IL Insider: Mini E

Although the original plan was to get the 500 Mini Es onto roads around Los Angeles and the New York/New Jersey area before the end of 2008, the new plan is to have them there by the end of March 2009. The current one-year lease plan is to cost lucky early adopters $850 per month, and the list of applicants is not starving for takers.

Sitting in the Mini E at this early event near company HQ reveals a Spartan cockpit with the requisite massive battery stack replacing the rear seats and cargo space. Mini-BMW has worked closely with California lithium-ion experts AC Propulsion, the same group handling the Tesla Roadster's battery design. A full recharge of the setup is said to take anywhere from two to three hours, and the range of a full charge can reach 100 miles, more if you keep all the energy-sucking ancillaries switched off.

The center console speedo dial reaches 160 mph, while the large dial on the steering column shows percentage of battery charge remaining. The electric motor provides a maximum output of 201 horsepower (150 kW) through the front axle.

The immediate plan for the Mini E, a Mini Germany contact tells IL, "is to monitor the program through the end of 2009 and then use the data toward development of the next lithium-ion model." Given the impracticality of zero cargo space and no rear passenger room, the contact reveals that the next Project i model would be a larger vehicle from the BMW lineup.

Inside Line says: So while the Mini E is an electrical spectacle, its real purpose is to gather marketing and technical stats for bigger cars coming in 2010. — Matt Davis, Correspondent