I thought the 850 a month included insurance and the installation of the charger. Can we get a more accurate monthly cost without these things. Because if it is 850 a month for the car, then no, this thing will fail for the same reasons the EV1 did.

I have a hard time understanding why someone would buy an electric car over the Prius, which has far fewer drawbacks, a reputation as being reasonable reliable, seats double and costs a third as much. Of course the handling of the Mini, but for the difference in cost I can pickup a CBR600 for that.

Sounds like the Mini E is an epic fail. While the Prius is an old person's car I'd agree with bepper, it's not a massive compromise. For the way most people drive the Prius is fine - good range, normal driving, no special connections, good trunk, tons of interior space.

I must also agree with bepperb, there are currently too many drawbacks to a strictly electric vehicle. The storage issue is a huge one, 2.1 cubic feet just isn't enough. As much as I hate the Prius, it is a wonderful alternative. If I were to have my choice of all the electric vehicles in development or available now, I'd have to go with the Ruf electric 911.

Hopefully we'll see more electric and hybrid vehicles which are actually fun to drive in the coming years. However, right now, vehicles with an internal combustion engine are what I yearn for. The sounds coming from some of these cars is just amazing (Porsche flat-six, Ferrari V-8, Lamborghini V-10, classic American V-8, etc.).

The $850 lease fee does include basic (not comprehensive) insurance and the wall box.

How many people can actually get the Mini E? Arent only a few hundred being made? Its a waste of time.

Unless there's a dramatic development in the generation and storage of electricity, I can't see it replacing internal combustion engines for a long time.

I can see them showing up as an alternative for people whose life style matches it's requirements (i.e. someone with a shorter commute then Karl).

I'd say it is closer then the EV1 but not as much as I hoped from what I've seen so far.

Agree with 1487. Shocker but it's true. BMW is wasting time and resources on this. They should try a diesel hybrid cooper!

"10 years later, is the electric car really any closer to replacing the internal combustion engine?"

Karl, the answer is no. The reason is that, until recently, there has not been much reason to develop electric cars.
My hope now is that, with renewed interest, there will be lots of improvement at a faster rate.

Is it really an improvement? Better handling and um... less space. Slightly better range? Given the time between projects it seems like it's not a big jump.

I agree with most of these comments. I from the specs it doesn't seem like the Mini is anybetter than the EV1 other than the packaging. Does the Mini have Li-Ion batteries or is still using the more common NiKMH batteries?

The GM EV1 and the Mini E are both too expensive relative to their features and basic desirability. Easy to get a better driving experience for less money.

What is the target market for an electric car? A small electric car might be well suited to driving short distances in an urban environment, but the charger would be easier to install in the garage of a single family home in the suburbs. How many people both have a short distance stop and go driving pattern and own a place to install a high current 240V charger?

As much as I really do hope (and believe) electric cars will be common some day, the real reason everyone is coming out with one right now is found right here...

http://blogs.edmunds.com/straightline/2009/06/department-of-energy-starts-handing-out-money-for-electric-vehicles.html

All around the world governments want to appear to be green. So they are handing out lots of money and want to see VP (visual progress). Thus lots of automakers are stuffing electric motors into existing chassis and saying "we're green too".

The sad thing is the money is being wasted on these cars. It's easy to make an electric car... the car platform is simple and motors are compact, powerful and proven. Everything is off the shelf tech. We know that already.

We also know none of these cars will be successful.

All the money should be spent on new battery designs and development. None of the current batteries are anywhere close in capacity, weight or cost.

Until our garages are retrofitted with electric charges, there will only be a limited number of people who would buy these electric vehicles. They are currenty more for show than a mass transportation.

I agree with some of the comments above that there are many drawbacks to these electric only vehicles starting with cost, weight, storage capacity, etc. There are several alternatives today called HYBRID that cost less, have more room, and don't require electric charge - Ford Fusion Hybrid, Toyota Prius, Ford Escape Hybrid to name a few.

Nope!

If 1487 is correct and they're only making a few hundred, this is a testbed for a prototype. The only difference between this and others is that they're making you pay for it. Didn't Ford and Toyota actually sell (not lease) several times more EVs?

It looks more refined than an EV1. But I would want a 200 mile range.

MINI is putting out 500 MINI Es.
http://www.miniusa.com/minie-usa/

It's like the Honda FCX, a public field beta test. And you'll look cool if you live in one of the hip places like California, and it'll satisfy people who crave technology.

The Nissan EV-02 basically has the same stats as the MINI E, with the addition of discussing 480 Volt chargers at service stations that would charge the vehicle in 26 minutes.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10210982-48.html
During which time you will twiddle your thumbs and drink Caribou or Starbucks or something attached to the said device. Which you will have plenty of time for as you are some rich dude doing online business transactions from California.

Cost is easy to explain - low volumes.

But I'm surprised that the advances in battery technology in the last decade haven't had much of a practical effect. Charging times are harder to improve, but range... I expected better.

I suggest government to establish "carbon" tax on ICE vehicles on top of dramatically increased gas taxes - electric vehicles will suddenly look cheap. Electric vehicles will be tax-free. "Carbon" tax can be used to finance public health care reform, similar to "tobacco" tax. While Democrats own White House and COngress - they must do that, they cannot wait untill 2010 because balance of power may shift and Republican will kill "carbon" tax idea. Call your congressmen to act now.

Cities can also establish prohibitive fees on C02 emitting vehicles to steer them away ICE vehicles from big cities. San Francisco may a trailblazer in taxing ICE cars and CA will follow soon. What happens in CA eventially spreads over rest of country and world.

I agree. We need to impose a flat $3.00 federal tax on all grades of gasoline per gallon. That money will then be used to fund "public health care reform", as in give lots of money to Medicare and Medicaid so all health care workers salaries increase by 200%. This is a great idea.

And then we can have German built high quality electric vehicles running everywhere driven by health care employees.

And then we can have BMW branded electric service stations sprawling all over town, so the town feels luxurious. No more run down cities. BMW logos everywhere. Health care workers in BMWs everywhere. That's fantastic.

Federal tax may be not enough. I suggest both Federal and State taxes. Federal can be used for healthcare and other reforms, like switching from 401K to public pension funds and CA tax - to finance budget deficit and, well, CA public sector pension funds.

Germans has trouble managing non-mechanical devices. I am not so sure that electric BMW will be high quality product, unless of course you wish to stuck some day on streets of West Oakland or in the middle of desert.

Wow. Talk about taking advantage of troubled times to push your political agenda.

"Charging times are harder to improve, but range... I expected better."

Carlisimo, it's no surprise at all! Battery technology is notoriously slow. The reasons why modern cellphones and laptops have more talk/use time are primarily due to decreases in power consumption of the electronics and not the actual batter technology itself!

savetheland,

Where do you think the electricity to power electric cars comes from? Power generation is a much more significant source of greehouse gases than transportation. Factor our industrial transportation sources, and the automobile is a very minor pollutor.

oberg

That depends where you live.

For example where I live over 95% of electricity comes from hydro dams which produce no air pollution.

If you live in an area supplied by coal then you may be right.

I forget the statistics. Cars produce around 3% of all greenhouse gas, right?

Battery-powered autos is an industry just waiting to have the bottom fall out. Eventually people are going to realize that cars aren't the problem.

oberg - it does not matter from where electrocity comes, it may come from anywhere. What is important - after we switch to EV, nobody can blame cars for pollution, nobody.

BTW Obama promised to double electricity generation in USA in near future by adding renewable energy solution. We will see very bright future indeed. Obama is the best thing happened to America in last 50 years, he on his way to save this country and rest of world.

"Federal can be used for healthcare and other reforms, like switching from 401K to public pension funds and CA tax - to finance budget deficit and, well, CA public sector pension funds."

" it does not matter from where electrocity comes, it may come from anywhere. What is important - after we switch to EV, nobody can blame cars for pollution, nobody."

This is the brilliance of an ambious fool. They are everywhere. (But mostly in California and Washington DC) As California is falling into the ocean economically, they parade their failures as some sort of success. The CA public sector pension funds are one of the greatest source of California's malase. So why localize the lunacy, let's spread the stupidity to make the rest of us suffer!

I sincerely hope this is tongue in cheek, but the frightfull thing is that it exactly replicates the thinking of so many of those I refer to "former" Americans.

Don't worry, CA will be bailed out. CA is too big to fail. It is bigger than AIG or GM. True federals will own CA and replace governor and put federal agents in Sacramento. CA will become like another DC. But they cannot afford to dissapoint CA-ninans because it is the biggest and baddest constituency.

But who's going to bail out the federal government?

China.