First MINI E delivered to LA customer
by Domenick Yoney on May 28th 2009 at 7:58AM 
MINI E - Click above for a hi-res gallery
Despite thousands of people signing up for a chance to lease the MINI E, only 500 are being produced at this stage, with 50 of those are destined for Berlin. Now, after months of winnowing down the list, the very first car has been delivered to one very happy customer. After meeting all the necessary requirements and having a charger installed in his garage, Peter Trepp took delivery of his shiny new ride last Friday. He had actually just test-driven one the day before where he learned of his impending good fortune.
Numbered 111, the electric two-seater is Peter's to enjoy for a year and he already expects that the parting will be difficult. His first drive in his car, like ours, occurred in bad L.A. traffic, but he was more than content and enjoyed the entire slow ride home. Trepp advises other future MINI E "pioneers" they'll get used to not having to touch the brake pedal. The regenerative braking is relatively strong and, he says, "not bad at all." Drivers won't have to worry about the people behind them being unaware when the car's momentum decreases as the brake lights will come on when the foot is lifted from the accelerator. You can follow Peters MINI E experience at his blog which he has diligently been updating since March.
Gallery: MINI E
[Source: Plugged-In With Peter's Mini E via USA Today]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bobmarley 8:18AM (5/28/2009)
I would have never guessed this guy would want to drive an EV!!!
lol
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Carlos 8:20AM (5/28/2009)
I think its silly for BMW to not let customers keep their cars.
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The Other Bob 9:13AM (5/28/2009)
Who Killed the Electric Car: the sequel.
Aprime 8:22AM (5/28/2009)
"...the brake lights will come on when the foot is lifted from the accelerator. You can follow Peters MINI E experience at his blog which he has diligently been updating since March."
Allow me to say, this is pretty stupid and bound to cause/be part of the cause of jams.
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Jsams4131 8:47AM (5/28/2009)
first thing that came to my mind...How obnoxious would it be to sit behind a car that looks like it's slowing down every 10 seconds...obviously this braking feature for the KERS needs to inform drivers to possibly change their accelerating/decelerating habits...because if this is a feature that will be introduced market wide, it will be sure to cause problems...
Snowdog 8:51AM (5/28/2009)
Obviously it will be keyed to light up depending on how fast you are actually decelerating. It is a sensible feature.
Indar20 11:48AM (5/28/2009)
Electric vehicles do not coast. Taking your foot off the gas causes a level of decelleration that you would expect from applying some pressure to the brake of a standard car. This feature makes sense.
nismo334 3:24PM (5/28/2009)
The first thing I thought of with this feature was Autopia at Disneyland. "To accelerate push your foot down on the pedal, to slow down take your foot off the pedal" and then some lady says something in Spanish that sounds like "sermino se sentavos por favor" I have no idea what that means.
foxdude0486 3:31PM (5/28/2009)
A lot of the cars I see daily already look like they're slowing down every 10 seconds... Oh wait that's because most peoples driving habits is to keep right on the ass of the person in front of them forcing them to hit the brakes constantly.
Lionsfan54 8:23AM (5/28/2009)
Wait, I thought only the evil GM did lease only on experimental EVs?
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Sea Urchin 8:29AM (5/28/2009)
GM is not evil, it's just dumb. GM made all this hoopla about Volt, but Honda and Mini are already testing their cars in real life.
Dondonel 10:09AM (5/28/2009)
@sea urchin
GM leased electric cars 20 years ago. And Volt is not an electric car, but don't fret, Toyonda will sell you electric dildos in pink.
Dondonel 8:25AM (5/28/2009)
My question is will Hollywood make the same noise and picket BMW headquarters when they'll pull the plug on this car and force the customers to return it?
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John 8:36AM (5/28/2009)
Hmmm, initially the lease thing sounds less than awesome, but it makes sense. Put the cars out in the real world, with real people, recoup some of your development costs (Probably a VERY small fraction of), and get some truely useful data for a technology that needs to advance as quickly as possible? Yeeeup, that makes sense. So too does making it an electric Mini. Something FUN to drive. Wish the guy luck on his year with the little car.
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Kumar 8:56AM (5/28/2009)
Hopefully more car makers do 'sneak previews' like this on upcoming models so we don't have to rely on biased auto journalists all the time.
Now if VW would just bring the Golf Twin-Drive testers stateside and lease one to me. ;)
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Jared 9:05AM (5/28/2009)
$850 per month lease. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense [rolleyes]
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Joe K. 9:19AM (5/28/2009)
Not buying any gas makes up the $500 difference, right? [rolleyes with emphasis]
Mike P. 1:02PM (5/28/2009)
Nobody's buying this to be economical, because it's not (money-wise).
They're paying for the priviledge to be one of the first to use an electric vehicle in their daily grind. They're pioneers, I suppose. That's pretty cool, and to some people it's probably well worth the cost.
The first Insight and the first Prius didn't make economic sense either. Heck, the current Prius has to be driven for quite a while before one recoups the cost.
MajorGeek 9:27AM (5/28/2009)
Thats not Jay Leno? Enjoy charging it on the next blackout, I hear electricity is expensive, like everything else in LA.
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Max 10:08AM (5/28/2009)
Given the poor reliability record of the gas version, this guy might be begging to give the car back after a year.
The $600/mo. lease on the FCX was a WAY better deal.
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