Charging ahead - the MINI goes electric

Hallmark MINI driving fun combined with zero tailpipe emissions. With the introduction of the first plug-in hybrid model by the British premium brand, this will soon be a reality. The series development process for this car has almost been completed. It features a combustion engine and an electric motor enabling purely electric propulsion for the first time in a MINI. 

Head of MINI Brand Management Sebastian Mackensen and Head of MINI Series Management Peter Wolf offer insight into this new near-series test vehicle, and explain how it retains go-kart feeling in the true spirit of a MINI during a test drive of this model.

"With this model we want to convince MINI customers of the benefits of hybrid drive, and impress everyone who already has hybrid driving experience with MINI's unique go-kart driving feel," says Mackensen. The key to achieving this lies in intelligent energy management, which is used to control how the combustion engine and electric motor operate together. For this reason, the first MINI plug-in hybrid model is not solely focused on efficiency, but uncompromising in pursuit of driving fun.

Testing the vehicle himself, Mackensen puts the car through its paces and demonstrates that you need to step on the accelerator pedal very firmly indeed to activate the second power source. Then things really start happening. With the combined output of both drives, the first MINI hybrid vehicle demonstrates unparalleled acceleration performance when compared with its combustion-only siblings.