One of the most innovative electric sports cars by Mitsubishi, the i-MIEV Sport, was just shown off at the Tokyo Motor Show. This cute and sporty beetle-esque electric car comes with optional photovoltaics for solar power, and will be powered by a pack of Li-ions that will allow drivers to go about 100 miles before needing to recharge. While concept electric vehicles are released every year that never make it into production, this snappy little vehicle gives us hope for the future, because it will go into production in 2009.
The i-MIEV (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle) is Mitsubishi’s flagship environmentally friendly vehicle. Amongst the technologies to which it is privy to, the electric plug-in lithium battery powered vehicle offers energy saving LEDs, heat absorbing glass to reduce heat gain within the vehicle and the interior components of the vehicle use plant-based resin technology developed by Mitsubishi, which they claim is environmentally friendly.
And then, there’s the way in which the vehicle gets power. Sure, it is an in-wheel motored, plug-in vehicle, a technology which is gaining traction from most auto makers. But the i-MIEV also comes equipped with an auxiliary photovoltaic generator on the roof, a power generating fan inside the front grill and is also able to recharge its lithium battery when the car brakes, recuperating wasted energy.
Whether or not this vehicle is what ends up on the road in 2009 remains to be seen. But it appears that Misubishi, at least in principle is commited to thinking slightly outside the box.
+ i-MIEV @ Mitsubishi Motors
+ Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors aims to launch i-MiEV electric car in 2009
via Engadget
Looks cool to me. What, if anything, makes it a sports car though? I could see it as a cool city car or commuter vehicle, but nothing about it looks overtly performance oriented.