Mini USA will lease 450 Mini E electric cars to successful applicants this year. However, the program, which was expected to kick off at the beginning of 2009, is delayed due the surge of about 1,800 new applicants.

The chosen candidates expect to get their 450 Mini E sometime this April. Thirty more vehicles will be allotted to the different cities and navies for a year, to see whether the Mini E will have a shot at the market. Ten vehicles will be given to New York and will be used as patrol cars. Los Angeles will get five vehicles.

Mini Car USA has cut the list to about 1,000 lucky people while the on-going applications are still being scrutinized by 16 dealers—eight in Los Angeles, five in New York, and three in New Jersey. Jim McDowell, Vice President of Mini USA said that the dealers will cover the lease and service of the Mini E vehicles during the year-long trial.

The applicants for the Mini E lease are required to have a locked garage for the electrical charge box that will be installed by Mini USA. Monthly lease for the vehicle is $850. Originally, there were 500 Mini E electric cars allotted for the trial program, but 50 of which were set aside for Berlin to be used as fleets for an energy supplier.

Mini USA’s parent company BMW AG is set to determine if an electric city car will have a share in the automobile market. So far, the Mini E electric car is the pioneer product of BMW’s Munich-based Project I which build substitute powertrains for city driving.