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Electric MINI revealed -- The Mini E
- Thread starter stopcrazypp
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- Electric Vehicles
What am I missing?
Each car cost the owner between $11k & $18k, add $7,500 from the govt = $20k per car average (ish). That doesn't even cover the cost of the $30k PEM from AC Propulsion let alone the base car, batteries, wear items (tires, dented panels, etc.), maintenance, design, testing, building, shipping, etc. etc.
Perfect logic but I suspect that they don't want to get into it, don't want to deal with the phone calls, the press... All of the MINI's are going to degrade, become unreliable, need firmware fixes, etc. - My Tesla had another firmware fix today for example.
Put yourself in BMW shoes (I'm sure they have a nice line on their site); you sold a bunch of cars, someone is bitching on the forums about the MINI E he bought from some guy and can't get parts. You have a bunch of emails from owners begging you to upgrade to J1772. There's a rumour that a MINI E caught fire but, was it your MINI E or some aftermarket 'modification' the owner did? - The Daily Mail is on the phone. You've just discovered that the brake modification you did to make the servo work gets water in it and gives up after 5 years; you never tested that and Which Magazine is running an expo on cars with recalls. Someone has one of your cars and is testing it against a Leaf & an iMiev and everyone's laughing at the BMW with only 2-seats. And, finally, everyone reckons it was just a stunt to scam the US govt.
Nightmare
Let them go out on a high. I love my MINI, the ActiveE will be more practical, less fun, less charisma but hey, they can't crush my memories of the most fun car I've ever owned.
Possibly the wrong forum for this but, the Roadster is tremendous, it's raw, exciting, fast, furious, serious, etc. But... The MINI... Yesterday my daughter was learning to drive backwards; she was making 8's in reverse, we were nearly sick! We load the bikes on the back and go cycling & I secretly exceed the speed limit on the twisty roads near here because, it's just a hoot to drive. It's good old fashioned simplicity with a dose of the improbable handling of the classic Mini.
Here's where I'm unsure. I believe the makers have to have to hit CO2 numbers here in CA. I'm not sure how that is measured. The implication is that BMW would have to start offered high mileage cars when they had been previously exempt as a small manufacturer.
MINI E Northeast meet up at Tom's. Looks like the Active E could even roll into the new year. Hope not.
MINI E Meetup: End Of The Line For Electric Car 'Experiment'
MINI E Meetup: End Of The Line For Electric Car 'Experiment'
Nice job on the story.
One super minor nit: I think you misspelled Ariel (Atom) as Arial...
I sure hope they pull the ACP drivetrains out of those lease returns and sell them on eBay or something.
I can understand if they want to crush the Minis due to unwillingness to support them anymore, but it would be a shame for all those ACP drivetrains to be dumped.
Can you ask your contacts at BMW if there is any ways to get them sold to conversion people?
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
I don't see why they'd crush anything, they could sell most components, including body panels, window glass, etc, for far more than scrap. But yeah, those ACP parts would be sweet.
Parting it out might absolve them of responsibility for the safety and roadworthy nature of the car but, I suspect that they have custom firmware, they're using MINI specific CAN bus signals and wiring that'd need a manual and an explanation - it's such a small operation I bet some of the 'how it works' is only in the heads of a few guys at HQ.
Crushing is recycling and that's a good thing.
FYI: No one owns the MINI E's on the road; they're all owned and insured by BMW directly; another sign that they're an experiment and not a proven road going fleet vehicle.
Crushing is recycling and that's a good thing.
FYI: No one owns the MINI E's on the road; they're all owned and insured by BMW directly; another sign that they're an experiment and not a proven road going fleet vehicle.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
Destroying a perfectly good product, that took a lot of energy and materials to create, is never a good thing, especially when there are plenty of second uses for the products. I'd think the motor and controller are ACP firmware based, which if it's anything like my Curtis AC controller would be fully programmable with the installed firmware. If not you could probably reflash it.
Adm
Active Member
Yet, what have they to gain except a clear conscience?
What will happen to the car unsupervised by BMW? What if somebody thinks the car needs more power and the car goes up in flames? I can see all kind of marketing nightmares which can be prevented by taking these cars off the road or at least keep them in their control. They could lease them to their E-Pioneers, but that is quite an expensive hobby. I suspect that they will strip them of all the electronics and batteries and than crush them. No (business) use selling it in parts when they can make more money selling new parts.
What will happen to the car unsupervised by BMW? What if somebody thinks the car needs more power and the car goes up in flames? I can see all kind of marketing nightmares which can be prevented by taking these cars off the road or at least keep them in their control. They could lease them to their E-Pioneers, but that is quite an expensive hobby. I suspect that they will strip them of all the electronics and batteries and than crush them. No (business) use selling it in parts when they can make more money selling new parts.
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