New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced that BMW‘s hotly anticipated Mini-E will soon be hitting the streets of NYC! This April BMW will loan the city ten fully-electric Mini Coopers to participate in New York’s “Street Condition Observation Unit” (SCOUT), which scours city streets for road damage, graffiti, and other instances where infrastructure repair is needed. The zippy zero-emission vehicles will lend the program their lightweight carbon footprint in exchange for an extensive round of road testing.
New York‘s shiny new set of Mini-E’s are part a 500 vehicle pilot program rolled out by BMW to test the vehicles’ viability in the United States. Since SCOUT vehicles log nearly 100 miles each day, they’re sure to be put to the test, and the electric vehicles will significantly reduce the program’s emissions in the process.
The Mini-E is powered by a 150Kw electric motor and is capable of traveling more than 150 miles on a single charge. Their small size and agile handling make them ideal inner-city vehicles, and we’re eagerly anticipating their official release in the states. With new plug-in vehicles popping up left and right and charging grids rising up to support them, the future of electric vehicles is looking brighter than ever.
Jim McDowell, Vice President of MINI USA stated: “We are delighted to work with New York City in developing this new form of sustainable transportation . . . Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC initiative has demonstrated a keen understanding of the importance of sustainability and we fully share the same vision and enthusiasm for developing new ideas, technologies and forms of transportation to make it a reality. This MINI E zero-emission vehicle is only our company’s first step.”
keep in mind that an electrical vehicle is only as ecological as the powerplant is that created the electricity to charge its batteries. Not to forget the 60% losses from the plant to your house. Suppose the powerplant burns 1 gallon of oil, then only the energy content of 0.4 gallons comes out of socket. So it is better to burn that gallon in the combustion engine of your car. Then, the only thing that matters is how far that gallon can bring you…
I find the phrase “to test the vehicles’ viability in the United States” somewhat disheartening… as if it might fail.. or as if there is a better option than a full EV anything.