And we’ll have fun, fun, fun, till daddy takes the Min-E Away
Reliable sources inform your Creative Greenius that Manhattan Beach is about to be named the first Southern California city to be part of BMW’s test of the new plug-in Mini E, the EV version of the popular Mini Cooper.
The local paper had a piece on April 26 that said MB was under consideration and outlining the unbeatable $10 a month cost of the cars.
Expect an official announcement after the Manhattan Beach city council approves the arrangement.
We wrote about the new electric Mini coming to California last July and we’re thrilled it’s coming right to our own backyard in green as can be Manhattan Beach.
Plug-In America’s Paul Scott recently test drove the Mini E and gave it very high marks writing to the readers of his insider’s e-mail updates. The car is quite simply a kick and a joy to drive. “Little rocket” was one of the terms Paul used. He should know, he’s test driven all the new electrics including the Teslas and the new Nissan. He’s been driving a RAV-4 EV for many years.
The drive train comes from legendary AC Propulsion maker of the E-Box which Greenius readers have read about since December of 2007 when I got my first test ride. Combining BWW with AC Propulsion is like Kobe and Lebron teaming up.
Local South Bay insider’s further inform the Greenius that the mayor of my own city of Torrance has also expressed strong interest in having our town be a Mini E test city. If that’s so, we salute his efforts and encourage him to go for it. And we stand ready to help his efforts any way we can.
In fact, why not make Torrance the Southern California Plug-In place to be? How’s about we build the necessary plug-in infrastructure now that will make us a leader in places to get charged up anywhere in South Bay.
The Greenius says the place with the most plugs is going to get the most people shopping in their stores and driving to their venues.
The place with the most plug-ins becomes the de facto coolest city around.
Charge ’em if you got ’em.
Creative Greenius 
Ever since I read this piece on your blog I’ve been looking in the Daily Breeze for their report on this story and here it is Saturday and they haven’t printed a word about it. Are you telling the truth about the Mini E coming to Manhattan Beach or are you just making stuff up? It’s hard to know what to believe in this blog.
Greenius:
Hi Barb – Yes, I’m telling the truth about Manhattan Beach being the first South Bay city to get the electric Mini E. The memorandum between BMW and the city has been agreed to and all that’s waiting to happen is official approval by the City Council which my sources tell me is a done deal. I’m not surprised you didn’t read anything in the Breeze about it yet, since that newspaper merely plays a stenographer’s role these days and just reports what people say after events happen. The Breeze has neither the staff or the budget to do what we used to call “reporting” back in the old days. And when it comes to any story that has to do with renewable energy, climate change or the impact of local industry on citizen’s health and well being you’ve also got to deal with the Breeze’s predisposition to be a conservative lackey for the man and the carbon based economy.
Now… as for whether it’s hard to know what to believe in this blog or not, well I’ve just got to say that I don’t think that’s true if you actually read all the words and check out the links. But in today’s skim the headlines and short term attention span world, I’m also not surprised that some folks get confused.
Hey Greenius! You scooped the L.A. Times! http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-electric-cars11-2009may11,0,2672102.story
However, they say that the cost of the Minis will be about $850 a month plus taxes and insurance, which seems pretty damn steep to me. What gives? That’s more than twice what I paid to PURCHASE my Prius.
Greenius:
Yeah, I saw that piece in the Times this morning. It seemed stale as it was last week’s news and it didn’t offer anything we haven’t already heard, but it’s tough being a dying legacy part of the media and the Times is doing the best they can with what they still have left.
Keep in mind that the Mini E is a test car, not a preproduction rollout so the monthly cost isn’t tied to a real world car purchase or lease price. So the $850 a month isn’t meant to be compared with what you pay for your mostly fossil fuel using Prius. That being said, it’s my understanding that the city of Manhattan Beach will be paying $10 a month per car.