Mitsubishi Motors UK announced the new Outlander PHEV will be exempt from the London Congestion Charge when it goes on sell at the end of March next year.
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is a 4×4 SUV built without compromise to interior space.
The green credentials for the car are particularly impressive. Outlander PHEV can achieve up to 148mpg and only emits 44g/km CO2. This means that customers will benefit from tiny fuel bills, no vehicle excise duty (VED) and, for company car drivers, a benefit in kind (BIK) rate of just 5%. To add to this list of benefits Outlander has also just qualified to be London Congestion Charge exempt.
Before 1st July 2013 all hybrid vehicles qualified to be Congestion Charge exempt. After this date Transport for London (TfL) tightened the rules meaning hybrid vehicles had to be able to travel more than 10 miles using electric power alone and emit less than 75g/km CO2 in order to qualify. The result was that most of the hybrid vehicles in the market, which generally have an electric vehicle range of less than 10 miles and emissions above 75g/km, no longer qualified.
The Outlander PHEV can cover a significant distance and reach impressive speeds using just its electric motors (EV mode). In pure EV mode it can cover 32 miles (using both the combustion engine and electric motors range increases to 514 miles) and, where allowed, it can reach 75 mph (using the combustion engine in addition to the electric motors pushes this top speed up).
Outlander easily meets TfL’s new Congestion Charge exemption criteria and once launched will become one of the largest vehicles to get in and out of London for free.
As a reminder, essential EU market performance figures for the (permanent electric ”Twin Motor 4WD”) Outlander PHEV include:
– Maximum driving range : 825 km (514 miles)
– Range in Pure EV Mode : 52 km (32.3 miles)
– Fuel consumption : 1.9 l/100 km (148.7 mpg UK or 123.8 mpg US)
– CO2 emissions : 44 g/km
– Maximum speed : 170 km/h (105.6 mph) (where legal)
– Charging: 5 hours – normal charging (230V / 10A), 30 minutes – quick charging / up to 80% (CHAdeMO standard)
– Max. cargo volume: 463 l (VDA method – w/rear passengers)
– Towing capacity: 1,500 kg (w/brakes)
– Curb weight: 1810 kg
In a related news, Mitsubishi Motors announced that the Outlander PHEV has won the Car of the Year Japan 2013-2014’s Innovation Award which recognizes the car with the most innovative technologies that contribute environment, safety, and other mobility issues by the Car of the Year Japan committee.
The Car of the Year Japan committee chose the Outlander PHEV based on the following:
– The Outlander PHEV proposes a new way of using a vehicle by skillfully combining the advantages of SUV and plug-in hybrid EV technologies.
– Achievement of a combination of high fuel efficiency with a higher level of driving performance.
– A solution for the disadvantage of short cruising ranges of EVs while still being working as EV through range extension.
– Superbness of ability to charge to the batteries of the vehicle by itself as well as high output from the high-capacity battery
