MINI Recharged: OFFICIAL MINI Electric Conversions for the Classic Mini

MINI Recharged is launched to deliver official MINI conversions for the Classic Mini, built from 1959-2000, with 121bhp electric motor.

Carmakers are rushing headlong into EVs to satisfy demands imposed by legislators across the globe – rather than real consumer demand – and we’re heading quickly down the road to zero sales of ICE cars by 2030.

So far, no government seems to have proposed the actual banning of ICE cars from the road – although you can probably expect that at some point from some green evangelist in power – but there does seem to be a growing appetite to convert older Classic Cars to EVs.

There are plenty of men in a shed doing EV conversions on Classic Cars, but car makers with a ‘history’ are playing the same game, from Aston Martin to Jaguar (although we think the Jaguar EV conversion for classics isn’t in operation at the moment – much like Jaguar). And now it’s MINI’s turn to play at EV conversions.

MINI Recharged will now take your classic mini – the one built between 1959 and 2000 – and turn it in to an EV, complete with 121bhp electric motor powered by a battery pack of, as yet, unspecified, capacity.

The combo will power to Mini EV to 62mph in 9.0 seconds and the battery – probably around 20kWh – gives a range of 99 miles.

It’ll be a fun thing to do – and MINI will keep your old A-Series engine in case you ever want to change back to ICE power – but, apart from savings on Congestion Charges, it’s hard to justify economically (it’s bound to cost at least £30k) and to see where the ‘Green-ness’ of this comes in to play when you consider the CO2 cost of the battery production. If that matters.