Mitsubishi i to Be Deployed in Hawaii First

It has been a busy week for Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi, who has been hard at work trying to let the world know that it is ready to launch the North American spec i electric vehicle. In the last days of the week, the manufacturer announced the pricing for the model and a new partnership with NRG in Texas to promote the new model.

It was only on Saturday, however, that Mitsubishi announced the first US state to get the new model. The Japanese will deploy the i at first in Hawaii where pretty much all the needed conditions for a successful launch are met: a viable charging infrastructure and state rebates.

For the citizens of Hawaii, the purchase of an i will send them back $27,990 for the base ES model, not including the $4,500 state rebate and the $7,500 federal tax credit. That means that a Mitsubishi electric vehicle can be purchased for as little as $16,000, undoubtedly one of the smallest prices on the market for any EVs.

"We thank Mitsubishi Motors for choosing Hawaii as one of the first states to receive the new "i" electric car. Electric vehicles use a fraction of the fuel needed by traditional cars, so each EV on the road means we're reducing our dependence on imported oil and increasing our ability to reach Hawaii's goal of 70 percent clean energy within a generation," said Estrella Seese, Acting Energy Program administrator, Hawaii State Energy Office.

The model is powered by an electric motor which develops 66 hp and a battery system that gives it a range of 85 miles. The EV can be recharged from a 120V power socket in a huge 22.5 hours. When using a 220V plug, however, that time reduces to 6 hours.