Electric MINIs Headed for California

khallgeisler — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

BMW, which owns the Mini brand, is slated to bring 500 electric-powered Mini Coopers to California sometime in the near future. You will know them by their distinctive paint job, silver with a yellow roof. You'll also be able to recognize them by their quiet operation and smug, smiling drivers. Oh, how I wish I could be one of those.

The company is building 500 empty cars -- no engines, no fuel tanks, no gearboxes -- at the Mini factory in England. The shells will be shipped to Germany to be fitted with electric motors, batteries, and chargers, as well as presumably a new type of transmission. The completed Mini EVs will be brought to the States.

Well, one state, anyway. Like all these new-technology vehicles, BMW will lease the Minis to customers in California, not sell them outright. Of the 500 total, 490 will be available to the public, while 10 will be kept as show cars.

Folks outside California (and impatient Californians) can still get an electric Cooper, for a price. Hybrid Technologies converted a Mini to lithium-ion battery power and brought it to Popular Mechanics HQ last year. You can buy one from the company today that goes 75 mph and has a 100-mile range -- for about $50,000, or twice the price of a standard Mini.

Image courtesy of Mini.