The project originated prior to 2012, producing a vehicle that entered in the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) event, and has undergone evolution and technical improvements in subsequent years.

There were 2 stated aims; to promote the consumer i-MiEV electric car (which began to sell in North American markets in late 2011), and to participate in the PPIHC as a competitive event which has a long-standing tradition of experimental motor sports and is therefore a potentially suitable venue to test and improve the technologies of electric motor sports vehicles.

[2] Being a high altitude event (with the finish line around 14,000 feet), with diminishing oxygen levels in the upper stages which affects the efficiency of internal combustion engines, the Pikes Peak race venue is particularly favourable for electric power-train vehicles.

With more time in hand, the team was able to implement more sophisticated drive control, allowing power to be directed to each wheel independently (instant torque vectoring),[6] improving traction and handling.

Without providing detailed data on the overall vehicle weight, Mitsubishi has confirmed[11] that the MiEV Evolution III is lighter than the previous generations, i.e. under 1400 kg.

In the 2013 PPIHC event the team's MiEV Evolution II vehicles were driven by Hiroshi Masuoka and Greg Tracy and achieved times of 10:21.866 and 10:23.649 respectively, improving over the previous year despite encountering poor weather conditions.

In the 2014 PPIHC event the team entered two MiEV Evolution III vehicles, again driven by Greg Tracy and Hiroshi Masuoka.

The weakest link for performance racing applications as of 2014 is typically the energy to weight ratio (WH/kg) of battery technology compared to gasoline.