Electric Mini: 0-60 in 4 Seconds: It Has Motors In Its Wheels
Sep 1st, 2006 | by Neil Barton | Posted in science, technology | Comments Off
Cousin Paulie knows I drive a Mini Cooper, as well as a scooter, that is why he posted this story about Mini getting the iDrive system. But I bet he did not know about this new version of the Mini:
A British engineering firm has put together a high-performance hybrid version of BMW’s Mini Cooper. The PML Mini QED has a top speed of 150 mph, a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. The car uses a small gasoline engine with four 160 horsepower electric motors — one on each wheel. The car has been designed to run for four hours of combined urban/extra urban driving, powered only by a battery and bank of ultra capacitors. The QED supports an all-electric range of 200-250 miles and has a total range of about 932 miles (1,500 km). For longer journeys at higher speeds, a small conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) is used to re-charge the battery. In this hybrid mode, fuel economies of up to 80mpg can be achieved.
