2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse

Mitsubishi Eclipse EV circuits Shikoku in 780 km public test run Tops 400km on single battery charge

A Mitsubishi Eclipse EV prototype successfully drove around the perimeter of Shikoku in a test run conducted, with the cooperation of Japan Storage Battery Co. Ltd., over public roads Saturday August 25 through Sunday August 26.

The Mitsubishi Eclipse EV prototype was driven by a lightweight motor made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and powered by manganese lithium-ion batteries made by Japan Storage Battery Co., Ltd. Watched by more than 300 EV enthusiasts who had gathered for the 'Shikoku EV Rally Festival 2001 Konpira' at the Kotohira Ikoi-no-sato Koen park, the Eclipse EV set off at 11:30am on Saturday August 25. It returned to park and crossed the finishing line 25 hours 4 minutes later at 12:34pm on Sunday August 26, having covered 780km over both normal roads and expressways on its circuit of the island.

The test run over public roads in Shikoku was held to coincide with the Shikoku EV Rally Festival 2001Konpira, organized by scientists at universities in Shikoku, with the purpose of demonstrating the increased cruising range per charge of the batteries and the enhanced practical utility of electrically powered vehicles. En route, the Eclipse EV broke the 400km mark for a single charge at Saga-machi, Hata-gun, Kochi Prefecture in three and a half hours on a single charge.

Working with Japan Storage Battery Co., Ltd., in 1999 MMC developed a new manganese lithium-ion battery that realized a 65-percent reduction in charging time, and a 10-percent increase in cruising range over a nickel-hydrogen battery. In December of the same year, a Mitsubishi FTO-EV prototype powered by the new batteries set a multiple-charge 24-hour world record of 2,142.3km over a closed circuit.

In this public road testing program that included moving off, braking, acceleration and deceleration performance, the newly developed Eclipse EV has confirmed the validity and applicability of MMC's EV technology in a way that could not be done in closed circuit testing.

Improving the basic performance of EVs and the high-performance batteries and lightweight motors that power them is a vital element in the further development of hybrid EVs and of the fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) that holds much promise as a future technology. MMC will feed back the results of the public road testing program in Shikoku into its product development.

Source - Mitsubishi