The Mini E was developed for field trials and deployed in several countries, including the United States, Germany, UK, France, Japan and China.

[6] This trial program allowed the BMW Group to become the world's first major car manufacturer to deploy a fleet of more than 500 all-electric vehicles for private use.

[14] AC Propulsion issued a news release on 19 November 2008, announcing they were a supplier for Mini E.[15] The news release stated that AC Propulsion supplied a specially developed version of its proprietary tzero, a registered trademark, technology, including air-cooled copper-rotor induction motor and Li ion battery on the Mini E. It is characterized by high performance, high efficiency, and fast charging.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified the Mini E range as 100 mi (160 km), with a city/highway combined energy consumption of 34 kW·h/100 miles.

[19] The Mini factory in Oxford, England supplied vehicle gliders to a team in Munich, Germany who added the electric running gear.

[2] After the Mini E trial program ended, some cars were displayed in museums, others shipped to Germany for further lab testing, and the rest dismantled and crushed.

[4] Residents of New Jersey did not pay sales tax on their lease due to the existing state exemption for battery electric vehicles.

[23][24] This renewal was offered to all individuals who had a Mini E lease at the time but fleet customers were excluded and according to BMW half of all lessees agreed to the extension.

[3] Testing in Berlin began in June 2009, and for the second phase, a total of 70 vehicles were delivered in March 2011 to private customers and fleet users.

[28][29] Testing in the U.K. took place between December 2009 and March 2011 with 40 Mini E cars handed to private users for two consecutive six-month field trial periods.

[6] One MINI E was delivered to the Government car pool in Downing Street to be tested by ministers in an urban environment on their official business around London.

Data collection and research was conducted by Oxford Brookes University's Sustainable Vehicle Engineering Centre throughout the UK project.

The findings are based on the 40 test cars driven by 62 members of the public and 76 pool users, who together drove 258,105 miles (415,380 km) over two six-month periods.

[citation needed] Nevada's Hybrid Technologies has started production of its electric-powered BMW Mini Cooper all-lithium model.

[41] EVTV has published a free "how-to" series of videos documenting their conversion of a 2009 Mini Cooper Clubman to electric drive.

Utilizing the existing transmission mated to a DC motor, their relatively inexpensive conversion kit will produce modest power and about a 80 km (50 mi) range per charge while keeping the rear seats and cargo room completely untouched.

[citation needed] In April 2010, the Mini E, driven by Thomas Jäger, became the first electric car to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in under 10 minutes.