Mitsubishi Motors plans next month to launch its redesigned MiniCab EV, a battery powered mini commercial vehicle with a mono box design, through its dealer networks in Japan.
The Minicab EV is a 'Kei' class vehicle derived from the Minicab MiEV which sold 13,000 units in Japan in the last year. The automaker is targeting growing demand from companies for zero emission mini commercial vehicles for last mile deliveries, and also from government agencies.
The four seat passenger model will be priced at JPY2.486m (US$16,780), including 10% consumption tax, when it goes on sale on 21 December while the two seat van version will cost slightly less at JPY2.431m (US$16,410).
Mitsubishi noted this is the same price as previous generation models despite significant improvements.
The new MiniCab EV has a new generation electric 20kW powertrain which generates 195Nm of torque and provides a cruising range of 180km on a single charge, 35% more than the previous model. The battery can be charged up to 80% in 42 minutes using fast charging while a full recharge using a normal AC200V (15A) charging system takes 7.5 hours, suitable for overnight charging at home base.
The new motor and inverter have been integrated into a single unit to reduce noise.
The lastes model comes with active safety features such as a Forward Collision Mitigation system (FCM), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Automatic High Beam (AHB) and Ultrasonic mis-acceleration Mitigation System (UMS).
