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.
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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.
The Mini Cooper is just a little shorter than the Chevy Bolt, 158 inches vs 164 inches. BMW should be able to squeeze a decent size battery back with great range! Musk set the new mass produced range of at least 200 miles.
Really?! What vehicle is that and when will he begin deliveries to paying customers?
Very precious.. The vehicle is the Model 3, I’m sure you’re well aware of it. For the UK, deliveries are probably 18 months away but the higher range US version has started shipping. He is Scott Campbell and he’s speculating on the possible range of the electric Mini and comparing known EV car sizes/range with the Mini. Elon’s company, Tesla, already has several EV cars with market leading ranges in them setting the benchmark above that of the Leaf and Zoe.
He’s contributing to a discussion, you are not.
You’ll have to excuse Terry, we usually medicate him if we’re expecting visitors.
Does not answer the question: since Tesla have no direct competitor for an EV Mini, what does their range have to do with this article? And since you will not be excusing me, medicating me, or providing any wit or useful information of any kind, why are you here?
If this isn’t a BMWblog? Time to move on. Buh bye.
BMW Blog which encourages discussions.
You are wrong, with such limited electric car products available to consumers people, including myself, would be tempted with an electric Mini even though there is a compromise on size to have a Mini vs the Tesla. I’ve owned 3 Mini’s in my life and now have a Merc, I’ve put a deposit on a Model 3 but am waiting with baited breath to hear more about the Mini and may cancel The Tesla if it’s the right all around package. Range is one of the key factors for me so if the Mini can go less than 200 miles then I’m not interested in entertaining it.
People are excusing you because you are a hostile little boy who needs to go out and play.
Thank you for the condescension, I’m actually old & hostile to hype. Where Tesla is concerned, as in hypothetical, their first volume model has not made it to the public yet, many hurdles to pass (as Elon & many cancelled deposits acknowledge). Talking about performance & range of a model not yet on the road is not discussion, not a done deal, it is conjecture. I’m also fed up with reading on BMW pages that the industry standard is a company that stuffed batteries in someone else’s sports car & whose biggest success is a 5,000 lb. luxury sedan that is neither green nor accessible to most of the public. I hope the Model 3 is a success, perhaps it will be the tipping point that turns EVs mainstream. The market certainly isn’t accepting them yet. Thus my scepticism. When I’m hostile, I don’t type.
I’m guessing a 58kWh battery with an EPA range rating of 250 miles…
What is interesting with the Tesla Model 3 optional battery pack, 310 miles with an estimated 75kwh pack secondary to more energy dense batteries. I love BMW i3’sbut they better get their engineers working harder. The car manufacturers also need to build their own public chargers, like Tesla, as the government is always in the slow mode. Right now Chevy Bolt, Leaf, and BMW i3’s will be waiting in line because of limited public charging. Even the public D.C. Fast charging is almost 3 times slower charging than Tesla’s Supercharging network! The infrastructure is as important as the EV.
Until the Model 3 becomes available to the buying public, charging it is irrelevant.
I know you don’t get out of the village much but when the rest of the public wants to go further afield they like charging infrastructure to do it so unless I misunderstand and you want to put a solar carport on top of a trailer, it’s not really going to help…
I live in Canada. If & when you can charge the Trans-Canada Highway, across the 2nd. largest country in the world, let me know, right now Tim Hortons has line-ups, let alone the (imaginary, non-existent) charging stations. One reason I’m hanging onto my elderly 4 cyl. econobox.