25 Nov 08
Now the bad news. Current thinking is that there will be no test cars in the UK though 'other cities are under consideration' dependent on the initial feedback from the pioneering 500 in the US.
Second, there is no guarantee there will ever be series production. Mini E has to prove durable in service, and nobody has yet built any experience of the longevity or durability of a series of 5,088 lap-top lithium ion batteries exposed to constant vibration and extremes of temperature from pole to Equator.
Unusually for BMW, it has not done a lot of pre-production testing. It has decided to just go for it - just run it up the freeway and see who salutes. It is certainly a clever way of reducing the cost and telescoping the time needed to get road-mile experience. If it goes disastrously, there are ways of hushing things up a bit. There will be mandatory short service-period workshop halts for the 500 drivers so that any urgent mod can be applied without the indignity of a recall.
BMW could still regret the pioneering approach to pioneering technology change but the upside is strong. For a start, the lucky 500 volunteers selected will pay $850 a month for the privilege of saving BMW the cost of hiring test drivers. And that is $500 a month more than the rate for the standard Cooper S.
