Filed under: LA Auto Show, Green, Hatchbacks, BMW, MINI
LA 2008: Live reveal of the MINI E in Beverly Hills
Click above for high-res image gallery of the MINI E
BMW board member Dr. Friederich Eichiner unveiled the first MINI E this afternoon at a press event in Beverly Hills, California. The company has built 500 of the battery-powered cars that will be leased to customers in Southern California and the New York City area starting in January. Each car is equipped with electric drive systems and battery packs provided by California's AC Propulsion. The 35 kWh packs are expected to provide a range of about 125-150 miles on a charge and accelerate the car to 60 mph in an very reasonable 8.5 seconds. BMW is using the MINI E as the first step of its Project I, which is focused on developing new innovations for urban mobility. A web site will be launched in the next couple of days where people will be able to officially apply for the program. For those who get selected, the MINI E lease will cost $850 /month and only last one year. Check out ABG for more information on the car and what BMW is trying to achieve with it.
[Source: AutoblogGreen]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Dasupersprint 5:37PM (11/18/2008)
Oh boy, tires with a white stripe on the side are making a comeback?
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gotsmart 5:57PM (11/18/2008)
Hey, sparky... those were called "whitewalls" back in the day.
And these don't look white... they're green, like the roof and mirrors.
*groan*
Dasupersprint 7:22PM (11/18/2008)
Sorry buddy if I didn't get the right term. My first language is french, so when I see a bande blanche, I call it whatever I can, in this case it's just a white stripe. And sorry too for the color of the said stripe. I shall never write again on this blog.
David 2:13AM (11/20/2008)
Dasupersprint, vous etes le bienvenu ici. On a besoin des pointes de vue differentes et en particulier celles des localisations Europeens. Ne vous inquietez pas de l'autre gar. Cependant, je crois qu'il voulait dire que vous etes plus jeune que lui, plus qu'il pense que vous n'avez pas su le mot juste pour cette variete de pneu.
Sam Abuelsamid 9:49AM (11/22/2008)
Actually they are yellow stripes, matching the logo
inteller 5:40PM (11/18/2008)
so in other words they unveiled it at one of the lessee's homes? because at 850 a mo you'll need to live in beverly hills to justify this thing.
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Yaroukh 5:43PM (11/18/2008)
*yawn*
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Dan 5:46PM (11/18/2008)
"The company has built 500 of the battery-powered cars that will be leased to customers in Southern California and the New York City area starting in January."
Here is the one thing I never get with these companies releasing plug-in cars in New York. 95% of the residents do not have a GARAGE!!! or means to plug the car in! We park on the streets, or in a parking garage, or a space down the road that we rent out.
No way am I running 10 extension cords from my apartment out to the street, down 3rd ave to my car.
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Gary 7:33PM (11/18/2008)
GM was asking questions such as "Do you have access to an electrical outlet at home?" when potential customers wanted to lease an EV1.
Does that mean GM was trying to block sales of the electric car? Sounds like due diligence to me.
Conundrum 7:47PM (11/18/2008)
@ Dan...
Yeah. You come out after a long holiday weekend to leave for work. The car is dead, the power cord is missing... you look up and the nice warm homeless man on the corner waves. He has your extension cord plugged into his highly inefficient electric space heater which he has been using all weekend on your dime!
Dan 9:30PM (11/18/2008)
Conundrum: haha, oh man that would forever stop me from giving to the homeless and trying to be fuel-efficent with my cars!
New Yorkers would be better off using SWO/WVO cars instead. I could turn my closet into a filtering facility!
Torrent 5:58PM (11/18/2008)
why must you have an electric version of a car that already gets a bazillion miles per gallon?
I love it, though. But the whitewalls WON'T work.
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happy_penguin 6:25PM (11/18/2008)
Yeah. They should bring on the old school big ass gangsta whitewalls so you can pimp in style.
Max 5:59PM (11/18/2008)
This makes the FCX seem like a bargain at $600/mo (for a 3 year period.)
And don't forget, you can't buy one if you don't have a locking garage, access to a power point and a laundry list of other qualifications.
I wonder if the bag of fail is included at no extra charge?
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jake 6:30PM (11/18/2008)
I agree the FCX Clarity lease is a much better deal since it no doubt costs more to make & also is a larger more useful car (however in terms of fueling it's even worst since you need hydrogen).
Of course according to a bunch of places who reported this story, a 1 year lease on a normal Mini would already cost almost $800/month so it's not that bad. The FCX is a 3 year lease and apparently a 3 year lease and 1 year lease are completely different in financing terms.
Anyways they'll probably have no problem finding 500 people to try these cars out.
Rainy99 6:32PM (11/18/2008)
"I wonder if the bag of fail is included at no extra charge?"
- Now that is funny. Kudos.
$850.00 a month? Not funny.
Bungle 6:54PM (11/18/2008)
@jake:
I haven't read the reports that you mentioned, but $800/month for even a fully-loaded Mini Cooper S would be an outrageously bad deal. Even assuming there's no down payment, that's almost $10K in one year. Considering that the point of a lease is to make a profit over the depreciation of a car over the lease term, that would make for a *huge* profit for the lessor.
Anyway, I don't mean to shoot the messenger - just wanted to bring that up. Unless the people who lease these Minis put a very high price on environmental conscience (or are using it as a "green" status symbol), $850/month is outrageous. One certainly could never come close to offsetting the price by reduced fuel costs, at least.
tankd0g 7:58PM (11/18/2008)
Still cheaper than a Tesla payment :)
Andre R. 6:25PM (11/18/2008)
Just saw 3 of them doing a photo shoot on Rodeo Drive about 20 minutes ago. And also a BMW Hydrogen 7.
Interior looks a bit different than the current Minis...
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why not the LS2LS7? 7:36PM (11/18/2008)
Especially behind the front seats.