BMW does the electric Mini

BMW works on making the electric Mini, which sounds like a new dance.

(Credit: CNET)

If you had any doubts about an upcoming era of electric cars, put them aside. BMW announced it is testing electric powertrains in the Mini Cooper. Over the next year and a half, BMW will use a fleet of several hundred Minis to experiment with electric drive systems and, according to the press release, "determine the alternative drive of the future." If any company can do it, it's BMW. There are no current details about what motors and types of batteries BMW will use, but the company promises details by the end of the year.

[jerang04]

I can barely wait! I saw a show on discovery discussing this. Apparently BMW has been testing this for quite sometime in Munich.

[Corejob]

B MW should just license the PML QED conversion to the mini. All the work has already been done, and who doesn't want a 640 HP mini that's all electric and can go almost 300 miles?

[willdryden]

I agree. I want the PML system put into a full sized van. It should be able to pull a 10,000 lb trailer and still get better than 50MPG.

[Ramon366]

All they'll need to do is place a small speaker under the rear bumper and pipe an exhaust note out.

[Falcondir72]

Finally the age of the electric car has arrived. If a life-style icon such as the Mini can go electric then others will soon follow. Electric cars will no longer be for the fringe elements who have no sense of style. Personally I can't wait.

[Falcondir72]

Finally the age of the electric car has arrived. If a life-style icon such as the Mini can go electric then others will soon follow. Electric cars will no longer be for the fringe elements who have no sense of style. Personally I can't wait.

[markb1967]

ABOUT TIME, GM blew it in the 90's when they could have changed the world and been a hero to millions of consumers with the EV-1...But they (and other car makers, and oil companies) couldn't stand losing oil and maintenance that gas cars require....So they ended the leases and CRUSHED the cars out in the desert...Someone (BMW) may finally step up and do the RIGHT thing for the consumer, and the world.

[one80oneday]

this has already been done. just make it cheaper!
http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=742312030
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/the_hybrid_mini.php
http://www.worldcarfans.com/2060724.006/pml-builds-640hp-electric-mini

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[miniservice]

This is very exciting. the old adage 'necessity is the mother of invention" was never truer and we fully expect to see innovative responses to the impending challenges to our environment. As an <a href="http://www.mini-servicing.com/">independent Mini Service centre</a>, our challenge is keeping up with the technology we're going to require to maintain such a high tech vehicle as the Mini E.