Mitsubishi Motors Unveils Plans For Five More EV's

The Mitsubishi iMiEV All-Electric Sedan



Unlike General Motors, Mitsubishi Motors has a plan to bring many more EV's to market. In a recent interview with GM CEO Fritz Henderson, he stated that the "lion share" of vehicles produced by the bankrupt company in 10 years will be combustion engine variants. Contrast that with Mitsubishi who states that 20% of their line-up with be EV's by 2020.

In other words, this is the tale of two auto manufacturers heading in opposite directions. One is embracing the electrification of vehicles and the other is hanging on to the internal combustion paradigm. Mitsubishi is already producing its sporty iMiEV electric compact car while GM claims they need another year and a half to bring the Volt to market. Mitsubishi is going to offer a great variety of EV's in the coming years.

From Green Car Congress:

The Nikkei reports that Mitsubishi will soon introduce five other electric models, and that by fiscal 2013, it intends to sell upwards of 30,000 electric vehicles and be profitable. Concurrent with beginning production of the i MiEV (earlier post), Mitsubishi Motors had also outlined its “Mitsubishi Motors Group Environmental Vision 2020” roadmap for its near-future, including a production volume at least 20% of which is electric vehicles.

Planned vehicles reportedly include:

• A left-side-steering version of the i-MiEV for the European market in the second half of fiscal 2010.
• An electric commercial vehicle that can be used to transport goods in fiscal 2010.
• During or after fiscal 2011, larger electric vehicle models based on full-sized cars, not minicars. The first, due out sometime in fiscal 2011, will be an electric version of a 1-liter small car.
• By fiscal 2013, a plug-in hybrid sport utility vehicle.
• A sport model of the i-MiEV, with better driving performance.
• The company will also begin supply of an EV on an OEM basis to PSA Peugeot Citroën in fiscal 2010.

Dr. Menahem Anderman, President of Advanced Automotive Batteries, the organizer of the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference being held in Long Beach, California this week, said in one of his market overview presentations that “the most mature EV Li-ion battery on the market today is the GS Yuasa-Mitsubishi EV battery” used in the i-MiEV.

Anderman projected in a value proposition analysis for automotive Li-ion batteries that the small EV and extended range electric vehicle segment—i.e., vehicles with a battery pack of around 15-16 kWh—would lead the short-term lithium-ion market (in terms of dollars), with around 8,000 units being sold by 2011, with about half of those being i-MiEVs.