Mitsubishi i-MiEV deployment begins
Mitsubishi Motors Australia has today revealed a list of organisations that have signed up to lease one of the very first Mitsubishi i-MiEVs to enter Australia.
The first shipment of the Japanese giant's electric vehicles, which arrive later this month, will be shipped out to numerous state, federal governments as well as local councils and selected commercial entities.
The arrival of the vehicles will also make Mitsubishi the first volume-production car-maker to sell electric vehicles in Australia.
Only 40 i-MiEVs are destined for Australia in the first shipment, even though the company has had applications for over 100 vehicles. Mitsubishi expects to meet demand with follow-up shipments.
“The last twelve months have seen Mitsubishi conduct Australian trials of the vehicle with hundreds of potential owners, including local, state and federal government bodies, and major fleet operators, and the feedback from these test drives has been very positive. However, the proof of Australia’s acceptance of the electric vehicle comes down to whether people are ready to purchase the vehicle – and there is no doubt that they are. We have three times as many applicants as vehicles at this point. We could not have wished for a better response,” MMAL’s CEO and president, Masahiko Takahashi, said.
The i-MiEV is powered by an electric motor producing 47 kW of power and 180 Nm of instant torque. It can travel up to 160 kilometres on a single charge. Read: Mitsubishi i-MiEV review.
List of organisations:
Federal Government
- Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
- Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
- Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
State Governments
- New South Wales Government
- Queensland Government
- South Australian Government
- Victorian Government
- Local Councils
- City of Adelaide
- City of Brisbane
- City of Gold Coast
- City of Marion
- City of Sydney
Automotive Associations
- NRMA
- RAA SA
Organisations
- Better Place
- Carsales
- ChargePoint
- Energex
- Energy Australia
- Ergon Energy
- ESCO Energy Solutions
- ETSA Utilities
- GE Custom Fleet
- Hume Building Society
- Leaseplan
- Mitsubishi Australia Limited
- Ozgene
- Rock Constructions
- Roche Products
- St George Bank
- Western Power