MINI E 'unboxed' in LA to the delight of car nerds, your mom

That's not really a "your mom" joke, more of a statement that your mom is pretty neat and has good taste in electric cars -- like this here MINI E. BMW just unveiled the first production MINI E to roll out of its magical electricity-imbuing factory, the first in a limited series of 500 for lease in California and metro New York to people way better looking than you. The bad news is that the all-electric MINI is part of what BMW is calling "Project I," a test of sorts to see how well electrics hold up to real world abuse and to figure out usage patterns of real-life photogenic people -- there's little indication that the car in its current incarnation will be distributed any more widely than this 500 car run. Check out a plethora of sexy unveiling pictures at the read link to help offset the pain.

[adam @ Nov 19th 2008 3:35AM]

no backseat or trunk??

i wouldve thought they could fill most of the goodies under the hood... or at least keep a small backseat.

[Carpet @ Nov 19th 2008 6:29AM]

An unofficial version has been shown off inthe UK for over two years now.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/the_hybrid_mini.php

I don't get why more manufacturers haven't jumped on the idea of using inductance motors in each wheel.

[Prince Ali @ Nov 19th 2008 9:29AM]

Agreed, is the battery taking up all the space where the backseat would be? I thought the battery would be the equivalent size of the gas tank. I guess not. 850/month is a lot for a lease, but this is for trial runs, so it's justified. The "real" production version will have to have a back seat though.

[Prince Ali @ Nov 19th 2008 9:31AM]

should* have a backseat.

[Axton @ Nov 19th 2008 12:07PM]

Agreed. Minis are damn sexy and i would love to have one, if it was electric, all the better, but i would require a back seat and trunk in my car.

[GaryZ @ Nov 19th 2008 1:20PM]

@Carpet: actually according to special features of Italian Job BD, the first electric minis ever built were the ones used in Hollywood/Highland subway scene of the movie.

[avis @ Nov 19th 2008 3:40AM]

what's the average miles per charge (mpc?)

[o rly @ Nov 19th 2008 4:10AM]

"The MINI E features a 150-kilowatt asynchronous motor and power comes from a 35-kWh, lithium-ion battery with a range of 150 miles (240 km)"

from http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/10/all-electric-mi.html

"The Mini E features a 150-kilowatt (204 horsepower) asynchronous motor coupled to a single-stage helical gearbox. The drivetrain produces 162 foot-pounds of torque the moment you hit the accelerator, propelling the car from 0 to 62 mph in 8.5 seconds. Top speed is limited to 95 mph.

Power comes from a 35-kWh, lithium-ion battery with a range of 150 miles. It is comprised of 5,088 individual cells in an air-cooled battery pack that weighs 573 pounds and charges in about eight hours. Those who lease the car get a "wallbox" that BMW will install in customers' garages to increase the amperage, reducing the charge time to 2.5 hours. Regenerative braking will help keep the battery charged out on the road, an arrangement BMW says extended the battery's range by 20 percent."

[avis @ Nov 19th 2008 5:37AM]

Thanks for the detail O rly

[avis @ Nov 19th 2008 5:37AM]

Thanks for the details O rly

[kyle allen @ Nov 19th 2008 3:44AM]

if they remade the old body style and made it electric... maybe id be interested

[KilgoreTrout @ Nov 19th 2008 3:56AM]

Oh my God, look at what a beautiful day they are enjoying in Frisco.
Oh California, land of the free geek, I miss you so.

[linuxamp @ Nov 19th 2008 4:29AM]

One too many prozac this morning eh Kilgore?

[kyle allen @ Nov 19th 2008 5:34AM]

actually, Portland is the land of the free geek, http://freegeek.org/

[Ayman @ Nov 19th 2008 4:04AM]

unboxed!! where is the box... i would take it an make a small house for the kids....
better yet... i would make the box like a 2nd garage

better yet i would escape prison like MGS
http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/11/18/man-escapes-prison-in-a-cardboard-box-mgs-style/

[MM @ Nov 19th 2008 4:47AM]

Your profile pic looks like a horny box cutter! Yes, unbox it

[Ayman @ Nov 19th 2008 4:53AM]

Do you need to see a Psychiatrist or would like me to take you to an Asylum (they serve brownies)

[djpurpose @ Nov 19th 2008 4:58AM]

I threw up a little in my mouth when I saw those tires. Yellow walls? Really? The "way better looking people" that these cars are going to are still going to have trouble getting laid if they are caught near this ugly thing.

[DT @ Nov 19th 2008 6:24AM]

Yikes... it's supposed to be 850 a month for the one-year lease. I was set to give up my 08 cooper S for the E, but forget it.

[fanman @ Nov 19th 2008 6:53AM]

Horah! A real world electric car that isn't just a glorifies go cart! Now all we need is a real world way of buying one!

[SteveJ @ Nov 19th 2008 8:09AM]

I was really interested in this until I learned that the batteries are in the back seat (meaning there is no back seat.) Other electric cars seem to be able to put the batteries underneath the car or otherwise retain a back seat. Oh well. It's possible that this is just another one of those teasers that manufacturers like to put out there for a while and then take away when they decide they'd rather keep selling you parts and maintenance for your inherently unreliable fossil-fuel burning car. We'll probably have to rely on small manufacturers for the real EVs.

[drsnacks @ Nov 19th 2008 9:17AM]

"for lease in California and metro New York to people way better looking than you." Not really. Speak for yourselves Engadget guys.

[StephenD @ Nov 19th 2008 10:16AM]

Hmm - Zero emissions, eh?

By my calculations, if you charged it for 2hrs per day @ 50W, that would be 210kg of CO2 from a coal-powered power station per week you'd be producing (83kg from a gas-powered power station).

Incidentally, it would cost you (in the UK) about £25 a week in 'fuel' if you ran it the full 150 miles per day (incl. weekends)

[Bob Wehadababyitsaboy @ Nov 19th 2008 10:23AM]

Yes, but you've now centralized the source of these emissions. Convert that power plant to renewable energy, and you've now resolved the situation without changing the cars at all.

[karmaghost @ Nov 19th 2008 12:05PM]

YOUR mom!

[_Mark_ @ Nov 19th 2008 6:30PM]

@SteveJ: "Other electric cars" like...
The Tesla? (oops, no backseat)
The WrightSpeed X1? (oops, no front passenger seat either)
The EV1? (oops, a much larger car, now buried in the desert)

Energy density is the major limiting factor in electric cars (and will probably remain so for decades), it's nowhere *near* gasoline, so if you want gasoline-car-equivalent range, you need more of it - and it has to fit *somewhere*...

[jake @ Nov 19th 2008 8:22PM]

Nice try; how about the eBox from the same company that made the drivetrain and battery packs for these MINI Es:

http://www.acpropulsion.com/ebox/

It seats 5.

I imagine the only reason why it's badly packaged is they are just doing this as a trial and they didn't want to redesign the whole MINI chassis, so they just put it in the backseat. I imagine when they release a production car it'll be a different car that they design with the battery packaging in mind.

There are ways to package the battery so you maintain usable space. The iMiev and the Smart Fortwo ED are example of this: they package the batteries under the floor.

I imagine the Tesla Model S will also be an example of this.

The Volt though a PHEV not really an EV, will be packaging the batteries through a center tunnel.

[yopladas @ Nov 19th 2008 8:28PM]

Is it just me or do Mini's come with a free girl?