Mitsubishi made some electric noise earlier this year when they started testing their battery powered, zero-emission i-MiEV (electric vehicle) in Tokyo. It was questionable whether this tiny car (scheduled to go on sale in April 2010) would ever get built, but a recent report from Edmunds indicates that all 1,400 i-MiEV’s scheduled for the initial production run have already been presold.

This week brings news of another concept vehicle from Mitsubishi Motors and this time they are dreaming up a plug-in hybrid SUV called the PX-MiEV (P for Plug, X for Crossover) that will make its first appearance on October 24th at the Tokyo Motor Show. The conceptual PX sport utility vehicle is powered by the combination of a 1.6 liter gas engine, 2 electric motors, and a lithium-ion battery pack capable of being plugged-in to recharge. Initial estimates have the PX getting 120 miles per gallon, although an apples-to-apples cost per mile comparison with traditional gas-only vehicles might be difficult until some new standards are created.

What are they telling us so far?

Apparently, this new hybrid-electric system can operate in several modes including pure EV, series hybrid, parallel hybrid, charging, regenerative, and power supply mode. Phew! That is a lot of modes. And, if the terrain gets a little dicey the PX can switch to all wheel drive mode. There are also a lot of gizmos and gadgets built into the futuristic SUV, but much of that can be added simply to turn a few more heads at the auto show.

Regardless, with the future looking bright for iMiEV we can only hope that a few years from now the four passenger PXMiEV will be equally as successful. Mitsubishi didn’t have a vehicle in the eco-friendly game only a few short months ago, and now they are taking some seriously big swings. They are even showing a mini electric cargo van (based on the i-MiEV platform) in Tokyo this month. That’s a big jump, considering you can’t even buy a plain old hybrid van yet!

I thought my 2010 3G Prius was futuristic but the PX is totally Buck Rogers ready.

More PX MiEV Photos and Reviews:

Paultan.org
Edmunds Blog