The electric car technology has developed to something you won’t be associating with the golf buggy or the theme park shuttle. That’s the way it looks from the electric car which Mitsubishi Motors Corporation presented to the international media at a special workshop held at the MMC headquarters in Tokyo last week.

This is the i-MiEV which MMC released last June 5th to mark World Environment Day. Six hundred of those models have been sold to government agencies and private corporations in Japan.

Will the i-MiEV reach the Philippines? We hope so. But it will need government support to convince motorists to switch to an electric vehicle, no matter how technologically-advanced and environmentally-friendly it is.

This new-generation electric vehicle has been tested around the world. The MMC experts who conducted the workshops explained the i-MiEV’s “lovable” points: zero emission, quiet and sporty driving, and – on a fully charged battery, it can run the distance of 160 kilometers.

The car’s lithium-ion battery, which is 20 percent lighter than the old technology, can be fully-charged when plugged for seven hours into 220 volts, our local system. It needs about 14 hours to fully charge when plugged into a 110 volts system.

A 30-minute quick charge can also be done outside the home when one perhaps forgets to fully charge his car the night before. This can be done through charging stations that look much like a regular fuel dispenser, only that what is placed into your tank is a plug, not a nozzle.

The i-MiEV has two charging plugs, on the left and right rear side. One is for the quick-charge plug; the other is for plugging the car at home. The plug for home-use and a long wire can be found in the cargo space. The battery has a 10-year life span and needs no maintenance.

If you think this electric vehicle will put you on the slow lane all the time, you’re wrong.

This new-generation car has a top speed of 130 kms, with 160 horsepower, and performs like a 2.4 liter gas engine. (We drove the i-MiEV around the MMC Okazaki Plant’s high-speed course and found this claim to be true.)

This small car has a ground clearance of 39 cm and if by bad luck you find yourself in a flooded area, the electric system shuts down when water reaches this level.

The i-MiEV feels like a regular subcompact. It is easy to drive, easy to park, and accelerates quickly. But if you’re talking to someone and idling too long, you might just forget that the engine is on – it’s so quiet.

In Japan, the i-MiEV sells at 4.4 million yen. But with the government subsidy, the buyer gets a cash back of 1.39-million yen, and a tax benefit, Mr. Kawamura, one of the workshop lecturers said.

Hong Kong and Europe will have the i-MiEVs in October 2010.

For now, we can only appreciate the advances in alternative fuel technologies that we see around us.