According to the Autopia, another option for getting an electric MINI is very close to becoming a reality.
>Hybrid Technologies is developing an all-electric Mini Cooper that will be available next year. Frank Ziegler, Hybrid Technologies’ Director of Sales and Distribution told me the car will sell for $59,000. That’s more than $40,000 over the list price of a gasoline Mini, but an average drive would save about $1250 a year on gasoline, based on gas being $3 a gallon. The electric Mini will have a range of 160 miles and requires 5 hours to recharge its batteries.
Like the previous electric MINI we reported on, this will not be a cheap option. And, for that kind of money, I would like to see a little more range, but the 5 hour charge time is great.
[ Electric MINI in 2008 ] Autopia – blog.wired.com
Whenever there is talk of an electric car, gas savings is always mentioned but no one ever says how much the electricity needed to charge the car will offset that savings. I know my power bill is pretty high & it is billed in kilowatt hours. I know a kilowatt hour has nothing to do with real time. So does anyone know how much it costs to charge a car for 5 hours?
Do the math. $40,000 premium / $3 per gallon = 13,333 gallons at 30 mpg = 400,000 miles to breakeven on the cost.
Don’t think that makes a lot of sense right now.
I have already read someplace that it would take about 14 years to re-coop the cost. Ouch. I could do the 400K miles tho 😉
I’m pretty sure that the idea of the electric MINI is not to save you money. There’s a bigger issue here.
Wow. Sign me up. With those savings I’ll break even in 32 years. What’s the 0-60 time? Five minutes? Are they also working on a car that runs on bulls***? There’s plenty of that going around cheap.
More symbolism over substance.
I purchased my MINI in 05 and I really enjoy driving it, but I’d like the next car I purchase to be electric. It just makes more sense from an efficiency (and saving the world/country) standpoint.
I remember reading about a recent concept (not a MINI) with the electric engine and gas generator backup so you can charge while you drive- it’s just like what trains run on now. Make me one of those for $30K, please.
So how many Hollywood celebrities are on the waiting list for this one?
We have to acept that running an electric car at the moment is NOT going to save anyone any money. If I could buy this car over here in the UK I would buy it tomorrow… I don’t want to save money on this issue, I want to save the planet.
Imagine plugging several thousand electric vehicles in at once onto an electrical system that suffers from rolling brown outs and black outs every time demand increases. Until electrical capacity is increased I feel that electric vehicles are a bad idea.
Phantom. Don’t you know how much they care?
I like the way Tesla motors rates the “gas” mileage on their cars: they show how much energy is in a gallon of gas and compare that with how much it takes to make the electricity which charges their car. They claim their car gets 135 mpg by that measure.
<a href="http://www.teslamotors.com" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.teslamotors.com</a>
Are electric cars really saving the planet? We forget that there are huge consequences from the manufacture of the batteries for these things. Think of all the environmental issues from the mining done to get the nickel needed for the batteries. The costs and resources used to transport and manufacture the batteries and then when their usable life is over the recycling. Is all the energy and resources need to make an electric car really saving the environment or offsetting the pollution caused by a gasoline vehicle over the same lifespan.
Just using less gas does not mean your saving the environment. Using fewer resources does.
Even most “green” researchers in the field say that with current battery technology, electric cars are not really a viable tranportation alternative that will save the planet. They lean to hydrogen powered vehicles as the way to go.
but what about the impact of less reliance on oil? Its gonna run out soon and we need to adopt these technologies to survive…
<blockquote>Like the previous electric MINI we reported on…
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I don’t get it – the previous blurb was about Hybrid Technologies, and so is this. Aren’t the 2 articles about the same car? And from what I saw at the NY auto show, it’s available now if you’ve got the cash.
It’s not about saving money at this point folks, it’s about saving the planet. This car wont be sold in volume at that price, but if they can increase their volume, the prices will drop.
Also, they probably need to sell the MINI gas engines they pull out in their conversion process – anyone need a new one? 🙂
Electric cars tend to recharge overnight, during off-peak hours. That’s a terrific use of the electric grid, especially if utilities can temporarily shut off their recharging stations in the event of high demand.
Lest everyone get too worked up about the fact that an electric MINI makes no economic sense, I point out that a Chevrolet Aveo (used) means a gasoline-powered MINI makes no economic sense either. So why is it that only electric cars have to make “economic sense”? Does a Rolls make economic sense? Does everyone drive a used Toyota Tercel here? I mean, in the realm of MINI charging extra for certain paint colors, is the pot calling?
Oil run out soon…..? Folks, there’s your answer. Thinking has doesn’t even matter. It’s about “feeling”. Blind sheep leading blind mice.
DOn’t forget what it takes to make the electricity your car needs. More fossil fuels and other environment damaging means.
You aren’t saving the Planet with an electric car. You’re killing it in a different way.
Amen, Passat. Especially in the Midwest, where we get most of our juice from coal-fired power plants. Biodiesel-powered hybrids, anyone?
ditto Amen 2 Passat. Do people think electricity grows on trees? Where I live a great majority of our electricity comes from coal burning. How is burning more coal better for the environment?
Teresa to answer your question:
Because cities like NYC offer the option to get your power from wind mill power instead of traditional coal or oil burning options. Also there is great tax incentives to go electric or hybrid.
Iwas seriously considering to get rid of the mini but will seriously consider this option since we get windmill power on our studio.
Eletric cars are slowly becoming a real possiblity in many markets. Where I live we have the ability to purchase eletricity from a green choice. I have been speaking to some people that I know in my local PUD and they have also heard that Testla motors is working on developing a solar array that is large enough to feed the car for normal in town work. That way you come home and plug into truely “free” energy that has absolutly no guilt attached to it.
the future for the planet can only be in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. If you burn coal to make electricity then of course the environmental penalty is the same. To make the world a better place we need to give industrialsts a reason to move away from fossil fuel power, and to give them a market… electric cars are only one way of caring about the environment, but people like you and I are so far down the food chain that its one of the few ways we can change things.
C’mon folks – think about what you’re saying. Do you really think that generating energy one car at a time is more efficient than a large scale power plant that generates electricity for an entire region?
If that was true then we’d all have a gas powered generator at our house instead of pulling power from the grid. THAT would surely generate more greenhouse gases than a coal burning power plant.
Having an electric car that recharges overnight, when power demand is lower, DOES make sense. The only thing holding the idea back is the cost and range of electric cars. Cost will be improved once these cars are mass produced, but the range issue really needs better battery technology than what we have today.
I have a long commute – 60 miles each way – and I still feel that an electric car would be practical for this. Why can’t the batteries charge while I’m in my office working?
I agree with you Paul… there can be few things that would cooler than an electric mini and I would definitely buy one if it were available in the UK. I saw one recently that was not far off the same performance as a cooper s, now that is cool. The Mini world would benefit so much from adopting this technology by mass producing it, all it takes is enough people to get behind it to make it viable.
“The Mini world would benefit so much from adopting this technology by mass producing it, all it takes is enough people to get behind it to make it viable.”
b4mmy – and lets not forget the $59,000 to get behind it as well =/ ..not as easy as you make it sound.
As my comments in previous topic – anything green or organic will cost more. The Jap hybrid’s battery costs more to replace than the car itself.
If electric cars were easy and cost efficient to make don’t you think the major car companies (especially the Japs) would have been producing them by now?
Next we will have to have our own electicity generators in our homes to support these.
Great Geniuses Think alike? If most of the commentors here were around during the Stone Age we all would still be in the Dark. I’m surpise some here even drive Mini’s, most sound like they drive 60 or 70 landyachts.
I agree the price is steep for this and in my opinion it would have been better to start with a mild hybrid system (regenerative braking) or full system hybrid. Those could cost less and be easier to adopt.