Mitsubishi i North American launch to begin on West Coast and in Hawaii

The 2012 Mitsubishi i will be riding a big wave to Hawaii, the first North American state to receive the all-electric car.

The Japanese automaker today revealed that beginning this month, Hawaiian consumers will be able to reserve the Mitsubishi i for a refundable deposit of $299 on Mitsubishi's Web site.

The Mitsubishi i will be available to test drive at Cutter Mitsubishi in Aiea, Hawaii, this fall.

The energy-efficient, five-door Mitsubishi i will launch in Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington in November 2011. The vehicle will be available nationwide by the end of 2012.

The car, with an expected driving range of 85 miles, takes 6 hours at 240V and 22.5 hours at 120V for a full charge. Mitsubishi says it will waive the $99.99 home electrical inspection fee for the first 2,000 Hawaiian residents who place a reservation and purchase the vehicle. The home electrical system inspection is to make sure that the owner's home system can efficiently charge the Mitsubishi i.

The Mitsubishi i is slated to be the most affordable EV on the market. With an MSRP of $27,990 for the base ES model, U.S. customers will receive a federal tax credit of $7,500 (subject to availability), bringing the price down to about $20,000. Customers in Hawaii will be eligible for a $4,500 clean energy rebate, reducing the EV's out-of-pocket cost to under $16,000 after rebates and credits.

"We thank Mitsubishi Motors for choosing Hawaii as one of the first states to receive the new 'i' electric car," said Estrella Seese, acting energy program administrator for the Hawaii State Energy Office. "Electric vehicles use a fraction of the fuel needed by traditional cars, so each EV on the road means we're reducing our dependence on imported oil and increasing our ability to reach Hawaii's goal of 70 percent clean energy within a generation."