German Car Zone

BMW is expected to release a limited run of 500 all-electric Minis designed to meet new Californian regulations that will require carmakers selling cars in the state to offer zero emission vehicles. The Mini factory located in Oxford, England, will supply cars without powertrains to a team located in Munich, Germany, which will add the electric powertrain.

An inside source confirmed that all 500 cars would end up in California, with 490 to be leased to selected customers and the remaining ten used as show cars. All will be painted silver but will feature yellow roofs, reports Automotive News.
A spokesman for Mini refused to confirm the news but told reporters that an announcement from BMW for the production of electric cars will be made later this year.
If you find the idea of an all-electric Mini appealing but don’t live in California, a company in Nevada can build you one complete with a 105hp (78kW) brushless AC motor and lithium-ion batteries. Nevada's Hybrid Technologis has in fact been producing the electric Minis for the past year and claims that charging up the car’s batteries takes about 8-10 hours from a regular household power outlet. Top speed is only around 80mph but driving at a slower speed preserves battery-life and means owners will be able to travel up to 120 miles on a single charge.


motorauthority

uh
zero emissions shouldn't mean zero taste

I known. When I read the title I thought "Oh how lovely finally an electric car that looks like a normal......car". But that all changed when I ready about the horrendous color scheme. I mean ***, silver with a yellow roof? What a way to ruin a cute car. How about selling the car in a neutral color scheme.

Further more they should be selling them here in London where the £8 congestion charge is getting on people's nerves. A man went as far as replicating the plate of another man's far. The dude went all the way up to northen UK and found a Range Rover looking exactly like his car. The produced a plate looking exactly like it, placed it on his own car and drove around London. The poor victim ended up getting congestion charge bills in excess of a few thousand pounds.

I like it. It looks special & distinctive.

It looks like a normal car with a huge musturd stain on the roof!

But the question is whether or not this color scheme is the one you would choose if you were to buy a Mini next week. Of all the Mini's I've seen none of them have even remotely been close to this. They should at least have picked black body paint to make it look less abnormal.

Would rather drive an electric silver MINI with yellow roof than a Hydrogen 7 all tagged with labels "Hydrogen", "Clean energy" ,"EfficientDynamics" etc

This way the test car is very distinctive yet discrete,

BTW. Is this program some testbed from future electric engines planned for Isseta(spelling?) and future MINIs?

(its a ps, made by myself - so maybe the yellow is alittle less bright)

it may be distinctive - but definitly not special
an e-mini should definitly have some more creative decorations
maybe an arctic white with yellow roof, silver looks very bland on this car