100,000 plug-in electric vehicles sold in over the last two years. That’s what advocacy group Plug In America recently celebrated with an Alabama man who purchased said vehicle a short ago. It was an ironic choice though, representing one of the lesser well selling of this classification of vehicle here in the United States.
One Rich Salmon of Grand Bay, Alabama was the man with the 100,00th purchase recently. His car of choice? A Mitsubishi iMiEV. For his winning the contest, he was awarded a new ClipperCreek Level 2 charging station plus $300 toward its installation.
image via Plug In America
“I took the iMiEV for a test drive. It was a loaded model and I liked it, so I bought it,” said Salmon in a statement. “While searching for a level-two charger, I ran across Plug In America’s contest and decided to enter. I had ordered a ClipperCreek LCS-25 because it seemed to be one of the most recommended chargers, but I never figured I would win one. Now, it will be a historic charge station.”
That it was an iMiEV vs the much better selling Nissan Leaf is something of note, especially when you consider just 588 units of that model were moved last year. Sales are somewhat better here in the U.S. this year, but in other markets, such as Australia, they just aren’t moving compared to some offerings from other auto manufacturers. 30,000 to date are what’s been sold globally by Mitsubishi, compared to the Leaf which, since launching in December 2010, had pushed 50,000 as of this past February.
As for what Salmon will get out of driving his new electric car, Plug In America board president Richard Kelly pointed out that
for only $2.25, Salmon could drive 166 miles in his iMiEV on homegrown renewable electricity generated from biomass, solar, wind and landfill methane, thanks to Alabama Power’s Renewable Energy Rate program.
“By using clean electricity,” said Kelly, “Rich can save $22.75 compared to traveling the same distance using gasoline. He’s a plug-in pioneer and we know he’ll put his new charge station to good use.”
