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By 7driver
on October 20, 2008
11:28 AM
Ripping out the backseats (for the battery packs) kills it for me. Do you know if they at least left behind a flat load floor? If so, then this is essentially a really small standard cab pickup truck with a bed cap... and runs on electricity.
By chavis10
on October 20, 2008
01:38 PM
"The Mini E is the most promising electic vehicle yet"
Umm, did you see that part about only 500 copies being "sold?" Yet another publicity stunt that they press will eat up. What's the difference between this and the Hydrogen Equinox experiment GM is undertaking?
By editor_karl
on October 20, 2008
03:35 PM
"What's the difference between this and the Hydrogen Equinox experiment GM is undertaking?"
About 400 cars. GM is only producing 100 hydrogen Equinox models, and those have to be filled at one of 10 stations in all of Southern California (electrical outlets are a tad more common...)
Of course I don't know if Tesla has reached two digits in the production of their car. Same with the hydrogen 7 Series and the Honda FCX Clarity.
If 500 doesn't impress you then you must be laughing at the production numbers of all these other alterntive fuel cars.
Plus the Mini uses lithium ion, so between making 500 units and using the future of battery design I'm impressed -- thus the reason I called it "the most promising electric vehicle yet."
By blueguydotcom
on October 20, 2008
09:46 PM
No backseat. It's worthless to me.
By chavis10
on October 21, 2008
06:12 AM
When it's sold to regular consumers in real numbers, I'll be impressed. I understand the rationale of real world testing prototypes to gain valuable data and feedback but again, these excercises are nothing more than gloried headline grabbers. Can I go buy an electric mini at my local dealership? NO. When I can, then maybe it'll get my attention. As far as I know, the Volt will be the first "alternative" vehicle to be sold in volume from the door. That impresses me.
By sabastian
on October 21, 2008
06:22 AM
"As far as I know, the Volt will be the first "alternative" vehicle to be sold in volume from the door. That impresses me."
That's a bit of a stretch. Essentially, the Volt is a more advanced version of the gasoline-electric hybrid concept (More electric, less gasoline), and those types have cars have been on sale for a while.
By tackepj
on October 21, 2008
07:19 AM
What is this, 1996? This is BMW's version of the GM EV1, 12 years later. Range, performance, and capacity are almost identical. At least GM made over 2000.
Let me know when this is a real production car. Otherwise, it's just for media attention only.
By blueguydotcom
on October 21, 2008
08:13 AM
Didn't GM kill their electric car? Why was that?
By firstwagon
on October 21, 2008
06:45 PM
"Didn't GM kill their electric car? Why was that?"
Because it didn't work well and hardly anyone bought one.
Even with todays batteries it's pushing it a bit to build an electric cat now. Really we need to advance another generation in battery design before they will become mainstream.
Batteries need to be cheaper and hold a lot more power (so you don't need so many).