Batteries Not Included: 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV

This next car comes from DT contributor/commenter/tipper PhiLOL who wrote up the entire submission. What do you get when an old, irrelevant EV needs a $16,000 battery? A eulogy. Find PhiLOL’s beloved 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV with 43,993 miles for sale in St. Louis, Missouri via eBay motors with 3 days to go.

I bought this i-MiEV nearly five years ago when I could no longer stand seeing its adorkable face pleading with me on Craigslist day after day, week after week. I nearly ran out of juice on the drive home. But I was in love. Driving it is like leaving your body and joining the collective energy of everything that exists.

Owning it in 2026, however, was like being a Sega enthusiast. In 2026. This was the future that wasn’t. It started life in 2006 as a 3-cylinder kei car that was stretched to become an electric car that stretched again before sprouting bunion-like indicator lights to become the USDM i-MiEV. In all its global iterations, it was the world’s first EV to sell more than 10,000 units. But just a few months after reaching that goal, the newly released Nissan Leaf made it obsolete. Total i-MiEV sales for the U.S. market: 1,831 units. You’re more likely to see a Ferrari F40, which was produced in similar numbers but doesn’t need to be plugged into a 120v wall outlet for 8 hours after covering 60 miles.

Seeing one is an event. People stop and stare, struggling to contextualize it. Just look at it. Some might call the design “cab-forward.” I just call it “cab.”

Here are just some of the nicknames my i-MiEV accrued: A Smart Car Limousine. The Computer Mouse. The BDE-Mobile. On the road, drivers have the strangest reactions to it. No one wants to get passed by this car. I’m a seasoned eco dweeb but nothing I’ve owned has so threatened the fragile egos of other drivers.

How is the i-MiEV not a Porsche 930? Rear motor, rear drive. Staggered wheels. Four seatbelts. Lift-throttle oversteer. Torque you have to wait for, thanks to software that limits power below 20 mph. At intersections, I still get the jump on any car with automatic shut-off, especially if the driver is on their phone. Which is always. Actually, I once lined up at an intersection next to a Smart ForTwo Electric Drive. I was in the turn lane, which is a shame, because that could have been a really depressing drag race.

It’s not every day you can hit vmax in your car, but how about a car you could hit vmax in every day? For the record, I only hit vmax once. A solid 84 mph, slight decline, no wind. I rarely drove it above 40 mph. I mainly enjoyed just having it hard parked outside the vegan restaurants where I worked and the grocery co-op where I volunteered, or sitting in still silence at intersections and contemplating existence. The world needs more featherweight, bare-bones EVs. As a figurative vehicle for your thoughts, it is eminently practical (although I once went WOT in a 5-cylinder Golf with glass packs, and that too was a spiritual experience).

It was easily the cheapest car I’ve ever owned. My biggest expense was a windshield. And tires, especially the tiny 145/65-15 ones in the front that pop like balloons on St. Louis potholes. Charging it at home with solar energy made for vanishingly low operating costs, and also offered penance for the embodied carbon inherent in most EVs. But I knew it wouldn’t last. Driving a science experiment is not a long term solution. Indeed, this car was my future that wasn’t. The heated seat stopped working. The airbag light came on and the dealership didn’t know how to fix it. The A/C started making a horrifying noise, and after two days at the dealership I called and they said no one on staff was certified to work on EVs (free advice: do not take a broken car to a broken dealership). Then the battery light came on and the car would no longer charge to capacity. One bar less, every time I charged it. A death spiral.

Watching my friend strap this car to a trailer accustomed to a 1000-horsepower LS-powered Chevelle and a twin turbo Camaro, my mind went to engine swaps. A Subaru flat four would fit. A VW flat-four would fit, philosophically. Including batteries, the i-MiEV’s curb weight is just 2,579 pounds. Let your imagination soar. This car is good for that. Which is why I loved it more than anything else I’ve owned. When I sold my stock, rust-free, 5-speed 1995 Miata to a 16 year-old who wanted to tum it into a drift car, my wife cried. So did God, probably. But I don’t think I’m constitutionally prepared to behold this car for the last time and have the “Tell me about the rabbits, Lennie” talk. The Mitsubishi dealership quoted $16,000 for a new battery. I’m getting a second opinion. Because I believe in a future where cars like this can be loved as I loved it: slowly, intentionally, 60 Zen-like miles at a time. As-is, it would be a great car for anyone on house arrest.

Got your own whip to sell? send it here: tips@dailyturismo.com