Green News: Mitsubishi i-MiEV Impresses During Trials

CABLED (Coventry And Birmingham Low Emission vehicle Demonstrators) is the largest of eight public trials taking place in the UK as part of The Technology Strategy Board’s £25m Ultra Low Carbon demonstrator programme, with the West Midlands consortium contributing 110 of the 350 vehicles trialled on the UK’s roads.

The CABLED consortium consists of 13 West Midlands-based organisations within the engineering, automotive manufacturing, academic, public and infrastructure sectors, and is led by global engineering consultancy Arup.

As well as being the largest, CABLED was the first consortium to begin vehicle trials and was also successful in gaining further public backing thanks to £2.5 million funding awarded by Advantage West Midlands (a regional development agency).

The first stage of the Government-supported UK-wide project to trial low emission vehicles started with the 25 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle) in Birmingham. The zero tail-pipe emission vehicles were handed over to independent drivers in Centenary Square, on 12th December 2009.

Over the course of the next 12 months, the CABLED consortium tested the vehicles in real-life conditions and, although the most up to date results are to be published later this month, the latest research reveals:

* An increase in driver confidence
* The first real-world analysis of the cost of ‘refuelling’
* New information on charging trends

Collating the real-life usage of electric vehicles through the data logging devices that were fitted to the i-MiEVs has allowed essential analysis to take place so that there is an understanding of the demands and requirements of electric vehicles for consumers.

The i-MiEV has proved its reliability and usefulness during the official trials. For example, the average daily mileage has been confirmed at just 23 miles, which is well within the i-MiEVs 93 mile range, and drivers used the entire speed range of the car of 81mph, showing they are happy to drive at motorway speeds when required.

Credits: wilswong