Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
The story of this electric car is compelling. It’s a new vehicle niche in Japan. It’s going to be sub $10,000 and created by an ex Toyota employee and will be the size of a golf cart. It’ll be perfect for the narrow city streets of Tokyo where parking is difficult. The only negative? It’ll get crushed by a any other car. Keep your eyes open for the Town EV. It might not be so great in the US, but in a congested city, this could work. It’s “gas tank?” The run will run something like 30 miles per charge. (Bloomberg – Town EV)
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The electric car concept sounds like a dream. It’s supposed to save the world. A documentary was made to cheer it’s value. Gas? who needs it? I drove the Mitsubishi MiEV for a bit less than a week and found that although the car works, the electricity part – the piece of the puzzle to save the energy crisis, the savior? it is its own Achilles Heel. The electric car is slowly gaining some momentum. I did some research. There’s been press conferences, press drives, and a bit of news here and there. Myself driving this car is supposed to add to it. The idea? Drive it around and report on it. What can it do? Like most lower priced vehicles that have this “electric car look,” which for whatever reason has to look like a modified golf cart, there’s actually space. I was able to transport items I needed to and from Giant Robot. The purple version raised eyebrows and charging it from a standard plug that was able to run under the door overnight at Giant Robot raised a few questions, mainly aside from the Japanese stares, people ask, “what is this?” On paper, it’s a great answer. The car to save the planet. But in practicality of living in the maze of traffic and freeways of LA, it’s a worry. It’s sort of like the film buff who drinks a bottle of water at the beginning of a three hour epic. Problems will happen. The true test of how this car is being embraced and at what pace it’s being supported by the government and private enterprises are the availability of charging stations. At a 62 mile distance before charging and this is driving and coasting and driving again with only you and no extra weight in the car, charging stations are important. You’ll need to map out how you’re going to drive all day and where you’re willing to leave your car to charge. We ran a test. Can we drive to Donutman and back? Yes, it’s 40 miles. We will need to charge the car somewhere. I downloaded two apps to tell me where charging stations are located. In certain parts of LA, they’re less common. This is LA. They need to be common and not in desolate industrial areas. There’s one located at a power training station. At night, it’s a barren cluster of buildings with not even a soda machine or restroom. The type 2 charging station still takes 7 hours for a full charge. The home version is 22 hours and there’s the miracle type 1 which take a single hour for 80% charge. Where are those and what are those? There seems to be only 1 in California and it’s 500 miles north. We drove about 35 miles and already needed a charge. The power was running low. Two people in a car, driving on a freeway with a little bit of accident traffic. We pulled up in an Edison...
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Here’s what I’ll be driving. It’s a Mitsubishi MiEV, the MPGe has an “e” which means “equivalent”. I’ll be seeing how it’ll ride and feel. I already know, like a Prius, it starts silently. The car has “eco” written all over it. Want a ride? (imitsubishicars.com – Mitsubishi MiEV)
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