All Electric Mini-Cooper and more

With a "cycle life" of 1500+ "full charges" (as stated on the website) for the battery, what is the expected months/miles life for the battery?

 

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=440939&topart=hybrids


who would buy it at that price?????

 

If you drive the car 5 days a week over a distance that requires the battery to be fully charged you will get about 6 years out of a battery pack, however I suspect that if you don't cycle the battery through a full charge (in the way the Prius battery is managed) the battery would last longer than that. I would also think that if you drove 5 to 10 miles on a weekend to run to the shops most drivers wouldn't need to recharge it that day to do their commute the next day. Even if you did it wouldn't knock the battery around much because it's only partially cycled.

An electric car isn't for everyone and it isn't for every journey, unfortunately only about 80% of people would find a vehicle with 100 miles range adequate for their commuting needs and some of the 80% would likely need another vehicle for longer journeys they make a few times a year. Well I have 3 cars, but if I only had 2 and one was electric with a 100 mile range I'd be able to use the petrol one (or the Prius) for longer journeys. My wife and I would better than half our total petrol consumption.

When the bank account is healthy enough I can see it getting sick buying me an electric car.

Average person drives about 12,000 miles a year, that is 46 miles per day. 5 days a week so with 100 miles range the battery would only use half a charge normally each day.

 

Wonder if the price drops if you already have a MINI? Based on a quick scan of the website, it looks like they buy a new MINI and then rip out the gasoline drivetrain components and replace with their electric drivetrain. If you don't have to drop $25,000+ (depending on options) for the MINI (there is a fairly robust pre-owned market), the price might be more compelling. There are some MINI's with failed CVTs out there that could be had for a quite reasonable price (~$6,000). Drop the $65,000 number to say, $45,000 and it gets interesting. Wonder if there is any backseat space after the battery pack goes in? Probably not.