Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) announced Mitsubishi Motors Thailand (MMTh), its Thailand subsidiary, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Eternity Grand Logistics (Eternity), a logistics company in the Hitachi Transport System Group, to conduct a pilot study on the commercial viability of compact electric vehicles (EV) in Thailand.
Under the terms of the MoU, MMTh will provide a single Minicab MiEV, a compact commercial EV that is now sold in Japan, for the study, and Eternity will use the vehicle for a year in its logistics operations.
The study aims to understand and explore EV commercial applications verifying actual usage data including mileage, charging history and delivery route.
“This study will enable us to explore opportunities to apply EVs for commercial applications,” said Eiichi Koito, president and CEO of MMTh. “It is a part of our new environmental plan pPackage, and is contributing to the Thai government’s electrification initiative. Through this study, we will explore ways to form an environment for EVs.”
Ryuichi Honda, CEO of Asia Region of Hitachi Transport System and chairman of Eternity, said: “This study will allow us to understand and obtain more information on the potential introduction of EVs into our operations.”
MMC plans to improve the Minicab-MiEV which has been on sale in Japan for 10 years, “through more experiments abroad”.