The RACQ have put an electric car to the test to see how it performs as an ordinary family vehicle.

But dealers say it will be 10 years before cars like the Mitsubishi i-MiEV become popular.

Patrick Wright reports.

TRANSCRIPT

It won’t get you to Cairns but it will get you to work.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV is the world’s first mass-produced electric car.

The RACQ have been trialing it since 2010.

Steve Spalding, RACQ Technical and Safety Manager: “What we’re hoping to get from the vehicle is a better understanding of what it would be like to own and operate as an ordinary family vehicle, just as any other motorist would do.”

Charging the car is simple. You just plug it in to a power point.

But the i-MiEV has no back-up petrol engine and a range of just over 100km.

The cost and limitations of fully-electric make them a hard sell.

The RACQ says this will change. In 10 years time, cars like this one will become more mainstream.

The market for EV’s is still developing.

And at a cool $50,000 each, we won’t be seeing many of them on our roads just yet.

Nathan Dwyer, Assistant Manager Nundah Mitsubishi: “Say in 10 years time, these sorts of cars are going to be a lot more popular. Obviously, the technology is going to be a lot more improved. It’s going to extend the distances travelled in these cars, and they are going to be basically what everyone is driving.”

Patrick Wright, QUT News.