Mitsubishi brings hope for the earth

MIEV (Mitsubishi In-wheel motor Electric Vehicle) or MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle) is a research project of Mitsubishi to sell electric vehicle this 2009 (tentative) in Europe and possibly in the United States.

Mitsubishi has been developing EV's since 1970's. The first electic vehicle Mitsubishi sold at the year 1993-1996 was the Libero EV, based on the Lancer Wagon/Estate. Also the baby 3000GT/GTO, FTO was installed with an electic drivetrain, thus FTO EV was named after. On December 19-20, 1999, the FTO EV achieved the record 2,142.3 kilometers during its 24 hour run. The FTO EV was a success so they built another prototype based on the Eclipse to enter the annual Shikoku EV Rally in 2001, the car can run 400 kilometers on a single charge.


In the future we expect Mitsubishi to release a number of EV's with different purposes. We expect the Colt MIEV to compete with the likes of Honda Jazz, Toyota Yaris, and Suzuki Swift. While the i MIEV with the likes of Toyota Aygo. And the Lancer Evolution EV's for those lateral g lovers and adrenaline pumping acceleration.

Prototypes/concepts such as the Concept-EZ MIEV will likely to be a minivan or a vehicle to compete with Suzuki Super Carry/Every.

If everything pushes through, I believe Mitsubishi can boosts its sales saying goodbye to financial burden with the production of electric vehicles and the rapid awareness of people about the need to focus on the environment. I hope this is a high priority of Mitsubishi's new step-up 2010 business plan.