Inside Line Laps Beverly Hills in a MINI E
Our friends at Edmund’s Inside Line drove the MINI E recently at the LA Autoshow and have what is likely the best review and most insight into the car’s creation and future. Here’s an excerpt:
>There were no great plans for a cute and cuddly electric Mini. When BMW decided it needed an electric car in January 2008, the Project i engineers looked around for an off-the-shelf solution.
>”If the electric-drive components would have been better fitted to the BMW 1 Series, we would have done the conversion to the 1 Series,” Ulrich Knieps, vice president of corporate communications for BMW AG product and technology, tells us.
>Though everything fits, the now two-seat 2009 Mini E weighs 3,230 pounds — over 500 pounds more than a Cooper S.
>”A conversion is always a bad compromise,” Peter Ratz, vice president of development for the Mini E, concedes. “The ideal architecture would be purpose-built. You have to choose the right axle for the electric motor, and the batteries should not intrude on cabin space.
>”If I had the chance to start from scratch on an electric car with some performance, I would go for rear-axle drive.” Rear-wheel drive, he says, makes better use of an electric motor’s instant torque response.
>At the same time, Ratz maintains that the subcompact footprint of the Mini is right for future electric-car architecture.
They go on to give a less than stellar summary of the drive…
>We’re not terminally opposed to electric cars — we rather liked the eRuf. But this particular conversion drains the personality from one of the most personable cars on the market. After driving the 2009 Mini E, we want to hold the Mini Cooper S close and never let it go.
You can read more below:
+ One Lap of Beverly Hills in the Electric Mini Cooper / Insideline
Ahem…..
If Government regulations had not forced them to make an electric car, they probably would not have bothered.
BMW has been working on hydrogen power for over 30 years, so cannot be considered to be seriously attempting to diversify.
I now I hear in order for the “big three” to get their loot the government is extorting them into making sillymobiles.
Seriously folks, do we want Big Bro telling us what to make and sell? Shouldn’t a little thing called the FREE MARKET determine that?
All you lunk heads drooling over this gizmo are deluded.
The comments on some of the pictures are pretty funny.
<blockquote>This 16-inch low-rolling resistance, run-flat tire is unique to the Mini E, probably because no other Mini could stand such little grip.</blockquote>
<blockquote>That’s because no amount of suspension retuning can disguise 573 pounds of laptop batteries riding in back.</blockquote>
I do appreciate their understanding of what makes a MINI, and that a lot of that character is lost in this electric version.
Greg, don’t get me started…. Free markets and market deregulation have proven to be dismal failures.
Look where deregulation of wall street has gotten us into.
Incorrect! Perhaps Cuba has a better plan for you.
Uh?
Judging from the prior comment that’s an appropriate response. Goest thou thither and ponder the difference between the “free” market and the “stock” market.