Mitsubishi Motors to launch plug-in electric car

By Lindsay Whipp in Tokyo
Published: June 5 2009 23:36

Mitsubishi Motors will introduce the electric plug-in car to Japanese drivers next month, stealing a march over its more affluent rivals.
The company plans to lease 1,400 of its four-door i-MiEV electric cars to business and local government customers until the end of next March.

It will then start selling the vehicles to consumers in April, though it will start taking orders from next month.
The introduction of the car is a big step for the medium-sized company, particularly as its much larger competitor, Toyota, is not planning to introduce an electric model in Japan until 2012.
However, Mitsubishi faces a challenge in luring customers. Production costs remain high, making the car far less competitive on price than conventional or hybrid vehicles.
The car will cost Y4.6m ($46,841). Even though government subsidies and tax exemptions will cut the cost of the i-MiEV by about half, it will still be more expensive than Honda’s Insight hybrid, which sells for Y1.89m.
“Unless batteries for electric cars have the technology to handle long- distances and enable quick recharging, existing technology [in conventional cars and hybrids] will remain more popular,” said Graeme Maxton, a motor industry expert, and director of the Insight Bureau in Singapore.
Electric vehicles have struggled to gain popularity over the years. Battery limitations have prevented owners from driving long distances and obliged them to recharge overnight.
There is also a lack of recharging infrastructure, with only 39 such stations in Japan, most of which are in Tokyo and surrounding areas, according to Koji Endo, an analyst at Credit Suisse in Tokyo.
A single charge of the i-MiEV, which can be done at home, can take it 160km, depending on road and weather conditions. The shortest time span required to charge the car fully is seven hours, although there is a so-called “quick charge” system that takes 30 minutes at special stations.
Mitsubishi Motors said it needed to produce about 30,000 of its electric cars a year to make the model profitable.
“For Mitsubishi, there’s a big opportunity but a big risk,” said Mr Endo. “To make a profit five years from now, they have to invest  . . .  that’s what they’re doing, and this is exactly what we saw 10 years ago in the case of Toyota and its Prius.”
“But 10 years ago Toyota was already very rich and had lots of cash and they could afford to lose some, but Mitsubishi is heavily indebted,” Mr Endo said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009