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John Voelcker
Like their owners and pretty much every auto journalist, we love BMWs. And we especially love driving them.
It's a cliche now, but especially their sedans are perfectly balanced, instantly responsive, and raring for the open road. They are, to overuse the decades-old tagline, pretty close to the ultimate driving machines.
Which is why we're so disappointed in the Mini E electric vehicle. In this, BMW's first experiment with electric drive, the company had said it would "preserve the Mini experience" in an EV.
As we said in our complete First Drive report on GreenCarReports.com: If the Mini were many hundreds of pounds heavier, suffered a distinct rear weight bias, and had the deceleration braking of a semi with the Jake Brake on ... yeah, maybe.
Just to be clear, we love the roller-skate handling of the 2009 Mini Cooper and 2009 Mini Cooper S. We have a special fondness for the not-quite-a-station-wagon Mini Clubman. And the Mini John Cooper Works is 208 horsepower worth of hot-rod heaven.
Which is why we're doubly disappointed with the driving characteristics of the Mini E. We have several questions:
- Electric motors generate peak torque from 0 rpm, so why did BMW program a slight lag before power comes on when you floor it?
- Did BMW really greenlight regenerative braking so forceful that it pitches you forward in your seat belt when you lift off completely?
- Was it really a good idea to put the battery-charge gauge directly in front of the driver so he can watch every single mile ebb away?
We have great confidence in BMW, and the company makes relatively few mistakes. Perhaps the truncated hatchback BMW 318ti was one; some might say the squashed-sport-ute styling of the 2009 BMW X6 is another.
And we suspect BMW will get electric drive right sooner or later. After all, these are just development prototypes, released in limited numbers for a year so the company can get better data on how EV drivers really use their cars.
It's just that we've several prototype EVs now: a 2011 Chevrolet Volt mule, the 2012 Nissan EV prototype, and the 2012 Ford Focus EV prototype. And, of course, the production version of the 2009 Tesla Roadster, which we were lucky enough to road-test and which will make a believer out of even the firmest skeptic.
All four of those electric cars, whether prototype or production, were more pleasant to drive and better behaved than the Mini E.
We're not angry, honest. We're just ... disappointed. And we bet BMW now appreciates how challenging it is to code the software that provides a pleasant EV driving experience.
Bring on the Mini E 2.0. Please.
Mini E electric vehicle - battery charge gauge shows charge and range falling, percent by percent
Enlarge Photo
Responses (6 total)
By CarolN #1, Posted: 6/3/2009
Is it really a software problem? I drive a Honda Civic Hybrid and it has the same issues with a lag when flooring it from a stop and being able to feel the regenerative braking as soon as you take your foot off the gas.
By Mark Eifert #2, Posted: 6/3/2009
The development of the Mini-E was mainly carried out by a company named AC Propulsion, and not by BMW. AC Propulsion prides itself on being a "skunk works" a small development center that is lean and efficient because it works independently of major the OEM's on a contractual basis. Obviously, they worked too independently of their client in this case.
One has to ask why BMW allowed this to happen. I think that the best answer is that the E-Mini was created primarily as a Green or Electric Icon to put on auto show stands. There is probably no real interest in developing and selling a EV right now.
By David V #3, Posted: 6/12/2009
Hmmm. You must have driven a different MINI E, because mine drives very nicely. As a MINI Cooper owner (I also have a Clubman S) I can say that it is different, but not bad. Maybe you just need more time in it?
Here is my blog if you want to read more: http://minie19.wordpress.com/
Thanks,
David
By EVO #4, Posted: 6/25/2009
From http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1021075_first-drive-mini-e-electric-vehicle-is-far-from-ready-for-primetime
"UPDATE: We received the following comment from Tom Gage at AC Propulsion, which offers a possible explanation for the car we drove:
The vehicle you drove may have been one or two iterations behind in its software. The most current software we have from BMW in our MINI Es reduces the lag. For the record, the responses to accelerator inputs are programmed into the vehicle control computer by BMW. Don't blame AC Propulsion.]"
How nice to know that you can get a major vehicle performance retuning with just a couple of software updates (could probably be done automatically and remotely in the production version, if desired) using probably just a few lines of code (or even by changing a simgle input number). Just think of the possibilities.
By Scott #5, Posted: 6/26/2009
I have a friend that got one of these BMW ev's and she LOVES! Hopefully we will see some of them we can buy and not just least for 12 months.
Scott
EVCARCO INC.
www.evcarco.com
877-MYEVCAR
By Steven #6, Posted: 6/27/2009
Correction: The 318ti was not a mistake by BMW.
More 318ti's were sold than their convertibles and tourings combined.
The entry level car brought many, many people to the marque.
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