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Mini to go electric

  • By Paul Gover
  • Herald Sun
  • 03 October 2008
image BMW is planning a plug-in Mini.

A Mini with real spark will be ready for the road in November.

It's a plug-in electric car which will be previewed at the Los Angeles Motor Show ahead of sales of up to 500 cars in California through 2009.

There was no sign of the Mini volt in Paris yesterday, even though Mercedes-Benz had its electric Smart on show and up and running, but the car is definitely coming.

"It's a plug-in. It looks like a Mini, drives like a Mini, but doesn't sound like a Mini," the global head of sales and marketing for BMW Group, Ian Robertson, says.

He says BMW wants to get electric experience as soon as possible, not just in its cars but also to test the various infrastructure challenges from how and where to plug-in - at home, at work, at a government charging station - to the acceptance range for customers.

"We want to see how practical it is. We need to see if charging it at home works . . . right through to the issues of living with it."

Robertson would not go into technical details on the electric Mini, not even the battery pack or range, but said everything would be obvious at LA in just over a month.

 

Comments on this story

Displaying 3 of 7 comments

  • Chris, you need to see that electric motors are far more efficient than petrol engines. Today's AC motors are 85% efficient with the other 15% or so being lost to heat. On the other hand, a standard petrol engine is about 33% efficient for the potential power of the fuel, the rest of the energy is radiated out as heat and spewed out as exhaust gases. We are finally coming to the point where we can successfully use electricity to move vehicles... First, however, we came to the point where we could send electricity over great distances to power our homes. Or should we all be turning on a petrol generator to microwave our popcorn?

    James of Melbourne Posted on 17 October 2008 9:52pm

  • nigel - look up conservation of energy sometime. generation on the drivetrain, or based on the movement of the vehicle will just rob the vehicle of power, an discharge the batteries. The existing motors are used to recharge when braking, but that wont power the vehicle exclusively (obviously). Even the best scientists are constrained by the basic laws of physics - and though your imagination isnt, maybe it should be confined to dreams, not expectations.

    myco Posted on 15 October 2008 2:17pm

  • I'm all for electric cars, but whats the hassle with recharging the dawned things. in this day and age and with the technology that we have, why aren't the cars self sufficient. I see the newest electrics will emerge with an electric drive motor on each of the front wheels and one at the back. so who forgot to invent the generator and alternators. oh right they didn't. so why aren't we making use of them, why haven't we got one hooked up to each wheel and hey, while we are at it, maybe the drive shaft could could be made of or covered in magnetic particles to pass through a copper field to generate even more power to feed the battery that runs the car. come on scientists. think outside the box. you have enough moving parts on a car to produce an abundance of power, although, if you do that, then they might really kill the electric car..just think, self sufficient, no fuel bills, what was I thinking

    nigel thompson of Australia Posted on 09 October 2008 10:01am

  • It sounds good for around major towns, they could have system like they have in north America, US & Canada in there car parks where you just plug in. The down side would be the safety issue.

    Sam Brown of Perth Posted on 08 October 2008 12:48pm

  • Electric. Plug in Electric. Charged from the electricity grid. Moves the pollution from the tail pipe to the smoke stack. Great for the "City" not so great for the countryside around the Electric Generators.

    Chris Henri of Perth Posted on 07 October 2008 7:29pm

  • The question of charging seems fairly simple to me. Apart from the obvious "plug her in at home", it would seem very easy to have coin operated power outlets at all parking meters and at parking stations for those people who may need to drive greater distances than battery capacity allows in a day.

    Gerry Muirhead of Brisbane Posted on 07 October 2008 6:25pm

  • Anyone seen 'WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?' Is this just another ELECTRIC DREAM for governments to KILL OFF???

    Mic C Posted on 07 October 2008 5:58pm
Read all 7 comments

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