The Most Environmentally Friendly MINI To Date

The whole concept of electric cars has taken quite some time to take off. The problem was that they severely lacked the performance of petrol or diesel engines and could not get that far on one charge. However, with the increased cost of fuel over recent years and the ever present climate change in the news, advancements in electric cars have been pushed forward to try and provide the public with cars that do not pollute the air but still maintain a certain standard of performance.

This is where MINI are leading the way. Due to be revealed in November, the world’s first electric MINI is capable of nearly one hundred miles per hour – more than you can do on most roads – and will run for 150 miles on just one charge. Five hundred of the new electric MINI’s have been made so far and will be shipped to the US with the UK quota being released early next year.

The MINI E is expected to be a two seater based on the current MINI design and the only running costs are of charging it in a mains socket as the first batch will only be available to lease, so that Cooper MINI can ascertain how well they are received.
With the fast-charging wall box that can be fitted into your garage, it is expected that a full charge should take as little as two and a half hours. As far as performance goes, 0 – 60 mph in under nine seconds can’t be bad for an electric car.

This should be of immense interest to Cabinet Office Minister, Mr Tom Watson. Unlike his contemporaries who like to glide around London in their chauffeur driven, gas guzzling, pollution spewing limousines, Mr Watson has traded his in for an environmentally friendly MINI – still with chauffeur but with typically low CO2 emissions and a tidy 80mpg.

Despite being of generous build, Mr Watson claims he has no issues with getting his frame and his chauffeurs, into the MINI and still have room to push the seat back and do his paperwork. With a recession looming, maybe would all do well to support home grown products such as the truly British MINI.