It seems every time the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV makes the news the information concerns a delay, and the reason always centers on its batteries. Four months ago the culprit was restricted battery supply from Lithium Energy Japan, pushing the arrival to 2015. This time it's no different, with Automotive News reporting that a battery-related request made by California state regulators will push the Outlander PHEV arrival back to "late 2015 or early 2016."

CA authorities want all plug-in hybrids to be fitted with a monitor for the lithium-ion batteries that will be on the lookout for degradation, the concern being that diminished batteries could change the vehicle's emissions. Getting the technology fitted and tested means something like a 16- to 22-month delay.

The extra time, however, should let Mitsubishi figure out what it's going to do about its battery supply since the current level of 4,000 per month isn't enough to support a US launch; the Automotive News article says Mitsubishi expects a volume of 63,000 plug-ins for 2016. The company hasn't said how it plans to make up the balance.

We were curious to know if the new battery monitoring requirement made sense to people who have a lot of history with EVs. Tom Saxton, the chief science officer at Plug In America, told us that it does. "As an EV owner and someone interested in better understanding battery pack longevity, I think all plug-in vehicles should have clear instrumentation showing the driver the battery pack's current usable capacity either in kilowatt-hours or equivalent (preferred) or amp-hours (acceptable)," he told Autoblog. "This is different from the state-of-charge, which is the energy currently stored in the pack."

Saxton also said that he agrees with CARB's concern that a loss of capacity could impact emissions. "If a plug-in hybrid battery pack loses usable capacity, then the driver will get fewer electric miles per charge," he said. "For drives that exceed the reduced electric-range of the vehicle, more emissions will result. That same is true of a conventional (non plug-in) hybrid."

While attending the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with Mitsubishi we got a chance to speak to three Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA) executives about the Outlander PHEV, how the brand is strengthening its lineup and how it plans to promote that.

The Outlander PHEV that's quickly and quietly rolling off lots in Japan, Europe and Australia right now is not the same model we're going to get when it arrives in Fall 2015, with MMNA Executive Vice President Don Swearingen and US PR chief Alex Fedorak telling us that "it will be completely different." It can probably be viewed as the next-generation vehicle, part of the "major restyle in 2016" that will reskin the model in the new design language being applied to the brand's crossovers.
Its hybrid system is being tuned for more refinement, and the same work being done on the interior.

Fedorak told us that, "The touchy-feely points we've been getting dinged on" will be upgraded, so expect materials feels and looks less value-oriented. We were told that the battery monitoring software mandated by California regulators doesn't just report on the state of the entire pack but rather it can monitor individual cells. As for when the anticipated hybrid will get here, Fedorak said "probably late November [2015] is my best guess at this time." That's almost two years later than Mitsubishi's previous plans.

We aren't the only ones anxiously waiting for it. Swearingen said he invites 12 to 15 dealers to Mitsubishi's Normal, IL plant every quarter to discuss product and what consumers are looking for. Between that and the five-city tour of MMNA product for dealers, he said the second-most-common question was, "When can we get the Outlander PHEV?" The subject of the most popular question? "Trucks."
Those dealer confabs have apparently paid dividends as recently as the 2015 Outlander Sport. Swearingen said dealers wanted "more acceleration, better fuel economy and they said it should be quieter." All of those items were delivered when it was introduced last month, Swearingen telling us that before company engineers had received the dealers' input, "We had two out of three of them." He's in discussions to bring over the 2.4-liter engine for the Outlander Sport – currently it can only be had with a 2.0-liter – and dealers are being quizzed on what they believe it would need in order to distance itself from the 2.0. The early consensus seems to be that it will definitely need more punch for overtaking maneuvers.

When Fedorak told us, "We're probably more evolving into an SUV-/crossover-type company," that got us thinking about one thing: a Montero. Look for it to arrive in Fall 2015 as perhaps the marquee example of the new SUV/crossover design language. Hints of that are probably contained in the faces of the GC-PHEV and XR-PHEV concepts.

Even so, there will still be more cars than crossovers in the near term. As they move into their next generations, the cars will get a family design language distinct from the crossovers, which we'll see on the next Lancer and the "sleek, aerodynamic reskin" coming for the 2016-model-year Mirage hatchback. Speaking of the Mirage, Swearingen said, "The magazines beat us up about it," (Consumer Reports is the latest) "but with just 400 dealers, we're outselling the [Mazda] Mazda2 and the [Toyota] Yaris." The Yaris is actually ahead this year, but only by 265 units through the end of June. It appears all but done that the Mirage sedan will come here, under the G4 name it employs in Canada instead of the Attrage moniker it uses elsewhere.

It is Francine Harsini, MMNA's director of marketing, who's working on getting the word out. After doubling the marketing spend last year to introduce the Outlander and Mirage, Swearingen said he told dealers that it would stay at the same level this year even without any launches, and adding "I would expect to grow that." Harsini said MMNA doesn't have the dollars to push each model line individually, so later this year they'll launch a new campaign for the brand using the "Find your own lane" tag that was created for the Outlander, and push the brand pillars of, "Progressive technology, spirited design and safety, value and reliability." We were told it would also be "going more into lifestyle" advertising.

Fedorak - who's been in the job eight weeks and whose resume includes work at Subaru and Kia - believes feature-per-dollar is an important part of Mitsubishi's pitch; comparing the feature set on his personal vehicle, a German luxury crossover, to those on his company Outlander, he says of the Mitsubishi, "There are strong reasons to buy."

Cars and CO2 law spurs automotive innovation as electric vehicle sales double in 2013
Brussels - for immediate release

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) have doubled annually in Europe since they were first marketed in 2010, the electrification section of T&E's cars and CO2 report reveals. In 2013, provisional sales data from the European Environment Agency show that nearly 50,000 plug-in vehicles were sold, representing around 0.4% of all car sales in the EU.

The top three selling EV models in 2013 were all new entrants to the market (Renault Zoe, Mitsubishi Outlander and Volvo V60 Plug-in). In contrast, sales of the best-selling models in 2012 (Opel Ampera and Peugeot Citroen iOn / C-zero ) both fell significantly.

"Electric vehicles can play an important role in the shift to more sustainable mobility, and their increasing sales are being driven by carmakers' need to innovate to meet EU CO2 regulations," said Greg Archer of Transport & Environment.
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The report highlights the importance of establishing new car emissions standards for 2025 and 2030 to ensure investment in low-carbon vehicles technologies is maintained. It warns that proposals by German carmakers to include transport in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) would lead to higher transport emissions, more oil imports and less innovation in low carbon vehicle technologies because the ETS wouldn't require emissions reductions in the transport sector.

"Including transport in the Emissions Trading Scheme would put a brake on low carbon vehicle innovation. Emissions standards complemented by targets for ultralow carbon efficient cars will ensure the current rapid pace of innovation is maintained," Archer concluded.

The report shows sales of electric cars in Europe represent around a quarter of global sales. Sales in California are the highest in the world driven by a mandatory but tradeable requirement on carmakers to supply small numbers of these vehicles. T&E advocate a similar policy for the EU rather than encouraging EV sales through the flawed system of 'supercredits' that simply reduce the need for carmakers to improve the efficiency of conventional vehicles.

Cars are responsible for 15% of Europe's total CO2 emissions and are the single largest source of emissions in the transport sector. The EU's first obligatory rules on carbon emissions require car manufacturers to limit their average car to a maximum of 130 grams of CO2 per km by 2015, and 95g by 2021.

Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) can run on electric power alone for up to 32.5 miles (52.3 kilometers) and can do that at speeds up to 70 mph (113 km/h).

Another interesting fact is that, it's the only pure electric off-roader, as in Twin Motor 4WD Lock mode, four-wheel drive is supplied by the electric motor up front powering the front wheels and the electric motor at the rear powering the rear axle.

As Carbuyer’s Mat Watson found out, the experience of going off-roading in complete silence is a little odd, but in a good way.

There are sacrifices to make in terms of practicality, as the batteries needed for the plug-in hybrid powertrain reduce the size of the boot compared to the normal Outlander and rule out a seven-seat version. Other than that though, it’s just like the regular model (even in terms of pricing), only more fuel-efficient and silent.