VIDEO: Jay Leno's Garage welcomes the MINI E
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Jay Leno is no stranger to electric vehicles, having owned or driven EVs as wide ranging as the 1909 Baker Electric to the Vectrix motorscooter, Zero X motorcycle and the Tesla Roadster. The latest EV that seems to have caught the denim-clad celebrity's attention is the new MINI E. Jay found some time to meet with a couple of representatives from BMW and they discussed the merits of the zero-emission vehicle on video. Later, Jay took the car out for a quick little silent drive and he stretched the legs of the AC Propulsion drivetrain in both city and highway loops. Overall, Jay had plenty of good things to say about the experience, especially about its performance and the short recharge time due to the high-capacity charger that's included as part of the $850 per-month lease package. Click past the break to watch the video. Thanks for the tip, M. Broz!
[Source: Jay Leno's Garage]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jpm 8:58PM (3/10/2009)
850/month......... sad :(
Sell these for a reasonable price goddamit.
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paulwesterberg 9:15PM (3/10/2009)
I agree the price is pretty crazy, It will get better once these are in mass production and the price of the battery pack comes down. 850 a month is like buying a Tesla and paying it off over 11 years. The mini isn't as good as the tesla, but since you don't buy it you don't have to worry if the battery pack gets knackered.
If you watch the video the bmw sales lady says there are 5,000 cells in the battery so it must use custom packs. A production battery pack would probably use a smaller number of larger cells.
Jay forgot to mention that it should only cost about $2-3 to fully charge it.
eliot 10:50PM (3/10/2009)
I thought the 850/mo covered insurance and any repairs to the E-Mini's. Also you're forgetting economies of scale. There are very few electric Mini's so they are expensive to build. When they start building these in bulk the price would come way down.
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jpm 1:15AM (3/11/2009)
how do we got economies of scale if no mfg ever puts them on sale
Chris 12:12AM (3/11/2009)
Actually, the cost including taxes and fees is about $915 a month. I imagine that BMW is still losing a fair amount of money per vehicle at that price point. This program is more like a science experiment. Hopefully, they get good results and mass produce an electric Mini so that economies of scale can work their mojo.
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Benson 11:37AM (3/11/2009)
BMW, and Mr. Agassi, please get your hands out of my pants (for my wallet I think) and sell the car with the batteries. Electric companies already are feeling around to see what they can find. For once, simply make an electric car and get your hands out of my pockets!
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Snowdog 8:17AM (3/11/2009)
The pricing is the simple reality of the expense of large battery packs. There is no getting around it until we have a battery breakthrough.
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Ray 7:02PM (3/21/2009)
Yes get out of his pants unless you pay him first. LOL
My lithium batteries are Kokoms from Korea. They are 10 pack with 8 cells in each. So a total of 80 cells. Much different than 5000 cells. ACpropulsions uses batteries made for electric drills and so on. They are small which is why there are so many cells. Kokams are made for large use like propelling a 2,400 LBS vehicle down the road. My vehicle is a Toyota Yaris. It has a range of over 100 miles. It does take 10- 12 hours to charge on 110 and 6-8 on 220. I bet the E Mini is not completely charged after two hours but instead reaches a charge of 80 percent or so(still great). All chargers slow down as they reach 90% of charge. I love my E Yaris it is a great vehicle and is enjoyed immensly. It has almost 3000 miles on it now since the middle of Jan 09. I have perchased my last gas cars. It is so obvious this is the futer.
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