BMW's hotly anticipated Mini-E will soon be hitting the streets of New York City, writes Mike Chino from Inhabitat, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 January 2009 16.49 GMT
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."
• This article was shared by our content partner Inhabitat, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 January 2009 16.49 GMT
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."
• This article was shared by our content partner Inhabitat, part of the Guardian Environment Network
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