Range anxiety? Like I need something else to be anxious about.

So Consumer Reports has had a chance to drive the oh so interesting Mitsubishi iMiEV (pronounce eye-Meev). Their review of the car is here at this link. Unfortunately they have put me into somewhat of a tailspin. If you haven't figured it out from the title of my rant today it was a less than stellar review of the car.

The two cars I've been most interested in, up to this point, are the Nissan Leaf, if I even fit, Nissan is notorious for making cars that are too small for my 6'6" frame, and a car that hasn't been produced yet, and I'm sworn by a verbal non-disclosure to discuss at this time. Leaving out the iMiEV is not an oversight, it's just really ugly. I'm not sure an ugly car is worth paying $47k US for. That said, I've heard nice things about the iMiEV too. Robert Llewellyn, a British actor, was able to test drive one and from what I saw absolutely loved the ride. You can view the video from Autoblog Green here.

So, onto this issue at hand, range anxiety. I've never worried previously about driving an electric car since the furthest I ever really travel in North Texas is about 80 miles. That would be the ultimate range of the iMiEV and the Nissan Leaf could travel another 20 miles if the information being reported is to be believed. The article from Consumer Reports however would lead you to believe that 80 for the iMiEV is far beyond what could possibly be gained. Running the heater, which most of the people in the US will have to do at some point during the year, will actually cut battery life in half, 40 miles from full charge. Ok, not so cool, that means you have to be very careful in the winter as to where you go and how you drive. Granted you wouldn't have to run the heater quite as hard if the car lets you run the heat or A/C while you have it plugged in waiting to be used. Still, it's a bit scary. If you toss some highways in there you're looking at a much shorter drive. The iMiEV range was assessed to be 100 miles per charge on an apparently ludicrous test track in Japan called the, "Japanese 10-15 test cycle" which if used to asses a standard Toyota Prius will grant you an estimated mpg of 83. That same Prius in the US is rated at 48 or something along those lines, so that gives you an idea for how much range you can expect from the iMiEV.

So the results of all this anxiety? Thinking about the GM Volt a lot. Thinking, 40 mpc is a good range in all electric mode. How important is it, really, to never have to service your car since your electric motor has no fluids to change, nothing to break down? Well there is always the second option (Nissan aside due to speculation that 100 mpc is again not likely). The other car of which I am not to speak, well maybe a little, is supposed to get 280 mpc at highway speeds, have a top speed of 85 and be able to get up to 350 if you are driving all city roads. That's a number I can live with. Also the price tag is pretty handy too, if it is to be believed. $37k before the $7500.00 gift from the government for EVs. Even if that vehicle got 1/3 of it's range I'd feel comfortable, since I'd be able to drive over 85 miles still. Very reasonable.

All in all, there is hope. Who knows, maybe there's room in my garage for a Chevy Volt, A car which shall for a time remain nameless, but all electric, and a Honda Insight, hey, the kid's gotta drive something too.