Jersey City – For a 12 month period, Saint Peter’s College will join three institutes of higher education across the country and be equipped with MINI E cars, the latest generation of 100 percent electric, zero emission vehicles. Throughout a year-long research program, the College will test the general performance of two MINI E cars and report back to the BMW Group, which owns the MINI brand, on its usage of the vehicles and how much fuel the College saves.
In addition to Saint Peter’s, the State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz, Columbia University in New York City and Cerritos College in Norwalk, California are participating in BMW’s official public field trial.
BMW’s program is the first real-world experiment given in the U.S. by a major automaker that tests a large number of next-generation electric cars among consumers. Approximately 450 of the MINI E cars were made available to motorists on the east and west coasts for this study, which allows consumers to lease the cars from local MINI dealerships, as well as have special charge stations installed in their garages for the vehicles. Saint Peter’s is leasing its MINI E cars from Prestige MINI in Mahwah, N.J.
Limited driving distances, lack of public high voltage charging stations and lengthy charge times are currently a few of the negative features of the MINI E cars, upon which BMW is looking to improve. However, according to Joe Giglio, executive director of admission and enrollment marketing for Saint Peter’s, “For campus safety officers who patrol the campus, and admission counselors who travel to local high schools and have short driving ranges, these cars are very convenient and environmentally savvy.” With a charge station to be installed in one of the Saint Peter’s on-campus parking garages, the College will see an approximate charge time of five hours per vehicle.
The College will also participate in an additional research study by the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), in which researchers will come to Saint Peter’s midway through the test period to check the vehicles’ performance.
The BMW Group is the first corporation to use a lithium-ion battery to support an all-electric vehicle, a type of battery that is typically used in portable electronics. Up until the creation of the MINI E experiment, all other hybrid vehicles have used combination electric-gas engines.
Saint Peter’s College, founded in 1872, is a Jesuit, Catholic college in the liberal arts tradition located in the heart of Jersey City, N.J., with a branch campus in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and course offerings on the Jersey City Waterfront and at various corporate sites throughout New Jersey. Educating over 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 50 programs, Saint Peter’s College is committed to academic excellence and individual attention, preparing students for a lifetime of learning, leadership and service in a diverse and global society.
MINI is an independent brand of the BMW Group. In the United States, MINI USA operates as a business unit of BMW of North America, LLC, which has been present in the United States since 1975. Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car centers, 335 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 142 BMW motorcycle retailers, 84 MINI passenger car dealers, and 30 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. Information about MINI products is available to consumers via the Internet at: www.MINIUSA.com.