50 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs coming to Bay Area fleets

"Do you know the way to San Jose?" Dionne Warwick famously crooned. Well Mitsubishi sure does. The Japanese automaker got some much-needed movement on sales of its all-electric i (known overseas as the i-MiEV) by cutting lease deal for 50 of the EVs for a quartet of San Francisco Bay Area city governments.
San Jose is getting 38 of the EVs, while the rest are being spread between the cities of Los Gatos, Campbell and Mill Valley, according to the Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC). The vehicles are expected to cut fuel costs by a combined $110,000 over three years and will reduce CO2 emissions by 400,000 pounds (which is equal the weight of about 275,000 iPads, for you Silicon Valley trivia buffs).
Of course, Mitsubishi offered what the BACC calls "highly favorable" lease terms for the city governments. We're not surprised. Earlier this year, a number of US Mitsubishi dealers offered substantial discounts on the i in order to sell more units. As a result, Mitsubishi i sales through May almost tripled from a year earlier, albeit from a rather small total, to 843 vehicles.