What advantages do electric cars have?
Electric cars are better to drive than internal combustion models. Once people have electric vehicles, they don’t want to go back. They are smoother, quieter, plus you get better performance. People find they don’t have to go to the petrol station anymore. That’s a convenience. Kids in the future will be shocked that we used to interrupt journeys, instead of refueling with electricity when we weren’t using cars.
“It changes the world if we become less dependent on oil.”
Lance Bradley, Managing Director, Mitsubishi Motors UK
How important is charging infrastructure?
Infrastructure is key and changing all the time. The benefit of our plug-in hybrids is that you don’t need charging stations, because you can do it at home. It’s not a pure electric car where you need a recharge you’re stuck. We launched plug-in hybrids without the infrastructure. When we started the I-MiEV, people asked if we were going to pay for the infrastructure.
We are in the business of selling cars. The government can help set it up, but technology can’t survive on state support. It is like the plug-in car grant; we know that will disappear one day—as it should.
