It is becoming a modest trend: converting classics into electric cars. Several manufacturers even offer it, such as Aston Martin, Jaguar and Volkswagen. Mini is now also entering the emerging market. Under the name Mini Recharged, the company converts your classic Mini into a mischievous little electric city car.
Mini currently has one electric car in its delivery program: the Mini Electric. A nice driving car, but with a very disappointing range (as is also apparent from our range test). So maybe the classic electric Mini can do something about that.
Classic Mini gets electric motor with no less than 122 hp
With the old one, the fuel engine in the front is replaced by an electric powertrain with no less than 122 hp. This allows the Mini to sprint from standstill to 100 km/h in about 9 seconds. According to Mini, the conversion process is relatively easy to reverse, so as an owner you don’t have to worry about that. The combustion engine is stored by Mini.
With a range of 160 kilometers it is easy
Unfortunately, the Mini is small, so the mounted battery isn’t big either. With a range of about 160 kilometers, the Mini Recharged does even worse than the Mini Electric. Anyway, as a classic car, the little Englishman is probably not used to commute to work every day.
New instrumentation with a meter for the range
In the interior, the Mini Recharged gets a new instrument on the dashboard. It indicates the speed, range, gear (reverse, forward or neutral) and the temperature of the drivetrain. It is not yet known what it costs to have your classic Mini converted to an EV, but it will certainly not be cheap.