A study funded by BMW and conducted by the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies found that owners of the Mini E think the car is fun to drive, practical, easy to charge, and they would consider buying another electric vehicle. The study, published May, 2011, examined 120 households who had leased a Mini E between June, 2009, and June, 2010.

The owners were incredibly happy with their decision to lease a Mini E. Of the people surveyed, 100% of them said that the car was fun to drive and practical, and 88% said that they would consider buying another electric or hybrid vehicle in the next five years.

The respondents said that the car met 90% of their daily driving needs. Ideally, the Mini E has a range of 111 miles, however in the real world it is more often limited to 80 miles to 100 miles. Many owners said that if the Mini E were going to be improved, better range would be the best improvement.

Due to the loss of the rear seats and some of the cargo space, owners also desired that they could carry more. One owner reported having to return items that he had just purchased because there was not enough cargo capacity in the car.

Owners experienced an interesting change in their view about energy by the end of their Mini E lease. Sixty-seven percent said that driving car changed the way that they think about their own energy use, and owners desired that the energy used to charge their car from renewable resources.  

The Mini E is based on the Mini Cooper, however it has the rear seats removed to store the battery. It uses an aggressive regenerative braking system that begins braking as soon as you take your foot off the accelerator. The remaining power of the battery is shown on the dashboard.

BMW has a second test fleet of 700 1 series-based ActiveE vehicles coming in 2011. These cars will have a larger cargo area to partially improve one complaint about the Mini E.

Source: NY Times and UC Davis