E is for England

The electric powered MINI E has just been approved for a UK-based trial, with cars expected to be on England’s roads before the end of the year.

BMW Group has been granted funding to implement the trial from the UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board which was seeking proposals for innovative research projects featuring ultra-low carbon vehicles.

The year long trial will monitor the real-world use of the electric MINI with the findings set to influence the future decisions for BMW’s low emissions technologies.

To do this a collaborative approach, led by BMW, will see a research consortium formed with the trials taking place around the South-East of England, including MINI’s home at Oxford.

Ensuring the MINI E truly is a zero emissions vehicle Scottish and Southern Energy will be coordinating recharging points across the trial area, drawing power from renewable sources.

MINI E Gets Government Green Light for UK Trial

The British government body that exists to promote business innovation in technology announced that a consortium led by BMW Group will be supported by a proportion of a £25m fund, enabling the MINI E to be introduced and tested on British roads by a mixture of private, corporate and public sector drivers before the end of 2009.

BMW Group’s successful application to the UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board followed an invitation for proposals outlining innovative, industry-led collaborative research projects involving ultra-low carbon vehicles. The objective of the Technology Strategy Board is to encourage manufacturers to develop ultra-low carbon vehicles that customers want to buy and bring them to market as rapidly as possible.

MINI E models will be on UK roads for a twelve-month field trial that will evaluate the technical and social aspects of living with an all-electric vehicle in a real world environment. This year-long project will play an important part in informing future strategic and technological decisions.

BMW Group is bringing together an energy infrastructure provider and an academic partner, with the support of a regional development agency and local authorities, to make the MINI E research project a reality in the UK.

The MINI E UK Research Consortium, of which BMW Group is the lead partner, comprises several organisations which are based around Oxford and the South-East of England. All will play important roles in the collaborative field trial.

In addition to the BMW Group, the consortium includes an electric energy and infrastructure provider (Scottish and Southern Energy), an academic partner (Oxford Brookes University’s Sustainable Vehicle Engineering Centre) and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) as well as Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council.

Scottish and Southern Energy, the UK’s leading generator of energy from renewable sources, will be responsible for providing the infrastructure in and around Oxford and other locations in the South-East of England by installing the private and public charging points that will be required to recharge the batteries in the MINI E test vehicles.

Oxford Brookes University, under the direction of Professor Allan Hutchinson who leads its Sustainable Vehicle Engineering Centre, will be responsible for undertaking scientific data analysis as well as conducting customer surveys to capture the subjective feedback from users of the MINI E test vehicles.

At the end of the trial, a comprehensive report documenting the main findings of the MINI E research project will be published. This will help inform those bodies seeking to create the political, technical and commercial framework necessary to enable sustainable mobility in a low carbon future to become reality.

Electric mobility is just one of the low carbon technology options being investigated by BMW Group. The company aims to begin series production of all-electric vehicles before the middle of the next decade as part of the company’s Strategy Number ONE.

The passion to provide sustainable individual mobility for its customers is at the heart of BMW’s long-term strategy and has been for many years. Since 1995, the average CO2 emissions from its cars has reduced by 25 per cent through a variety of technological innovations, most recently encompassed by the Efficient Dynamics programme.

The company and its products have won many awards for this work, including World Green Car of the Year in 2008 for the BMW 118d. The development of all-electric vehicles is a vital element of the future plans for the company.

Picture caption: (L to R) Lord Drayson, Minister for Science and Innovation; Andy Hearn, General Manager, MINI UK; and Lord Adonis, Secretary of State for Transport.