Are the 2012 models getting too risky?

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MalcolmReynolds

Active member
Joined
Jun 4, 2017
Messages
28
I am toying with the idea of buying an electric car and the path keeps leading me back to look at the i-miev. However I have some concerns. I see some attractive prices on some 2012 models, but I am starting to get concerned about battery degradation at this point unless I guess i can find one with really low miles. There really aren't any cars in my local area so I would be forced to shop online and ship a car to me.

Is the 2012 model starting to become more risky as far as battery health? I see a few 2016 and 2014's have started to show up, but prices are still kind of steep. Or would a low miles 2012 still be a safe purchase? I realize at this point that once the battery will no longer provide enough charge to do daily use things that are required of it that the i-Miev or any EV just about becomes disposable at this point. I saw recently someone was quoted like 19k to replace a battery in one of these cars. I hope someone starts to do the service for these batteries and can drive the cost down. I know in my first gen Insight that it usually was a bad cell and not the entire pack that needed replaced so we really need people with that skill set to start to offer battery reconditioning services. The beauty of an EV is we should be able to put many many trouble free miles on these electric motors before any kind of real serious work would be needed on them. It is just these crazy batteries that are the question mark.

Is there anything specific that is different between the car years that I should look for over another?

My other concern is that I live in an area where there is some public charging, but not much and the price of using a charger is crazy. I guess I shouldn't complain because it should mean that if I really needed to do a trip in the nearby metro areas that I could probably find a way to limp from charging point to charging point to get where I needed to go as long as the car had a quick charger. So I don't really have a super big concern today as most of my driving is fairly close with the longest trip being about 16 miles one way across the city so it appears that should be very doable if what I am reading here on this forum is true and I can find a good healthy car.

But to add a wrinkle to this I am planning on moving to a rural area in the Ozarks and it is an EV desert there. So that leaves me worrying about the most common trips I would do to get into town for shopping, errands and returning without any ability to recharge. The most common trip would be 24 miles one way, and it is the Ozarks so hit is steep hills, curves, and lots of two lane highway to get there. So I am worried that the i-miev might not be able to make that trip in the winter months. I suspect that if I hypermile it that I should be able to do the trip during the summer months as long as I can find a car with a good solid battery. When I say there isn't any charging that is literally the case. I am hoping that by asking around to local businesses I might be able to get some interest in sharing some external outlets and posting them on plugshare and anyplace else that might help fellow EV owners. Until that happens I will have to find a way to do the round trip without recharging. Even if I get a car with a strong battery today how long before the battery degrades and could not make that trip? I guess I can only hope that some sort of charging becomes available before that happens.

I am considering the idea I may need to buy a generator an carry it with me so that I could connect the car up to the genny for a short time while I am in town to make sure I can get some charge to get me back. I just don't want to be sitting in a parking lot somewhere running a genny for 4 hours just so I can get home otherwise I will use the gas sucking truck if it appears these trips will become questionable. The rural lifestyle mandates having a truck so I will have that as a backup regardless. I would prefer however to keep the truck relegated to the dirty hard work that it is meant for on the farm and not doing errands into town if I can avoid it.

One thing that stands out to me here is that with zero public charging it becomes critical that owners of EV's be willing to share their chargers for fellow EV travelers. So since I see nothing in the area(in the Ozarks where I will be) on plugshare for EV charging I am strongly considering installing an external 240v charging station and posting it on plugshare so there will be something for people to use. I will have to see what it will cost for me to do something like that and weight it heavily. I hope the cost is reasonable as I think this would be a valuable public service.

Ok, I hope I have not bored you to tears. Any feedback and input on buying an i-Miev would be great. If you happen to have any experience with remote/rural situations like I am facing I would love to get your feedback. I am hoping that the EV can do the job that I am describing. With cars like the Bolt here now and Tesla coming these kinds of worries will hopefully be a thing of the past in a couple of years. But until the price of these vehicles falls to a price point that mear mortals can afford I am stuck looking for bargains in the EV space and hoping they will be able to do what I am asking of it. Thanks.
 
Welcome! - Excellent first post. You've obviously given this lots of thought and you're asking very educated questions

No, I don't think getting a 2012 is very risky. Likely, most of the problems it may have would have already been addressed. Yes, all EV's will experience some amount of battery degradation over time, but the collective experience here is that it's not a great amount on most cars. There are drivers here who have upwards of 60,000 miles with very little loss of range. There is an EvBatMon Android app you can download which will give you a very good report on the health of the battery in any car you may be looking at - Probably a good idea to take that with you when you go car shopping

All things being equal, it's probably best to pay a little extra and get a car which has DCQC capability, though we have one with and one without and have never used it on the one and never missed not having it on the other. We also live in a place where there's next to no charging opportunities - In 5+ years we have charged exactly once away from home . . . . and that was more of a test of the free charger at the bus station downtown. You can use these cars and only recharge at home *if* you have sufficient range to get where you want to go

I would think if you lived in a rural area a questionable distance from the town you usually drive to, it would be easy enough to arrange for a place to recharge at a business or someone's home - So long as you made arrangements to pay for the small amount of electricity you'll use. Some car dealerships have charging capabilities and allow EV owners to recharge, often for free

Don
 
Thanks for the fast reply Don. Cool, the DCQC is on the shopping list. :D What is a reasonable price to pay for a low miles 2012 with a DCQC? Can Kelly Blue Book be used to price the car? Or is the blue book still lower than I will likely see the street price on one of these cars?

Thanks again for the feedback.
 
Welcome to the forum Malcolm

Having driven my 2014 i Miev 72,000 miles, I agree with Don that the battery life and degradation don't seem to be an issue,

I believe there are other components to be more concerned with.
With my 2012 i Miev I drove 42,000 miles and had this experience...

Several reports of 2012 mode AC units failing, that are very costly and are necessary for fast charging application.
And at there were also several on board charging units replaced, also very costly to repair reported on 2012 models
Mostly these were caught and covered under warranty.
I was told that the 2014 Miev AC unit supplier has been changed, when I had my 2014 serviced at the dealer.

As for charging away from home
I was an early adaptor and there were very few charging stations available,
So as many here did the EVSE upgrade to my stock portable EVSE
to charge 220 volts as well and made up a variety of plug adaptors.
( stove, dryer, welder, etc)
My reasoning is
If there's a Plug available, there's a charge,
all you need is time


Some other small differences between the 2012 & 2014
2014
Charge port light
Both front seats are heated
Stereo had rear speakers as well

Good luck with your research
 
Hi MalcolmReynolds, and again welcome to the forum. There are a number of us here who are former Gen1 Honda Insight owners.

Good for you for doing your homework ahead of time before purchasing a used i-MiEV..

Your 24-mile one-way drive would be pushing it if on a repetitive daily basis, especially in winter. The good news is that you wouldn't be roaring up an Interstate, so you can tailor your speed to meet your needs. Hypermiling works wonders on the i-MiEV. Hills are not a problem, as coming back down recovers a large percentage of what you had expended going up. Similarly, aircon doesn't have much of an effect, but running the heater takes a serious bite.

The closest to your situation here on this forum is pbui19 who has a daily 50-mile round-trip commute (much of it on either high-speed or rush-hour crawling Interstate), but it proved to be difficult as he ended each day with a 1600-ft climb. He has an unusual situation in that the government facility he works at does not permit plugging in an EV. He's subsequently supplanted his i-MiEV with both a Volt and BoltEV.

Agree that arranging for some destination/opportunity charging would help. Is there a welding shop close to your destination? - they've got logs of good 240vac outlets. A dryer outlet works just great also. Simply talking with prospective sources and explaining the situation and having numbers on hand (3kW/hr on 240vac or 1kW/hr (8A) or 1.4kW/hr (12A for upgraded Mitsu EVSE) at 120vac) showing just how little energy you actually consume and always offering to pay invariably works, as most people are usually fascinated by our cars and are quite accommodating. I daresay it should be relatively easy to make charging arrangements with someone, even if you'll be doing it on a regular basis.

At this point in time, how a battery was treated in the i-MiEV's previous life is beginning to matter when it comes to capacity. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing unless we're able to talk directly with the previous owners to assess their environment and charging regimen.

I agree that the simplest way to measure capacity is to get EVBatMon for Android, and you might want to install CaniOn as well to see how the individual cells are faring. If you buy the car remotely from a dealer (especially a Mitsu dealer), it doesn't hurt to ask for a battery capacity readout. If you find a car you're interested in, you might post here to see if someone on this forum might be able to pop over and make the check.

So, keep checking things out - it may be that a BEV with even a slighttly better range might might better suit your needs - wish you all the best!
 
Thanks everyone for the replies! I had not connected the dots with the failing AC units and the fact that the battery uses the AC to keep them cool. So that is a great point. Of the cars I have been looking at online none of the Carfax have mentioned replacement of the AC unit so that would be a concern.

I also just double checked the distance I would need to travel on the weekends for groceries and errands. It would be most likely just be a Saturday and Sunday run into town as I need things from the local hardware store, home improvement, and grocery store etc. It would not be a daily drive thankfully. At least that isn't the plan at the moment to be doing it daily. So I checked and I think the most common destination area I would be going is actually 19 miles one way from my house in the Ozarks. So that is making me feel a little more comfortable about the distance. Probably the last 3 or 4 miles of that is in town driving so some opportunity to maybe get some juice back on regen. And since most of the drive is 2 lane highway there will be opportunities for me to slow down and just enjoy the drive. Maybe I should paint it black or buy a black i-Miev and put a reflective triangle on the back and try to disguise it as an Amish buggy! LOL

I loved my Gen 1 Insight, and would still have it if not for a severe hail storm last year took it from me. That really is a good car for efficiency once you learn how to drive it. I do miss my Insight! So I have been car-less for a bit now. Been using my truck for the weekend runs which are really close distance wise where I live presently, but not a good replacement for the Insight.

There is just so much I like about the i-Miev simplicity and design really speak to me. Not sure why that is, but I like it. So I am hoping that it will be a fit for what I need. I have looked at the Leaf and it is a nice car, but honestly the older I get the more I treasure "simple". The Leaf has all those bells and whistles that the consumer has become used to, but that really isn't what I need. All of the new cars really are just a cluttered mess of needless complexity, buttons and gadgets that just don't add much value to my driving experience. Not to say there aren't good implementations and features that add value to the experience, but sometimes less really is more.

There are a few bells and whistles that are nice value added, but for the most part the more basic the better in my book. I am just an oddball that way I guess. I find it is really hard to make something technical and complicated "simple". To me it looks like Mitsubishi did a good job simplifying these cars and I really like that a lot. It looks like the i-Miev will be fun to hypermile. :D
 
Only cars equipped with DCQC use the A/C for battery cooling and only then when you're using the L3 fast charge protocol - Other iMiEV's without it don't use battery cooling while charging

Joe had a couple Honda Insights - One he lost when he was run over by a drunk driver. Think he said they averaged better than 77 mpg for the life of that car! Truly remarkable!!

For us, a 60 mile round trip is nothing and we do it all the time, even using the A/C, but it's fairly flat around here so we don't have the losses that driving in the hills would give you

You sound like a perfect candidate to become an iMiEV driver - Pretty sure you'd be impressed owning one, as most of us here are. Several of us had to buy a second one to go with the first! :lol:

Don
 
Don said:
Joe had a couple Honda Insights - One he lost when he was run over by a drunk driver. Think he said they averaged better than 77 mpg for the life of that car! Truly remarkable!!
Snapped this photo when I had all sevens showing - traffic was too heavy to get up to 77mph :cry:

7Insight7.jpg


For those not familiar with the Gen1 Insight display, what it shows is a lifetime 77.7mpg over 77,777 miles!

Don said:
You sound like a perfect candidate to become an iMiEV driver - Pretty sure you'd be impressed owning one, as most of us here are...
Stongly agree! With a 38-mile non-time-imperative round trip, it'll be a piece of cake!

Now to find you a nice one... Differences between ES and SE
 
JoeS said:
Hi MalcolmReynolds, and again welcome to the forum. There are a number of us here who are former Gen1 Honda Insight owners.

Good for you for doing your homework ahead of time before purchasing a used i-MiEV..

Your 24-mile one-way drive would be pushing it if on a repetitive daily basis, especially in winter. The good news is that you wouldn't be roaring up an Interstate, so you can tailor your speed to meet your needs. Hypermiling works wonders on the i-MiEV. Hills are not a problem, as coming back down recovers a large percentage of what you had expended going up. Similarly, aircon doesn't have much of an effect, but running the heater takes a serious bite.

The closest to your situation here on this forum is pbui19 who has a daily 50-mile round-trip commute (much of it on either high-speed or rush-hour crawling Interstate), but it proved to be difficult as he ended each day with a 1600-ft climb. He has an unusual situation in that the government facility he works at does not permit plugging in an EV. He's subsequently supplanted his i-MiEV with both a Volt and BoltEV.

Agree that arranging for some destination/opportunity charging would help. Is there a welding shop close to your destination? - they've got logs of good 240vac outlets. A dryer outlet works just great also. Simply talking with prospective sources and explaining the situation and having numbers on hand (3kW/hr on 240vac or 1kW/hr (8A) or 1.4kW/hr (12A for upgraded Mitsu EVSE) at 120vac) showing just how little energy you actually consume and always offering to pay invariably works, as most people are usually fascinated by our cars and are quite accommodating. I daresay it should be relatively easy to make charging arrangements with someone, even if you'll be doing it on a regular basis.

At this point in time, how a battery was treated in the i-MiEV's previous life is beginning to matter when it comes to capacity. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing unless we're able to talk directly with the previous owners to assess their environment and charging regimen.

I agree that the simplest way to measure capacity is to get EVBatMon for Android, and you might want to install CaniOn as well to see how the individual cells are faring. If you buy the car remotely from a dealer (especially a Mitsu dealer), it doesn't hurt to ask for a battery capacity readout. If you find a car you're interested in, you might post here to see if someone on this forum might be able to pop over and make the check.

So, keep checking things out - it may be that a BEV with even a slighttly better range might might better suit your needs - wish you all the best!

I couldn't agree more. In fact, I wouldn't buy an iMiev of any year without first buying EVBatMon and a compatible OBD and first testing the vehicle to make sure that the batter degradation is within the limits set forth on page 1-5 of the owner's manual. Then I would inquire of the dealer to make sure that the LEV50N is the cell type in the battery pack. If neither criteria are met, then I wouldn't buy the vehicle unless the dealer or seller agrees to both (1) a residual battery capacity check, and (2) a new battery pack with LEV50N cells.
 
I used to play that video game! Sure do miss it! Loved the Insight. Hoping the i-Miev will be as much fun.

So I found a couple of reasonably priced cars. I texted them on the 2014 and it sounds good other than I was hoping to get him to come down on the price a little, but he wouldn't budge. On the 2012 they contacted me and I told them what I was needing to know and they said they would get back to me. A case of reading deficiency as I wrote out the questions I had regarding the car. I haven't heard anything back yet.

I have been looking for the 2012 with the SE premium package, or the 2014's with the DCQC.

I asked them:
How many bars does the fuel gauge show when fully charged?
How many miles does the range remaining show when fully charged?
Does it come with the charger?
Does it come with the remote?
What kind of condition is it? Signs of wear, tear, chips, rust etc?
Can you ship to my location?

I have sent messages from several car buying sites to a handful of dealers who have cars that seem reasonable. So far only responses from a few.
 
MalcolmReynolds said:
...I asked them:
How many bars does the fuel gauge show when fully charged?
How many miles does the range remaining show when fully charged?
Does it come with the charger?
Does it come with the remote?
What kind of condition is it? Signs of wear, tear, chips, rust etc?
Can you ship to my location?
A few comments, if I may -

1. Fully charged fuel bars <16 will result in a brand new battery from Mitsubishi as typically there is an internal cell failure (might make this car highly desirable).
2. Fully charged RR is irrelevant, as the number is simply a function of how the car has been driven for the previous 15 miles. At a dealership this number is likely to be low (even below 50), as people test driving it tend to gun it.
3. Proper question is "does it come with EVSE?" (the c h a r g e r is built into the car); better yet, ask if the Mitsu EVSE has been upgraded to operate on both 120vac and 240vac. (ref: evseupgrade.com)
4. Remote has a total replacement cost of $1000
5. Condition question is just like any car, as there are no specific BEV wear-and-tear items.
6. Good to enquire about shipping cost, but it may be cheaper to hook a car trailer onto your truck and go retrieve it yourself

Good luck in your hunting.
 
MalcolmReynolds said:
I have been looking for the 2012 with the SE premium package, or the 2014's with the DCQC.

I asked them:
How many bars does the fuel gauge show when fully charged?
How many miles does the range remaining show when fully charged?
Does it come with the charger?
Does it come with the remote?
What kind of condition is it? Signs of wear, tear, chips, rust etc?
Can you ship to my location?

I have sent messages from several car buying sites to a handful of dealers who have cars that seem reasonable. So far only responses from a few.
All 2014's come with DCQC. 2012 SE models without Nav do not have DCQC - Only the SE Premium models with Nav came with it. Some ES models also have DCQC - Look for the release lever beside the drivers seat . . . . if it's there, it has it, if not it doesn't

No point in asking how many bars it charges to - 16 will always be the answer unless the battery has a deficient cell or two. A new battery and a 20% degraded battery both charge to 16 bars

No point in asking about the RR reading - It doesn't tell you a thing unless you know how it was driven for the last 15 miles, as Joe mentioned

The charger is in the car - Ask what EVSE it comes with

Lack of a remote is a good 'bargaining chip' if the car doesn't come with one - Get them to come down at least $500 to $750 if it's missing. As Joe mentioned, it would cost $1K to replace, but if I could get a good discount off the car, I wouldn't worry that it doesn't come with one. It' not really necessary to have to use the car - We have two of them and haven't touched a remote in several years

I agree about the shipping - I borrowed a trailer and drove 700 miles one way to bring our second car home from Indianapolis. I have no idea what it would have cost to pay to have it delivered . . . . didn't even ask

I would not hesitate one bit to buy a car 3 or 4 hundred miles away, *if* it was the *right* car for me and I can get it at a good price. Getting it home is a one time expense and you may use the car for several years . . . . hopefully 8 or 10

Don
 
Thanks for the clarification about the EVSE. I mistakenly was calling it "the charger". I wasn't thinking about the upgrade 240v option so that is very helpful. Thanks!

I didn't think of a fuel gauge less than 16 bars as being a plus, but if Mitsubishi is going to give you a new battery then that really would be a PLUS! LOL

Thank you everyone for the great feedback. I am trying to absorb as much as I can from the forum while I am trying to find a good clean low miles i-Miev to purchase.

Unfortunately my vacation time from work is already spoke for so I can't take the time off to go get the car unless is is relatively close where I could do it over a weekend. However that would be an option if it were close enough.
 
Trond chiming in from No(r)way here.

If NA/USDM market follows the same upgrade tempo as euro/JDM, then you should look for a mid-2012 and up - in order to receive the LEV50N cells. They are rated for 1,500 cycles vs. 500 or so cycles for the old one.

E.g. my '13 is reg. sept 2012 and assembled midterm the same year. I could check off at least a couple of boxes in my wish list:
[x] LEV50N
[x] Remote
[_] LED headlamps (came in production autumn 2013)
[_] 200nm torque from upgraded gen. 2 or 3 motor (only 180 nm for me)
[_] upgraded, non-exploding transmission (?)
[x] DCQC (default in Norway)

Perhaps someone here know how to decipher your USDM NA VIN numbers? I have forgotten how to do it, but here is a starting point:
http://mmc-manuals.ru/manuals/i-miev/online/Service_Manual/2013/index_M2.htm
-> 00 GENERAL\VEHICLE ID\MODELS\
http://mmc-manuals.ru/manuals/i-miev/online/Service_Manual/2013/00/html/M200000110146200ENG.HTM

Also check out Workshop (and Bodywork) manual at:
http://mmc-manuals.ru/manuals/i-miev/online/Service_Manual/2013/index_M1.htm

PS! Ask & check paperwork for campaigns like:
* brake vacuum booster ($800'ish cost)
* rusty battery brackets or frame rails
* ...
 
Thank you for explaining about the upgraded battery and when that came out. I was not aware of this. That adds a new level of complexity to this search. So it is making me lean more toward trying to find a 2014.
 
elekTrond said:
Trond chiming in from No(r)way here.

If NA/USDM market follows the same upgrade tempo as euro/JDM, then you should look for a mid-2012 and up - in order to receive the LEV50N cells. They are rated for 1,500 cycles vs. 500 or so cycles for the old one.

Is that quoted from official documentation? I'm not sure what cells my 2012 has (probably LEV50 though it it does appear to be a facelifted car Vs my parents '12 car - various differences to trim and controls, both front seats heated etc).

500 cycles seems very low for this type of cell - if charging daily, that would mean the pack is rated for about 2 years worth of 5-day weeks... and only about 500 x 80 miles: 40,000 miles tops (which may translate).

I was under the impression that the LEV50 cycle duty was in the order of 1500 cycles or so, which would effectively mean about 3 charges a week for 10 years.... but I really don't remember where I read that... though I only charge it once a week anyway mostly.

In addition, it's worth defining what cycle duty actually means, is that to 95% residual, less than that, or effective useful end?

The IMIEV charges slowly via AC (3.3Kwh/h-1) Vs the leaf at 7, charges to a lower voltage per cell at 100% SOC than the Leaf, and therefore places lower demands on the pack (and employs barrel cells Vs flat cells) - all of which would generally be considered by anecdote to equate to a more reliable, and longer lasting battery pack. Though there have been failures of course, and these hit the forums hard, there haven't been huge numbers to speak of, nor has degradation been a huge problem. That said, if your pack fails out of warranty, you'll effectively have a junk car, or an expensive and lengthy process to repair it - not to mention the loss of faith that goes with that sort of event. Pack failure is not limited to the IMIEV - all EVs and hybrids can potentially have failed batteries, and it's the Leaf I believe that suffers the most (though its outsells everything else, so standardized failure rates should be sought). What would be good s if manufacturers made it easy to replace cell banks - but that's not their agenda, nor is is a close possibility.

Pack failure and degradation over time are independent variables, both important - though pack failure must surely be at the back of most owners minds, it's not predictable, nor something that can be managed easily - so other than adopting good battery management practices, it's a numbers game... you have to roll the dice sometimes.

From what I think I have gleaned from reading around, packs seem to fail in the first 4 years or so, and at seemingly lower mileage (forum please correct me if Im wrong) - so what that tells me is that there should be a bi-modal failure rate of new and old, where the ones in the middle are ok - if that's a fair judgement, a 2012 would be OK (as the car was launched in 2009 in Europe anyway)... From my experience, it plays true that electrical and mechanical items fail when they are new or old... early failure being defective item Vs late failure being wear and tear.

So age, mileage, climate and charging habit are all going to play a part I think. There is no single indicator or predictability beyond crude failure rate, which I guess we don't know, or could even guess. If I had to, I would suspect early failure to be one in many 100's, which is actually pretty good odds when you think about it, certainly commensurate with current ICE vehicle engines and transmissions (though those are easier to replace). Quality control asside - it makes sense that a very hot and dry climate with frequent use of rapid charging will hit packs the hardest. I dont believe that driving habits (lead foot syndrome) would play nearly as big a part here. It would be great to assemble a global pack failure map to see where they fail (and i'm sure Mitsubishi and Nissan do just that - of course not releasing that data). What's more, im not sure if early pack failures are mostly die to cells, or the control boards, again Im sure i'll be advised, but surely the boards fail too, and with high currents and voltages about, aging battery module control boards (and anything within the pack) is a growing concern. Any battery pack is only as reliable as it's least reliable part f it means the thing has to come out to be repaired.

Lastly, I would also hazard a guess that frequency of DC fast charging correlates positively to both early and late failure as it would be logical that wacking 50-75KW into the pack would be hard on it. For that reason, and the fact that they have now introduced a £6 CHAdeMO charge in the UK means I have stopped using it - and actually I would say my car has only ever been rapid charged about 10 times.

Charged yesterday overnight to 100%, and left a day unused, very mild day on my 2012.. can you be worried if you see a chart like this? Odo is in KM as ive recently factory-reset my phone and not used CanIOn... so whats that about 14K miles?



Surface corrosion, especially on the underside where there is no under-seal or rust proofing to speak of remains my primary concern... I must treat the underside of the car when I get the time. In addition, as more cars break, crash and are totaled, the spare parts market will increase, as there is currently the unfortunate sweet-spot of a growing need for spare parts but few parts available, though more spares are trickling through now, helpfully when accidents happen, if there can be any upside to that. Fixing the traction battery will unfortunately remain a huge ball-ache, and the betting man would get rid before that eventuality - but correlation not being causation makes it extremely difficult to predict when the best buy to sell times are. I would have assumed a working EV should always command a couple of grand no matter on other factors.
 
One of the cars I am looking at is a 2012 with 20+k miles on it. It is an SE with navigation. It is at a Mitsubishi dealer. I asked if the car has the LEV50 battery and the reply I got seems to imply the answer is no if I am understanding the info. I am asking for clarification about the battery and the car manufactured date. It only comes with the 120v plug and not the upgraded one. I also asked if they could get me a battery report to show it's health. Waiting to see if they provide that. The dealer appears to have had this car since day one and have used it as a run about kind of car and does not appear to have ever been titled by a consumer. So the car has been at a dealers its entire life from the looks of things.

Here is what they said about the battery question:
16-kilowatt-hour (58 MJ) lithium-ion battery pack consists of 88 cells placed under the base floor. The pack has 22 cell modules connected in series at a nominal voltage of 330 V. There are two 4-cell modules placed vertically at the center of the pack and ten 8-cell modules placed horizontally. Developed by Mitsubishi and GS Yuasa for both high specific energy and high rate discharge and manufactured by Lithium Energy Japan, a joint venture of GS Yuasa Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. The entire pack has a specific energy of 80 Wh/kg.[25] The battery has a forced air cooling system to prevent overheating during high charge and discharge rates and consequent damage. There is an integral fan in the battery pack. For rapid charging, the battery pack is additionally cooled with refrigerated air from the cars air conditioning system.[citation needed]
 
Sounds like a promising candidate - Being dealership owned, the recalls should all be up to date. How much are they asking?

For reference, I bought that same exact model used in March of 2015 for $7,900 and it had 3,900 miles on it at the time

You can plug the car's VIN into the Mitsu website and learn all kinds of things about the car

Don
 
They are asking $6k plus dealer handling etc, plus I have to pay shipping. I did pull up the carfax info and that is how I found out the car had not been registered. Also pulled up the VIN to see what the build sheet says for the car.

Now it is just the battle of getting someone to answer questions about the car. I am getting kinda tossed around over there between people and not getting much in the way of answers. Not sure where the disconnect is yet.

Also looking at a 2014 for $8k with 13+k miles on in. Those folks have been very helpful replying to my questions. And as far as I know from what you guys have been telling me that should already have the updated battery, a few more options on it(minus the navigation system).

What is the though about cars in hot locations like Phoenix or Nevada, or Florida. Does the i-Miev have the issues that the Leaf has had with cars in hot locations and battery life? Would you avoid buying one from a hot location like this?
 
MalcolmReynolds said:
They are asking $6k plus dealer handling etc, plus I have to pay shipping. I did pull up the carfax info and that is how I found out the car had not been registered. Also pulled up the VIN to see what the build sheet says for the car.
Oooh, if the car had not been registered, then purchasing this car as the original owner should give you fully warranty from date of purchase! Worth pursuing.
MalcolmReynolds said:
What is the though about cars in hot locations like Phoenix or Nevada, or Florida. Does the i-Miev have the issues that the Leaf has had with cars in hot locations and battery life? Would you avoid buying one from a hot location like this?
I personally would stay away from vehicles from these areas, but it's all about how the car was treated by the previous owner. Anecdotally, in my case, I had purchased a used i-MiEV from the original owner in Bakersfield (very hot summers!) who, it turned out, would charge it fully daily outside during work hours. Soon after purchase I had a cell go bad, and Mitsubishi replaced the entire pack.
 
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