KEY POINTS:
The electric car battle is hotting up with the arrival of Hyundai's Getz and confirmation that Mitsubishi's icar will arrive here before Christmas.
Neither are yet on sale - they are here for evaluation - but both want to be first on to showroom floors.
Mitsubishi thinks it's
beaten the Korean brand: "Hyundai's Blade car won't be up to much - it's fallen over," says Mitsubishi's media liaison officer, Marty Dinniss.
Hyundai was amused to hear that; the Blade Getz arrived the day before and was charging as he spoke.
The standard Getz has been converted to electric power by Blade Elec-
ctric Vehi-cles in Aus-tralia, where it's already on sale.
It has a top speed of 120km/h and a range of about 120km, extended to 200km if you put it on 50amp fast charge, or down to 80km with air con and radio drawing power.
Otherwise it plugs into a standard socket, charging overnight.
The petrol engine has been removed and replaced with the compact electric unit, while the batteries replace the fuel tank.
There are two - one for motive power, the other for the auxiliaries - but otherwise it's the same as the standard car, with airbags, ABS and air conditioning.
There's no ESP though. Hyundai Motors New Zealand's executive director Philip Eustace says Hyundai and Bosch still have to get the stability control system talking with the engine computer.
Otherwise, the cabin is the same as a standard car's, bar two switches on the dash. There's no conventional gearing, just two speeds - one for around town and the other for motorways.
Of course it's not all good news. "They're more expensive than we had hoped," Eustace says. He's not kidding - the Blade Hyundai sells in Australia for A$40,000 ($47,314), considerably more than a standard Getz.
That may scupper Hyundai New Zealand's plans to be the first to put an electric car on retail sale here - and to do the conversions on home soil.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi isn't pitching its electric icar, the MiEV, as an overnight sensation. Just two will arrive initially, both for evaluation.
Lloyd Robinson, Mitsubishi's technical services manager, sees price to
purchase - and not to charge - as the sticking point.
"The purchase price will be prohibitive, but if you can get people to charge at night it won't need an increase in generation capacity, as most water and wind-generated power produced at night is wasted," says Robinson.
Discussion of electric cars often neglects to cover where the power comes from, particularly for those who don't have a garage to securely park in during charging.
But the emissions and price-to-fill arguments are compelling. There are no emissions from the car itself, only from the electricity generation.
And Robinson says the car can go from empty to full charge at 18.4kW/hour on just $2 of electricity.
Mitsubishi owners will need to change the socket to allow for a different earth, but all the wiring is standard.
Also compelling is an electric car's performance.
I've driven the Mitsubishi car and, like all electricity-powered cars, it boasts lots of low-down torque.
That means impressive punch away from the traffic lights or during any slower-speed manoeuvres - ideal for around town.
Range? New Zealand's average commute is just 12km.
So although electric car owners may face interesting times should they wish to head far from town, the developing tech is ideal for those wanting a city runabout - provided they have that secure access to a socket.
