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posted by martyb on Thursday July 11 2019, @10:06AM   Printer-friendly
from the but-it's-so-cuuute! dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

BMW has unveiled the first widely available all-electric Mini Cooper. Coming in early 2020, the car will start at around $35,000 and travel 235 kilometers (146 miles) per charge. Compared to similarly priced EVs on the road now with more than 200 miles of range, like the Kona Electric or the Tesla Model 3, the Mini’s mileage figure looks paltry. It will only look worse next year as more capable electric cars hit the road, and the Mini gets a more realistic EPA mileage rating. It’s a curious thing to see from a company that was early to electric cars, and it helps explain why BMW’s CEO Harald Krueger resigned last week.

Krueger was BMW’s CEO for four years, coming in not long after the company’s i3 electric crossover SUV hit the market. But in a message to employees on his way out the door last week, he reportedly cited the “enormous changes” happening in the auto industry as a reason for leaving. BMW, it seems, fell behind the curve on Krueger’s watch.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/9/20687413/bmw-electric-mini-cooper-specs-release


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 11 2019, @01:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 11 2019, @01:46PM (#865797)

    > If they did the car right it should outperform the gas model handily so maybe "Coooper" is appropriate.

    If you limit the measurement of performance to 0-60mph (or 100kph) times than I agree. If you consider something more comprehensive, like winning the Monte Carlo Rally, then you are far off mark--the time-to-charge would easily cause a battery electric to fail in a competition like this:
        https://www.sportscardigest.com/small-car-huge-win-1964-monte-carlo-rallye-profile/ [sportscardigest.com]

    It is now 50 years since one of the most spectacular victories in the history of international motor sport. On 21 January 1964, the Mini Cooper S won the Monte Carlo Rally for the first time. It was the pairing of Northern Ireland’s Patrick “Paddy” Hopkirk and his co-driver Henry Liddon that pulled off the big surprise, resisting the supposed superiority of significantly more powerful rivals in their small British car. Its faultless run over country roads and mountain passes, ice and snow, tight corners and steep gradients laid the foundations for the underdog-turned-giant-slayer to cement itself in both the hearts of the public and the annals of motor sport legend. Indeed, the Mini’s dominance of the Monte Carlo Rally continued over the years that followed, Hopkirk’s Finnish team-mates Timo Mäkinen and Rauno Aaltonen adding two further overall victories — in 1965 and 1967 — to the British manufacturer’s collection.