Zero stink.
It was the invention of the automobile that had a decisive influence on the development of the economy and industrialization in the 20th century. The automobile has become a cornerstone of modern society as we know it today. The car is not only the number one economic factor in the USA. And the car is the guarantee for individual mobility, not only here in the USA - also here with us. But even if the car has mastered many tasks and solved problems - it also presents us with completely new problems. Anyone who has ever been stuck in a traffic jam in a city center like Frankfurt immediately understands - on a small scale - what the problems are.
In its basic design as an individual means of transport, the automobile has had a drive source for more than a century that has evolved over the years, but is still based on the same mode of operation.
Regardless of whether it is a gasoline or diesel engine, it is fossil fuels that provide energy for our autonomous mobility. The engineers have been refining and developing this operating principle for decades and have penetrated areas of efficiency that were unthinkable just a few years ago. There is only one problem that cannot be solved: The combustion or expansion process of diesel, petrol or even gas and air generates emissions.
The way the fuel engine works is associated with a not inconsiderable amount of pollutants. One of the main problems is CO², a gas formation made up of one atom of carbon and two atoms of oxygen, which has become known as the climate killer. But not only the direct pollution of the environment with exhaust gases is a problem of the classic expansion engine, it is also a problem of noise emissions. No matter how ingeniously the developers work on the noise insulation, the functionality of the gasoline and diesel engines cannot be denied.
Back to our traffic jam in a city center like Frankfurt, this means for everyone involved, both directly and indirectly, that the air we breathe is polluted by exhaust gases and our personal nerves are caused by engine noise.
But there is a solution. E-mobility.
With the i-MiEV, Mitsubishi has the first series-produced electric vehicle on offer that anyone can buy locally from their Mitsubishi dealers. To be able to drive with it every day.
I was able to drive the Mitsubishi i-MiEV in my short test (provided by Mitsubishi Germany) for about 4 km for 400 days and get a first impression of the new form of CO2-free transportation.
And there is a clear opinion that I formed at the end of the test drive: “Brilliant.”
The drive back from the office to the Mitsubishi headquarters took me on a Monday morning on country roads and through the cities: Hanau, Offenbach and Frankfurt. So the best test area: the Rhine-Main area.
Rest. This heavenly calm while driving is unusual for the first few meters - but after a short time, even as an old petrolhead, you don't miss the absence of the usual 4-cylinder hum.
Of course, I'm still a fan of the sound of one Lamborghini 12 cylinder or a powerful roaring V8 engine. But - our bread and butter cars are cars with 4-cylinder engines and if we're not talking about the screaming DTM engines from the 1990s, then these engines are not musical instruments, but carefully developed efficiency components in the balancing act between comfortable individual transport , Cost-benefit ratios and necessary environmental friendliness.
And no, then even I, as a friend of emotional engine noises, miss standing in traffic jams, precisely this humming, stapling and nailing no longer.
Instead, I am happy about this calm - and while I am still standing at the red light in the electrically operated oasis of calm, I ask myself: Why do we actually have to torment our way through the city center with internal combustion engines in stop & go. Are you straining your neighbors and your own nerves with loud engines and messing up our own breathing air with exhaust gases?
Why - if there is another way?
Driving an electric car through city centers is a completely new experience at this point. The Mitsubishi i-MiEV, whose unsuccessful name arouses an association in German that it fortunately does not fulfill, is in my opinion nothing less than a milestone in the development of individual mobility.
In contrast to vehicles with hybrid drive concepts, an electric car is able to enable completely CO²-neutral locomotion. In my case, the i-MiEV was filled with 400 kW / h 52% green electricity for a total of approx. 100 km. That means: I've covered 400 km without even a single gram of CO² to emit or to have bothered others with the noise of my scooter. Terrific.
Is the i-MiEV at the same time also the solution for everyone? No.
An electric vehicle like the i-MiEV is currently a purely niche-niche automobile. The range of up to 150 km per battery charge is only achieved under certain conditions (no full load drives, no air conditioning, etc., not too much light or wipers) and so you should expect ranges of around 110 km for everyday life. This is probably completely sufficient for 70% of all motorists, because we usually use the automobile to cover the distance between our own home and work. And in these cases, a day's driving distance of 110km is rather too much - rather than too little.
And yet it is the range of around 100 km that presents the driver of an e-mobile with a completely new task. Visiting grandma 250 km away is not an option - not without turning it into a short vacation with 6-hour charging breaks.
The Mitsubishi i-MiEV is currently one thing above all else: Proof that electromobility works - but that development is only just beginning. Let's look back into the past of our beloved petrol carriages - so the first cars were not a solution to cover long distances without problems. The vulnerability of the new technology was too great, and the gas station network too thin. Traveling by car has been an adventure for many decades.
It can be assumed that the phase of adventurous journeys and the restrictions in usability and usage scenarios for e-cars will be significantly shorter than with their predecessors, the gasoline cabs.
But until there are quick charging stations at every motorway service station and the battery technology does not spoil the fun of the electric car with unbelievable price surcharges, a few generations of humming 4-cylinder cylinders will probably reach completely new efficiency standards.
As long as e-mobile as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV a welcome change in the Allerlei of the daily means of transportation.
As a pioneer of a new era, the i-MiEV and its identical sister models from Peugeot (iOn) and Citroen (C-Zero) will have to do some basic work until it is called at all red lights: "Zero stuffiness."
This driving report originally appeared on: http://www1.die-testfahrer.de/mitsubishi-i-miev | For the time I'm on vacation, I didn't want to leave you all alone. Hence a remake of my favorite driving reports! Sometimes I changed the sentence structure, removed typing errors and provided them with fresh photos .. soooo much is happening! . 🙂
And by the way, the article by colleague Fabian Mechtel is also really worth reading: “Full throttle - the Mitsubishi i-MiEV"