on the fence

[nhhecker]

"This has been covered before, but..."

WHO and WHAT:
I've read some of the other threads by potential buyers but am still unsure if I'm ready to take the all-electric plunge. I work ~16 miles from home and it seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for the change or not : ) Currently my wife has a hybrid car (2013 C-Max; we love it) and I have a motorcycle (2009 TU-250; I love it). I previously owned a 2002 Mits Eclipse GS.

WHY:
I dig the motorcycle, but I'm looking for something that has a few more wheels and maybe some airbags. I live/work in Atlanta, GA and I've gotten to the point where I feel like I'm playing the lottery every day when I go to work: that some day my number will come up and I'm going to end up in the back of a meat wagon. I guess I kind of feel like my luck has got to run out at some point so it's time to get back in to a car. I personally love the bike as the ultimate form of convenient, simple transportation and would love an eBike from Zero Motorcycles but that won't solve the safety issue ... so this has led me on a search for a small car, basically a motorcycle replacement. I'm interested in the extended functionality that PHEVs offer but they don't seem to make any cheap small ones. So here I am.

I've driven the I on a test-drive and liked what I saw for the most part. I do have some questions/concerns that owners might have a better perspective on (or be more forthright about) than the dealers. In no particular order:
(1) Observation: the range seems to be a nominal, reliable >= 50 mi. If I hot-dog it on the highway going 75 MPH, what's a reasonable expectation of the range?
(2) Observation: buying an I (accounting for the $12.5K of GA state and federal tax credits) seems roughly the same cost as leasing a leaf for 3 years (about $11K). Smells too good to be true?
(3) Observation: sure, the I isn't as safe as some other EV cars out there, but anything's safer than leather.
(4) I've never owned a BEV; is there anything to be nervous about, or any 'gotchas'? I'm hoping to get by on L1 charging at home only.
(5) Can you really not use an extension cord with the charger provided?
(6) How about batteries in the heat (>100 F) or cold (<0 F); any issues?
(7) I would love to lease this, but don't seem to be able to. Is there any idea on when or if they might decide to put out a leasing option for the 2014 I? (I'm afraid of BEV commitment!)
(8) Does anyone have any experience with this car and amateur ('ham') radio or CB radio?
(9) What are the maintenance costs like? Has anyone had to replace a motor / battery pack / etc?
(10) this is covered in some of the reviews, but what do you love/hate about this car?


Thanks,
Nick

 

[PV1]

Welcome to the forum. Since you say work ~16 miles from home, I take it a round trip is ~32 miles? Even with AC on full blast at 75 mph, the i-MiEV can make that on one charge. Being in Georgia, you should rarely have to worry about the heater, but the i-MiEV can tell you with relatively good accuracy what your range reduction is with the heat or AC on. If things look a little tight (with a 32 mile drive, that should be rare), you can always back off or turn off the climate controls and slow down a bit. Air resistance is the biggest consumer of energy in the i-MiEV, so slowing down will net you the biggest increase in range.

What really seemed too good to be true (but was real) was the $96 a month lease on the i-MiEV they had last year.

If I remember correctly, the i-MiEV performed similar to the LEAF in crash ratings, and did better in the side-pole test than the LEAF. The i-MiEV excels in crash avoidance, being quite nimble and able to stop rather quickly.

As far as 'gotchas', just be certain that the 'charge' light stays on when you plug in. There were a couple of instances here where the connector didn't fully engage and the car didn't charge. Level 1 charging, especially with the new 8 amp/12 amp EVSE that comes with the 2014 i-MiEV, can suit the need of many drivers. A full recharge is possible in less than 14 hours at 12 amps. Driving 32 miles a day, you should rarely run empty.

Mitsubishi has been really 'lawsuit-proofing' themselves, but I use an extension cord on occasion with no ill effects. Just be sure that it is a 12 AWG cord shorter than 25 feet in good condition, and don't coil the cords while the car is charging.

We have a member here who lives in high temperatures with an older i-MiEV. He has seen about 15% loss over the last 3 years. If you can park in the shade or in a garage during extreme temperatures, that would help prolong the battery life. As far as extreme cold, my i-MiEV has seen -10 F last winter, and below zero is when I started noticing a larger drop in range (down to below 50 miles, less than 40 with heat). Also, with colder weather, the regenerative brakes are weaker. You still have the regular disc/drum brakes to make up for it.

There hasn't been any lease details released yet (the 2014 was released only a month or so ago).

No experience with ham or CB with the car, but there is almost no interference with AM radio. I believe peterdambier on this forum might be able to help with this.

Maintenance costs for me last year was $45 for new wiper blades all the way around. On the forum, there have been three battery failures on the forum, and, besides the time investment of going without the car, were all replaced for free under warranty. There was one member who had the charger and AC compressor replaced, also under warranty.

Personally, I love nearly everything about this car. It goes very well in snow. The headlights are outstanding. It's comfortable, roomy, very easy to park, and it handles quite well. There are only a couple of very minor things I don't like.

 

[jray3]

Hello to nhhecker from another former racer on Atlanta's "Watermelon 500".
My current commute is a 16.4 mile one-way in hilly country, and I have no trouble making two round trips in all weather.
Worst-case scenario of 70+ mph with the heater, headlights, and wipers running is at least 45 miles.

Get the Canion App to rest assured that your battery handles the heat. There's a simple mod to manually air-condition the pack, which the OEM system only does during DC fast charging.

L1 charging would handle your commute, but I suspect that like many of us, the i that was purchased as a second car will soon become the primary car, and you'll want to step up to L2 recharging! At least there are now good L2 EVSE for $550.

The only lingering safety concern I have on the car is that the brake lights don't illuminate during heavy regenerative braking. I see "sudden tailgaters" from time to time, as there's no fart can or warning light to signal that I've 'downshifted'...
I keep meaning to start a habit of tapping the brake pedal as a warning to others when regenning in traffic.

Good Luck!

 

[gatedad11]

NHH: I'll second what he just said. My commute is 16 miles each way. Driving in SE PA(similar to Pittsburgh conditions, as mentioned), I get about 50 miles in the winter with heater cycling on/off for brief periods of time. My warm weather range is approx 80+ miles. My drive is on suburban roads, at about 35-40 MPH, some hills, but not real steep ones. In Hotlanta, I'd figure you'll average close to my summer range, but the extreme heat could take a bit of a toll. A/C takes a much lower toll on the battery and range. Winter should be a breeze for you. The car is ridiculously cheap to operate, so much cheaper than an ICE car that it's not fair to even make a comparison. I had absolutely zero expenses in maintenence this year. PA has state inspections and the car needed nothing, and the dealer made no attempt to get me to buy anything. The car rides great on decent road surfaces, but is NOT good on rough roads. I use Level 1 charging, and it can be done. Access to 240V would be way better, but the supplied charging cable allows up to 5 miles of range per hour. Using a 240V line would be 10 miles per hour. The car now comes with the Quick Charge standard, so if they are available in the Atlanta area, you'd be able to basically fill the car to 80% in something like 15 minutes. Overall, I'd say that this car is a bargain, that's an understatement. A LEAF is bigger, more comfortable and goes farther(maybe 15 miles more on average)but this one would fit your commute perfectly.

Lou

 

[nhhecker]

Thanks for the input and experiences, I'm still trying to soak it all in. A few reactions:

What really seemed too good to be true (but was real) was the $96 a month lease on the i-MiEV they had last year.

When first searching for lease rates on the car I found old pages that talked about the $69/mo lease. I was pretty bummed to find out that was for the 2012 model. I keep bugging the dealer here to see if they'll come out with a lease for it, but so far it's no-go. I'm planning another trip down to the dealer this weekend; I'll keep you posted.

A full recharge is possible in less than 14 hours at 12 amps. Driving 32 miles a day, you should rarely run empty.

Awesome, this would make things much easier since I wouldn't have to worry about charging up in the 'wild'. Actually, I work in the same building that's occupied by some Nissan office and they have Nissan L2 EVSEs out in the parking deck (four spots total, between two and three Leafs at any given time. I wonder what Nissan would think about a Mitsubishi interloper using their equipment? : ) Also I'm glad to hear about the extension cord. I don't plan on any 100' runs, but it's good to know that I could charge up without needing to be 15' from a receptacle.

We have a member here who lives in high temperatures with an older i-MiEV. He has seen about 15% loss over the last 3 years.

I assume you're talking about Malm? I read the 'turtle' thread and could probably live with that 10% to 15% degradation in a worst-case scenario since at this time I'm not expecting to need more than 40 mi of range on a regular basis and could always borrow the wife's car in a pinch.

there is almost no interference with AM radio. I believe peterdambier on this forum might be able to help with this.

Great, thank you for the info. I saw a German ham's call letters in a signature somewhere on this forum, so I assume that's probably peterdambier. I'll see if I can send him a PM or something. I'll have to remember to flip on the AM radio while I'm on the test drive to check it out.

Maintenance costs for me last year was $45 ... three battery failures on the forum ... one member who had the charger and AC compressor replaced

$45!? That's pretty good IMO. I read about the AC compressor story but couldn't tell if that was on a 2012 or 2014 car, not that it really matters, I guess. I expect a certain amount of issues but as long as every car isn't a lemon I don't see any problem with it.

It's comfortable, roomy

This was one of the things I noticed about the car on my previous test drive. Looks tiny (and not that great IMO) from the outside, but when I got in I was impressed by the volume and normalcy of the car's interior.

Get the Canion App to rest assured that your battery handles the heat. There's a simple mod to manually air-condition the pack, which the OEM system only does during DC fast charging.

Yeah! I kept reading 'canion' around here and finally figured out that it was some sort of Android app plus some kind of BT/CAN bus gizmo installed in the car. I have a tab open on that thread but it's a bit 'too long; didn't read', so I need to go back and spend some time on that thread to figure out what all it does. But it sounds like something up my alley. I saw lots of cool photos in that thread, anyway. I read about the floor/battery damper servo mod which looks pretty clever and would also be something I'd like to do. I appreciate the enthusiast approach a lot of the EVers seem to have here.

The only lingering safety concern I have on the car is that the brake lights don't illuminate during heavy regenerative braking.

This is a very good point, and I imagine it's a bit like down-shifting into fourth or third, in that traffic behind you can close the gap in a hurry. I've always tried to be a defensive driver, and my travels in Atlanta have only re-enforced those habits (I try to stay off of I-20, I-75, I-85, I-285, etc. when I can help it, at least when inside the perimeter) so I'm used to looking in the mirror when slowing down but probably would not have thought about the effect that aggressive regen braking would have.

The car is ridiculously cheap to operate, so much cheaper than an ICE car that it's not fair to even make a comparison.

This is what I like to hear!

The car rides great on decent road surfaces, but is NOT good on rough roads.

Cool, good to know. I'm used to a fairly rough ride currently so I don't think this will clash with what I'm used to but probably it won't handle potholes as well as the C-max does. How does it do over speed bumps? That's one of the things I love about my bike is that I can blast over speed bumps like they're not even there; I'm hoping that's due to the short wheelbase and that possibly it's the same for the I? I'll have to go find some speed bumps on the test drive: I'm sure the salesperson will love that!

 

[PV1]

The AC compressor was on a 2012 car.

The i-MiEV definitely doesn't like speedbumps and potholes. These have slow-drop shocks, so you come down off of a speed bump pretty hard. It does pretty good at smoothing out washboards, though.

As for the AM radio, that was surprising to me is how clear it sounds, regardless of any expected interference. At very low speeds on a weak channel, you can hear a faint whir of the motor drive, but the static on the channel is louder.

Yes, I was talking about Malm.

 

[Don]

(1) Observation: the range seems to be a nominal, reliable >= 50 mi. If I hot-dog it on the highway going 75 MPH, what's a reasonable expectation of the range?

Yes, the range is dependent on how and where you drive and of course, how fast. For me, 'nominal' is 65 to 70 miles and worst case is about 50 miles. But, if you know how far you need to go, you can take steps to economize and you might see 75 to 80 miles many times

(2) Observation: buying an I (accounting for the $12.5K of GA state and federal tax credits) seems roughly the same cost as leasing a leaf for 3 years (about $11K). Smells too good to be true?

Sounds too good to pass up to me. All in, I paid right at $25K for mine, after taking advantage of everything I qualified for. Now, two years and 18K later, I still think it was a great deal

(3) Observation: sure, the I isn't as safe as some other EV cars out there, but anything's safer than leather.

I hear you - After more than 40 years on bikes, I had to give it up last year. Glaucoma. I'm glad I did it while still vertical . . . . I know too many others who have done it from a hospital bed

(4) I've never owned a BEV; is there anything to be nervous about, or any 'gotchas'? I'm hoping to get by on L1 charging at home only.

None that come to mind. You *can* 'get by' using only L1, but you will find times when L2 would be really nice. Many of us have had our OEM EVSE's 'upgraded' and that allows you to use them on both 120 and 240. http://www.evseupgrade.com

(5) Can you really not use an extension cord with the charger provided?

So long as the cord is rated for the load and the length of the cord, it's 100% safe to do. A 100' 12 gauge cord will charge the car just fine. Purely for CYA reasons, Mitsu is officially on record as saying don't do it, but there are many owners using extension cords every single day

(6) How about batteries in the heat (>100 F) or cold (<0 F); any issues?

So far, the Mitsu batteries don't seem to have problems at 100 degrees or less. Some Leaf owners have had issues, but none so far for us

(7) I would love to lease this, but don't seem to be able to. Is there any idea on when or if they might decide to put out a leasing option for the 2014 I? (I'm afraid of BEV commitment!)

Who knows? For the price you can get one for, I'd rather buy it than lease it. As others have said, you expect when you buy it to be your 'second' car, but then one day you find the battery has gone dead and the gas is stale in your 'primary' car - We drive this one virtually 95% of the time and we have had bad gas and dead battery issues in our other car

(8) Does anyone have any experience with this car and amateur ('ham') radio or CB radio?

Shouldn't be an issue. One of our German members is a ham operator and he does it from his iMiEV. The car has a 80 amp DC to DC converter, so you can power some pretty hefty loads from the traction battery, which is what powers everything in this car

(9) What are the maintenance costs like? Has anyone had to replace a motor / battery pack / etc?

Maintenance is essentially zero. Biggest expense for us in the first two years was changing the cabin air filter, which didn't really need to be changed. 2 or 3 owners here have experienced a battery problem and Mitsu has replaced the battery under the 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty at no cost. The motor is brushless with a permanent magnet armature so there's not much to go wrong. It's also liquid cooled, as is the charger and inverter

(10) this is covered in some of the reviews, but what do you love/hate about this car?

Love that it's so easy to get in and out of, that 4 adults fit better than in many larger cars, that it's so much fun to drive and park, that visibili9ty is so good, that the A/C system uses so little energy, that it's almost zero maintenance. Hate? Nothing really. There are half a dozen little nit picky things that I would change. I wish it had steering wheel paddles to control regen, I wish it had larger tires, same size front and rear, a cruise control would be nice, a better, lower energy heater would be good and I wish it came in more colors - For 2014 it does now come in Blue . . . . that would be my choice I think

Thanks,
Nick

Don

 

[carnut1100]

(1) Range for me has been a best of 120km cruising on relatively flat roads at 70 kmh, and a worst of around 60km which was pushing the car to the limit on winding hilly roads with lights and heater and stereo all on max...on that trip the car was either at the limit of traction, or at max power all the time. Worst case scenario for sure... Mine is a 2010 which has lower regen and not as good controller as the 2012. My fiancé's 2012 gets more range than I do and she is quite a lead foot..... I work on an average of 100km (62 miles) as a reasonable working range for the area I live in, which has a lot of hills. Figure 30-40% drop in range with the heater working flat out.

(3) Coming off a motor bike, you'll be a lot safer than you are now... The Mk1 has two airbags, the Mk2 has six. Here in Australia they are rated 4 stars out of 5 in the ANCAP crash safety rating system.

(4) With your commute there will be no problem with charging. Plug it in overnight like your phone, no worries. Just check it is actually charging before walking inside...I have been caught once like that. Also my little sister was visiting once and decided to plug something else in the socket where I had the i charging...she didn't do that again!

(5) Both my fiancé and myself use extension cords to charge our cars every night. She uses one to top up at work. I have that option as well, but I rarely need it as I live quite close to work. Use a heavy rated cord and you're fine. Don't coil it up while charging.

(9) No maintenance costs on either of ours so far, although my fiancé has killed three tyres.....the skinny tyres on these cars do not like being pounded through potholes...
She bulged a sidewall going through a big pothole not long after buying it, and a few months later on the same section of road, dropped two wheels off the edge and the sharp washed out tarmac edge blew the sidewalls out of both tyres. Being a weird size we had to wait two weeks for replacements which meant that she took mine and I had to drive the Hilux...boy was I glad to get it back!
Dealer service here is under $300, much cheaper than pretty much anything else. There is not much to service....
I can vouch that they don't like running into kangaroos....but that won't be a problem in your area!

(10) I love its ease of parking, cheap running costs (my fiancé and I between us have saved around $4k in running costs since buying our i MiEVs...I have had mine 8 months, she 6. I was driving a Volvo 240 and she was driving a 4 cylinder Hilux. At the current rate, both cars will be totally paid for in fuel savings alone within six years, maybe sooner. ) , this is my first car with satnav and remote central locking etc so I like those mod cons, its reliability, the fact that it is different and everybody else doesn't have one, Very nippy in traffic, RWD which means you can turn off the traction control and it does awesome handbrake turns and rally drifts on gravel.....its sustainability...
Hate...well, it's only a four seater and I often find myself wishing for five. It can't tow a trailer. The stereo/satnav unit fitted to Australian models is pretty ordinary... Australian models don't have recharge option to run the heater while plugged in...stupid omission! Nothing else to hate.....

I would say go for it. You won't regret it....
We might be looking at trading one of ours for a Leaf next year, but only because of the 5 seats.....my fiancé has a couple of children already, so we fill an iMiEV on family outings. We have another on the way so next year we will need to drive in convoy or trade one i for a five seater.......and we are both hooked on EV, and can't afford Tesla, so a Leaf it will probably be...

 

[JoeS]

ohhecker, I'm joining in late into this discussion, and I think your questions have been very well answered. My two-cents' worth -

1. Once you get the i-MiEV and your wife drives it, you may be hard-pressed to get the car away from her. My wife glommed onto ours...
2. Your commute distance is trivial for the i-MiEV, and most of the time you could easily do the round trip driving at 75+mph - and when you get stopped for speeding you could feign ignorance and mumble something about a golf cart…
3. My only negative comment about the car deals with accident avoidance: the headrests I find to really intrude on the rear field-of-view and I normally take them off unless I have passengers in the car.

 

[melloyello]

Hi Nick,

2) The $5k GA tax credit is for 20% of the cost of the car for up to $5k, so to max out, the cost of the car has to be at least $25k. The georgia code doesn't seem to specify exactly what can be included in the "cost" of the car, so I included TAVT. I figured that was fair since they don't allow you to use deduct TAVT from federal income taxes like you would for regular annual ad-valorem taxes. But in the end, I suppose it doesn't matter what I think - it only matters what the state thinks, so I'll just leave it up to you, your accountant, and your tax attorney to decide what you want to do here.

Also regarding the leaf lease, $11k/36mo is $305/mo, is that right? You also still get $5k tax credit when you lease a leaf, I believe. So I suspect the leaf lease does not cost as much as buying an i-miev, but at the end of 3 years, you'd have to return the leaf whereas if you buy the i-miev then you'd still own the i-miev after 3 years.

5) The mitsubishi EVSE is 16AWG, so I see no reason why I can't use a 16AWG extension cord.

6) Range decreases significantly when the temperature drops below freezing, and using the heater reduces range drastically also (much more so than A/C in the summer). With freezing temps, I'd say 45mi range is comfortable, and 55mi is pretty much maxed out. Fortunately, when the temperature warms up, you'll get your range back.

Supposedly, the battery capacity degrades gradually but permanently during hot weather, but I haven't had my car long enough to notice yet.

10) As a sports car driving enthusiast, I really love driving this car. There is a very direct connection from accelerator pedal to vehicle acceleration, and the rear wheel drive handling is evident even with such a low horsepower car. The suspension could be better, but I find it ok for an economy car. I really wish the tires weren't staggered so much, and I'll try to address that when I get new tires, but it's rather tough with the odd wheel fitment.

I also love how economical this car is. After all taxes and credits, I paid $13k for this car, which is about as cheap as a new car gets. Compared to the 25mpg I was getting before, I figure I'm saving about 10 cents per mile, or about $1500 in the since I bought the car last April.

It's really a great car for me but it's not a car for everybody. Besides the obvious range limitation, I think the biggest potential downside is that it's a very low-volume car that's not going to impress most people. You'll get a lot of quizzical responses or sometimes even downright negative responses from other people. Understandably, I think a lot of people find the Leaf easier to justify simply because they are in the company of so many other Leaf owners. It's sounds kind of silly, but I think it's more of a factor than most people admit.

So if you don't think these downsides apply to you, then I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the i-miev. I've only seen 2 other i-mievs in the wild here in atlanta, and it would be great to see more around here.

 

[Don]

5) The mitsubishi EVSE is 16AWG, so I see no reason why I can't use a 16AWG extension cord.

You can't because of the length - It's an electrical fact that the longer the wire is, the lager the cross sectional area needs to be to maintain a safe voltage drop and prevent the wire from overheating. 10 feet of 16 gauge wire has about .04 ohms of resistance which would drop about half a volt - 100 feet of 16 gauge wire has about .4 ohms of resistance which would drop about 5 volts

If you're operating a 16 gauge wire at it's current limit (and at 12 amps with an upgraded EVSE you ARE at the upper limit) and you add any more length with 16 gauge wire, the resistance of the total length will increase the voltage drop, which increases the heat in the wire and you're no longer in a safe operating range

If you were adding a short extension cord (25 feet or less) it could be a 14 gauge and still be safe, but going with a 12 gauge cord which is the same wire gauge as the household outlet you're plugging it into is a better way to go. A heavier cord costs a little more, but it's a one time expense and safety it the most important thing - They advise you to NOT use an extension at all, and if you decide to do it anyway, PLEASE make SURE it's an adequately sized cord

Don

 

[melloyello]

5) The mitsubishi EVSE is 16AWG, so I see no reason why I can't use a 16AWG extension cord.

You can't because of the length - It's an electrical fact that the longer the wire is, the lager the cross sectional area needs to be to maintain a safe voltage drop and prevent the wire from overheating. 10 feet of 16 gauge wire has about .04 ohms of resistance which would drop about half a volt - 100 feet of 16 gauge wire has about .4 ohms of resistance which would drop about 5 volts

I suspect that recommendation to use larger gauges is more about making sure you don't lose too much voltage in the cable that you don't have enough left when it gets to the device you are powering. So in your example, if you started out with 120 volts and you lose 5 volts in the wire, then you are left with 115 volts which is about at the bottom end of what your device might be capable of accepting.

There is more power wasted as heat in a longer wire, but that heat is also spread out over a longer length of wire, so as long as you aren't rolling up the wire, I don't think the temperature of the wire would really depend on its length.

But anyways, it's certainly safer to just follow Don's recommendation to spend the extra $20 for a larger gauge extension cord. And cheaper anyways than hiring an electrician or worse.

 

[PV1]

There's also the effect that as copper wire warms up, its resistance increases, further lowering voltage and making the wire even hotter. The i-MiEV maintains a constant current, not watts. So, voltage could drop below 110 volts and the i-MiEV will still pull the same amps. The higher the voltage reaching the on-board charger, the faster (and more efficiently) the i-MiEV will charge.

For example, before my EVSEupgrade, the stock cable pulled 7.5 amps. Going through a 14 AWG extension cord that was 15' long, I lost about 15 watts, though it still pulled 7.5 amps. I removed the extension cord and plugged in directly, identifying the lost 15 watts, and I was able to charge faster.

 

[nhhecker]

Well, I’m happy to report that I’m officially off the fence. Picked up a white i-MiEV this weekend and have been very happy with it. Beat the pants off of Leaf or Focus Electric pricing, so I can’t complain. We had a good little storm today on the way home from work, so I can now say with authority that it’s (a) waterproof and (b) won’t shock the driver. This thing is a blast!

L1 charging seems to be working with no problem, but it turns out that there doesn’t seem to be any issue with my charging at work, either (where they’re supposedly L2 chargers owned by Nissan). I may try to take advantage of the chargers every other day or something: I went looking for the Nissan office that’s supposedly on the floor above me, but the only company up there was definitely not Nissan. So I’ll keep my eyes open and won’t take the last spot -- hopefully they’ll let me slide.

I notice some weird ‘springy’ sounds from under the front of the car when I first set out in the mornings or after work, but I haven’t tried to chase down the source yet. I’ve taken all the head rests off (except for mine) and folded the rear seats down to increase visibility; not that the visibility as ‘stock’ is bad, but that I usually ride alone so I might as well give myself the best view.

Yeah, it’s, ah, not a looker by traditional American standards, but that’s not what sold it for me. The supposed practicality and low operating costs (and the safer commute) were the selling points for me. Would recommend to a friend. The torque on tap is a plus, too.


edit: still learning how to spell . . .

 

[melloyello]

congrats, hope to see you around sometime. I got a white one also.

just curious, which dealer did you buy yours from? I got mine from roswell mitsubishi. They weren't the best dealer to deal with but they are close and they had i-mievs available for test drive even though they had to order mine.

 

[JoeS]

ahhecker, congratulations! I presume it is a 2014 model? You might consider adding a GPS simply for its easily-resettable trip distance, to give you a better feel for exactly how far your various commonly-used locations are. I happen to like the older Garmin 255W/265W because they have a nice 'instrument panel' setting which allows simultaneously viewing distance to destination as well as the trip meter (which is easily resettable). Here's a picture: http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10986#p10986

 

[nhhecker]

which dealer did you buy yours from?

Bought mine from Heritage, down south a bit. I wanted to look at a silver one at another dealership (can't remember the name of the place off the top of my head) but it was bought last week before I could lay eyes on it, so it sounds like the few that have come to Atlanta have sold pretty well. The Heritage dealer still has one in black. It looked better but would be pretty hot in the summer so I didn't really consider it. Probably a year or so ago I saw a white one while driving home; it looked so strange I had to go and look it up when I got to a computer; that's when I learned that Mitsubishi makes electric cars... Heh, maybe it was your car that introduced me to the i-MiEV.

I presume it is a 2014 model?

Yup, it's a 2014, with USB thinger included. (That's the only model they had). It's useful but I wouldn't have paid all that money just for the USB package if it were up to me. I have a tomtom around here somewhere that I'll need to fire up. I like your concept.

Made it to work today with an indicated 14 miles left. I'd put roughly 80 miles on the car since my last charge on Sunday, and started my commute this morning with 21 miles RR, knowing that I was counting on one of the chargers at work being available; lucky for me I was the only car plugged in the whole day. I'm wondering if I could get away with a full charge every other day; doesn't seem like my commute is too rough on the batteries.

This is approaching off-topic, but do you folks actively avoid a full charge except for the manual-specified top-off every two weeks, or do you just charge it up and not really worry about the battery level as long as you have enough to get where you're goin'? Seems like it would be healthier for the battery in the long run if the SoC was kept 'in the middle' more than being closer to full or empty. (But that's my completely uneducated guess, pulled out of nothing but thin air.)


Nick

 

[Don]

This is approaching off-topic, but do you folks actively avoid a full charge except for the manual-specified top-off every two weeks, or do you just charge it up and not really worry about the battery level as long as you have enough to get where you're goin'? Seems like it would be healthier for the battery in the long run if the SoC was kept 'in the middle' more than being closer to full or empty. (But that's my completely uneducated guess, pulled out of nothing but thin air.)

That's exactly how I've been doing it for the past 18 months or so - I try to keep the SOC between about 30% and 80% whenever possible by recharging for a couple hours here and there. I do a full recharge (to balance the battery pack) once every 2 or 3 weeks

Ours came with the USB port too and while I'm not sure I would have opted to pay the $150 they charge for it, I'm really glad we have it - We never use the radio or the CD player . . . . we just keep a USB memory stick with about 400 songs on it in the slot. Since we never take long trips in the car :lol: it takes quite a while for the songs to repeat

Don

 

[jray3]

Congrats. That 'springy sound' when starting out in the morning is normal, it's a brake self-adjustment, IIRC.
We just plug the car in whenever we get home at night, though that's usually more than 50% discharged. I don't plug it in after short excursions, having concluded that time spent at 100% SOC is one thing that ages the battery. Ideal State of Charge for long term storage is way down at 40%.

 

[PV1]

This is approaching off-topic, but do you folks actively avoid a full charge except for the manual-specified top-off every two weeks, or do you just charge it up and not really worry about the battery level as long as you have enough to get where you're goin'? Seems like it would be healthier for the battery in the long run if the SoC was kept 'in the middle' more than being closer to full or empty. (But that's my completely uneducated guess, pulled out of nothing but thin air.)

I fully charge every night that I know I'll be driving the next day. This is usually weekdays only (Sunday night to Thursday night for a Mon-Fri. commute). I use level 1 and try to start it between 10 PM and midnight. This usually allows the car to finish 1-3 hours before I need it.

Also, the i-MiEV's "full charge" is not actually full. Lithium ion batteries full charge is at 4.2 volts, the i-MiEV only goes to 4.1. So while sitting at full is still to be avoided for an extended length of time, it's not nearly as harmful as a laptop, for example, which takes the batteries to (and some past) their limit. I had to cut my laptop back to 60% charge to get the cells to stay at 3.9 volts, since it's docked and on AC power most of the time. At 80%, they're up near 4.2 volts. It's no wonder laptop batteries die within 3 years.

In short, you are correct. Lithium's are happiest around 50% charge around 70 degrees F.