Mitsubishi trials electric car fleet

A small fleet of electric cars will take to Irish roads this week as part of a detailed trial examining motorists’ behaviour, it was revealed today.

Some 15 Mitsubishi vehicles will be provided to about 80 ESB staff as well as top business and industry figures under the two-year scheme monitored by academics from Trinity College.

The scheme starts in Dublin, where four charging points have been set up and will monitor how often drivers charge their vehicles and what qualms, if any, they have.

Eamon Ryan, Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Minister, said the project will create a global marketing opportunity for Ireland.

“What we’re doing is able to get the first cars here and create an economic opportunity on the back of that,” Mr Ryan said.

“What we can do is be good at developing the software, the systems, the process management here and then sell that to the rest of the world.

“So as one of the first countries in the world with a national network, with a large amount of renewable power that we can use to power our cars, we’ve a real opportunity and what we’re seeing here is a major step in the right direction.”

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV will go on sale in dealers from October, although it is not known how the showroom price will compare to petrol and diesel motors.

The vehicles will be spread across the country among ESB staff and other individuals, including AA public affairs manager Conor Faughnan.

Mr Faughnan said he believed electric cars marked the future for motoring.

“As they become familiar, as you start seeing them and as the infrastructure is in place they’ll stop being exotic. The first mobile phones in this country were real head turners even though they were the twice the size of your pint,” Mr Faughnan said.

“But very quickly they became something so standard that every citizen had them. I think electric cars are something of a novelty now but I think very, very quickly they’ll be standard.

“Given the fuel savings and the efficiencies of them they make a very convincing story.”

The top speed of the cars is around 130km/h, with motorists able to travel a similar distance before needing to re-charge. From flat the battery takes up to six hours to recharge.

Eco-friendly motorists planning to buy electric cars will be in line for a €5,000 discount as part of the Government’s strategy to help boost sales, with the aim of having 2,000 cars on the road by the end of 2011.

Drivers switching to the greener option will also avoid the costly vehicle registration tax.

The ESB said there will be 250 charging points nationwide by the end of the year with 1,500 charging stations and 2,000 domestic points across the state by the end of next year.

The study will be carried out by the School of Engineering at Trinity College.