Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MIEV

Its not a typo, its not MIVEC its MIEV, or Mitsubishi In-wheel motor Elec­tric Vehicle, yes I know what your thinking, “this isn’t an electric evo is it?” And you know the answer? Well off course it is!

What the? Yep, the cult rally car has turned into an electric car, but don’t worry its not exactly slow! Nicely hidden inside each wheel is a powerful electric motor that puts out 50kW. So altogether the Electric Evolution puts out 200kW or 270bhp. The Petrol version of the Evolution puts out 206kW So 200kW isn’t too bad, but what about Torque? The electric Evo generates 518Nm of torque! Compared to the petrol version’s 355Nm. So its completely electric, that means you dont have to ever spend money on fuel, but how many KMs do you actually get out of every… charge (sounds odd to say charge)? 240KM! Not bad!

Those who have driven the car say that as with all fully electric cars, there is no transmission loss; just fast throttle response. Also the the lack of noise takes a while to get used to. Currently the prototype MIEV Evo comes with low-profile 20-inch Dunlop SP Sport Maxx rubber and the massive wheels, but I would think that by the time this car makes it into production (if it ever does) the wheels will get a little smaller.

So does the Cult rally car give all its wonderful features to the electric version of the car? Unfortunately not, for now Mitsubishi are simply trying to perfect the art of making a Electric Evo, so the car misses Evo’s well feared AWD technology, ACD (Active Centre Differential) and Active Yaw Control.

Okay I know what your thinking now, how fast does it get to a 100? Its not as fast as the traditional petrol powered Evo (0-100 in 5.7), instead the MIEV Evo does the dash in 6.9 seconds and you know what? For an electric car this is pretty damn good! Mitsubishi says that whilst the Lancer will eventually come with the electric motors (Mitsubishi claims that when the body shape changes and with a few more facelifts, the Electric Evo MIEV will make its way into production around 2010), we should keep an eye out for a smaller version of Mitsubishi’s first production electric car much sooner. The so called MIEV supermini, due to go into production by 2008.

All these electric cars are really starting to take shape, the future of non-fuel based performance cars is looking bright! I can only imagine the type of “engine modifications” we will be doing to electric cars in 20 years time, no need for more boost or turbo controllers, we will start putting in extra batteries and changing the electric wires to handle more juice!