Edmunds Leases a MINI E
We had a feeling that we would hear, sooner or later, about someone actually getting a MINI E, and Edmunds has one on the way.
>While the rest of Los Angeles celebrated Cinco de Mayo, a quiet crowd assembled at the California Science Center for a sort of community meet-and-greet. This invitation-only event was held for Mini E Pioneers, a select few who have been chosen for the one-year field trial of Mini’s new electric vehicle, the Mini E. How did Edmunds get its golden ticket, you ask? Well, after applying like many other eligible candidates, we diligently filled out a bunch of paperwork, and were fortunate enough to meet many of the logistical criteria for the SoCal portion of the trial.
We can imagine regular updates to the Edmunds.com blog during their trial as MINI E owners, once they are delivered sometime in June.
>The new number for the night actually drew applause, and that number was 30. The current estimate for delivering the Mini E is now at 30 days. It was also revealed that one of the main stumbling blocks thus far has been standardizing the wiring of consumers’ homes for the charging stations.
Many MF readers don’t understand the appeal of an electric car, especially one that you can not own and has a fairly steep lease price. That’s fair. However, much like other electric cars that have a high cost of entry (the Tesla comes to mind). For those that do, keep an eye on the Edmunds blog to see what they think.
[ MINI E: Hello Silence My Old Friend ] Edmunds.com
<p>I wonder how many of these cars are going to automotive companies such as Edmunds. Glad some are though as this is likely to be an interesting development, looking forward to seeing what they have to say about it.</p>
<p>I expect that MINI is happy to have an organization like Edmunds drive the MINI-E. This will provide exposure for the MINI-E. Also, as part of the review process, detailed logs of how and where the car is driven are kept. As well as driver impressions. The whole point of this program is to test the electric drive train in the real world and use that data for further development. The more data they have, the better.</p>
<p>There’s a great set of links to MINI E blogs on “Jason’s MINI” website:
<a href="http://jasonsmini.com/?p=132" rel="nofollow ugc">http://jasonsmini.com/?p=132</a></p>
<p>“Many MF readers don’t understand the appeal of an electric car, especially one that you can not own and has a fairly steep lease price.”</p>
<p>No, I cannot understand the appeal of an electric car when it’s a badly done conversion (Let’s remove passenger room for batteries! Ya!), or one that if I need it to get me the hell out of Dodge, I’ll still be within shooting distance.</p>