BMW Electric Vehicles for London Games
BMW, official automotive partner to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is keeping the Games moving with a range of fully electric vehicles as part of the fleet.
The 160 BMW 1 Series ActiveE models and 40 MINI E’s are being used for many duties including shuttling athletes and officials within the Olympic Park and surrounding Games sites.
They also helped support elements of the Olympic Torch Relay convoy on its journey around the UK and will do so similarly for the Paralympic Torch Relay.
Today, August 3, BMW has introduced another electric vehicle to the Olympic and Paralympic fleet: the Mini MINI. This specially developed and designed radio controlled electric car will be used on the field of play in the Olympic Stadium to ferry javelins, discuses, hammers and shots back from the field to the throwing area.
[ Also Read: IBM Making Green Highway for Electric Vehicles ]Three Mini MINIs, designed in the MINI Hatch back style in 1/4 scale, will be deployed for this task and will be operated by Games Makers assigned and trained for this duty.
The cars are roughly a quarter scale of the full-sized car and carry the athletic equipment situated inside, accessible through the adapted sunroof. The Mini MINIs are all blue and feature the same Games livery as the ‘full-size’ official fleet vehicles.
[ Also Read: VIA Motors and Verizon to Develop Electric Vehicles ]“The MINI team was thrilled to be given this challenge to develop a vehicle with such an important and high profile role during the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” commented Dr Juergen Hedrich, managing director of MINI Plant Oxford. “I know that everybody was inspired by the challenge and the knowledge that these models will be seen in action by millions of people around the world.”
Each of the three Mini MINIs will cover around 6,000 metres per day in four-hour shifts across nine days of Olympic and nine days of Paralympic competition.
