The BMW Mini E: Tiny Car. Tiny Range

Overview

The Mini E is tiny. This is contrasted by a battery that starts under the driver seat, which also consumes what would otherwise be the entire back seat and half the storage. This 3250lb vehicle runs out of electrical juice after about 140 miles. Although if you're like me, and you like to test the limits of your vehicle and 'gun-it', the Mini E will last significantly less miles before a recharge is needed. With a super-charger, you'll only need 3 hours (240 volts/ 48 amps). However, with a wall plug around 110 volts / 12 amps, you may need 3-4 times longer to get the charge on the lithium-ion battery pack to full.

Mini-E is For Lease Only

The car is unavailable for purchase; the only option is an all-inclusive one year lease. The steep $850 per month lease includes insurance, and of course you wont be buying gasoline (at least to put in the car, because it uses none!). At least you'll save $50 to $100 per month on gas, and at least $50 or more per month on insurance. After the year ends, the car must be returned. Right now, demand for the vehicle is about 4:1 and BMW plans to sell very few models. Just 500 Mini-E's will be offered by BMW on a one year lease basis only to California, New York and New Jersey.

The Mini-E is really a Mini converted to electric power. Some say this is one of the most stylish electric vehicles on the market yet.

An Altered Mini

The car starts out as a standard mini in Oxford, England, but it must be shipped to Munich, Germany for alterations. Once the car arrives at BMW headquaters (Munich, Germany), it is fitted with a 201 HP AC electric Motor, an AC DC converter, an on-board recharger, and a gold-annodized box under the hood which controls the power controls. An air-cooling system is also installed to prevent things from getting too hot. A gigantic 537lb battery pack is also installed which consumes half the storage space and the back-seat area. The 537lb batter pack contains 5088 lithium ion cells, which look similar to AA batteries (but they are bigger). In the Mini-E, the column mounted tachometer is replaced with a digital/ analog meter which gives the status of several different things, which include: battery-pack output, charge state, remaining distance, etc.

Performance

Aside from quick steering, the only high performance area of the Mini-E is the breaking. A well engineered brake operates like a locomotive dead-man's switch which allows the car to go from 70 mph to a complete halt in just 186 feet. In fact, the Mini-E is so enthusiastic about breaking that simply removing your foot from the 'gas' pedal causes it to stop in just 677 feet.

Below, the gold anodized electric control box can be seen under the hood. Electric cars have more simple designs than conventional cars, and some say once technolgy advances it may actually become much cheaper to produce electric vehicles (vs normal cars).


Notably an electric car has no transmission. On most the torque is excellent--however, on the Mini E, the throttle can best be described as 'soft'. The electric vehicle drivetrain is 150 kW (204-hp equivalent) electric motor with a single-stage helical gearbox. The Mini-E reaches 60 MPH in a sluggish 8.3 seconds. The top speed of the vehicle is 91mph, but it is governor limited, so the actual top-end is unknown. The battery performance was disappointing as well. When our journey began, the car projected 89 miles of battery life. However, just 45 miles of playful driving took the car down to a 25% charge. In other words, in just 45 miles, '68' of the projected miles were consumed.

Summary

Overall, the cute little car is incredibly cramped by a massive lithium ion battery. The torque and power were generally quite weak, and the short maximum distance makes the vehicle only safe for short in-town driving. Then consider the steep lease rate, and you've got an expensive, low performance vehicle. However, of course, you're saving the environment by using a zero emissions vehicle--and assuming you never drive over 100 miles a day (but also assuming you drive frequently), you could end up saving some money on gasoline (maybe?). In 2013 a new redesigned E-Mini will appear on its own dedicated platform--hopefully this new model will have a bit more power, and a bit more range (technology allowing). Keep in mind, most electric cars are expensive, and others, like the Nissan leaf, don't go over 100 miles either. So aside from the lack of torque or power (and trunkspace), maybe the Mini-E isn't in such bad company after all...

Tags: Electric Car, Electric Vehicle, Electric Vehicles, Lithium-Ion Batteries, Zero Emissions, Environmentally Friendly, Future of Cars, EV, Hybrid, Chevy Volt Electric Vehicle, Toyota Prius, Dodge Circuit EV, Nissan Leaf EV, BMW Mini E, E-mini, GM Buick Plug-In SUV, EPA MPG

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