As you may remember from previous articles, our Editor in Chief Lyle Dennis took delivery of his Mini E electric vehicle many months ago now. The journey with the vehicle, though mainly enjoyable, has had a few setbacks including lack of a proper charging receptacle at home, initial range anxiety, lining up a charging solution while at work, and dealing with obtrusive regenerative braking. Read previous articles by clicking here.
Lyle took delivery of his Mini as a result of being selected amongst the 10,000 plus individuals applying for the special lease. He was selected, presented with his vehicle, and charged $850 a month for the privilege of driving this unique EV for a year.
Meanwhile, Mini is kicking off a similar program in the UK. The results are not quite as expected. Here in the U.S. 10,000 eager people applied for the chance at a Mini E, in the UK the number is a mere 515. UK drivers selected to take part in the Mini E program will only pay $640 a month, but few were interested.
Mini has selected 40 individuals to take part in the program. All of the selected individuals reside in the southern part of the country with the majority in and around Oxford, London, and Andover. Only one half of the individuals selected are private users, the other half are commercial or municipal users.
Drivers will get their Mini E soon and will lease the vehicles for six months for evaluation purposes. Hopefully Mini has corrected a few early problems, installed charging outlets ahead of time, and the program goes without any drama. As a side note, the Mini E is left hand drive only, this may take some practice for drivers in the UK.
Source: AutoExpress
