Skip to Content

minie


BMW mull lengthening Mini E lease times

There are reasons to criticize the Mini E leases that BMW is offering – for example, that BMW is using the program to game CARB's Zero Emission Vehicle credit system – but one of the undeniable problems on the ground was some trouble with slow home charging. Because of the trouble with some home chargers at the start of the program, the manager of Mini electric vehicle operations and strategy, Richard Steinberg, told Car and Driver that BMW is considering extending the leases. There are two reasons an extension would be good for ... Read more →

GM-Volt founder stranded, learns why EVs take so long to bring to market Sam Abuelsamid

Over the last several years, many of the fans of battery-powered vehicles here on ABG have asked quite vociferously why it's taking companies like General Motors so long to bring cars like the ...

MINI selects 40 UK test drivers for MINI E leases Sam Abuelsamid

MINI E - Click above for high-res image gallery Apparently drivers in the UK were not as enthralled by the prospect of leasing the battery-powered MINI E as Americans. While some 10,000 drivers ...

MINI Es gather in Long Beach Sebastian Blanco

Yesterday, about 20 MINI E drivers brought their all-electric rides to Jesse James' Cisco Burger in Long Beach, California for a little plug-in love fest. MINI E driver Todd C. was there and sent ...

BMW accepting applications for lower-cost MINI E leases in UK Xavier Navarro

MINI E - Click above for high-res image gallery Good news for southwest England residents who are fans of EVs and/or the MINI: BMW is now accepting applications for an allotment of 20 MINI E ...

Germany setting sights on one million electric cars by 2020? 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

According to a report from the Associated Press (via Drive.com.au), Germany is about to get serious about electric cars. How serious? Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet is currently drafting a plan that would aim to put a million electric cars on German roadways by 2020. To meet that lofty ...

BMW gets MINI E research assist from UC Davis in year-long study 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

The University of California at Davis has a long history of understanding plug-in vehicles and how people use plug-ins. After all, this is a school with a dedicated Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) Research Center. The latest automaker to benefit from the UCD team is BMW, which is asking ...

EV-TV perfects Porsche, now converting Clubman 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

In the "Can I convert a gas vehicle to electric" installation of our Greenlings series we featured a video of a very sweet '57 Porsche 356 Speedster reproduction from Special Edition that had an electric drivetrain installed in place of its original gas-burner. Jack Rickard, the man behind that ...

Tales of woe from the electric car frontier, MINI E edition 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

We've heard the stories about the charging problems with BMW's MINI E lease program and understand that paying $850 a month for one of these electric cars doesn't appeal to everyone. Still, the issues that some early adopters are dealing with with these EVs are pretty dramatic: the car going ...

Home charging: Renewable energy-powered MINI Es start testing in Munich 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

BMW has officially announced a partnership with the E.ON utility company to test drive 15 MINI Es in Münich, Germany. E.On will provide electricity for the cars in 13 special charging stations near the Museumislen area of town. The juice for these stations will be certified to come from ...

MINI E survives first fender bender 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

MINI E - Click above for high-res image gallery The first accident we've heard of that involved a MINI E resulted in a dent in the rear hatch and not much else. The fender bender – which took place at low speeds and was apparently the fault of a large white van behind the all-electric MINI ...

MINI explains the drop in estimated range for MINI E 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

Those paying close attention might have noticed that as MINI USA has been delivering battery-powered MINI Es in recent weeks, the range estimate is being quoted as 100 miles. Last November, when we first saw and drove the MINI E, the range was estimated at 156 miles. When we actually drove the ...

1,000 miles in a MINI E, the review 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

MINI E - Click above for high-res image gallery One of the most desired electric vehicles available (somewhat) today is the MINI E. Short test drives can't duplicate what it's like to live with such a car, but there are a multiple blogs being written about the daily MINI E experience. Lyle ...

BMW building more MINI Es for European testing 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

The popularity of BMW's MINI E test program in the United States has evidently prompted the company to expand production beyond the original 500 cars and add a smaller test fleet in Europe. The original plan, as announced last fall, was for 500 of the battery-powered MINIs to be made available ...

Plug In America criticizes CARB loophole that could help BMW with its MINI E 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

BMW has gotten a lot of press (some bad) for their MINI E project. Even though the all-electric car comes with a plug, the plug-in advocacy group Plug In America (PIA) has a problem with the way that the Bavarians might be able to get a lot of legislative good will without really putting EVs on ...

BMW gets approval for UK MINI E test fleet 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

Ford isn't the only automaker involved in a new EV test program being funded by the Technology Strategy Board in the UK. BMW will also be a part of the year-long, £25 million field test with its MINI E. Scottish and Southern Energy will be testing the cars along with the Focus EVs we ...

MINI E recipient starts a blog about his electric adventure 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

Pasadena, California resident Mark Winkworth is one of the 450 individuals in Southern California and the New York/New Jersey areas that made it through the MINI E screening process. After having received the word that he had been accepted back in May, he'd been waiting (im)patiently until this past ...

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept gets a steal of a deal on MINI E lease 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) is getting in on BMW's MINI E action in a big way. The LA County Board of Supervisors have given their approval to a deal that will see a squadron of 17 of the AC Propulsion-electrified retro-cutes join the force as part of the testing program ...

Meet a MINI E that will only use solar power 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

The all-electric MINI Es are starting to be delivered, and AutoblogGreen reader David VM. will do something a little extra with his new ride: power it completely by solar power. David has started up a new blog called MINI E 19 (his car is #19) and the first entry talks about the initial week ...

Underwriters Lab holdup means some MINI Es will take all day to charge 6 months ago on Autoblog Green

With MINI Es finally being delivered to the 450 test drivers in New York and California, a problem has cropped up that will limit the ability of many of those people to actually use the car. When MINI USA was taking applications for leases on the new EV, among the requirements were a garage with ...

First MINI E delivered to customer 6 months ago on Autoblog Green

Despite thousands of people signing up for a chance to lease the MINI E, only 500 are being produced at this stage, with 50 of those destined for Berlin. Now, after months of winnowing down the list, the very first car has been delivered to one very happy customer. After meeting all the ...

VIDEO: Jay Leno's Garage welcomes the MINI E 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

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 ...

UK next in line for MINI E testing? 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

It's no surprise that there is a lot of demand for the all-electric version of the MINI. We heard that London might get some of the limited-supply MINI E's last fall, but now the Telegraph is saying that a plug-in version of the MINI could be "on sale in Britain" by the end of 2009 (we assume ...

Automobilwoche editor: widespread electric cars will take 15 more years 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

The long wait for the electric car (remember, they've been "just around the corner" for over 100 years) will continue. That's the verdict of Automobilwoche editor Guido Reinking, who wrote an article this week that predicted that we won't be getting serious numbers of electric cars on the road ...

MINI E delayed? Not exactly, but it is perhaps too popular 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

The new MINI E is proving once again that there is a significant pent up demand for electric vehicles. Apparently, BMW is grappling with roughly 1,800 applicants and only 450 cars to deliver. Sounds like a good number of electric MINI hopefuls are going to miss out. While it's certainly good ...

New York City to get 10 MINI Es for road test 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that MINI USA will be providing ten of its MINI E electric cars to the city for the next year. The cars will be used by the Street Condition Observation Unit which prowls the city in search of potholes and graffiti. The ten NYC cars are part of 50 ...

Green Car Journal picks 5 nominees for Green Car Vision award 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

Having honored the VW Jetta TDI as the Green Car of the Year at last month's LA Auto Show, the editors at Green Car Journal are not done with awards just yet. Next up they will be selecting a winner for the Green Car Vision award. The nominees go beyond ordinary concepts and are either current low ...

BMW brings Hydrogen 7 fleet, MINI E to UN Climate Change conference 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

21 of BMW's Hydrogen 7s are serving as shuttle vehicles during the UN Climate Change conference this week in Poznan, Poland. A pair of all-electric MINI Es are also on hand to show off the German automaker's zero emission skillz. To deflect hydrogen critics, BMW made sure to run the 7's ...

BMW to use MINI E platform for future electrics 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

We've spent plenty of time going over the design of the new MINI E electric car since it was formally unveiled at the LA Auto Show. We've been inside, underneath and even behind the steering wheel a few times, and we can therefore say with authority that the car works as advertised. There are a ...

What's it take to get a MINI E? Well, do you have an iPhone? 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

There's not been any lack of information on these pages recently about the MINI E, but there's one question that still needs an answer: how do you get your hands on one? We know that only 500 of these all-electric cars will be leased at $850 a month and that they'll only be available to people ...

MINI E regenerative brakes will turn on brake lights without hitting the pedal 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

An interesting question came up the other day regarding my quick drive review of the new battery powered MINI E. I noted that the MINI uses much more regen than other electrically-driven vehicles that I've tried, with deceleration on the order of about 0.4 g. That's actually pretty heavy ...

50 MINI E vehicles bound for Berlin 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Did you think that MINI would leave Germany without a MINI E test? No way. Perhaps because SMART is doing something similar, Berlin is going to get 50 MINI E vehicles for testing. MINI has partnered with Swedish energy company Vattenfall so that the electricity powering these cars will be ...

ABG Quick Drive: Battery-powered MINI-E w/VIDEO 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

For three days before and during the media previews for the Los Angeles Auto Show last week, BMW had about a dozen electric MINIs available for evaluation drives. We finally got our crack at one Thursday morning at the LA convention center. The 6.5 mile loop that BMW laid out was both a ...

LA 2008: Confirmed - AC Propulsion provided the electric drive systems for the MINI E 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

In conjunction with the official unveiling of the MINI E a the LA Auto Show, AC Propulsion has confirmed that it has produced the electric drive system for the car. When BMW first released some of the details on the new battery powered MINI E a few weeks back we speculated based on the description ...

LA 2008: Live reveal of the MINI E 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

This afternoon BMW representatives took the wraps off the first "production" MINI E, #1 of a run of 500 that will be leased to customers in the southern California and metro New York areas starting in January. Dr. Friederich Eichiner presented the electric car to the press on the roof top ...

In the Wild: 2009 MINI E in Beverly Hills 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The electric MINIs have arrived! While getting ready for today's festivities here in Los Angeles, we spotted one of the 500 MINI Es that will be leased starting in January. Apparently international media are trying them out today and we'll have our opportunity in the next couple of days. The ...

Next Page →


Featured Galleries

  • LA 2009: CMT-380
  • LA 2009: Mitsubishi i-MiEV
  • LA 2009: Faurecia Booth
  • LA 2009: Fisker Karma
  • Audi A3 TDI - 2010 Green Car of the Year
  • World's Most Expensive Tesla Roadster
  • LA 2009: Mitsubishi PX-MiEV
  • LA 2009: Mitsubishi i-MiEV for Geek Squad
  • Honda P-NUT
  • LA 2009: Honda P-NUT
  • Ford Focus Econetic
  • Capstone Turbine CMT-380

Categories

Autoblog

Daily Finance

Download Squad

Engadget

Joystiq

Autoblog Spanish

Switched.com

FanHouse

Asylum