BMW’s re-launch of the MINI brand stateside was a marketing meisterstück. From focused billboards to user-friendly showrooms to a “cheeky” website– MINI never put a foot wrong. Their timing was impeccable, launching the anti-SUV just as SUVs became showroom anti-matter. Needless to say, the brand is now showing signs of losing the plot. A MINI Clubfoot? What’s that all about? A MINI SUV? Just as SUVs get stuck in the tarpit of a market meltdown? Now you might think that a EV MINI couldn’t miss. Well, it missed the gas price bubble. And it also missed the lesson of GM’s EV1– a product killed by a lack of range, a lack of interior space and long recharge times. On MINIspace, MINI’s mini MINI site, MINI’s Head of Project i (why not iMINI instead of the awkward MINI-E?) spills the beans. Ulrich Kranz reveals the hard facts about the 500 EV mules for which bleeding edge environmentalists will surrender their left testicle. “[Drivers will achieve] 240 kilometres if you drive at a moderate pace or 200 kilometres using the motor’s full output.” All this in a small car– without rear seats. (those belong to the li-on batteries). That’s 0 for 2. Recharge time? “The fastest way of charging the battery fully is using a wallbox supplied to all 500 MINI E drivers. The wallbox is installed in the driver’s garage and enables a higher amperage, which ensures extremely short charging times. Indeed, the wallbox takes no more than two and a half hours to charge up the battery.” So how long without the “did the lights just go dim again?” box? Crickets chirping. EV fans may line-up around the block, but I reckon they’ll eventually form a circle.
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“missed the gas price bubble” – surely you aren’t naive enough to think that gas prices will not go back up?
“lack of range” – how about the Chevy Volt that goes 40 miles on a charge? The MINI will double or triple that, and it’s already out in testing NOW. 150 miles is more than enough for many people’s commute or daily travels.
Removing the rear seats of the E does seem a bit drastic — but it is a test mule, and most MINI drivers don’t put passengers in the back anyway; many even CHOOSE to remove the rear seat to reduce weight. If it had at least a bench or something for my dog to rest on, that’d be good enough for me. (I am a MINI owner)
But I must admit, I also feel that MINI is losing its way. The Clubman and “Clubfoot” are a joke, and the “new” new MINI (the 2007+ hardtop, the 2009+ convertible) aren’t really as a great as the earlier models.
The average American commute is 16 miles one way. Lets say an average days driving is 32 miles for work, plus a few miles to pick the kids up from school, plus a few miles to get groceries and lunch, being about 50 miles a day. Any all electric car to be able to hit 50 miles a day on one charge will do very very well in the marketplace. People aren’t going to be using these cars to take road trips or to haul the family to the cabin 5 states away.
Recharge time? Who cares? Plug the car in at night and as long as the recharge time is less than 8 hours youre good to go the next day. If the batteries are good for ~130 miles you could forget to charge one night and still be OK for the next day.
At this point all electric cars are only going to be used for gas free commuting. Range, as long as it gets to work and back is fine. Recharge time, non issue if plugged in at night. Rear seats, not needed in a commuter car.
Actually, I think Mini product decisions aren’t that bad. The Clubman fills a niche for them when buyers want a little bigger vehicle without Mini having to design a new platform. The Mini SUV might not be so bad either since in the future those who live in the snow states and want all-wheel drive will be looking for smaller vehicles. Certainly not a home run decision, but probably a break even one. Electric? Gas prices will go up again and having a footprint in the electric car world can’t be bad. Mini’s YTD and October sales were up quite a bit but I think that’s because of the migration from big vehicles to small due to gas shock. If that trend doesn’t come to a total halt due to lowering gas prices maybe Mini will be happier with a slightly larger line of cars to get people into the showrooms to see. No matter how you look at it, they are selling *more* cars right now.
I take exception with calling the new Mini models worse than the previous. We’ve had both and I can tell you the new Mini Cooper is the better car by far.
GeeDashOff :
That’s the theory. But with the mileage, recharge time and space restrictions, the MINI-E is destined to be a second car for urban eco-worriers. That’s the truth of it.
Definitely a second car, but it is in production now, not some mystical date. It’s certainly not going to be spectacular, but they have a start – something to work with. If you think about it you could say the Wright Brother’s first flight was a failure, but it paved the way and got the ball rolling much like these will do, even if the range is short and there is no back seat.
“… or 200 kilometres using the motor’s full output”
And what would be wrong with that? I expect many families are similar to ours where we have two cars and at least 95% of our trips (comprising maybe 75% of total annual distance) are less than 100 km. with the balance being long distance vacations, etc. One of our cars could very easily be an electric if it achieved this range factoring in heaters, defrosters and air conditioning (and price).
I’d probably jump on this as a great city car; my wife seldom ventures out of the city during the week… but is there a mention of price?
ronmichaelz: The Volt’s range (using battery and gasoline) will be about 300 miles, and can be refilled at a gas station in 5 minutes. Yes, only the first 40 miles use cheap power from the grid, but you can still take the Volt on a long trip. You can’t take the MINI-E on a long trip.
Some people will accept the range and size limitations of the MINI-E. But the market for a range-limited two-seater that requires a plug is very limited. It won’t work for apartment-dwellers. It might work for a suburban couple who can afford two cars. It won’t work for suburban families with children.
I agree with all of the above (well almost….): the biggest problem with the present generation of BEV’s is not range or recharge time, it’s price. If they would be on offer at a price that’s no more than marginally more expensive than current ICE dino-mobiles I would buy one straight away because they would suite my transportation needs fine.
Moreover with 3000 Americans dead in New York 4500 in Iraq and many more in Afganistan in oil related/financed attacks and wars EV’s shouldn’t just be a dream for “urban eco-worriers”. It’s time that every body woke up already and realised that the gasoline-dream turned into a nightmare a longtime ago.
I, for one, salute the Early Adopters of this vehicle, so that one day, I can afford one.
My next vehicle purchase will be something far more efficient. The jury is still out if it will be Hybrid, small diesel, electric. Hopefully gas will remain cheap for the next 2-3 years to keep them on car lots and the markup low.
As others have said its a start. Keep in mind that the 1st gen Echoesque Prius was not exactly the cats pajamas.
As long as they can keep the price south of $30k this will be a profitable niche product. If/when they get this beyond the beta-testing phase they can tap some serious tax credit payola.
It some smart marketing they could even have electric utilities subsidize leasing. Power companies love the ideas EV, they get to sell what is otherwise unused idle-off peak capacity and grab a much bigger share of the household energy budget at the expense of oil.
I keep waiting for BMW to sell off Mini, before they run out of product ideas.
They’ve done the icon, the sports model, and the convertible, and then the wagon. Now they’re doing the SUV and the electric car.
Once those have all been done, how do you refresh the interest? You can’t change very much or the Mini isn’t a Mini. If you don’t change at all it becomes another Chrysler PT Cruiser.
According to other sources, there are 500 test vehicles split between east and west coasts. MINI has received 9000 “expressions of interest” and will select the 500 most suitable test owners. The lease will be $850/mo for one year (all service covered my MINI, obviously). This is about what you’d pay for a 1 year lease on any $20k car.
This is not a marketing exercise to see how many they can sell, or who is willing to pay $850, it is an engineering exercise.
As for the marketing, agreed that MINI is risking diluting the brand. The need to have a “big” MINI and an “SUV” MINI is driven by the craze to expand market share. They need to sell more stuff to more people to meet quarterly growth targets. However, I don’t see an EV version of their core vehicle as contributing to this dilution.
As for the posters above who complain the electric MINI is not the universal super car, I ask why should it be? It does what a lot of people need, very well. Regardless of how “suburban” you are you shouldn’t need to drive more than 50 miles per day for anything. (If you do, I’d say you picked a poor place to live.)
It absolutely works for suburban families with kids, especially if both parents work. One could easily get by commuting in a 2 seater while the other takes the Family Truckster.
Every electric or hybrid vehicle should be free to exist in the market to fill it’s own niche, and people can decide which they want to buy. The MINI is no better or worse than a Prius, Volt, or Tesla. The important thing is that we HAVE these options, not that we condemn any specific one for not being all things to all people.
This may be just the ticket to allow two car ‘envorinmentally conscious’ households to justify purchasing that V8 X5 ‘for when we need more space and range.’
“Regardless of how “suburban” you are you shouldn’t need to drive more than 50 miles per day for anything.”
And you don’t have to pick the kids up after gymnastics and take your mother to the doctor …
The average American car does 12,000 mi./yr. If you limit it to 50 miles a day, you have to stay home 125 days out of the year.
Why is that I suspect electric car enthusiasts of being guided by the Duke of Wellington’s Ghost:
“[Railroads will] only encourage the common people to move about needlessly.”
Another thing that bothers me is the performance claims. GM claims that they will get 40 mi. from 12 kWh out of a 400 lbs. battery pack.
The Mini is claimed to get 240 km. (150 mi) on a charge of 28 kWh out of a 573 lbs. battery.
This means that the Mini’s battery can hold 60% more energy per lbs. than GM’s can, or that they are lying, or something. Maybe its the Cherman Engineering.
I note that GM is claiming 3.34 mi/kWh. Even Tesla is not claiming more than that, according to the NYTimes.
The Mini is claiming 5.35 mi./kWh which strikes me as moonshine.
As for charging the Mini. A standard 120V 15A circuit will take at least 15 hours, an electric dryer circuit (240V 30A) would take about 4 hours, and the special box which maybe 2 dryer circuits about 2.5. That is if the special box doesn’t cause the batteries to go up in flames.
I say let Ed Begley drive it around for a while, then call me.
What’s all this, if you have to drive more then 50 miles then you picked a poor place to live stuff? Isn’t that a bit short sited and highly judgemental? You can easily top that, even within a large city, especially in the West that are spread all over the place.
An electrical vehicle sounds interesting, but it has to be able to get me where I need to go, when I need to get there, sometimes without much planning. Until I see these things out there, I am going to have my doubts. Its gotta be practical for people to buy it, and even as a commuter second car, I’m not sure this is it.