Revenge of the Electric Car

[slidepress gallery='paulscott-minie']

AC Propulsion, the San Dimas, CA, company that birthed the modern-day EV with its AC-150 drive train, was tapped by BMW last year to provide drivetrains for an initial run of 500 Minis. Dubbed the “MINI E,” these fully-electric cars are just weeks from being deployed on the streets of Southern Californai, New York, and New Jersey.

I’d been promised a test drive, so when Wally Rippel (you’ll remember Wally from “Who Killed the Electric Car?”) called and invited me out, I jumped at the chance.

Wally was involved in the design of the Impact/EV1 while at Aerovironment, along with Alec Brooks and the incomparable Allan Cocconi (the “AC” of AC Propulsion). Wally worked for a while helping Tesla Motors launch their Roadster, and is now back at AC Propulsion working on the newest iteration of the AC-150. Rumor has it that this next one will be quite a bit more powerful than the first.

Wally drove me to a local restaurant for lunch, so I could get familiar with the interior of the car without having to watch for traffic. The MINI E is a well designed car with all the amenities one would expect of a new car these days. I was more impressed than most, probably because I’m still driving that old RAV that was never much of a luxury vehicle to begin with, and, 6 years in, it  still hasn’t gotten any more comfortable. (my wife Zan, I might add, adores the car and has no complaints.)

When it was my turn to drive, the first thing I noticed was the lack of a creep mode. This is what Toyota built in to the RAV to simulate a gas car. When you let off the brake, any gas car with an automatic transmission will slowly roll forward without stepping on the accelerator. You expect this movement, and when it’s not there, it feels like something is wrong. Wally said they’d probably add it in the future, since it’s an easy software upgrade.

After pulling out onto the street, I gave it a punch to see how Tesla-like it was. The BMW engineers limit the voltage going to the motor, so it’s not a rocket like the Tesla Roadster, but it does have very strong acceleration. The soft whine of the motor is reminiscent of the EV1, and quite pleasing to the ear. It’s sort of like what you’d expect an EV to sound like, but don’t worry, it’s barely audible, so you won’t be waking the neighbors.

I really wanted to see what it would do, so we jumped on the freeway, and I let her rip. This is where the similarity to the Roadster is most apparent. The car practically jumps forward, and the strong acceleration doesn’t let up like internal combustion cars do as they reach their peak torque RPM and begin hungering for another gear. The MINI E just keeps pulling like crazy all the way to its top speed of 95 mph.

At one point, I was doing about 70 and punched it. Even at that speed, the car felt like it was taking off from a dead stop. Torque at high speeds is fun, and gives you the feeling you can get out of any situation, even in such a small package.

One of the coolest aspects of any AC Propulsion car is the regenerative braking. The way it’s designed, all you drive with is your right foot. As you let off the accelerator, the regen smoothly takes hold and slows you down. You almost never have to touch the brakes. My only complaint is the lack of a coast mode. My RAV has the ability to “freewheel,” or coast, with no regen, and I’ve learned to use this for hypermiling – getting the most efficiency possible when driving in traffic. Supposedly, you can feather the accelerator to a coasting position, but I was not able to feel it, so maybe it takes a little practice. I think a button on the steering wheel that lets you coast when pushed would be a good addition to future models.

I’m jealous of those who were able to get in line early for these MINI Es. Even though they’ll only have them for a year before BMW takes them back for study, it’ll be a terrific year.

I heard another rumor that BMW is working on the next batch of these little rockets already. The more the merrier, I say.