A British company is offering to convert the classic Mini to electric power, returning a range of 60-70 miles, for £25,000.
London Electric Cars (LEC) uses pre-owned Nissan Leaf batteries and motors as the basis of its conversion, with modifications that reduce costs and environmental impact.
The standard conversion includes a 20kWh battery, but customers can install a higher-output motor and upgraded batteries at an additional cost.
If a customer doesn't already own a classic Mini for conversion, the company will source a donor car for a premium.
“As a classic car enthusiast and advocate for affordable and sustainable electric vehicle conversions, it made sense for us to focus on the original Mini,” said LEC founder Matthew Quitter.
“With this EV conversion, we wanted the classic Mini to be an affordable yet useful option for city dwellers, not just in our hometown of London but all over the world, to tackle traffic and help put a stop to pollution."
The Leaf’s mechanics were chosen following “extensive research and analysis” that suggested reusing the Sunderland-built hatchback's infrastructure was “more sustainable than mining and creating materials for an LEC-only powertrain".
LEC also plans to re-use and renew computer hardware and batteries inside traction packs and manufacturing technology to actually produce the Mini conversions.
The Mini joins the Land Rover, Morris Minor and Morris Traveller in the LEC line-up. It's exempt from road tax, the Congestion Charge and the ULEZ fee.
Build waiting times currently stand at around six months.
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At a cost of a new Leaf and with a range that is less than a third, I would grow a new leaf and keep the ICE Mini as is.
This is pretty much the future of the kitcar industry. There are people who look at current cars and don't like them, there's also probably people who really would like to be able to get a new chassis for their 2cv - which has the leaf powertrain installed - and rebuild their car on to it. People who have an old classic that they don't daily, but it is their only car, and they can't help wondering about it's future while genuinely feeling that scrapping it simply isn't an option, due to the amount of time and work they've put in to keeping it running. It's not all millionaires looking to waste a few grand.
This is getting closer than the ludicrous £80k electric restomod minis Autocar has featured previously. When the price halves it'll become a viable option for lots of people wanting to keep cheapish classics on the road. Glad they're recycling tech too. I find this sort of thing really appealing and would love to convert my MX-5 once the price comes down and the power goes up. The truth is it's not been driven half as much since we got an electric car, and it it feels harder to justify as time goes on. If it's a choice between electrifying it and selling it, I'd rather the former.