Electric Mini Exclusive! 2009 Mini E Long Term Test Video

[Scorpiowned777]

Will there be an S or JCW model? jk

[LauraBeachnut]

NEXT STOP........... EV Miata MX-5 !!

[maenuuu]

we had one for an weekend and that car is pretty cool, but only in the city.

[devilloca12345678]

why shouldnt you manufacture a motor which can recharge the battries as the vehicle is moving(built-in),ofcourse it couldnt compansate 100% but it will charge by more than 40 % to 60% with our modern Technology ,,and we can add ampilifier to ampilify the rechargable energy,

[omgsean1]

tesla roadster can do 0-60 in 3.7 sec

[idontcare80]

I want one! Range is more than enough for me and I've only ever owned 2 seaters.

[jayandersons]

short comings of the eletric car , high price, short range,and battery life. I still want one.

[RobertGMuller]

I have 1500 miles on mine now. It has had a couple of problems, but that is what a test fleet is for. It's a pretty cool little car. I'd love to get it on a track. Once the battery technology gets some range, these will be reasonable consumer products. They'll even come down in price when the technology becomes mainstream.

[hawkermustang]

The Fred Flintstone car is better, faster, and cheaper. lol

[YTman28]

It's still a good car though.

[esancaro]

They have to make it a lot better. Like a 10 minute charge and lighter lithium battery packs. Then, road side restaurants can implement offers so one can stop for a snack while the car charges in a reasonable ammount of time.

[vintimv001]

fuck that car bmw should pay us not us pay them

[SinaPouya90]

i want a evil thirsty big V8 pickup!!!

[mrflummy]

I got to take one home for the weekend. This thing scoots right along. Let off the gas and the car slows quickly due to regeneration. Once you get used to that, it's easier to drive than a gas powered car. Vehicle speed is entirely controlled with the right hand pedal. You rarely touch the brake pedal. At freeway speed, there's still plenty of push. I plug it into the 240 volt outlet normally used for my milling machine. At 30A, it charges in a couple of hours. My next car WILL have a plug!

[SabahAlev]

i would sooner shove that 50k up my ass in pennys then pay to drive that shit heap, i love mini's that isn't a mini.

[YAGO323]

Lease for $800 a month and you are a gini ?? Sounds like you'll be paying to get F*****.

[zezasu]

it looks actually alright, i mean girls would like it and its quiet so you can enjoy talking/music (aside from other cars around) but i dont find it good, even though its electric, the power comes from places that emit carbon so i think thats a fail. hybrid mini seems interesting

[RobertGMuller]

I think the Mini is too small to handle both an electric system and a gas system, so I'd doubt we'll see a Mini hybrid (at least not one with the power of the E).

Yes, the interior is pretty quiet, but there's some road noise. And it does attract lots of people who want to ask about it.

It is, in essence, a coal-powered vehicle (albeit an efficient one), since most electricity in the US comes from coal.

[InsideLineVideo]

Thanks for everyone's comments. We'll be posting more eco-friendly car reviews in the coming weeks.

[Anothercoilgun]

100 miles is not bad at all. 50,000 is bad. What was the max speed. I say was because it will change as usual.

[RobertGMuller]

That 100 miles is without using the headlights, heat/AC, wipers, defogger, etc. The range goes WAY down once you start using those. Battery technology is what's holding these cars back.

[MazdamusPrime]

the excitement of knowing your in a car that may be more explosive than a pinto! lol j/k

[vaca129]

weres the fun in a electric car?!

[TangoR34]

a lot. Not conventional fun, but different kind of fun.

[RobertGMuller]

This car is fast, handles well, is comfortable, and gets plenty of attention. What more fun do you want?

[audigiovanni]

OMG

FASt, CUTE,IN ,CLEAN, QUIET ...

But no soul...(my car : a BMW V12 , 1988 and proud to pollute)

[l2iya]

nice car

now that the mechanical engineering is reversed to electrical , cars are gonna be waaaay better soon . just you all remember when cellphones were so big you could use them as a weapon in a fight ! they should put some exhaust noises in cars tho

[moderndesignworks]

I prefer it to be quiet and stealthy..........sneaky up to someone and pass them without any sound, that's fun!

[audigiovanni]

yeah but dangerous also

[mellowdalyricist]

they should have put the entire "engine" in the back, so there would be at least a bit of trunk space in the front

[zezasu]

you should write that idea to the company, you never know what they could do, and i thought your idea was good actually. :)

[tven99]

damn 7.7seconds in a eletric car.. thats a huge deal

[CensorshipFTL]

@tven99 Really? it is?

Tesla Model S is a REAL production electric coming for 49,000, it does 0-60 in 5.6 seconds.

[tven99]

yeah i know but there are a lot of problems

[chaser2273]

it had torque??? what

[onoff314]

just like all electric cars it has heaps..

[alterbyme]

The Interior is so... ROUND.

[mario1023]

i want that! is it purchasable yet in the USA?

[minibus1351]

not quite yet but I predict that it will be available within 2 years max.

[gunzkevin]

They should do this for the suzuki sx4 cus it beats the mini! lol jk, that commercial is stupid and makes me mad. This looks pretty good. but 50k is alot imo.

[azh01e]

looking forward to the updates. I could sure use one of these. That 100 mile limit is prefect for me. LET ME BE A TESTER!!! Every day gravel road, hot prairies of Nebraska with rain, hail, hot searing heats, snow and all. Would be the TRUEST TEST!

[coolerdude44]

can somebody explain why the europeans are all hot and bothered about these stupid electric cars? anybody who's seen the g-wiz, and wondered how britons could possibly drive one will know what i'm on about. unfortunately, this socialism crept its way over the atlantic, and obama believes this too.

but how is a car with a top speed of 90 and a range of 100 a good idea? what was the matter with a hydrogen fuel cell?

[ratryu]

Hydrogen explodes. Inefficient to produce. Takes a lot of energy to produce a little amount of hydrogen. Hydrogen produces very little electricity. Fuel-cells cost a lot to make (contains gold, platinum, etc). Too many problems with hydrogen.

The gwiz is a joke. Don't bother to mention NEVs. No one really likes them. Talk about real EVs. The Roadster, Model S, and a few new Nissan EVs. Better Place Rogue. Search for the Better Place Rogue. You will be surprised.

[coolerdude44]

i know hydrogen is electricity, but the difference is that you don't have to wait 4035498593450435890438590 years to have 1 mile of driving. you get normal car charecteristics, that's what's good about it.

and that's interesting about the nissan rogue. i'm buying a new rogue saturday ahaha, so that's cool.

[ratryu]

You only have to wait till 2011 or 2012. That is when more affordable EVs come out. Check out Better Place. Take a look at their battery swap tech. Take a look at the battery lease system. This will bring the affordable high-way-capable electric cars to our hands. I seriously can't wait till Tesla Motors makes their third model car ($30k car).

[ratryu]

Also with hydrogen, you have to wait longer than EVs. In few years, EVs will be cheaper than gas cars (cost and operation). Hydrogen still has huge problems. How many people can afford gold or platinum in their cars? Plus how people can afford replacing them in their cars?

Better Place's battery lease is the best option so far of a new breed of cars. EVs.

[coolerdude44]

great, but what about trips over 250 miles? i'm sorry, but society isn't going to accept a car that takes 16 hours to fuel. no matter how green it is.

[ratryu]

Are even looking at the battery swap tech? The Better Place batteries take 20-4 minutes to recharge.

[ratryu]

I meant 20 to 24 minutes to recharge.

[coolerdude44]

i glanced at it. personally i believe global warming is a hoax, so it's not for me. have fun being brainwashed.

[ratryu]

So you admit, the Better Place batteries work and swapping. Did I mention GW? What about cleaner air? I personally prefer cleaner air.

[ratryu]

How can you call me brainwashed, if I did a little research on this stuff? You are being brainwashed in to thinking that hydrogen is safe and affordable and efficient use of electricity.

[coolerdude44]

dude i'm obviously kidding. calm down.

[F650Rcr]

GW is a bunch of 'BULLSH*T". (Tourrettes Guy)

[stopcrazypp]

Hawaii already has chargers that can give you 80-120 miles in 10-20 minutes. Google "oahu rapid charge" and rapid charging's been in use for a while in forklifts and baggage carriers. Fastest charger so far can give you 150 miles in 10 minutes. Also Better Place is planning swap stations that take less than 2 mins to swap a battery. In everyday use, you just plug it in every night and the charging time is irrelevant as long as it's filled enough for daily driving in the morning.

[ratryu]

Oh also, those Fuel-cell hydrogen cars are electric cars. Just different energy storage. Hydrogen is highly inefficient produced. We do have a limited power grid. We can power just so many electric cars right now (about 80%). So even if we do build up the power grid, hydrogen is still a waste to of electricity use.

[nriqueog]

EPIC FAIL.... 2 passenger & NO cargo space. What a waist! BMW how about moving the electric engines out to the rotor hubs on each tire and using the engine compartment as the battery space?

[Conrrad1]

Nothing new here, several electric Mini's where build in 2002 for the movie "The Italian job". The scene on the subway station had CO2 restrictions from the Transportation Authority and they build the modified electric Mini's specifically for that scene.

Rent the movie and check out the "Special Features".

[theentrepreneur2006]

50 GRAND? Ok Ok...dont most people buy these to save cost on gas...ok ok so Im supposed to pay an extra 26g's to save roughly 800 a year on gas...these electric vehic puzzzle me... :/

[ratryu]

Yeah, some of the economics don't add up right now. Wait a little down the road. You will see cheaper EVs from Tesla Motors. And Better Place's EV infrastructure. You will understand the savings then.

[RobertGMuller]

It's an experimental vehicle, not a production vehicle. The testing now will help develop cars that don't cost so much and will go further. It's a stepping stone. And a fun one.

[asdfgoogle]

At just after 1:00 , when they say the batteries and electric gear add an additional 600lbs, is that the weight from an engine/transmission stripped MINI, or is that from the typical gasoline-powered weight of the MINI?

[Blue387]

This is interesting.

[G3n3ralN0ns3ns3]

Whats in the front under the hood then?!?

[xLethalLlamax]

a electric powered engine

[G3n3ralN0ns3ns3]

=( It's just not practical that's all.

Not yet at least.

[BlackTransAmdude]

damn 50,000?!

[novan3]

Its 0-60 time ain't bad for 600 lbs more weight :)

[edersiomoran]

Stupid battery packs. Lets all just go with gasoline until hydrogen comes along.

[muffins99]

Glad to see electric cars are catching on, albeit slowly. If we started making electric cars decades ago, today they'd be widely used and not expensive.

[anotherone10]

Those batteries must be very heavy, there was quite a bit of body roll. I would rather have a normal mini cooper.

[stopcrazypp]

The pack is mounted quite a bit higher than from what I see in most EVs. If mounted under the floor it might be better. The problem with the MINI is it's not designed to be an EV. They just put a battery pack in the back seat. So it's basically an experimental car like the video says. In an actual production car, the batteries would likely be put under the floor and used as part of the structure to save weight.

[AntoDamico]

Good job Edmunds!!

[bg1379]

Why don't all the long term vehicles get a video? You'd think it be easiest with them because you have many opportunities to make them.

[quatlen]

I agree, they need videos.

[InsideLineVideo]

It's definitely something we're considering. We want to provide a range of video formats, like spy videos, autos shows, and road tests as well as these. Thanks for the feedback.

[CSFREAK21]

50k+ 0_0

[8jamesj8]

looks dumb but a good start

[8jamesj8]

false

[nokia3591]

true

[clubtc05]

I still rather have cooper -s