If you live in Japan and want to show your love for Mother Earth – or your contempt for the global oil industry – then, beginning next summer, you will be able to do so in an unprecedented way: by walking into the showroom of a leading automaker and buying a clean, cheap-running electric car.
Mitsubishi Motors, the company that has created the vehicle – the i Miev, a small, snub-nosed hatchback that is powered by lithium-ion batteries – says it is confident enough in the range, power and safety of its prototype to bring it to market a year ahead of rival electric cars from General Motors and Renault-Nissan.
