Electric car Mini E brings fun to max for its first driver
LOS ANGELES -- As much as Peter Trepp loves to drive his new electric car, he can't quite get over the sensation.
"It feels like someone is pulling you on a string," he says. "Everyone just loves it."
Trepp is one of hundreds of motorists on the East and West Coasts taking part in the "field trial" of the Mini E, a plug-in Mini. It's the first large batch of next-generation electric cars given a real-world test in the U.S. by a major automaker. BMW, which owns the Mini brand, now has 450 cars leased to customers such as Trepp and in fleets.
BMW isn't alone among big makers pushing forward with electric vehicles (EVs). General Motors' Chevy Volt, an electric car with gasoline-powered generation onboard, is supposed to go on sale late next year. Nissan plans to have pure electrics for sale within a couple of years, and just received a $1.6 billion loan from the U.S. government to develop EVs and advanced batteries.
A head-turner
Trepp was the first customer for the Mini E trial, with the car arriving near Memorial Day. He says he turns heads everywhere he goes. "It's been so much fun. I feel like I've really gotten used to the torque the car delivers."
A test drive around his swanky Pacific Palisades neighborhood reveals what he's talking about. The Mini E, converted to electric power by AC Propulsion of San Dimas, Calif., zooms from a stop. As soon as you let your foot off the accelerator — not a "gas pedal" in this car — the "regenerative" braking that also charges the battery starts slowing the car immediately.
Trepp says his guests expect the experience to be like driving a souped-up golf cart. Not so. "I tell them to put on their seat belt and hang on."
Trepp, a venture capitalist specializing in environmentally focused companies, recharges the Mini E from a unit installed in his two-car garage. He uses the car mostly for his 15-mile round-trip daily commute in congested Los Angeles. Mini E has a range on paper of 156 miles per charge, though Trepp says about 100 miles is proving to be realistic. The high-voltage charger takes about five hours to completely juice up the battery.
