The last week of May saw the delivery of the first MINI e taking part in MINI’s lease program.
450 “lucky” drivers get to drive/use the MINI e as their primary mode of transport for a year.
Not that this is free though; they had to shell out $850 a month for a years’ (which is almost twice the lease amount for a regular MINI) lease plus taxes and insurance.

The $850 monthly lease goes to maintenance, parts replacement and other technical services needed.
After a year the vehicles get sent back to BMW-MINI for comparative testing.
It seems though that BMW won’t have to wait an entire year.
Already unforeseen problems are starting to crop up.
The first major issue was with the charging cable.
Apparently in many areas where the vehicles are being distributed, there is a local building code/s that states that all electrical hardware must be Underwriters Laboratories approved.
One of the requirements when applying for the lease was that there must be a socket/service inside the garage that supplies 220V.
Ooops. not too many of those in the US.
It has been a few months now. Check with your MINI dealer to find out the latest.

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