Gadgetopia

My Weekend with the Electric Mini Cooper (Mini-e): Nice little review of the all-electric Mini.  These things are gonna be fun.

Let’s start with the fun stuff. I shouldn’t be surprised, I’ve read about the Tesla, but this thing moves. It isn’t so much its 0-60 (officially 8.6 seconds) or its top speed (officially 95 mph), but that no matter how fast you’re going on any hill, if you give it gas, it instantly accelerates.

I think another thing that makes it seem fast is that the engine sounds that you’re used to hearing when you floor a car aren’t there. My brain expects that typical straining sound of an internal combustion engine when I press the pedal to the floor, but you don’t get that with the Mini-e… just speed. There is a little electric engine ‘whine’, but that certainly isn’t the same thing.