The Super i-MiEV. A 200 + Kilometre Battery Upgrade Range Test. 13 years old and better than ever!

[@PunarnyFapp]

Great video. I too have an I-Miev but live in the U.K. would love a battery upgrade

[@mievandI]

They are trying to find world wide distributers / installers for their upgraded battery pack :)

[@toyotaprius79]

Can't come soon enough! ​@@mievandI If only IEMs take serious care for the life time of the products they sell, especially the "cleaner" products they were supposed to prioritize

[@samusaran7317]

Hopefully this can be implemented in the states soonish.

[@hughmacgregor5435]

I have a Mitsubishi i-miev too. And considering a new battery. I was considering a new MG4 but I have a VW EOS Diesel convertible I use from Sydney to Melbourne towing a camping trailer with an aircraft inside. The MG4 or any EV except the most expensive Tesla wouldn't be able to tow the weight and/or go the distance without umteen recharges. The i-miev I love. I can park where nobody else can. I can go between bollards for a shortcut. There are bollards everywhere in Sydney. It is the perfect city vehicle. And with the new battery I can go from Sydney to Shell Harbour and back. Or the Blue Mountains. Or take the convertible VW if I want. I use the i-miev to take wear off the VW. Plus you can damage a diesel going short distances. They need a longer distance to burn off the particulate filter. A few things to mention. That noise you heard from your in-built GPS was warning you that you went through a set of lights with a speed camera and you were perhaps just over the speed limit. The GPS/stereo you have runs off WIN CE from Microsoft. A very stable and reliable platform. They are better than the Apple Play and Android Play if that's what they are called because you can download onto a sim card where red light and speed cameras are for free. Or buy it off eBay from someone who has does it for you for a few bucks. The air-conditioning thing you mention is very important. An EV doesn't have a huge furnace up front pumping heat into the cabin in the middle of summer. When you put the air-conditioning on in an ICE car it's mainly to neutralise the heat coming into the cabin from the ice engine. I know this for a fact because I have driven both my silver VW and my black i-miev straight after the other. The VW needs air-conditioning on the black i-miev does not in the same weather conditions. The smell is something I do notice too from ICE vehicles after driving the i-miev for a while. ICE vehicles stink. I imagine people 150 and more years ago got very used to the smell from horse and donkey shite. So we get used to ICE stink. The noise you mention coming into the cabin of the i-miev is more noticeable because there is no explosions happening in a cylinder lees than a metre from your ears als in an ICE vehicle. My VW is well soundproofed to stop the racket coming from the diesel engine. The i-miev does need it and certainly doesn't need to Cary that extra weight. Again the i-miev is a wonderful vehicle. Everyone says it's so cute. It's rear wheel drive so has a very small turning circle. The appearance is almost dateless. Most vehicles look old very quickly but not the i-miev. There will never be another i-miev. I love it.

[@tonescape1]

@mievandI : I bought my 2012 i-miev brand new 11 years ago. The maximum range it displayed on a full charge when new was 153 km, which I actually achieved late one night in an experiment, driving 23 km/hr all the way on back roads. For years the full-charge range settled in at around 95 km. Now, with 171,000 km on the odometer, my usual full-charge range shows 69 km. I still use the car on four 13 km trips every weekday, so 52 km/day. But I don't use the freeway unless I'm late (turtle mode comes on after about 6 km), staying on the city streets and under 55 km/hr, mostly around 40 km/hr. I bought the car with the DC fast-charge option, which I used a lot, until one day it stopped working. I love my i-miev and hope to have the money to get this upgrade. Thanks for the great video.

[@mievandI]

They are great little EV's. When you can afford it, the battery upgrade will transform it!!

[@wallerwolf6930]

That's exactly the problem, especially with the small battery! If one day your range has dropped drastically and then after just a few kilometers the turtle lights up and you are just a (dangerous) traffic obstacle. Then at least one cell is probably broken and if there are more then it will be really expensive to have them replaced. Then such a vehicle, even if it is otherwise fine, can only be retired.

[@mievandI]

The same with any vehicle breaking down. My new bigger battery is good to go for another 10 + years. GREAT little EV! @@wallerwolf6930

[@realRaven575]

I wish we had a professional EV battery service here in the United States. It is not yet a standard business, or even a niche business in larger cities. I want to update my I-Miev Battery situation as well. I love the car, but my range is 38miles (61km) and dropping slowly. I purchased it 5+ years ago and it started with about 52miles (84km), so about 28% loss in 5 years.

[@mievandI]

Contact these guys " Calmax Fine Cars. 1204 Via Roma Colton CA 92324 USA " they recently signed up to do the imiev battery swaps in the US. They are an Oz Electric Vehicles Approved Installer.

[@aac6563]

I congratulate you on the Upgrade, it is what I always dreamed could be done with this wonderful Car. Where can I find information about the new battery pack and who sells it? thank you very much for your video

[@justTMSest]

You are legend

[@metricstormtrooper]

I have a minicab miev EV van and it too is awesome, it has everything i want in a car. I would love the battery upgrade but i want to know what brand the batteries are and i would like more than 1 year warranty on the batteries.

[@ohmslaw3076]

What did it cost you. Thanks.

[@mievandI]

I was on the tail end of the "test mules" so $13 000 AUD, with them keeping my old batteries for home power storage. Coats now is $16 000 AUD, but you can sell you batteries to save a few dollars,

[@ThatCoolNerd1]

How much did it cost? Sorry, I don't have time to watch the full video. I'm looking to buy an i-MiEV, but I'm worried about the range. I'm going to take a look at one tomorrow.

[@mievandI]

In Australia it is around $16 000 AUD. The do have installers world wide. Search for OZ Electric Vehicles and Licensed Installers to see if you are close to one :) Any other EV shop may be able to swap in new batteries for the same original range for less dollars.

[@ThatCoolNerd1]

@@mievandI Thank you for the information! It looks like it will cost about $10,000 USD in my neck of the woods. If had already owned the car for a significant period of time, I could justify the price to prolong the life of the car. Since I was planning on purchasing this car used for ~$4,200, it would be totally impractical in my situation to continue with the i-MiEV, sadly. In my area we can get lemon bolts with new batteries for ~$16k. That's 13.8% more money for 29.8% more range with an arguably better build quality, and certainly more features. Even if I try to DIY the replacement, it looks like it will still end up costing over $7k due to battery cell cost alone. Darn :( I hope you enjoy your car! It looks like it will treat you well for a long time :) thanks again for the information, my friend, cheers from the USA

[@miloe436]

Do you know how they solved it with the software for the battery?

[@mievandI]

Search KZbin for this " Robert Llewellyn's First Electric Car Is Reborn!! " where he interviews Graeme, and Graeme explains what they had to do to get the i-MiEV to recognize the new batteries.

[@miloe436]

@@mievandI Thanks, missed that episode.

[@xboxice2005]

i have a 2012 Leaf and would like a but more range.

[@mievandI]

In Australia these guys have this option. www.biggerenergizer.com.au/whole-pack

[@xboxice2005]

@@mievandI im wondering if it makes more economical sense just buy a 40whk leaf i found a few now selling for 27k the battery upgrade from these guys is nearly 19k 😔my Leaf is now probably only worth 13k-14k

[@mievandI]

@@xboxice2005 Well the upgraded battery is brand new...

[@xboxice2005]

How far along are they with the Nissan Leaf battery? :)

[@mievandI]

It available now.

[@xboxice2005]

Oh is it available now from Oz Electric vehicles,the website says 2022 coming soon 🙂

[@mievandI]

@@xboxice2005 Those guys are always busy and the web site take a while to catch up :) But yes available now.

[@xboxice2005]

@@mievandI Wow alright, i did send a Facebook massager asking :) also im a member on Your Facebook page.

[@mievandI]

@@xboxice2005 Happy to have you here putting up with my dodgy vids :)

[@Gabriel_the_panda]

I really need the battery upgrade but I'm from Canada

[@Franklin1757]

My wife and I recently acquired a 2012 i-MiEV with 75,561km on the odometer. Currently, I'm experiencing a range of approximately 75-90km, with temperatures ranging from 15°C to 20°C. However, I'm intrigued by your i-MiEV achieving ranges between 240-250km. I'm keen to explore how to upgrade my battery to achieve similar results. Can you advise on where and how I might obtain such a replacement battery, especially in Canada? Preserving our i-MiEV is important to us; it holds sentimental value as it was a gift to my wife when we got married, and we hope to keep it running smoothly for another decade or more. While we appreciate the advancements in EV technology, we're particularly attached to the simplicity and charm of our i-MiEV and aren't drawn to the newer models like Tesla. Any insights you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[@mievandI]

They are great little EV's, without all the unnecessary bells, whistles, and cost of newer EV's! SEARCH for OZ ELECTRIC VEHICLES, they are the suppliers / creators of the battery upgrade. I cant put the link in here as KZbin deletes it. They license their upgrade world wide, and are actively looking for international installers. There is a company in USA that recently signed on. Anyway on their site contact details for Graeme, the owner, and contact for the international installers.

[@Franklin1757]

@@mievandI Some good information in this video, thanks. Hope to see you do another great video with this i-MiEV!

[@beaugossitude]

C’est combien de kw/h la nouvelle batterie ? Cellule 105Ah?

[@mievandI]

If I understand. I believe the new cells are a 90Ah which allows for the greater capacity in the same battery box.

[@xboxice2005]

lol yeah you could really hear that truck next to you lol

[@mievandI]

Really not that loud just the phone mic pick up everything ;)

[@xboxice2005]

@@mievandI lol cool cool.

[@solfilms6592]

how much does it cost ?

[@mievandI]

It was $16 000 AUD, but battery costs have fallen world wide, so it may be cheaper now. Check with OZ Electric Vehicles :)

[@solfilms6592]

@@mievandI I saw someone selling one for 4,500 dollars here in FL. I’m talking about the car itself with 25k miles

[@toyotaprius79]

WANT

[@patogee]

Cual es la capacidad de la batería ,cuantas celdas tiene , tu auto tiene modificado el rango de velocidad ,por que he visto videos donde tienen una velocidad máxima de 80 km por último que año es tu auto saludos desde Chile

[@mievandI]

30kWh battery. Cells?? I don't know. 2010 I-MiEV. 130 kilometers per hour top speed as per factory settings.

[@なかやん-l4k]

247km？

[@mievandI]

It depends on the weather, Summer or Winter, and how I am driving it, but easily a 200 kilometer range on a single charge,

[@ivanwashington3186]

too bad this can't be in the USA. the cost of shipping that 500 pound battery across the pacific must be prohibitive.

[@amberl4053]

I got peugeot iOn. I like it