Electric MINI revealed -- The Mini E

stopcrazypp said:

The MINI E:
572-pound lithium ion battery
150 miles range per 8-hour charge
Consumption 4.4 miles/kWh

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Is that a Tesla plug?

That would be uber-cool if it comes to London.

I think the plug might be a CEE form.

The torque to bhp ratio seems a bit low compared with other vehicles we have seen, though. It's also pretty heavy, it'll be interesting to see how that affects the normally great Mini handling.

The torque to bhp ratio seems a bit low

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Motor cooling.

Hey Oslo also has the recharge infrastructure.... can I have one please? Seriously I really like this, and in my eyes this is the first real contender to what I've heard about the Model S yet. I like that they say they will have the models out before the end of 2008, I don't like that they had to ditch the two backseats for the battery. I greatly prefeer 4 seats to 2 seats.

Cobos

Looking at some of the pictures show around the interweb, why does a single gear Mini need a clutch pedal and a very dominating shifter? Anyone know enough about transmissions to give a clue?

Cobos

Cobos said:

Looking at some of the pictures show around the interweb, why does a single gear Mini need a clutch pedal and a very dominating shifter? Anyone know enough about transmissions to give a clue?

Cobos

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You talking about this picture?



First of all, the car at this point is probably a conversion, so who knows what the final product will be like. But the "pedal" on the far left looks like a dead pedal and not a clutch. As for as the shifter, they still need a way of switching from drive to reverse, and I've seen plenty of automatics that try to have very sporty looking gear selectors.

Edited to add:
Here's the interior of a 2007 Mini with automatic transmission:

http://blogs.motortrend.com/6231320...tylish-annoying-but-great-to-drive/index.html

Here's a closeup of the automatic shifter on a 2005 Mini:

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/zevprog/hevtest/071608evchargingreq.pdf

Tesla connector looks quite different from that 'Mini' plug.
Tesla:

Mini-E pack:
5,088 Li-Ion cells (53x96) @ 1.8Ah each?
53 cells in parallel for a 'unit'. (1.8x53=95Ah?)
96 module groups (48 modules x 2) in series for the pack. (~360V?) [ "nominal"=380V ]
~34kWh (95x360?) for the battery pack.

Compare to Roadster:
6,831 Li-Ion cells. (69x99) @ 2.2Ah each.
69 cells in parallel for a 'brick' (69x2.2=151.8Ah)
99 bricks (9x11?) in series for a module. (~350V [~300V empty, 400V full] ) [ "nominal"=375V ]
~53kWh (151.8x350) for the battery pack.

5,088 Li-Ion cells (53x96)

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oh! Do we know if they use the 18650 form factor cells as well? It certainly seems similar to a Tesla-like way of thinking. I wonder who manufactured the battery for them?

Revealed: new electric Mini *-*Green Motoring | MSN Cars

Weight soars to 1465kg as a result but performance is still respectable, thanks to a 380volt/201bhp/162lb ft electric motor sending the Mini E to 62mph from rest in 8.3 seconds (faster than the Mini Cooper D's 9.9 seconds) and onto a limited 95mph maximum. With upto 35 kilowatt hours (kWh) of on-board storage, range is around 150 miles.

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This is interesting

Interior space has been seriously compromised in the back though, with the lithium-ion batteries taking the place of the rear seats.

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Total speculation, but an ESS would be that kind of shape and size.

Southern California only :frown:


1 year lease. Sounds like EV-1... You must return it after the trial period... What if the design turns out to be sound, and people really want to buy it after a year? Perhaps BMW will get to see how customers responded to GM when GM went to get their leased EVs back from the fanatical leaseholders.
Some who had leased earlier EVs lucked out because they got to buy out their lease for some token amount after convincing the manufacturers not to crush them. Lets see if anyone tries to fight to keep their Mini-E after their lease is done.


By the way, the Mini-E would more closely compare to the ACP e-Box than the Roadster.

_Mini-E_ / _e-Box_ (both front wheel drive small "econoboxes")
3230lbs. / 3050lbs. (vehicle weight)
~150mi. / ~180mi. (range)
572lbs. / 580lbs. (Li-Ion pack weight)
35kWh / 39kWh (Li-Ion pack capacity)
150kW / 120kW (eMotor power)
5088 / 5300 (number of Li-Ion cells)
8.5 / 7.0 (0-60 time in seconds)
95 / 90 (top speed in MPH)

graham said:

oh! Do we know if they use the 18650 form factor cells as well? It certainly seems similar to a Tesla-like way of thinking. I wonder who manufactured the battery for them?

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Doesn't Tesla have patents for this scheme?

And does that make Tesla the battery supplier?

TEG said:

Southern California only :frown:


1 year lease. Sounds like EV-1... You must return it after the trial period... What if the design turns out to be sound, and people really want to buy it after a year? Perhaps BMW will get to see how customers responded to GM when GM went to get their leased EVs back from the fanatical leaseholders.

Some RAV4 leasees "lucked out" by getting to buy the cars for $1 after their lease was up and Toyota got pressured to stop crushing them.


By the way, the Mini-E would more closely compare to the ACP e-Box than the Roadster.

_Mini-E_ / _e-Box_ (both front wheel drive small "econoboxes")
~150mi. / ~180mi. (range)
35kWh / 39kWh (Li-Ion pack capacity)
150kW / 120kW (eMotor power)
5088 / 5300 (number of Li-Ion cells)
8.5 / 7.0 (0-60 time in seconds)
95 / 90 (top speed in MPH)

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I still find it strange that a 25% increase in maximum engine power means a 20% increase in 0-60 time? Is it low torque from the Mini engine, or is the Mini a lot heaver, and if that is the case why?

Cobos

Overall vehicle weight probably has something to do with it.
Also, the front-wheel drive vehicles are rather traction limited.
BMW may have been a bit more conservative with their traction control.
Given the cars specs, I would think it capable of quicker 0-60 if they really wanted to tell the firmware to allow it.

MarketWatch story

"...The lithium-ion storage unit will have a maximum capacity of 35 kilowatt hours (kWh) and transmit energy to the electric motor as direct current at a nominal 380 volts. The rechargeable battery is made up of 5,088 cells grouped into 48 modules. These modules are packaged into three battery elements that are compactly arranged inside the MINI E...."

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Doesn't sound like they have one big "ESS" box like Tesla does.

BMW unwraps electric Mini | Register Hardware

electric motor fed by a 260kg lithium-ion battery pack

1465kg up from the normal car's 1135kg

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Given that the ICE has been replaced by a motor and the battery weighs 260kg, why the 330kg increase? It seems a lot.


Electric MINI on charge at last - Autoexpress

The lithium-ion battery pack propels the car for 150 miles on a single eight-hour charge. But owners will be able to slash this to only two-and-a-half hours if they have MINI’s high-voltage ‘wallbox’ fitted in their garage.

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2.5 hours is more like it. :smile:

dpeilow said:

BMW unwraps electric Mini | Register Hardware



Given that the ICE has been replaced by a motor and the battery weighs 260kg, why the 330kg increase? It seems a lot.

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It might be the 260kg number we are seeing is the actual Li-ion battery weight, NOT including any of the support structure. And if they are using a Tesla setup or a similar setup to Tesla the weight cost of the support structure is significant. How much us the engine in a Mini anyway in weight? Could it be a heavy PEM module they are using?

Cobos

...The battery itself has a maximum capacity of 35kWh and a full charge is said to draw 28kWh from the grid...

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I keep wondering why the grid figure is less than capacity? Doesn't it take more power from the grid to "fill" a pack? Does this mean that they encourage customers to "fill" it to less than full capacity?

It will be interesting to find out who's technology is in the mini-E.

• Did BMW "roll their own"?
• UQM?
• ACP?
• Tesla?

...the drive train and battery components will ship in as finished parts from BMW in Germany...

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hmm.