Mitsubishi zooms into City of Sydney with electric car

By Lilia Guan

After two years of chasing Japanese-based car manufacturer, Mitsubishi Australia has agreed to deliver an electric car to the City of Sydney.

 
Mitsubishi Australia will deliver an i-MiEV to the Council so it can trial the car for staff usage in the future, said Chris Binn, acting director of operations for Sydney of City.
 
The i-MiEV uses a lithium-ion battery system and an electric motor in place of a petrol engine. It has a range of up 160 kilometres and top speed of about 130 kilometres per hour.
 
The car’s battery’ll be charged in about eight hours using a standard 15 amp power point located in the Council’s Kent street parking station.
 
Mr Binn said the Council had been “chasing” different car manufacturers since 2008 to trial an electric car.
 
Council was dedicated to delivering on its commitment made at the Copenhagen Summit – to expand its uptake of electric vehicles and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
 
“Most European and American car manufacturers only make cars for left-hand use. Mitsubishi and Nissan were two manufacturers we had a good look at because they made electric cars for the right-hand side of the road,” Mr Binn said.
 
He said Australia was way down on the manufacturers’ list of countries to be supplied with the vehicles, but the Council persuaded Mitsubishi to send in two cars for trial.
 
“We had to demonstrate leadership on using vehicles that can be charged with green power,” he said.
 
“It’s great the car can be charged using energy generated by 240 solar panels installed in Sydney Council's town hall.”
 
Mr Binn said if the Council’s trial goes according to plan, another 20 vehicles would be ordered for Council staff members based at the town hall.
 
“The cars would be used by general staff to attend meetings, town planners inspecting sites and Sydney City rangers,” he said.
 
The City will trial the i-MiEV for six months as part of its CBD operations and collect data on energy consumption and emissions – comparing it to petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles.
 
“Mitsubishi have already done the necessary road safety trials for the car. We want to make sure it proves well for staff to travel about 40-50 kilometres per day.”
 
Mr Binn said the cars would be charged between 11pm-six am, when power reliance on the solar panels would be at the lowest peak. A second car will be delivered to the council by October this year.

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