The electric Minis are in production as we speak and have been for the previous 6 or 7 weeks. They are assembled as pretty much normal cars, then shipped out to Munich to have the electric motors fitted. Once completely in Munich, BMW plans to ship 490 to California.

The Electric MINI’s will be able to be spotted by their exclusive Interchange Yellow roofs and mirror caps.

The tests on the cars will be used over the next 12-18 months to refine the technology. Details about the drive concept and its marketing will be published towards the end of the year. It seems unlikely that the cars will be on-sale to the general public at this time and instead will be leased to hand-picked customers much like the current BMW Hydrogen 7 is.