mitsubishi i-MIEV on the road today - it is TINY!

Re: Saw a Mitsubishi Imiev on the road today - it is TINY!

I think North America is getting a larger version.

 

Re: Saw a Mitsubishi Imiev on the road today - it is TINY!

I only see the Peugeot twin on the roads, not the Mitsubishi. Our power companies like to show them off. It has one advantage over my iQ in town: Width.
The MiEV can squeeze into the slim motorcycle parking spots, while my iQ can't.

 

Re: Saw a Mitsubishi Imiev on the road today - it is TINY!

It is only going to be a couple inches wider, and about an inch longer externally in the US due to design changes to meet our crash testing requirements. Inside the car will be identical with its European counterparts, and changed over to left hand drive. I still have not even seen a regular i, let alone the i-MIEV. I had to go to a Nissan dealer just to see a Leaf. Guess naturally though stuff like this will take off quicker in Europe since they are used to electric cars already.

 

I had the chance to sit in one on the dealer's showroom. Inside it is very spacious, well thought out. Also it is very basic. One notch above the basic Beatles in the 1970s. This is where Mits could cut costs. But surely much safer on the road. I am not aware of any crash test results.

Outside, I would say it is bigger than the Smart car and probably the same size as a Fiat 500. Small, yes but I would not call it tiny.

 

Beatles = a famous rock group: John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

Beetles = a class of arthropods, also a car model from VW.

 

I saw this on the street in the Little Italy section of Ballamer yesterday.
The i-MIEV is the same size as which Fiat 500, the new on the left or the
old on the right?

 

the US version is supposed to be like 6" wider and a few inches longer. it is classified as a sub compact so it be small. but i think it has a market here. it will be cheaper so a great option as a fleet vehicle

 

the US version is 110mm (4.3inch) wider and 285mm (11.2inch) longer than JP version.
edit: the UK version is the same width and 80mm (3.1inch) longer than JP version.

Ken@Japan

 

Give you a hint. I was not talking about Ringo and boys or anthropods.

 

Grumpy,

I had one for a week from Souls Mitsubishi. It does look small, although it's really the width that is limited, the length is normal. It's also quite high, which makes it look even thinner. Inside, it's wider than a smart, probably more like a corsa, but didn't feel as safe or substantial as either.

Hands down the worst electric car i've driven, which is a shame.

 

My neighbor brought one home from work a few weeks back and took me for a drive. The most surprising thing to me was that it didn't have regenerative braking! It had a three mode regenerative engine brake (like how the prius had "D" mode and "B" mode, offering different levels of regenerative simulated engine braking), but normal braking (via the brake pedal) was purely frictional.

I wonder if this "feature" is going to be the same in all markets?

 

I think it will be, the one i had was like that too. Seems silly really, if you want prius-like regen braking you must drive in Eco, but that makes accelerating pretty slow.

 

Even in "eco" mode the brake pedal braking is still friction. As far as I could tell the three drive modes basically just alter the strength of the regenerative engine braking. That is, the amount of regeneration you get when your lift you foot off the accelerator but don't actually hit the brakes. I found that no matter how hard I actually brake it never increases the amount of regeneration above this base "engine brake" level.

One thing that I found interesting was (compared to the prius where the motors are integrated into the transmission where you never see them), in the iMEV you can see the cute little synchronous motor tucked down between the rear wheels, not much bigger than a traditional diff.

 

I understand that's how the Tesla Roadster, and other, earlier EVs, operate.

All regenerative braking is motor braking. Blending it into the traditional friction braking system was no simple engineering feat. Which means it is an added R&D expense which a manufacturer might decide to skip to shave off costs. The additional actuators and other components will add weight. Keeping friction and regen seperate is simpler with less areas for malfunction.

Hypermiling such an EV will be no different than doing so in the Prius. The simulated transmission drag of the Prius is just this style of regen braking to a lesser degree. It's just relearning where to keep the pedal for glides. Supposedly, once you've driven a 'one pedal' car, you don't want to go back.

 

That's why I pointed out the spelling error.

Correct. At least as far as the Tesla Roadster. I don't know about other EVs. In the Tesla Roadster, the brake pedal is pure friction braking. The accelerator pedal is where all the regen is, and it's very strong. You seldom need the brake pedal much at all except for emergency stops and below creep speed, since the car moves slowly forward (like the Prius) when your foot is off the pedals.

Both the (botched) Porsche conversion, and the Zap Xebra, are freewheeling when your foot is off the pedals, and I like that best. I'd like to have all regen on the brake pedal. The Prius would be ideal if they didn't have any regen or creep on the accelerator pedal.

However, that said, you do get used to having regen on the accelerator pedal. It makes it harder to maintain a constant speed, but gives you quicker control. (Sort of like with a bicycle there is a trade-off between stability and maneuverability, though in this case we're talking about speed rather than directional control.) I think someone once told me that in the case of the Tesla, the intention was to make it feel more like a manual-transmission sports car, which decelerates fairly hard when you let off the pedal, though I've also been told that the regen in the Roadster is stronger than the engine braking in an ICE sports car.