BMW's Electric Car

The new Mini borrows a drive system from a high-performance electric sports car.

By Kevin Bullis

http://www.technologyreview.com/files/22020/mini_x220.jpg
Mini electric: The electric version of the Mini looks just like the regular version, except that it has a yellow plug logo and yellow trim.
Credit: BMW

On Wednesday, BMW introduced an electric version of the Mini compact car at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The first 200 of the cars have already been delivered to the United States, well ahead of a wave of new electric cars expected from other major automakers starting in 2010.

"They're the first to have a rollout," says Felix Kramer, founder of CalCars, a group that promotes the development of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. BMW was able to speed the introduction of the car by adapting an electric drive system from a small company in California to work in an existing vehicle. Other automakers are instead developing electric-car models from scratch. BMW, which acquired the Mini brand when it bought the Rover Group in 1994, plans to build an additional 300 electric cars by the end of the year, bringing the total to 500. The cars will be leased to select consumers for a year. The automaker's goal is to use the leased vehicles to gather information about real-world driving that will aid the engineering of future mass-produced electric vehicles. "There's no reason, after the first 500, they couldn't sell as many as they could build," Kramer says.....

Article From TR:
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/21688/?a=f

So if I've got this straight. BMW took the same battery pack used in the Tesla Roadster and put them in 200 Minis? That is pretty cool. Supposedly they have already tested some of these cars to well over 100,000 miles. That's pretty awesome. It also uses the nano fiber phosphate similar to the A123 if I'm not mistaken. That's pretty awesome. Although they are still very spendy. 2010 sounds like it will be a good year for electric cars. Toyota, Nissan, BMW, possibly GM if they're still around.

So if I've got this straight. BMW took the same battery pack used in the Tesla Roadster and put them in 200 Minis? That is pretty cool. Supposedly they have already tested some of these cars to well over 100,000 miles. That's pretty awesome. It also uses the nano fiber phosphate similar to the A123 if I'm not mistaken. That's pretty awesome. Although they are still very spendy. 2010 sounds like it will be a good year for electric cars. Toyota, Nissan, BMW, possibly GM if they're still around.





This does not sound good at all! It appears they are using standard lithium-ion cells, not any new technology cells. On top of that they will not have a well designed battery pack that is liquid cooled like the Tesla's pack. They didn't give any details of the actual battery pack. maybe it is a Tesla pack. It sure would make sense. Also, Tesla stated that it is making money from it's powertrain sales. Who are they selling that to?

It's all still a mystery. I wish the Mini used the new technology lithium-ion and not go the path that Tesla did. I just don't trust those batteries. If BMW didn't take the same care that Tesla did with their pack it could spell disaster. However, the number of cells is very close to the same number Tesla uses and BMW didn't have much time to design the pack. It's all speculation. Would BMW risk their reputation on a battery pack that was just thrown together? Just to be first? That would be foolish and could hurt their reputation.

Well, I'm looking forward to hearing all of the details. This is a very cool car. AC Propulsion is a very tiny company that went from producing only 2 systems a month to 60 systems a week! That is very cool but I can just imagine what the production floor looks like. That and the tired look on the faces of the employees! Can you say three shifts, 24/7? Yeah, those are fun times. ;)

Good luck BMW!

Personally, I think this whole plug-in Mini thing is a joke.
Did you see the lease rate on that Mini? $850 a month for
one year. Absurd. For over $10,000 you could have a
decent used car that would create a much lower carbon
footprint and last a lot longer than a year.

BMW bought a truckload of someone else's technology and
installed it in some engine-less Minis. Want one?
AC Propulsion sells the kits off their website for around $50,000.

Solectria did this 15 years ago with Geo Metros, but at least
they developed their own powertrain.

Sorry, not impressed.

The article said that the Mini uses the motor/controller by AC Propulsion, not the battery. AC Propulsion built the motor/controllers for GM's EV1. Tesla licensed AC Propulsion technology, and improved on it. :)

The thing about this vehicle is that it is not a full-on production model. It's a test platform, and BMW is letting leasees test it in real-life situations.

I would take from that, that the specific battery technology is not really relevant. When the model is moved to a production status, then the chemistry will be important as battery longevity will be important.