Mitsubishi iMiEV: Name that EV for fun and prizes

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I-MEEV? IMEE-E.V.? I-ME-EVE? It’s Mitsubishi’s coming-soon electric car, due to drop in Japan and Europe in 2010 and then -- if the planets align just so -- in the U.S. soon after. But there’s a problem, namely the car’s Scrabble box moniker. The company is desperate to think of some name -- any name -- that will play better in the English-speaking world.

You can see this car -- and the sleek fastback Sport concept -- at the L.A. Auto Show beginning Friday.

During testing of the vehicle at El Toro Marine Base on Monday, I promised David Patterson, one of Mitsubishi’s senior managers, that I would try to think of a name. And so I propose a contest: Please submit your best idea for a name for this car here in the comments section. I will collect them and submit them to Mitsubishi. If your name is chosen, you will receive a morning of hot laps in the soul-scalding Mitsubishi Evo X with me, Dan Neil, on the Streets of Willow Springs racetrack. Dramamine is complimentary.

Actually, ‘Willow’ is an awesome name for the car! Dibs!

Here’s the latest on the project:

Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison will both get iMiEVs for testing this winter. The modeling, according to Patterson, will focus on two issues: daytime charging loads, e.g., what happens on a hot day in July when 300 of these things are plugged into the grid at the local train station? The other matter has to do with designing a high-voltage connector, which would significantly reduce recharging time.

Otherwise, the iMiEV project remains on course. The car is a retrofitted version of a Japanese domestic market ‘Kei’ car (limited to 660 cc and 2500mm wheelbase) with a 330V lithium-ion battery and a 47kW AC synchronous motor (about 64 horsepower). To pass federal side-impact tests, the iMiEV will require a little more bracing and reinforcement, at a cost of some additional weight. The current prototypes are getting about 70 miles a charge, says Patterson, and one big question is whether that will be enough range to satisfy California consumers. It’s a big state out there.

In my brief, 30-minute test drive, the iMiEV performed with unremarkable ease, accelerating with traffic and easily exceeding the posted speed limit of 65 mph. The car has three ‘speeds,’ with the drive being the full power mode; ‘E’ (for economy of efficiency) tempering that power by 10%; and a high-regen mode (regenerative braking) that absorbs as much kinetic energy in braking as possible before resorting to the hydraulics. The car feels spacious and comfortable.

As for the super-cool, fastback Sport concept car with the in-wheel motors, the public enthusiasm for it has Mitsu designers scratching their heads, figuring out how to package all the iMiEV’s practical goodness under that steeply sloping roof.

As for cost, oh you had to ask. The battery still is the sticking point. Unofficially the company is favoring some kind of leasing program for the electron holders to mitigate the high entry point. The fed’s new $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicle sure will help.

Like it? Love it? Good. Now think of a name. The world awaits your wit.

-- Dan Neil