At the end of this month, the hip brand under BMW – MINI – will unveil their first, fully electric car, aside from the MINI E conversion launched in 2009. The MINI E trial, along with the BMW ActiveE, was the foundation of the BMW i3. More than 1,800 people and organizations applied to be part of the field trial of 450 MINI Es.
Last month, the BMW Group announced that the new battery-electric MINI will be a variant of the brand’s core 3 door model. This fully electric car will go into production in 2019, increasing the choice of MINI powertrains to include petrol and diesel internal combustion engines, a plug-in hybrid and a battery electric vehicle. The electric MINI’s electric drivetrain will be built at the BMW Group’s e-mobility centre at Plants Dingolfing and Landshut in Bavaria before being integrated into the car at Plant Oxford, which is the main production location for the MINI 3 door model. The plant will make the car until at least 2023.
The technology in the expected new MINI-E will draw heavily from BMW’s i3 innovations, just as MINI and BMW ICE cars now share engines and a platform. And with MINIs moving up in size, a fully electric compact sedan is not that far-fetched.
The new MINI electric will be officially shown to the public next month at the Frankfurt Auto Show, just two weeks after its web debut.
