London Electric Cars (LEC for short) will ask for £25,000 to have your Rover Mini (see video) outfitted with an all-electric powertrain.
By default, the mechanical parts stem from the first-gen Nissan Leaf and yield between 96 and 113 kilometers (60–70 miles) per battery charge. However, customers are invited to pick a different motor/battery combo in accordance with their needs and resources. The conversion takes six weeks to complete on average.
LEC has already built one such vehicle for the Birmingham University, landing it with a 20-kWh traction battery located under the rear bench and (partly) in the trunk. The range is estimated at around 60 miles, or 100 kilometers.
The reasoning behind using old EVs as donors for the conversion is simple: it is cheaper that converting new cars and much cleaner in the environmental sense, because there is no need to produce new batteries and pollute the air with greenhouse gases in the process. Later on, the British company intends to adopt 3D printing technologies and also salvage used PC parts for cars where applicable.
Customers can charge their EVs from wall sockets and enter the downtown London – the ultra-low emissions area – without any repercussions. Owners of conventional cars have to pay a £10.5 fee every time they enter downtown London. Cost savings are also mentioned: according to LEC, an average Mini EV owner driving it 5 miles (8 km) per day every day should expect to pay as little as £50 in added electricity bills per year while saving on gas all along.