OT: Fully Electric Mini

[jim_hoyland]

This is off topic; but, a friend stoped by today to show me a fully electric 200+ hp Mini Cooper--made by BMW. He is one of 400 in the USA testing the all electric car for one year. BMW moniters performance and pays most of the bills. This car accelerated like a turbo carrera; and totally silent. When you let off on the "gas", an alternator kicks in to generate electricity to recharge and slows the car down. Very little braking needed.

This car was number 230 and designated such on the front . The motor is made by the same company making the Tesla. Production is not scheduled and BMW has not committed any particular model for full electric. Here's a couple of pics:

[Lordblood]

I really like how it said "no fuel!" on the...electricity filler cap. As if- despite owning a expensive prototype electric car- you would forget that it uses electricity and just fill it with gasoline.

What is the range before it needs to be recharged? I'm assuming it will be a lot less on the highway when you actually let go of the accelerator a lot less.

love it...as long as they can make em sporty, I don't care if they run on pork fried rice or gas....

Originally Posted by jim_hoyland

This is off topic; but, a friend stoped by today to show me a fully electric 200+ hp Mini Cooper--made by BMW. He is one of 400 in the USA testing the all electric car for one year. BMW moniters performance and pays most of the bills. This car accelerated like a turbo carrera; and totally silent. When you let off on the "gas", an alternator kicks in to generate electricity to recharge and slows the car down. Very little braking needed.

This car was number 230 and designated such on the front . The motor is made by the same company making the Tesla. Production is not scheduled and BMW has not committed any particular model for full electric. Here's a couple of pics:

[Brucelee]

I have been following this story for some time; in fact, I wrote a research paper about this topic 2 years ago.


I really like the Mini and think this E car is a winner. I would have preferred a small gas supplement to charge the battery. Long trips are kind of a challenge with an E car only.

Go BMW.

[jim_hoyland]

Reported milage per charge is around 100 mles; but the charginging from deceleration can add up to 20%. Stop and go traffic can be your friend because of the recharginging from the alternator.

[SoCalKen]

Apparently the problem with the lithium/ion batteries is the ability to charge them fast. It seems the problem is the medium betwen the layers is not the ideal medium and breaks down and heats up and further breaks down... with rapid charging. there is a company in CA that has solved this problem but cost is a factor and the car companies dont want to pay more for their batteries as the batteries would outlast the car. I think they actually have a working car that can go 100 miles with it's batteries with either under 1 hour or under 15 min charge (I think it's the under 15min charge). There is now legal challenges because there was a tax that's been being collected from auto sales to subsidize a car that can go 100 miles with under a 15 min charge (again I forget if it's the under 1 hour or under 15 min) and the gvmnt does not want to give them the subsidy (spelling?) money after demonstrating they can do it.

[JAAY]

If you plan on beating them up the motors will overheat and go into a limp mode till they cool down. Same thing when they tested the the telsa. I actually live around the block from the original tesla facility. Home of the death ray. Maybe Ill go shoot a photo with it in the back round.

[jmatta]

How cool is that...does it come with a CD that plays exhaust sounds?

[RandallNeighbour]

Originally Posted by Fred Demara

love it...as long as they can make em sporty, I don't care if they run on pork fried rice or gas....

What a perfectly good waste of pork fried rice.