640bhp, 80mpg, 4.5 in 0-60 mini!?!!

Siliconslave · 31 Aug 2006 at 11:46

now this is a car of tomorrow peeps:

A British engineering firm has put together a high-performance hybrid version of BMW's Mini Cooper. The PML Mini QED has a top speed of 150 mph, a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. The car uses a small gasoline engine with four 160 horsepower electric motors — one on each wheel. The car has been designed to run for four hours of combined urban/extra urban driving, powered only by a battery and bank of ultra capacitors. The QED supports an all-electric range of 200-250 miles and has a total range of about 932 miles (1,500 km). For longer journeys at higher speeds, a small conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) is used to re-charge the battery. In this hybrid mode, fuel economies of up to 80mpg can be achieved.

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theNude · 31 Aug 2006 at 11:53

seen this at the motorshow.. the wheels stick out about 2inch over the arches lol

Firestar_3x · 31 Aug 2006 at 11:56

Quality car, if thats the future sign me up, just need a nice mp3 track on loop for the lack of engine noise

kaiowas · 31 Aug 2006 at 12:08

Bah, thread title lies, that's a MINI not a mini. I'm disappointed now

Stonedofmoo · 31 Aug 2006 at 12:14

That's impressive!

So the electric motors can get it to 150mph?
Are they geared?

schnipps · 31 Aug 2006 at 12:26

How much is it going to cost to charge the thing up though. With the way electricity prices are going if thats the future its probably going to end up costing more than petrol to run.

brakeinup · 31 Aug 2006 at 12:29

This is great as it shows that there can be high performance derived from electricity.

brakeinup · 31 Aug 2006 at 12:31

schnipps said:
How much is it going to cost to charge the thing up though. With the way electricity prices are going if thats the future its probably going to end up costing more than petrol to run.

Maybe a solar panel on your house to charge it? I dunno - it could get expensive but I would say that petrol and diesel will still continue to rise in price.

Siliconslave · 31 Aug 2006 at 12:33

schnipps said:
How much is it going to cost to charge the thing up though. With the way electricity prices are going if thats the future its probably going to end up costing more than petrol to run.

the idea is it runs a small petrol/desil engine to charge the batterys up on the move, and recycle some of the energy lost in braking, so you don't acutally need to charge it off the mains

Oakesy2001uk · 31 Aug 2006 at 12:39

Siliconslave said:
the idea is it runs a small petrol/desil engine to charge the batterys up on the move, and recycle some of the energy lost in braking, so you don't acutally need to charge it off the mains

so why the 932 mile range? could it not just continue to charge itself and go forever?

Mr Joshua · 31 Aug 2006 at 12:42

Perhaps it's the range for a full tank or maybe it can only assist in keeping the batteries charged a bit longer?

It looks like it works the way most diesel electric locomotives work.

Trifid · 31 Aug 2006 at 12:43

Oakesy2001uk said:
so why the 932 mile range? could it not just continue to charge itself and go forever?

Needs more fuel put in after that.

I am interested in that type of hybrid (no petrol engine pwoering the car.) The only thing I am sceptical about are the brakes. I think they will be like the Maclaren SLR. 80MPG isn't that much either thinking about it. I would haver expected nearer 100 or over being possible.

Abraham · 31 Aug 2006 at 12:49

i imagine if they'd not focused on performance they could get far greater mpg/range out of it

Bug One · 31 Aug 2006 at 13:16

Trifid said:
Needs more fuel put in after that.

So what if you're driving it around and pushing it hard. It wont go on indefinately without needing to recharge the batteries. If its only got a small engine to run the generator then the energy being put in is going to be less than the energy needed to propel the car. And batteries are nowhere near 100% efficient.

Sanchez · 31 Aug 2006 at 13:17

Stonedofmoo said:
That's impressive!

So the electric motors can get it to 150mph?
Are they geared?

No they aren't.

lordrobs · 31 Aug 2006 at 13:57

Bug One said:
So what if you're driving it around and pushing it hard. It wont go on indefinately without needing to recharge the batteries. If its only got a small engine to run the generator then the energy being put in is going to be less than the energy needed to propel the car. And batteries are nowhere near 100% efficient.

I see where your coming from.

I guess there will come a point where you run out of juice and the engine will have to push flat out to simply move the car. Then it'll be a case of taking it easy waiting for your batteries to charge before giving it the beans.

Its an awesome bit of kit however you look at it though. Its obviously been done to show that economy doesn't have to come at the expense of power and a more run of the mill powered car could become a very green and very usable machine.

Switch84 · 31 Aug 2006 at 14:02

Never guna get the sound and feel of a combustion engine tho are u!

Zip · 31 Aug 2006 at 14:06

theDude said:
seen this at the motorshow.. the wheels stick out about 2inch over the arches lol

Big Arches F.T.W :cool:

lordrobs · 31 Aug 2006 at 14:08

Switch84 said:
Never guna get the sound and feel of a combustion engine tho are u!

No your right in that respect but imo your gaining much more than your losing.

willd58 · 31 Aug 2006 at 15:25

Trifid said:
I would haver expected nearer 100 or over being possible.

Not with that kind of performance, maybe if it was an economy only car, but thats seriously fast for a hybrid.