A passionate team of enthusiasts at MINI Plant Oxford is combining sustainable driving fun and iconic, 1960s styling – and they’re doing it with full factory backing! It’s called the MINI Recharged program, and it takes a classic, Mark 1 Mini and replaces the old, inefficient 34 hp gas engine with a powerful, modern electric drivetrain.
“If Alec Issigonis could design the classic Mini again today,” reads the BMW Group press release, “the iconic small car would have an electric motor.”
They might be right! When the original Mini launched in 1959, Europe was in the middle of an oil crisis, so the original Mini was designed around the idea of moving four occupants and their luggage in the smallest possible footprint, using the least amount of fuel. And – well, you can’t get much more “least” than zero.
The idea for MINI Recharged was born in 2018 and presented at the New York Auto Show, even before MINI began selling the all-electric MINI Cooper SE. The reactions were so positive that a dedicated team from MINI Plant Oxford set to work and developed the plan to make a factory-backed EV conversion offer available to customers who own (or, would like to own) a classic Mini.
“What the project team are developing preserves the character of the classic Mini and enables its fans to enjoy all-electric performance. With MINI Recharged, we are connecting the past with the future of the brand,” says Bernd Körber, Head of the MINI Brand.
The MINI Recharged project means the classic car’s life can be extended in a sustainable way, giving the old Mini a new lease on life, and a chance to be enjoyed by a new generation.
Propulsion comes courtesy of a modern electric motor generating a continuous 90 kW of power – which is enough to accelerate the electrified classic Mini from 0 to 60 mph in about nine seconds (less than half the time it took the original). Up to 6.6 kW of charging is supported, and the reborn electric MINIs offer about 100 miles of driving range.
Inside, each MINI Recharged classic gets a period-correct central instrument cluster with a seamless integration of readouts for drive temperature, the selected gear, remaining range, and (of course) an uprated speedometer more in keeping with those “Recharged” performance levels!
Source | Images: BMW Group.
A passionate team of enthusiasts at MINI Plant Oxford is combining sustainable driving fun and iconic, 1960s styling – and they’re doing it with full factory backing! It’s called the MINI Recharged program, and it takes a classic, Mark 1 Mini and replaces the old, inefficient 34 hp gas engine with a powerful, modern electric drivetrain.
“If Alec Issigonis could design the classic Mini again today,” reads the BMW Group press release, “the iconic small car would have an electric motor.”
They might be right! When the original Mini launched in 1959, Europe was in the middle of an oil crisis, so the original Mini was designed around the idea of moving four occupants and their luggage in the smallest possible footprint, using the least amount of fuel. And – well, you can’t get much more “least” than zero.
The idea for MINI Recharged was born in 2018 and presented at the New York Auto Show, even before MINI began selling the all-electric MINI Cooper SE. The reactions were so positive that a dedicated team from MINI Plant Oxford set to work and developed the plan to make a factory-backed EV conversion offer available to customers who own (or, would like to own) a classic Mini.
“What the project team are developing preserves the character of the classic Mini and enables its fans to enjoy all-electric performance. With MINI Recharged, we are connecting the past with the future of the brand,” says Bernd Körber, Head of the MINI Brand.
The MINI Recharged project means the classic car’s life can be extended in a sustainable way, giving the old Mini a new lease on life, and a chance to be enjoyed by a new generation.
Propulsion comes courtesy of a modern electric motor generating a continuous 90 kW of power – which is enough to accelerate the electrified classic Mini from 0 to 60 mph in about nine seconds (less than half the time it took the original). Up to 6.6 kW of charging is supported, and the reborn electric MINIs offer about 100 miles of driving range.
Inside, each MINI Recharged classic gets a period-correct central instrument cluster with a seamless integration of readouts for drive temperature, the selected gear, remaining range, and (of course) an uprated speedometer more in keeping with those “Recharged” performance levels!
Source | Images: BMW Group.
