The annoying G-Wiz electric cars are going to face tough competition as the first 25 units of 2010 Mitsubishi i-MiEV have arrived in the UK at Bristol’s Royal Portbury Docks to go under a government trial before they go on sale. Although the i-MiEV is not as hopeless as G-wiz designwise, it is not quite a looker and that begs the question why the hell EVs can’t look good?! The car also has a name that is hard to both read and write!

The i-MiEV is a four-seater full electric vehicle which has a to speed of 81 mph, a range of 100 miles on a single charge. It took the car 6 hours to become fully charged on a UK three-pin socket.

The cars are taking part in one of the Government’s Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator projects, run by the Technology Strategy Board. Through an extensive selection process, members of the public have been selected by consortium partner, Coventry University, to trial the cars for 12 months allowing analysis of driving and charging behaviour.

The production of the European i-MiEV will start from in October 2010 as a left hand drive model. The RHD versions are made in Japan, where Mitsubishi says that 900 orders have already been placed for it!