With the shift to electric cars raging in the automotive industry, classic car enthusiasts will have to accept that the cars of yesteryear are slowly being relegated to a second-class position. Of course, this changing of the guard will take several years before electric cars can even be considered as the majority transportation element on our roads.
However, there is another option for lovers of vintage or classic cars: the “restomod” or modern restoration. The goal of this method is to not affect the character of the original car while taking care to integrate modern technologies on board a classic car shell. In this case, the MINI Recharged project consists of taking a Mini model that was assembled long before the MINI Cooper that we have known since 2002 thanks to the contribution of BMW.
MINI Recharged | Photo: MINI
The idea took shape at the 2018 New York Auto Show when a classic Mini Electric was unveiled. The car generated so much positive feedback that the automaker decided to move forward with a larger-scale project.
The vintage Mini examples that will be restored by the MINI Recharged team will not be transformed aesthetically. In fact, the only change to the car is under the hood, with the original gasoline engine carefully removed from the compartment to accommodate an electric motor with up to 90 kW (or 120 horsepower). The new mechanics would allow a 0-100 km/h run in approximately nine seconds.
The new motor is installed in such a way that it is possible for the owner to revert to the old engine if desired. Obviously, the motorization is accompanied by a battery pack that can be recharged by a terminal with a maximum capacity of 6.6 kW. This battery gives the car a range of about 160 km. Instead of the central gauge on the car’s dashboard, the cars transformed by MINI Recharged receive a display that now shows the temperature of the powertrain, the range and the ratio of the car’s automatic transmission.
MINI Recharged | Photo: MINI
The process that takes place at the Oxford plant in England is certainly expensive, the manufacturer did not indicate what the cost of such an operation was. We bet it’s not cheap, but that’s the price to pay to get back behind the wheel of a classic electric Mini approved by the British division’s bosses.
