Living Clean with Cars

The Electric Mini Cooper

Posted on 14. Jun, 2009 by Anna in Electric Vehicles, Featured

The electric Mini Cooper, or “Mini-E,” as it is popularly called, is on field trial in the US. It is a Mini Cooper S that runs fully on electric energy. For a limited time, people can lease one for a year, and at the end of the contract, the car will be taken back by Mini Cooper for evaluation of their performance.

The Mini-E is available for LA and NY/NJ metro areas residents. Participants of the field test must be willing to shell out $850 a month for the one year lease. They must also have access to a garage, provide monthly feedback to Mini’s research team, access to backup transportation options and have updated electrical wirings at home. A garage is required for the installation of a high-voltage wall box for the charger.

There are only 500 Mini-Es available for the test and Mini hopes to gather data to understand the general impact of the vehicle. Each vehicle will be equipped with a data logging device that would measure the Mini-E’s performance, such as power usage and the total distance travelled.

Driving a Mini-E will be a privilege but that’s not the only thing the drivers have in store for them. They can be entitled for some other incentives, such as tax breaks, HOV lane access, free or reduced tolls, and free or preferred parking in some areas.

But it also has its downsides. For one, the Mini-E has a limited range. On a full battery, it has managed to drive 156 miles. Depending on the driving style and conditions, an average of 100 to 120 miles can be achieved. That means your round trip should be a maximum of 100 miles. Beyond that you risk draining the battery with no way of charging the Mini-E.

Hopefully after the field test, the Mini-E will be available for purchase. Mini still has to figure out the endurance of the Mini-E’s batteries and other pertinent data they can gather after the test period.  Then they can improve on the Mini-E and come out with a better one for the mass market.

Sadly, for now all of the 500 Mini-Es have been given out to their test drivers. Those of use that were not fortunate enough to be leased one would have to wait for the time the Mini-E will be made available for everyone.

If you want to find out more about the Mini-E, check out its official web site here.

Tags: Driving, Electric Cars, Electric Mini Cooper, Energy, People, Risk, S Market, Travel