Patrick Müller on the dynamic conquest of the future
Contrasting silver and yellow identify the MINI Electric Concept as an
electric pioneer.
Patrick Müller (right) and his team designed the MINI Electric Concept in record time.
As an engineer, my job is to design things. And, with the MINI E, we are designing the
future. Not just some distant, abstract future, but one we can already experience today. Being part of this
from the beginning has given me great pleasure and motivates me every day.
When we started fitting the first MINIs with electric drivetrains on a trial basis
more than ten years ago, it suddenly clicked for all of us: because even these early electric vehicles had that
agile performance so characteristic of MINI. Since then, we have made enormous progress in range, efficiency
and cost – and the BMW Group has earned itself a leading position in electric mobility.
We secured this advantage by maintaining the fast pace of development ever
since. For the MINI Electric Concept, for example, we had less than six months from initial concept to
presentation. But then, everyone knows that dynamism is part of our company’s DNA.
There has been another interesting effect: our electrified vehicles may be defining groundbreaking mobility, but, at the same time, they are also changing us. Because thinking about entirely new vehicle concepts inevitably means rethinking the way we work. You see it in people’s enthusiasm and in the positive energy of everyone across the company helping make the seemingly impossible become reality. In that respect, electric mobility is also driving the BMW Group forwards at a tremendous pace.
There has been another interesting effect: our electrified vehicles may be defining groundbreaking mobility, but, at the same time, they are also changing us. Because thinking about entirely new vehicle concepts inevitably means rethinking the way we work. You see it in people’s enthusiasm and in the positive energy of everyone across the company helping make the seemingly impossible become reality. In that respect, electric mobility is also driving the BMW Group forwards at a tremendous pace.
The benefit of a small team: everyone knows what they are contributing to the big picture.
As an engineer, my job is to design things. And, with the MINI E, we are designing the future.
Patrick Müller, Head of Electrification MINI and BMW Compact Class
The next milestone will be in 2019, with the launch of our first fully electric MINI.
It will deliver the usual MINI agility, driving fun and go-kart feeling to the road. After that, I am pretty
sure we will see lots of electric MINIs in cities very soon. Because MINI is cool – and so is electric
mobility. And the two simply belong together.
