[Dennis]

All these Outlander PHEVs make me wonder whether Mitsubishi has now sold more of those vehicles than the iMiEV (and its European variants). Or at least what the slope of the sales have been relative to iMiEV (etc.).

At what point will Mitsubishi sell more Outlanders than iMiEVs?

They haven't even started to try to sell these in North America (home of the BIG cars).

PS: My first foray to the Mitsubishi part of Speak EV. Be kind ;-)

 

[Derekosb]

It shouldn't be long.

After a quick search I found reports that the Outlander has sold 26,000 units since launch (as at June 14).

As at July 14 the iMiev has apparently sold around 32,000 units since its 2009 launch.

At the pace the Outlander is selling it will only be a matter of months.

Derek

Sources
(http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/mitsubishi-outlander-phev-sales-globally-around-26000)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_i-MiEV)

 

[Dennis]

It just shows that the SUV segment is really under served for EVs at the moment.

Must be the reason that folks are really speculating dominance from Tesla when the Model X comes out.

 

[John2]

If we had RAV4 EVs I wonder which would sell best, the RAV or the Outlander.

 

[Dennis]

The RAV4EV was a top choice for many higher mileage Active E Electronauts in Southern California. Around the time folks were being forced to finalize their initial orders, Carson Toyota (in Los Angeles County) was aggressively marketing very attractive unlimited mileage lease rates for folks to jump into. 115 miles was about the sweet spot for many to use the car.

The challenge with the RAV4EV is the lack of any quick charging, it has a 10kW charger, but most public chargers run on 208V/30A, so that is quite limiting. However, TonyWilliams and the team at QuickChargerPower.com have been busy reverse engineering the Toyesla RAV4EV to install CHAdeMO into the vehicle.

Something that Mitsubishi intelligently included in the Outlander PHEV (even though they still left an ICE in the car, but that's a discussion that borders on "religion".) Anyway, kudos to Mitsubishi to getting a head start with a PHEV SUV, now they need to capitalize on it (as opposed to what they did on the iMiEV).

 

[Jack]

My dad picked his up on Monday, the dealer had sold all their allocations, they are definitely enthusiastic about it.

The real key to the outlander though, is its the same price as the Diesel and if you mid-low miler the BIK reduction over the diesel makes a huge difference (I know this is equalising in the next tax years) I still think even with out BIK difference it makes way more sense than the diesel for the majority of people.

Its not as plush as the i3, but its a decent car - and plenty bang for your £££.

 

[Paul]

Rapid charging, petrol backup/power and same price as a diesel makes a winning formula I would say.

 

[John2]

The above plus 4WD and 5 seats swung it for me. Also it looks like a "normal" car - there are no weird looking bits to it. I think of it as a stealth EV. Most other EVs seem to have non-traditional internal or external form features which distinguish them from ICE vehicles. It is as if designers of other EVs are trying to make a point by saying they are different and want everyone to know it. You probably know the sort of thing I mean - strange badges, weird looking headlights, missing seats, strange rear end styling etc.
If you see an Outlander on the road you may have to squint to figure out if it is Mitsubishi, Kia or Landrover etc and squint again to see whether it is the diesel or the electric version. It can be put over as just another power train option so you don't have to make a political or environmental statement to drive one. This may mean that it has very strong potential in the market as it can break down the barrier between EV drivers and ICE drivers.

 

[Casper]

I 've just this week ordered a one having read up as much as possible and been in a few. I was however a bit uneasy about the limited time you have to test drive them. One of my remaining concerns is how will the smaller battery ( relative to my LEAF) cope with frequent Rapid Charging. There has been much debate about the potential degradation of the 24 kWh battery due to the heat generated by frequent rapid charging and because I live in the North East I have easy access to a plethora of rapid chargers.There will therefore be a temptation to just keep plugging into them so perhaps I may need to ration their use. It may be that our colder climate gives me a bit more scope but I will probably be making quite a lot of trips south in it and just wonder how many Rapids in a day would be sensible or whether to avoid them on hot days.

 

[John2]

There has been much debate about the potential degradation of the 24 kWh battery due to the heat generated by frequent rapid charging

There are cooling fans which run when rapid charging. They can be quite noisy but I am not sure whether they run for a full charging session or just when the temperature is high.

 

[Jack]

I thought the rapid charging issue was well understood by now? Provided the battery is appropriately cooled and you are not regularly deeply discharging or charging to 100% SOC (via DC), it has a negligible effect on the batteries longevity.

http://green.autoblog.com/2014/03/17/dc-fast-charging-not-as-damaging-to-ev-batteries-as-expected/

 

[Casper]

I thought the rapid charging issue was well understood by now? Provided the battery is appropriately cooled and you are not regularly deeply discharging or charging to 100% SOC (via DC), it has a negligible effect on the batteries longevity.

http://green.autoblog.com/2014/03/17/dc-fast-charging-not-as-damaging-to-ev-batteries-as-expected/

Great links thanks which I think demonstrate the lack of certainty in the conclusion
You can choose to be a battery-babier or a battery-abuser. That's up to you. For many of these tips, there is not extensive data that demonstrates exactly how much more life you can get. “Only time will tell if we stand the test of time.”
The specific tip that worries me is
"To maximize battery life, minimize use of DC quick charge."
From
"As convenient as DC fast charging is, there have been lots of warnings that repeated dumping of so many electrons into an electric vehicle's battery pack in such a short time wouldreduce the battery's life. While everyone agrees that DC fast charging does have some effect on battery life, it may not be as bad as previously expected."

 

[PaulMorris]

@Casper - trust me you won't rapid charge that often in the Outlander. It's just not worth it, in both time and money sense. Ok, the money sense at the moment is the price of the coffee I buy whilst waiting about. That will change soon as I think most commercial models announced to date which are 'per charge' or 'per 30 minutes' push it right off the feasibility curve. Charge at home, charge at your destination if you can and use the oil burner as designed on longer trips - that's why you bought a PHEV. If you don't like the sound of that then you either need a lot of time & patience to get anywhere at all which in itself will likely bring you around to the conclusion a BEV is better suited to your wants and needs.

I only use rapids on the motorway if I wanted to stop anyway. I suspect many others will also once the novelty wears off - waiting around for ~25 minutes to get an 80% charge that will propel you around 18 miles at motorway speeds isn't worth the effort IMHO. I have to be driving for a long time or have a lot of time on my hands to waste to end up taking two rapid charges a day. It does happen occasionally when I take an opportunistic rapid charge en-route but only on the odd occasion I end up on the road for 5-6 hours.

 

[Casper]

@Casper - trust me you won't rapid charge that often in the Outlander. It's just not worth it, in both time and money sense. Ok, the money sense at the moment is the price of the coffee I buy whilst waiting about. That will change soon as I think most commercial models announced to date which are 'per charge' or 'per 30 minutes' push it right off the feasibility curve. Charge at home, charge at your destination if you can and use the oil burner as designed on longer trips - that's why you bought a PHEV. If you don't like the sound of that then you either need a lot of time & patience to get anywhere at all which in itself will likely bring you around to the conclusion a BEV is better suited to your wants and needs.
.

I don't think I like the sound of that I've had a BEV for some time now and will be keeping it for a few years yet. I agree though that I don't think I will rapid charge the Outlander that often, mainly due to concern I might be risking accelerated degradation of the battery and there is relatively little reward for that risk. We probably will continue to charge our LEAF overnight and maybe our domestic solar power to charge up the Outlander at about 2kw, or the plethora of Type 2 post around here with parking fee savings.
I don't agree though that that cost per rapid charge is imminent, at least in the North East where loads of rapids have been installed and one can easily drive to them within the Outlanders EV range. The Govt under EU legislation is having to improve air quality and incentivise ultra low emission vehicles and this with the Climate Change Act targets will require the " the inevitable transition".