Thu 29 Oct 2009
A little while ago, 450 lucky MINI people got a chance to test drive the new MINI e for a year.
A pilot project of MINI wherein actual consumers will lease the all electric, zero emission vehicle for $850 a month and use them as their main mode of daily commute.
Full scale production and sales is expected to start in 2012 in the US.
At the Los Angeles Auto show last fall where the MINI e was formally introduced, I noticed that on the outside, there were no apparent drastic design changes made to the body.
On the inside the first thing that will surely catch your eye is this big dark gray box right where the rear passenger seats are supposed to be.
That actually is the storage unit of for the high performance 572lb rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that powers the 150 KW (204hp) electric motor.
(Might be a problem if they decide to make a convertible.)
The batteries are made up of 5088 cells grouped into 48 modules which are then further grouped into 3 battery units inside the storage unit.
The unit itself has a maximum capacity of 35Kwh but a full recharge draws only 28Kwh.
Recharging can be done from any standard wall power outlet but the length of time to charge the batteries depends on the voltage and amperage available.
A wallbox provided by MINI with every lease allows for higher amperage thus shortening charging times.
Next your eyes will be drawn to the interior style cues that are all in yellow.
The MINI e’s gauges all seem to be in the same places as in its’ gas powered siblings except on closer inspection we see that instead of a rev counter we see a battery meter and the center console-the one that looks like a clock is still there, so are the rest of the all too familiar appointments.
To get even more up to date information then keep checking back here and as always, be sure to contact your Dallas area MINI car Dealership.
