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Mitsubishi Plug In hybrid SUV To Be Sold In The U.S. In 2013

 
2,309 views Dec 7, 2009

The Mistsubishi PX-MiEV Concept Car

The Mistsubishi PX-MiEV Concept Car

It was recently announced that the Mitsubishi PX-MiEV, a plug in gas/electric hybrid vehicle that debuted at the Tokyo Auto Show as a concept vehicle and was recently presented at the LA Auto Show,  will be modified for production and actually go on sale in north America sometime within the next four years.

Osamu Masuko, president of Mitsubishi, was quoted at the LA show saying  that the SUV “matches the needs of the North American market” and the company plans to “revamp the vehicle for release in North America by the year 2013.”

As shown in Tokyo and LA, the PX-MiEV is derived from the production i-MiEV electric vehicle scheduled to go on sale next year but unlike the i-MiEV it will be a plug-In hybrid capable of operating in either electric-only mode or with a direct-drive boost from the internal combustion motor.

The car operates in full EV mode at low speeds, but as the battery level falls, A 1.6-liter inline-four will power a generator which delivers power to both front and rear-wheel electric motors and the battery pack. Under strong acceleration and at higher speeds, the internal combustion engine will also help drive the front wheels mechanically.  Driving mode is determined by the i-MiEV operating system which monitors speed, acceleration, wheel-slip and battery level to optimize efficiency.  Full EV-mode range is said to be approximately 30 miles.

[SOURCE:gas2.0]





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Comments (9)

  1. By B-Man Posted: 12/7/2009 8:37am PST

    Good to see more Mitsubishi products coming down the pipeline. And the fact that they're "green" like this makes it all the better. If the PX-MiEV isn't coming out until 2013 then that makes a rumoured Mitsubishi pullout of the U.S. market kind of unlikely, then, eh? Good for them. Hopefully more of the U.S. market will pull their heads out of the...sand and discover that Mitsubishi makes a solid product and offers a 10 year and 100,000 mile Warranty, too.
     
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  2. By  Gunnar Posted: 12/7/2009 9:53am PST

    I wonder, though, what will happen to those plans (and all other proposed PHEVs) if Eestor turns out to be everything that its inventors claim it is. In particular, will GM be able to adapt to and survive the shock if Eestor makes it possible to produce a practical, long-ranged and quickly rechargeble BEV that is mechanically less complex and cheaper to manufacture and sell than the Volt?
     
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  3. By B-Man Posted: 12/7/2009 1:42pm PST

    Yes, if and that's just it-if Eestor does perform like they claim it does then Mitsubishi, Chevy with it's Volt, and Ford with it's Fusion, and Toyota with it's Prius(I know those are hybrids, but they're still being turned to and praised as viable "green" car choices in the industry)are going to have competition from this source of powertrain. If Zenn is going out of the car production market and is just going to supply these powertrains with Eestor then perhaps it will be the Ford's, Chevy's, Toyota's and Mitsubishi's that will be buying from them. It will just require abrupt engineering and production changes in mid-stream or last-stream of assembly and production for them. I'm just not thinking that's gonna happen for these major automakers that have invested heavily already. That's big-time investment decisions steering elsewhere all of a sudden.
     
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  4. By Noel Park Posted: 12/7/2009 4:41pm PST

    "Green" SUVs with the aerodynamics of a brick do not interest me. As to Eestor, forget it. I'm holding out for warp drive.
     
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  5. By  Gunnar Posted: 12/8/2009 1:16am PST

    What I am half afraid will happen is that even if Eestor's eesu really delivers on its claimed performance, the big automobile manufacturers will be reluctant to buy Zennergy drive trains for no better reason than that they were not developed by themselves. As I understand it, the big automakers have historically been extremely resistant to buying technology invented by someone else, no matter how superior it is to their own proprietary technology.
     
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  6. By Jason M. Hendler Posted: 12/9/2009 6:36am PST

    Gunnar, B-Man et al, even if EEstor works, there isn't a rapid recharge infrastructure in place, so vehicles will have to be made with petroleum ICE range extenders for the near term. If EEstor works, then GM and the rest will just replace Li Ion battery packs with EEstor capacitor packs, and keep the gasoline / alcohol ICE's for long trips where there are no rapid recharge stations.
     
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  7. By  Gunnar Posted: 12/9/2009 12:13pm PST

    Jason, your comments make a great deal of sense. I realize that it will probably take considerable time to build up the rapid recharge infrastructure suitable for EEstor powered cars. I wonder, though, if GM, for example, can just simply buy EEstor battery packs given the fact that Zenn has exclusive rights to provide such packs for passenger vehicles. Would they have to buy them from Zenn, rather than directly from EEstor? If so, would that cause them to balk at buying them?
     
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  8. By  Auto Loan Posted: 2/7/2010 11:51am PST

    thank goodness it’s just a concept. the knightrider-esque steering design won’t work very well!
     
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  9. By Monterolover Posted: 3/1/2011 1:55pm PST

    I hope they don't try and sell me a European Version of the Montero. I want the American style and space. I love Mitsubishi vehicles. I have a 2002 montero LIMiTED.I love it but want an updated ALL electric vehicle with the same body avail in different colors. Not the picture shown above. That looks like a Euro car. No thanks. Most people here in Germany want the American versions anyway.
     
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