It was the smartest move BMW could make to use the experienced AC Propulsion’s, ACP, technology for its electric Mini.
The gist, remember the folks from AC Propulsion and how some of us actually got to drive one of their eBox? What an excellent car and what a feeling. AC Propulsion has been around for more than 15 years now and is regarded in the industry as the first ones to introduce an electric super car with their amazing, and still functioning tZero. And guess guess who else bought ACP’s technology when it came time to build their Roadster? Tesla.
A little history. It all started with GM’s EV-1. It always does, doesn’t it? After working on GM’s EV-1, Alan Cocconi created AC Propulsion in California in 1992 whose role is to develop, manufacture, and license technology for electric propulsion vehicles. He originally developed the drive and solar tracking systems for the GM SunRaycer and then designed and built the controller for the original GM Impact that was introduced at the 1990 LA Auto Show which evolved into GM’s EV-1. ACP designs, engineers and manufactures electric motors, inverters, battery chargers, battery monitors and other hardware and software necessary to create the complete system that makes an electric car go. And it has paid off over the years with vehicles from around the world that licensed ACP’s technology, the Tesla Roadster, the Zooop from Courreges Design, the amazing Wrightspeed X1, the Attack, the Volvo 33c concept, Venturi’s Fetish, and more, you get the picture. Hopefully by now you see the track record and the logical progression which makes ACP an expert in today’s electric world. Which brings us to our current topic, BMW went to ACP to license the electric drive technology for its electric Mini.
Electric Mini. The Mini E will be at the LA Auto Show which we will cover. According to AutoBlogGreen, Paul Scott’s “Revenge of the Electric Car” website broke the news that BMW went to ACP for its Mini E. Paul was the director behind the famed “Who Killed The Electric Car?“. All of us who have had the opportunity to drive an eBox, as mentioned above, know the regenerative breaking system on it is more pronounced than on Hybrid Technologies’s Electric Mini, for instance. Once you learn to be “feathered foot” on the accelerator, the dosage of unadulterated power is exhilarating and the regenerative system puts a little of that normally wasted energy back into the batteries.
This is great news all around for ACP and the world of electric vehicles, EV in general. With a heavy hitter as BMW throwing its weight behind engineers at ACP means the industry is closer to massively adopt EVs and recognizing a leader in this field for now over 15 years, AC Propulsion. And why are we so gung-ho about ACP? Because after having a few of them we were impressed by the fact that these guys are car guys and engineers, the way it should be. And kudos to BMW.
Sources: ACP Links.
