The MINI Cooper goes electric
Today, BMW announced a pilot program in which 500 purely electric MINI's will be sold in California, New York, and New Jersey over the coming months. This "field trial" of the MINI E will allow 500 customers to lease the car for one year; during the trial period, MINI has agreed to pick up the cost of recharging the car.
The numbers are interesting: the 35 kWh battery capacity provides a claimed range of 150 miles between charges; this is fast approaching the range I would consider practical beyond the limited scope of merely commuting to work. Given the battery capacity, the range, and KUB's current charge for domestic electricity, this means fueling the car would cost less than 2 cents per mile. No gasoline-powered car in existence can come anywhere close to that figure, nor can any currently available hybrid.
This is hot stuff.
The MINI E represents an exciting development in the burgeoning field of electric cars. See here and here for more information, and see here for a gallery of photos.