Another Electric MINI

eto Oct 2nd, 2008 Link

Great EV with good range. Comparable range to the Toyota RAV4 EV from the beginning of the decade. Price is really high though, and there are no back seats. :(

greg Oct 2nd, 2008 Link

0-60 9 seconds “no slouch”? $57.5k? That’s alot for a “pet rock”.

RocketMini Oct 2nd, 2008 Link

I wonder what the price would be to convert your mini to all electric?

Tom Oct 3rd, 2008 Link

I went for a ride in this Mini last week when I was at the show. I can vouch that if it takes 9 seconds to get to 60 it must be something like 3 seconds to 40+. The torque is amazingly quick in this car. They had to pull the rear seats out to fit the batteries but other than that it is a true Mini. The local dealer is Electrorides here in SoCal and this one is built by Hybrid Technologies in North Carolina (www.HybridTechnologies.com). I spoke to the rep - they won’t retrofit an existing Mini and will only perform the conversion on a new or less than 5K mi. Mini. It is pretty cool but alot of $.

GregW Oct 4th, 2008 Link

I was told that the back seats are now batteries. Strictly a Two seater? If you want to be in this market like Toyota Prius and Honda, get serious and start building fully electric or hybrids at the same cost as petrol.
Saving the Planet will ultimately cost us all more.
Saddle up the horses boys - but then that has methane gas emissions as a worry.

greg Oct 5th, 2008 Link

Saving the planet from methane gases resulting from bulls* $57k for being green. I’m laughing my butt off at chumps who subsribe to this snake oil. Can you say “I’ve been had!”.

NEWDL Oct 6th, 2008 Link

DB,
Have we driven a Tesla yet? We are on order for one that will come around end of first quarter next year…..My father was able to test drive one on sunday. After he drive it he called me and was as giddy as a school girl. 0-60 in 3.9 He said it was literally enough to make your stomach turn and then go up your throat…..

I can’t wait!!! You could do a review (applies to you too gabe) of it if you fly/drive to Akron, OH….

greg Oct 6th, 2008 Link

The tesla is cool but a “base” price of $109,000! Is this car made by Lotus? Identical interior to the Elise and similar back end.

NEWDL Oct 6th, 2008 Link

Actually, there are some components (Aluminum frame & dash) made by lotus but it is hardly a battery powered lotus…..All exterior panels are changed (CF), all suspension and running components ect… are Tesla…

Tesla is a California based start up company and to start with a roadster with a 0-60 time of 3.9 that you can charge a base price of $109,000 for is the best way to recoup your initial investment and create capital gains to reinvest in the company and create new models. Soon there will be a $59,000 sedan and a $30,000 compact car, all 100% electric and with better range and charging times than the Roadster….(Approx. 240 miles and 3.5 hours on the 220v home charger 8 hours on standard wall outlet)

greg Oct 7th, 2008 Link

Interesting. Thanks for the 411!

Newdl Oct 7th, 2008 Link

Anytime!

Dr Obnxs Oct 7th, 2008 Link

Here’s some interesting stuff….

When you take all the losses into account, IC engines only use about 11% of the energy content of the original oil to propel the car.. This is the “well to wheel” efficiency. CURRENT electric technologies have numbers closer to 24%. If you magically swapped the whole US light vehicle fleet to electric power that was generated with fossil fuels, you would HALVE the fuel use for the same amount of miles driven.

To be blunt here, if you think electrics are a joke, you don’t know squat about the real world energy usage of the vehicle fleet. Batteries will get better, increasing range and lowering costs. Electric motors are better from both a performacne (max torque at 0 or low RPMs, no idle losses, etc) than IC enegines. AND economies of scale have yet to really hit the electric technologies.

FWIW, if anyone wants to roll thier own electric car, there is a very good kit from AC Propulsion, but it’s about $25k…. You can do much cheaper with wrecking yard DC technologies, but range will be much, much less.

Matt

NEWDL Oct 7th, 2008 Link

It is nice to talk in a grand scale like that…and I am on the same side of the issue with you on this, BUT we currently do not have the infrastructure in the US to supply that much of an increase in draw from the grid. With out preparation we will end up paying much much more for electricity when the demand does finally hit (not as much as gas, but an increase none the less). I believe the electricity companies in the US know what is in their future and simply choose to charge a premium when they are the alternative fuel for our country.

greg Oct 8th, 2008 Link

Hey, if they make an electric Mini with better peformance than what we have now for the SAME price you can plug me in.

Dr Obnxs Oct 8th, 2008 Link

The current US grid CAN supply all that is needed for a significant penetration of electric or plug-in hybrid cars… As long as they are charged during off-peak hours. If you look at power utilization vs time of day, there is tons and tons of excess capacity off peak.

Now, if everyone thinks that they can drive to work and charge during the work day, that’s a whole nother problem…

Matt