BMW Mini E

BMW will use media days at the Los Angeles auto show, which begin on November 29, to unveil a new electric car that's never before been seen. The electric model that will debut in California wasn't otherwise specified in the German maker's announcement, which called it simply "a world premiere...

We've known since last July that an all-electric Mini Cooper will go into production in 2019. Now, we can see the first renderings of the car that will make its official debut at the Frankfurt auto show in two weeks. The Mini Electric Concept is recognizable as the three-door hardtop version of the...

One of the earliest electric-car prototype test fleets of the modern day was made up of several hundred MINI E two-seaters, which hit U.S. roads on two-year leases from 2008 through 2010. MINI E drivers who loved driving electric--which is to say, many of them--were offered replacement BMW ActiveE...

Back in 2009, the MINI E electric car was BMW's very first attempt at building a battery-electric vehicle. The fleet of several hundred electric MINIs was leased out to volunteer test drivers in the U.S., Europe, China, and the U.K. to let the company gather data on how drivers used plug-in cars in...

BMW’s 1,000-strong fleet of ActiveE electric cars are stationed around the world, with the largest number of test cars concentrated in the U.S. Earlier this year, we got the chance to step behind the wheel of the very first BMW ActiveE to be delivered in the U.S., but earlier this week, we...

Over the years automakers have used a huge array of techniques to entice members of the public to become test drivers in their electric car test programs. Often however, high lease fees combined with the requirement that lesses give back the prototype or limited run electric car at the end of the...

A few months after BMW and MINI's electric car study ended in the United States, a similar scheme run in the U.K. has also come to a close, and the results are in... ...and if you've read the results of the American tests, the figures coming from the U.K. will all look very familiar. Basically, all...

The recent study of Mini E drivers may need to be taken with a few grains of salt.

What comes first? The electric car or the charging point? Of course it depends on who you ask. Generally if you’re an existing electric car owner the answer is likely to be the former. If you’re a government official, prospective electric car owner or automaker the answer is likely to...

BMW made a step towards its electric car future today by launching its ActiveE electric car forums. In its final Plugged-In newsletter to all its current MINI E Lease participants, BMW announced that the new website will form the backbone of BMW’s next electric car program. In addition, BMW...