Nice article Al. I feel your
Nice article Al. I feel your pain, especially since Mini tempted us with a fully usable BEV a decade ago, but then did not follow through with a production version until now, after so many other automakers got into the EV game.
BMW tempted us with BEVs and hydrogen cars, most being concepts, but produced so little in reality.
In their defense I think that it was a hard proposition to sell economy cars that cost $50-70,000, especially with gas prices staying low, public battery chargers being rare (and too slow to be practical), and a general lack of understanding about the benefits of PHEVs and BEVs.
I think that a couple things have changed significantly over the past couple years to push them into production.
Battery weight and cost has gone down, while storage density and range has improved.
Tesla's impact of being able to really sell EVs, and even take a bite out of major automaker's business.
VW's DieselGate added scrutiny to Europe's smoggy diesel cars, and it has pushed them into accelerating their move into electric cars, to help the public forget about their corporate greed at the expense of having a cleaner earth.
Fast public chargers are starting to pop up in more places, and that means that recharging can actually be done fairly quickly when you are away from home.
Lease deals using federal subsidies mean that BEV models can compete in price against gasoline powered models.
Public understanding and acceptance of EVs has improved greatly over the past decade.
I think that also BMW had a few years designing and testing the i3, and listening to owners about what they liked and didn't like about their EV cars, as well as learning from their competition.
Ultimately, I think that the BEV Mini will be a success if it finds a sweet spot between driving range and cost. The current Leaf has 150 (ish) miles of range for a relatively low price, and the Bolt has 238 miles of range. It is rumored that the upcoming i3 will have a 160-180 mile range, and if Mini uses this battery pack for a lower price then it could be a big success.