BMW helps with a green London Olympic Games

BMW is doing its bit to keep the London Olympics clean and green by adding fully electric vehicles to the mix. As the official automotive partner for London 2012, part of the fleet you may have seen in those darn Olympic lanes includes 160 BMW 1 Series ActiveE models and 40 of the MINI E models. They have been used to shuttle athletes and officials around Olympic Park and surrounding games sites in zero-emissions comfort.

And as of today, the Mini MINI (yes, that's its name!) is added to the fleet - another electric car that has been especially created for the games - it's actually a radio-controlled electric car that will be used during the track and field events. It will be ferrying equipment such as javelins, discuses, hammers and shots from the field to the throwing area to help save time and keep the events moving. After all, a fast game's a good game.

These remote control cars are about a quarter the size of a full-sized Mini and officials will be able to load them up with equipment via an adapted sunroof. They can carry loads up to 8kg, the operating system is designed to be very simple and the batteries can sustain 35 minutes continuous use. The radio control range is around 100m and they can be fully charged in 80 minutes.

They will be easy to spot on telly in blue with Olympic Games livery, just like the full-sized Minis that are out and about on the roads. After the Olympics, the Mini MINI cars will then be used at the Paralympics.

How cool would it be for these to go into production and then sold at toy shops? Or for the the 80-minute charge time to be applied to full-sized electric cars. Here's hoping these remote control machines are a glimpse into a real world future on the roads.


By Georgia Lewis

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