Following many, many years of waiting, it appears that Mitsubishi will finally be launching the plug-in hybrid version of the Outlander SUV in the US — with the release of the 2018 model year now slated for December.
This hot Japanese vehicle, which has seen top-of-the-market sales in Europe and Japan, has had planned releases in the US something like 30 times (okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration) and repeatedly been delayed, so I’m sure some of you will still wait to see the model in a US parking lot before cheering, but the timing is near enough now that we can probably be optimistic.
While the Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid (PHEV) would likely have sold very well in the US just a couple of years back, it’s an open question how well it will in the now fairly competitive US electric vehicle market.
The 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV will have a base price of $34,595 in the US, so it won’t be cheap, but that is still the most affordable price by far for a plug-in SUV.
As it stands, not too much can predicted as far as the EPA range rating and fuel consumption figures, especially since this model may be reworked a bit from what’s been selling in Europe and Japan over the past several years.
Green Car Congress provides more: “The two 60 kW full-time, high-output electric motors are separately mounted at the front and rear axles. The front electric motor is positioned transaxle-style on the left side of the engine; the front motor is a smaller, lighter and higher output enhanced version of the permanent magnet synchronous electric motor used in the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. The system features a front-mounted generator that converts mechanical power to electricity and continuously charges the drive battery, while a Power Drive Unit (PDU) helps to convert the electric power and send it to the front motor. The engine delivers 117 hp @ 4500 rpm, with 137 lb-ft (186 N·m) of torque. The front motor delivers 137 N·m of torque; the rear deliver 195 N·m. Combined system power output is 197 hp.”
Notably, despite being a plug-in hybrid rather than an all-electric vehicle (EV), the model will reportedly still come standard with DC Fast Charging capability — which will allow the model’s battery pack to be nearly fully recharged (80%) in under 25 minutes or so.
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