Likely one of the most important new products for Mitsubishi in a while, is the new 2017 Outlander Plug-In Hybrid EV that made its North American debut at the New York Auto Show. It offers something new for the brand and for the crossover market.
Already on sale in Europe, and the number one selling plug-in hybrid crossover SUV there, the new 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV will go on sale here this fall. While it looks identical to the standard Outlander for all intents, it’s entirely different under the skin.
The new PHEV version of the Outlander has a very unique powertrain and chassis arrangement that starts with two 80 horsepower electric motors, one at the front and one at the rear, driving the wheels through a one speed drive unit at each axle.
At the front is also a 2.0 liter four-cylinder engine, it with 119 horsepower. That’s less important because very similar to how the Chevrolet Volt works, this engine is really here to generate electricity for the electric motors, and assist for high-speed cruising.
In that way it’s connected to the front drive unit with a hydraulic clutch that locks at higher speeds for direct drive power when needed. Other times the engine is either off, or running at a consistent speed to power the on-board generator.
This arrangement gives the Outlander PHEV all-wheel drive, controlled entirely by the computer system and marketed under Mitsubishi’s popular and well known Super-All Wheel Control buzz term. In this guise it manages electric power instead of driveline torque automatically on the fly.
You can also enable a four-wheel drive “lock” by pressing a console mounted button. It’s not a real mechanical lock as such, but it tells the computer to use both electric motors no matter what for best off-road capabilities.
So what does all this give you as a customer? In essence you have an all-electric crossover SUV with an on-board gasoline powered generator to charge the battery and help the motors when needed. In Euro Spec it can travel up to 32 miles in pure EV mode at up to highway speeds.
This means if you keep it charged and never tap into the gasoline range, you could never really need to fill up with gas as the engine wouldn’t be needed. While U.S. Spec EPA MPGe hasn’t been announced yet, it earns a 156 mpg rating for the EU drive cycle, which really is meaningless here.
The engine can also be powered on to charge the battery if a plug-in or charger isn’t available. The engine can charge the battery to an 80% capacity in about 30 minutes when stationary, a bit longer if you’re driving.
The battery itself is a large 80-cell lithium-ion 12 kWh pack mounted under the center of the Outlander, partially in the tunnel and under its floor. This enables the rear cargo area to still offer SUV-like capacity at 56.5 cubic feet in Euro Spec.
All of this makes it heavy, at about 5,100 pounds. Thus even with the power it has, Euro Spec models are rated at a 0-60 acceleration time of about 11 seconds. Fuel economy however, or the lack of needing gasoline at all is the payoff though.
Official U.S. EPA estimates and power specifications, along with pricing haven’t yet been announced but we expect that to come a little bit closer to its on sale date this fall.
