2009 MINI E: Long-Range Feature

I think you need a bigger trailer.

You could fit the F250 in the trailer with the Mini.

This scenario suddenly justifies the whole idea behind the Volt.

9MPG with that load is impressive.

Well, it's more like...

$50,000 electric efficiency at its best...

Did it take you more than a day to complete the road test?

I would assume the test alone would quickly kill the battery.

Its a good thing its a MINI electric car and not a Hyundai electric car. I'd hate for you folks to have to critize Hyundai with that new, big, fat advertising contract you folks have with them.

I have been envisioning lately, with all the buzz about electric cars and their inherently short range, something of an 'in flight' tanker with all the juice you would ever need. Sorta like those travel cell phone battery quick charge units in a rolling dangerous-to-negotiate charge-while-driving protocol. Think:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Usaf.f15.f16.kc135.750pix.jpg

Could be fun!

And this is why I think that electric cars have no future, at least in their current form. Sure, it would be great for your commute to and from work everyday (so long as its not too long), but they are worthless for any long-distance trips. This would mean that I would effctively need two cars, which makes zero sense. I think the battery technology needs to grow by leaps and bounds before we can even begin to consider this a viable power source for future vehicles.

So Josh, which had better track numbers, the Mini E or the F250 with the trailer?

To be fair to the Mini it doesn't have over 6000 batteries...

On the other hand, it's just as worthless.

A few questions

1.Why the huge trailer?
2.Does this mean the F250 is going to become an unofficial LT truck?
3. Were was the Dodge Ram for all this?

I'm guessing the trailer belonged to the guys they hired to move the MiniE. The reason for the length is most cars are longer then a Mini and they don't have a trailer designed for every car they move.... just my guess.

When you drove the MINI E into the trailer, was there room to open the doors to get out?

I think we've well established that this is a daily short-range commuting vehicle, not a long-hauler...so this really isn't a surprise.

Why not try a generator????

That car is garbage.

Gas/diesel vehicles will be for girlie-men that want to drive an appliance that they don't have to put much thought into driving except to put gas in every week or two, lest thinking about their driving distract them from putting on makeup or talking on the phone. Manly men will embrace EV's because they demand attention and planning (where you're going, how fast you're driving, and thus what is your range). Not planning appropriately may require manly men to hang out by a plug somewhere for a couple hours for a little top-off, maybe late at night. All you girlie-men whiners can stick to your mindless petro-hogs. Others of us will venture into the new (or is it old?) frontier of EV's. A middle-ground choice for the wanna-be manly men will be something like the Volt with the "range-extending" engine... a security blanket/pacifier if you will.

By someguyposting on July 29, 2009 4:24 PM
Its a good thing its a MINI electric car and not a Hyundai electric car. I'd hate for you folks to have to critize Hyundai with that new, big, fat advertising contract you folks have with them.

What's your point? They weren't criticizing Mini, just commenting on the impracticality of short range electric vehicles. It just so happens that the one in their fleet is a Mini.

If they had the Hyundai, or a Tesla then the comments would have said "Here's what happens when your desitination is 62 miles away (one way) and you drive an Electric Hyundai/Tesla."

Yeah, triple axles aren't light. What year/displacement Powerstroke is that? Staff car or other? Manual?

AWESOME ROAD TRIP SETUP!!! The whole drive is shady, probably super quiet in the MINI, driver can get out and stretch whenever, the ultimate cruise control. I likee

"Electric efficiency at its best."

Could somebody please refer me to any statement from BMW that alleged that the MINI E was intended for 62-mile commutes and track runs? What's that? You mean it's intended for use as a city car or short-distance driver? Hmph, if only the manufacturer could somehow make that more apparent...

Jesus, the knee-jerk anti-greenies are as bad as the knee-jerk greenies.

@misterfusion: The trouble with electric city cars is that you have to own two cars if you live in a 7-day week in the real world. If you have a gas or hybrid "city car", you can still make it to Fontana, or Vegas, or New York City and own one car. Owning (and insuring and manufacturing) two of anything when you could've chosen a single something else is utterly wasteful. And isn't eliminating waste the whole point? The Mini-E lifestyle is far from mainstream, and therefore it's not "the answer" we all seek.

@actualsize: Are you talking about a 1-car household? In 2008, Americans had on average 2.28 cars per household: 34% had one car, 31% had 2 cars, and 35% had 3 cars or more. So 2/3 of the households in this country already have 2 cars and could possibly move to 1 EV and one or more gas cars, covering both bases. Sounds pretty mainstream to me.

Hmmm... first post didn't go through so here's a short version. 2+ vehicle households make up 2/3 of the households in the country. Many of those household don't need both/every vehicle to be a long-range one. Sounds like a very mainstream opportunity to have one EV in multi-vehicle households.

Almost everyone I know owns more then one car and in many cases it's more efficent. I own an SUV and a smaller 4 cyl car. The car does twice as many miles a year as the SUV as we use it far all the running around.

Electric cars will not be for long trips or people with unreasonably long commutes for some time. They are however far more efficient at the endless short trips that so many of us do all the time and that's what wastes the most gas.

The biggest problem with the MiniE is it's not really a production car and the average person doesn't seem to understand that. It's what is commonly called a beta. A machine that's provided to a customer at a reduced rate to judge response, find shortcomings and determine what changes need to be made for the final production version.

That's why there are so many conditions on who can get one, why you need to report back on how it's doing and why you don't get to keep it in the end.

@misterfusion - some of us try to be green. Pieces of junk like the Mini E hurt the green cause.

I hope the Volt is everything it's cracked up to be. If so, it'll put the Mini-e to shame.

More room. "Unlimited" range. Cost less. It probably won't even blow the main breaker on Mark's house.

Hey, I just noticed my air compressor says not to use it with an extension cord or it may trip a breaker. What a piece of crap. What were they thinking? I think I'm just going to through that hunk of junk away.

I hope the Volt is great too but I have my doubts.

My prediction is the Volt and MiniE will be equals for the first 40 miles.

For the next 60 miles the MiniE will have a big advantage as the Volts little gas motor starts roaring away and power is cut in half.

After 100 miles the Volt will move ahead unless the tow truck carrying the MiniE is a really fast one.

Either both are designed for people who don't drive a lot of miles. The Volts advantage is you can get home once the parties over.

The punchline to the joke is that BMW apparently thinks we need more of these MINI-E cars in the USA, and that we DON'T need a 50 MPG MINI diesel that can be re-fueled in 5 minutes.

@firstwagon

That's not how the Volt works. It has a gasoline motor onboard as a generator. It runs at it's peak efficiency to provide power to the electric motors. You have the same amount of power, you're just using gasoline to get it after the batteries run out.

@JKp, exactly. The Mini D would be great - long range, 4 seats, trunk. The Mini E = PR disaster.