2010 Mini E Driven Like Any Other Car, U.K. Trial Shows

Ask a non EV owner what life is like with an electric car and you’re likely to hear tales of range anxiety, slow motoring and constant recharging. But as the results of BMW’s Mini E trial in the U.K. show, drivers of BMW’s two-seat, all-electric mini have, horror of horrors, been driving the car just like a regular car.

As the first phase of the U.K. based trial has come to an end, the data collected thus far shows some interesting trends.

Just like any other car, the average trip distance travelled in any one trip was a mere 8.5 miles, the equivalent of a morning commute to work.  With a realistic range of between 110 and 120 miles per charge, the Mini E could easily be driven for several days at a time without a charge.

But some more worrying statistics appeared when questioned about the Mini E’s performance and space.

Of those who took part in the trial, sixty-seven percent said they had to leave the all-electric mini at home when making family trips thanks to the lack of rear seats.  

While the car performed admirably as a commuting vehicle it was clear that families who took part in the program often found themselves using gasoline cars when a four or five seat EV would have sufficed.

Also criticized by test drivers was the extremely poor performance and range exhibited by the Mini E test fleet in the middle of winter, when temperatures dropped in the U.K. down to an unusually cold 0F (-18C).

As all test vehicles were fitted with lithium-ion battery packs, the culprit seems to be a lack of thermal battery management system.

BMW has also been testing fleets of Mini Es in several key markets in the U.S, including the states of New York and California. But while the iconic BMW Mini-E has helped to raise the profile of the electric car with it’s eye-catching decals and high-profile test fleet it is unlikely we’ll see them in showrooms any time.

BMW plans to use the test data from all BMW Mini E test schemes to develop electric drivetrain vehicles, including the 2013 Megacity Electric Car, developed as a brand new model to add to BMW’s range.

If there is one thing we’d like people to remember from these test results it would have to be this:

Electric cars can be driven just like most folks drive gasoline cars. Range anxiety doesn’t even come into it.



[BMW] via [Autoblog UK]