MORE electric Minis will appear on Oxfordshire’s roads than anywhere else in Britain.

Both Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council have joined a consortium led by Mini’s parent firm BMW to test five prototype models each from November.

The emission-free cars cost as little as 1p a mile to run and can accelerate from 0-62mph in just 8.5 seconds.

BMW is also selecting 20 private drivers from 515 applications to act as guinea pig users of the groundbreaking car, which has a top speed of 95mph and a battery range of between 100 and 150 miles.

Emma Lowndes, marketing manager for the Mini E, which it is hoped will go on sale in 2015, said: “The idea of the trial is to find out how the private and fleet users take to electric cars. We want to make them desirable. Each Mini will be equipped with a data logger for the trial.”

Charging points will be set up by Southern Electric and Marks & Spencer in places such as park and ride car parks.

Southern Electric will also install a 32amp power point in the garage of every driver selected, capable of charging the Mini E from empty to full in four-and-a-half hours at a cost of about £2, at current electric prices, compared to about £12 to cover the same distance in a petrol car.

The specially-selected test drivers, each of whom will pay £330 a month for the privilege, will also be able to charge up their Mini overnight using an ordinary 13amp plug.

The Mini E is being built at the Cowley plant, but has its engine and batteries installed in Germany.

The car carries a distinctive yellow plug-in symbol. Inside, the back seat has been removed to make room for the car’s batteries.

Members of the Mini E consortium are the two councils; Oxford Brookes University, which is helping develop the car; the South East England Development Agency; Southern Electric and the Government’s Technology Strategy Board.

David Robertson, deputy leader of the county council, said: “This is quite a coup for Oxfordshire. In Oxford there are canyon streets which trap pollution, and electric cars could be the way forward.”

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