Electric Minis will be available in Cal in 2009

Not that electric MINIs are anything new, but unless you were willing to pay for all the mods yourself, procuring one wasn't exactly simple. Now, however, we're hearing that MINI itself will be bringing scads of these buggers to American streets in the summer of 2009. Yeah, like, one year from right now. MINI USA VP Jim McDowell was the source of said statement (so it's pretty much official, yeah?), though he didn't mention whether all of them would be reserved for California or if they would be available sold out nationwide. Hey MINI, we'd say you've got a hit on your hands.

At a breakfast meeting with MINI USA VP Jim McDowell this morning he was asked to elaborate on recently announced plans for a battery powered MINI. McDowell acknowledged that the US branch was caught somewhat by surprise with the announcement. Plans have not been finalized at this point as to whether the cars will be leased or sold, or how many will be built. What McDowell did say for certain is that electric MINIs will be on the road in the hands of regular customers in the summer of 2009, one year from now. He could not say if all those customers would be in California or if they would be made available nationwide. No specifications such as range are available at this time either.

Update: After the presentation, we talked to McDowell for a few more minutes and although he couldn't say what type of battery will be in the cars, he did say that MINI will make a further announcement later this year, possibly around the time of the Los Angeles Auto Show.

More info on Electric Vehicles:  The Canadian car company ZENN is working with EEStor to produce an EV with a top speed of 125 km/h and a range of around 400 km. And they plan to launch it late 2009. The following is a quote from an e-mail that someone at ZENN sent me after I asked them some questions through their website:

"On March 28, 2008, ZENN Motor Company announced plans for their cityZENN, a fully certified, highway capable vehicle with a top speed of 125 km/h / 80 mph and a range of 400 kilometres/250 miles. Powered by EEStor, the cityZENN will be rechargeable in less than 5 minutes, feature operating costs 1/10th of a typical combustion vehicle and be 100% emission free.

Target Launch: Late 2009"