In case you missed this on every car/technology site out there (MotorTrend, CNET, PC Magazine, you name it), BMW is getting set to test a few hundred special MINIs, each equipped with electric motors (not hybrids). I don’t know about you, but I think it would be nice to bring over the Cooper D until these all-electric MINIs are ready to roll ;).

MINI Press Release (Munich): Over the next months, the BMW Group will be carrying out various series of tests on electrically powered vehicles to determine the alternative drive of the future. Several hundred MINI brand vehicles are being prepared for this. The cars, built in the Oxford plant, will be modified accordingly in Munich and fitted out for trials.

“This step will allow the BMW Group to gain an initial knowledge of how mobility can be achieved efficiently using purely electrically powered vehicles. Our task here is to combine the ultimate driving experience with an efficient electrified drive with practically no emissions”, underlined Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG.

The tests on alternative drives in a MINI body will be used over the next 12-18 months to refine the technology. Details about the drive concept and its marketing will be published towards the end of the year.