From magic to electric

This story first appeared in the March issue of EVTalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE

Somewhat to prove a point, we put our publisher, and EV newbie, Vern Whitehead, in a plug-in for the weekend to see what he thought. Not only is he falling for electric, it struck his practical side too.

The magic island of Waiheke seems to be going electric as far as vehicles are concerned.

So when we took the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV to Waiheke for a couple of days it was in good company.

There are already 14 electric vehicles on Waiheke – the Outlander made it 15 – including 11 Nissan Leafs, and at least one Tesla, plus another 42 hybrids.

Waiheke is the ideal place to own an electric vehicle – you can’t go far enough in a day to use up all the battery storage, before putting the car on charge overnight.

There are more than 60,000 Outlander PHEVs worldwide, and Mitsubishi anticipates that by 2020 every fifth car it builds will be a PHEV, or pure electric vehicle.

On Waiheke’s winding and hilly roads the combination of the Outlander’s two 60kW electric motors, and its 2-litre petrol engine, made driving a breeze.

The electric motors’ 332Nm of torque, and V6-style power, have positioned the PHEV as the performance car of the Outlander range, and on Waiheke it certainly lived up to its reputation.

Only very occasionally did the petrol engine kick-in, to add more motive power, when gunning the stylish-looking SUV up a particularly hilly section.

At the end of the day we just plugged the Outlander into a standard power socket over night, then in the morning it was set to go up to 50km with no fuel use, spending less on electricity for the week than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee.

Harvesting electricity through regenerative braking is a big feature of the PHEV, and dash mounted displays help you keep track of this recycled energy in real time.

And a smartphone app let’s you put the Outlander’s batteries on charge at the most effective time of the day, or you can end a charging session, or set the charging regime to suit your lifestyle.

You can do the same with the car’s air conditioning, remotely warming the car on a cold morning, or pop on the headlights when your car’s sitting on the the distant edge of a carpark.

‘Range anxiety’ is a thing of the past, with the petrol engine constantly ready to generate electricity, or add extra power when it’s needed, with no intervention on your part.

Apart from the fact that the Outlander is so quiet, there’s nothing to make you feel that you are driving anything different from a standard SUV.

It performs well, is stylish, and a very comfortable ride – aided by the strengthening of the rear shocks and a stiffening of the body in the 2016 model.

If you want to ‘go green’, and help your pocketbook at the same time, I recommend the Outlander PHEV as a great way to do it.