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"With its characteristic go-kart feeling and powerful electric motor, the MINI Electric Concept is great fun to drive while also being completely suitable for everyday use—and producing zero emissions to boot. That’s how we at MINI envisage electric mobility in tomorrow’s world," said Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, which is responsible for MINI, Rolls-Royce, and BMW Motorrad.

The front of the car has been given a redesign compared to the Minis on our roads today. As a battery EV, it has little need for a big air intake to feed a combustion engine. Asymmetric alloy wheels make use of 3D-printed bits to mimic the revised front grille, and it's covered in Es to signal to the onlooker that "this Mini is electric!" Oh, and the rear LED tail lights each form half of the Union Flag, a nod to Mini's British heritage.

Technically, when the production electric Mini hits the showrooms in a couple of years' time, it will be the second Mini EV on sale, as the brand does have a plug-in hybrid Mini Countryman in its lineup already. That car uses a similar (but less powerful) powertrain to the one found in one of my all-time favorites, the BMW i8 (although in this case, the 1.5L three-cylinder engine drives the front wheels and the electric motor powers the rears).

We’ve been here before

But there was actually a previous all-electric Mini—the Mini E of 2009. About 450 of these EVs came to the US as part of a test by parent company BMW to see how its customers might adapt to alternative powertrains, data that led to the BMW i program. The Mini E had a 30kWh battery pack that took up so much space that the car was strictly a two-seater with little room for cargo, something that was a bit of an issue for the guinea pigs who leased the car and participated in BMW's study at the time. (It was this, rather than range, that would most often cause a Mini E driver to reach for a different set of keys, apparently.)

We doubt Mini will make the same mistake a decade later. Batteries have come a long way since 2009, as have EV expectations, thanks to Tesla. Details like powertrain specifications or price haven't been released, but we have to imagine that 2019's electric Mini will have at least 200 miles of range and a price that undercuts the BMW i3. At this point, my biggest question for BMW is simple: what's taking you so long?