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July 2010 marks one year of gathering field experience with the MINI E in Germany. There were 15 electric MINI vehicles tested for usability in Munich alone. They were given to local Munich residents who had their own parking space and were willing to pay US$517 a month for the testing. The rest of the 600 vehicles released for field test were distributed worldwide.
As part of the testing, a network of public charging stations developed by E.ON was made available to ensure that the owners of the testing cars were able to charge at home and close to their work places.
The goal of the testing is to see the public acceptance to electric cars and see the technical issue before it actually goes into production. Battery management is a difficult thing to do. But it is important to gain actual knowledge about it in testing as it will also be used for the Megacity Vehicle’s design set to be released in 2013.
What was the result of the testing? The Mini electric vehicles covered more 150 km. BMW found out that the normal usage of the drivers was not close to the 150 to 180 km driving range limit. On an average, the cars were only driven 37 km daily. Thus, the driving range initially set by BMW was sufficient for the future units that will be sold to the public.
Charging stations will be strategically positioned to where the vehicles are parked, so there won’t be any future problem with the charging. BMW also strives to develop environment friendly electric energy as this is what the public expects.
The testing done in Los Angeles, New York, Oxford and Berlin has been extended for another 12 months. BMW also plans to launch a similar testing project in China.
