eriknephron gfr Absolutely agree and we’ve had five MINI’s. Simply can’t have this as it’s not a second Car. BMW come back when it can do 250 miles plus on a charge real world 👍
It's a shame too the media has been asking when is the all electric Mini Cooper coming to BMW executives?? They kept saying soon 2020 and this is all they can come up with a small 90 to a possible 100 if you don't run any of the heating and cooling system. BMW should be ashamed of this offering. Idu why they don't do a skateboard design for the battery pack (instead of cramming everything under the backseat) an add a 60watt battery. I'd like to see BMW do that in a Mini Cooper Countryman ALL4 as all electric. I'll buy one just compete with the Chevy Bolt and Model 3 BMW/ MINI just compete with the range 259-300.
Great review but let's be honest, it's falls a bit short on the expectation. 10 years and can barely make 100 miles. If it's to be used just as a city car, then there are too many other options available that do better.
That's mainly because they use the drivetrain from the I3. Range is not great but remember majority of the people only drive around 30 miles a day in total.
As an around town car the Mini has always been one of my favorites. Now it is still one of my favorites whether electric or petrol based models. As a grocery getter, quick stop, or going out car they are phenomenal. For long trips there's nothing like a larger vehicle that allows us to stretch out a little more.
"Mini has been working on it for well over a decade"... Yeah... to finally decide overnight to fit the guts of an BMW i3 into the Mini and put it on sale...
indeed. the i3 was a good experiment with all that carbon fibre etc, but should have been improved more over its life. And then to stick the guts in a heavy mini and expect success is nothing short of moronic. I loved my beemer, but they have lost the plot with electric cars.
@@allah___maadarchodThe batteries arent there man, do you want all EVs to be massive SUVs or trucks? because thats the only way that range is possible with current battery tech.
TraderGang! We recorded this a couple of weeks ago... but now we're all stuck indoors, why not settle in to watch our latest film on the Mini Electric??! -Rory
@Rory Reid, 7:43 "on the upside, because [the battery pack] is small, it charges relatively quickly... recharge from zero to 80% in around 36 minutes." No, No, NO NO! Stop repeating this talking point promoted by makers of cars with small batteries. Those 36 minutes of charging only add an optimistic 115 miles of range to this Mini. Another small EV that gains, say, 160 miles of range in 36 minutes of charging is obviously BETTER IN EVERY WAY than this Mini, even if when you unplug it's only at 60% charge. (I think the Citroën ë-C3 would achieve that.) Why do you refuel/recharge a car? To get where you want to go. Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you keep charging until the EV reaches 80% charge. The Mini driver who feels superior because they hit 80% faster than another small EV will eventually realize they have to recharge again 45 miles before the other driver. For the 1,000th time, time to charge to 80 or 100% is NOT an important metric. What matters is how long you spend charging to add a given amount of miles. That's a graph, not a sound bite, but there's no excuse for focusing on the wrong thing.
its a mini why would you take that thing on the motorway not saying its not suitable for the motorway but yeah they are just trying to sell this thing to look good for the future honestly electric cars are gonna be garbage because their batteries will go bad quicker than an engine
@John Edwards Have to disagree. Not only are you saving on fuel costs and maintenance, but the extreme battery degradation you're describing is a bit of a myth. Many many old Teslas running around with nothing like the sort of degradation your talking about. Batteries aren't ideal in the long run at all, but as a whole they seem to be the best option at the moment.
Had two electric cars now and the Mini Electric I would drive any day. Yes, I live in the city, but I also have to drive up and down the motorway 112 miles every day, and I had never had to stop and charge anywhere other than outside my home overnight.
Mini got one thing right, having buttons to quickly change settings. Screens are cool but only one screen with zero switches is a horrible idea if you are still responsible for crashes.
Well I have had my Level 2 car since the 16th and whilst the current situation has limited its use I can say I find it an ideal car. A 50 mile range would easily do for what we use the car for and the electric drive is perfect for the car, as the instant acceleration makes pulling into traffic or overtaking easy. I had forgotten how fun a 3 door mini is to drive and having driven a Cooper, Cooper SD, Cooper S and now the Electric I feel the Electric is the best of the bunch. As long as to don't want to drive long distances.
Interesting review. However, having seen other reviews reach 100-130 miles, I feel that where you drive it makes a difference too. Historically, with maximum regeneration on the brakes, electric cars do better in towns and cities. This is due to the need to start and stop and brake more regularly, (thus generating more electric current from the brakes). I would love to see how many laps of a real track these cars can do. With the constant need for acceleration and intense braking, it should really put an electric car to the test.
Yes, and petrol/electric hybrids exhibit the same feature in urban areas with regen braking. While Minis are a classic design, the last time I drove one was when I learnt to drive a few years ago, and probably wouldn’t want to buy one. The point not mentioned is that manufacturing the electric version will assist BMW with it’s ‘quota’ of reducing CO2 emissions (and many of the components are the same as in other BMW models).
@James Stewart There is a sweet spot for range. Too slow, and accessories (heater/aircon etc) start to be the major drain. Too fast, and air friction takes over. Power required for air friction is proportional to speed cubed, so going at 30mph will need 8 times less power than going at 60mph - but you get there twice as quickly. However, you will use twice as much energy for the accessories when going the same distance (because it takes twice as long). Energy lost to rolling resistance is approximately constant over a given distance. Regen helps, but you only get back a percentage of the energy - but that is infinitely more than ICE cars get :) In a warmer country, where the aircon is on all the time, I average about 250km (155miles) of total range (based on recharging at about 200km/125 miles and around 20% battery left).
Well, I took this car on a test drive and I could consider myself as a car enthusiast. Offcourse I needed to test the real power of this mini. I took it to an empty industry road and pulled the gas peddal to the floor in sport mode. It took me 5 minutes of high performance driving and got a message on the mini's screen telling me I only had 50% power left because of overheating. So this car is useless on the track
I drove 133 miles from Lincoln to Gridserve at Braintree on a single charge in my Mini electric and still had 9% battery charge. A much underrated electric car in my opinion.
Almost perfect but the Achilles heel is that range. I'm a Mini Cooper owner for almost a decade and currently run a 2014 SD model that gets 64mpg on my motorway commute. I'd be all over this like a rash if the range was closer to 200. I love that it's an F56 model and not lost any of its looks, room or handling... But that range, that range is below the anxiety line for me, particularly because even though I strive for MPG efficiency even now in my Diesel, sometimes you just have to stick it in sport mode and go for it... Such a shame.
OK, so I have had my MINI for about 4 months and I can now see how Rory only got 98 miles. First thing is never, trust the range. Second,. never trust the range (technically only one point, but it was so important I thought I'd mention it twice - ok so I am a Red Dwarf fan). You have 20ish miles *after* the range gets to 0. Check out carwow's range test to see for yourself. Secondly, to get the actual battery percentage, you need to use the trip computer. When the segments go down, it is about 7% higher (eg. at a displayed 4 bars, or 50%, you could actually be at 57-58%). I regularly get 140-155 miles (depending on driving style) from a charge. This is in normal mode with aircon on. Take off a bit for the cold weather, as EVs don't like the cold and there you have it. 98 Miles becomes 125-130 miles *actual* range. About 10% down on my range due to the temperature. It was worrying me how anybody could only get 100miles per charge - believe me I tried once to get down to 100 miles, and failed dismally. Great review - I have watched it many times, and it is still a good watch. Thanks Rory.
@@iMagic16 Yes, I still have the MINI. It ticked over 1 year recently, and I wouldn't swap it for anything else. As far as EVs go, it is one of, if not the most fun to drive. If anything, my range has increased. I now use sport mode all the time, and I am pushing 250+ (160miles). I would recommend the MINI without hesitation!
I test drove one with my wife yesterday. It will be a replacement 2nd car for us, handling a 55 mile daily commute. The car was superb to drive, really fun. We’re looking forward to having one, it will save us nearly £6k a year than what we currently pay, for tax, fuel and repayment costs on a Honda HRV 1.5i Vtech.
@@kikita278 had one since June and love it. By law has to make a weird 'whirring' sound at low speed so pedestrian hear it, other than that silent but for road and wind noise.
@@1andyronly How cool! How is it doing with the 55-mile daily commute? Does it give you and your wife anxiety about recharging it? I had a Mini S in the past and it is my favorite care of all time. But the battery life worries me. I do however want to go electric. I test drove the ID4 by VW and it was so, so cool. But the Mini has my heart.
@@kikita278 absolutely no worries re. Range. Even in depths of winter, you still get 100 miles, with wipers, lights, heated car, seats, windows etc. This time of year the 140mile range is usual. It is by far the best frame for an EV. It's like a go kart. It beats the JCW mini around a test track on a video due to its acceleration and linear power delivery (no gears to change means no loss of power on acceleration). It's a really cool fun car packed with tech. The L3 is the top spec, but you get plenty of toys for that. The L1,L2 and L3 have the same power etc.
I think that Mini did the right thing here. The battery is fairly slow, yes. But we all know that trips over 600km can hardly be pulled of with any electric car (unless you wait and charge them up, which is possible, but you‘ll need some patience) however having this as a second car for commutes, it‘d be brilliant. 180km of range is not a lot, but definetly enough. And from an ecological standpoint, the mini actually does make a difference - with the small battery you‘ll only have to travel about 60‘000 km to break even with co-2, granted your electricity comes from a green source.
I test drove one of these and loved it. Was just about to put down a deposit but after watching this, I don't think the car is overpriced considering the range. Will probably get a leaf instead. Much more practical but not as fun. Gonna be a tough one.
90 mile range is garbage. cars would need at least 200 range to start getting practical. I still think hybrids is the best way to go. Prius cars get about 57 miles per gallon and about 700 mile range.
It'd be interesting to see a range test where you don't drive aggressively through winding B roads all the way (sticking it in eco mode won't help if you drive like that lol) Still, 98 miles is actually pretty good since this represents the worst case for the car. 140 seems entirely possible.
I think the weather affected your range more than you think. I know from myself with an Ioniq(28) that rain/wet/cold weather reduce what the GoM says. It would be interesting to do the same test on a warm summer day dry no rain around say 20-25C outside temp. Plus the one thing you didn't mention but does the battery have active or passive management(heating/cooling)?
It has active heat management and the battery can be pre-conditioned before a cold morning drive to help with range. The heater extracts heat using a heat pump, instead of generating it with a resistive element, so the vehicle isn't as poorly affected by low temperatures as is the case with older or less expensive EVs.
Well done, Rory. I think while many of us like the idea of going electric in theory, in practice the systems just aren't there yet. I also find the Mini too wilfully naff (Union Jack brake lights etc.). Range anxiety would be a real issue of ownership.
I love EVs, I drive an ev,... from 2015. So it doesn’t go very far. And that’s ok, I have a range extender that I hardly ever need. But this is 2020... This Mini,... litteraly,... needs DOUBLE the battery capacity it has now. At 65kWh this could be a practical car. Especially taken the fact that you will hardly pay more for a Peugeot e208, ZOE 52, or Corsa-e, or even a 42kWh i3 will do better. Camaan... not good enough BMW/Mini...
Old thread, but you are missing the point. You could tow a trailer with 10MWh of batteries (obviously not in the real world), and go 40,000 miles between charges, however it wouldn't handle, accelerate or be in any way fun to drive. The range, and I mean real range not the overly reported 100mile thing, is more than adequate for virtually all use cases. You will rarely be more than 100 miles from the nearest charger, so although annoying, you can still make road trips. For a city car, you get another 150 city miles each morning (yes, the real range) when you charge. Not many people's commute is that long I would guess. The trade off is that you will be driving the most fun EV available until you add another 0 to the end of the price. That is a trade off I am willing to take. If you want a practical car, don't buy a mini, buy a people mover/SUV.
just saw a red one drive by, caught my eye as ive owned two ICE minis that were both also red i could barely hear it drive by it looked sharp! good review
Great vid and review, you’ve really brightened up the AutoTrader Channel as it had been a wee bit lost 🚙👍🏻 Shame about the MINI Electric tho, it did half the mileage it predicted on a full charge in Eco Mode and for me it should be £15k for a One version and £18k for the Cooper E Missing a trick as they had electric Minis in the 1960’s
As a current F55 LCI Cooper S owner, I was excited about this and glad its kept up with the MINI chic. Was excited. The range is disappointing. Great if you don't leave the small urban areas, otherwise I'd be charging this daily and that will just get annoying. Maybe by upgrade time BMW/MINI will improve the range as batteries get better and better. Great review, one of the best auto channels out there!
Batteries are already better. BMW analysis of the market is faulty so they lack commitment to only compliance cars. Recent change of CEO and Board may rectify this - 5 years too late.
Not trying to be rude to anyone but I was in one of these and the range is roughly 120-130 miles ( motorway or main roads ) and it’s very comfortable we’re getting this as a second car so I’m pretty happy 😀 opinions welcome
The temperature is shown as 3.5 degrees, that is going to hugely affect the range. Could do with a bit of extra range but otherwise is a great little car. I’ve driven it and in terms of handling and fun, it’s not in the same league as the the Zoe or electric Corsa.
This might sound naive (!), but in a few years when range would be improved, would it be possible to upgrade the electric engine only? I love this car from your video and others that I've seen, but my concern would be re-sale as well as an initial purchase.
Wait the speaker always makes noise? Sure it’s just not only at very low speed to signal pedestrians? ie parking lots? That’s a lot of yellow to remove!
My car which has a conventional Internal Combustion engine also comes to a complete standstill if I lift my foot off the accelerator. It does not come equipped with a recovery feature.
I didn't realise this was three years old until towards the end. Rory drove it in eco mode to get the most from it and still had a loss of around 30% on the claimed range. All manufacturers need to do better.
The problem is that a few years into ownership during the winter this car will struggle to get 50 miles of range. I think people need 120 miles of range with HVAC and normal driving style as a minimum. More than that is only needed if its your sole vehicle, in which case PHEV can make more sense.
maybe someone is working on an aftermarket batterypack that can be added to increase the range on these cars... like whn u add an amp and a subwoofer.. jus bolt it in the boot somewhere and ur goodtogo
Surely this car is built for commuting, and 50 miles each way for a daily commute seems perfectly reasonable to me. Will appeal to style conscious commuters. I’d definitely ditch all those garish electric mini styling additions though. If waiting 36 minutes for a recharge is too long for you, and you need more range without charging , there are plenty of other EV’s available.
To charge quickly isn't depending on the battery size. Batteries have a rating to show how quickly they can charge, it's the C-Rating. The Hyundai Ioniq had a 28kWh battery and could charge with 75kW DC. That means the battery is capable to charge with almost 3C peak. The Mini barely makes 1.5C so in comparison it charges slower than the old Ioniq. Battery size and quick charging are 2 different things. What's important for EV buyers is to know how many miles you can charge up in a set amount of time. That's why if you have an efficient car that can charge fast, you'll get more miles in a set amount of time while still having a smaller battery that allows for better efficiency (Ioniq for example).
80-90 miles then, Trying to go all electric as main commute without worrying about charging then to pass down to convert the household so would need to be main car for a couple of years, shame that, hope next version is cooper level pricing and 150 mile real range.
Nice review man, thanks. No matter how much I look into electric cars, it’s still to early to purchase one. One, the infrastructure. Two, still to expensive for your average Joe. Three, to complicated for their own good. Just look at Renault ad for the Zoe. Buying a new car should be easy, not a minefield.
I had one as a loan car while my Countryman PHEV was having its first service - I loved it BUT it was a 23c day and I managed to see 110 miles range driving in sport and Max regen which means that it would be fine for my 32 mile round trip to the shops but useless in winter for my 110 mile monthly round trip to Edinburgh, where I have no access to public charging at my destination in the winter and nail biting range anxiety after a run down the M9 and back even in summer. Now if BMW Mini put the battery pack from the Mini E into the Countryman PHEV I wouldn’t be looking to changing my Countryman for a Zoe R135 GT Line or a Kona-e.............. or, with some help from the friendly bank manager , a Tesla Y when it arrives in the UK
I know of winter cars here in Germany...never heard of summer cars. Although, guess you should also better switch of the AC to save for range...useless for us. We need to tow a trailer, cover 300+ km relatively frequently. And we do not want to take a break 3 times of half an hour. Also, there are quite some hills around us...
I have seen these statements along the lines of "it's a smaller battery so is quicker to fill up" before but they don't any sense to me. All other things being equal a car with a 32kWh battery pack will take less time to "fill up" than a car with a 40kWh battery. There's not as much to "fill up". But they will add the same amount of range in the same amount of time it's just that you will be able to add more range to a 40kWh vehicle.
My Scotish grandfathers surname was Reid don,t think we are related though.Thank you for the vlog what would interest me does the "normal socket" at home overheat?
What's annoying is that we need now to be past Second Car status. And we can be. My year old Renault Zoe couldn't get below 120 miles if you rag it at 70 on a motorway in freezing rain (I did this a few weeks ago). In the summer it's quite easy to get 190 miles in mixed driving. The new 2020 model is already going further. It's a primary car. There's nowhere it can't go in a day. It's disappointing that this won't do that so easily.
Tim Austin enjoy your Zoe . We had new Zoe ze50 and done 6700 miles in 4 months it’s a great car ! Did 1050 miles in 4 days with family of 4 , had upto 260 miles out of Zoe on one charge in summer and upto 6.8 miles per kWh on the flat on 25 miles trip .Would love a ev mini but too small range if wanted second car ev I would get Honda e .
All fair points and a good review, however the range fixation is getting a bit old now... BTW-why is it not mentioned that petrol or diesels range drop when you change your drive settings or indeed your driving style? My old tfsi Octavia vrs had a range of between 650 and 300 km... Talk about range difference. If the mini doesn't meet your expectations in any area, there are no other alternatives available. This car will sell well enough to warrant a purpose built EV platform before this decade is out. Jist my 5 cents, keep up the great work Rory, just keep it fair and square and discuss both sides of the coin.
An entertaining review but flawed. You said you were cold and I saw 3.5 deg C on the dash but you did not say that this reduces the range of any EV so your 99 miles is representative only of that cold weather case. To illustrate the point, Carwow took one 153 miles on a hot day with most of that at motorway speeds which do not help range. I would prefer a much better range figure but the small battery allows the car to keep the mini's chuckable nature.
We had our electric mini delivered at the start of October 2021. It is now almost the end of February 2022 and we are still getting less than a 100-mile range. There are not many hot days in the UK!
This is a video that’s two months behind all the other tubers. On the pulse AT, on the pulse. 😂 just an idea switch the car off when outside it, it’s using power 👍 The second gen of this will be good in 2024. 👍
A friend bought one. Only came with a house 110 volt charger! Did NOT come with a Level 2 charger! The only decent home option is a $700 ChargePoint HomeFlex 240 volt 32 amp charger plus installation cost. The Mini dealership had NO IDEA how to arrange for level 2 home charging! Pathetic is an understatement. 🙄
This is a poor effort by BMW. Appreciate the honest review.
eriknephron gfr Absolutely agree and we’ve had five MINI’s. Simply can’t have this as it’s not a second Car. BMW come back when it can do 250 miles plus on a charge real world 👍
eriknephron gfr no bmw is a good cars
It's a shame too the media has been asking when is the all electric Mini Cooper coming to BMW executives?? They kept saying soon 2020 and this is all they can come up with a small 90 to a possible 100 if you don't run any of the heating and cooling system. BMW should be ashamed of this offering. Idu why they don't do a skateboard design for the battery pack (instead of cramming everything under the backseat) an add a 60watt battery. I'd like to see BMW do that in a Mini Cooper Countryman ALL4 as all electric. I'll buy one just compete with the Chevy Bolt and Model 3 BMW/ MINI just compete with the range 259-300.
@@SWR112 You really need that kind of range on your second car? Then I guess this one is not for you.
The media’s obsession with range anxiety is pathetic - if you want to be open publish your acceleration and speed data for this journey
Great review but let's be honest, it's falls a bit short on the expectation. 10 years and can barely make 100 miles. If it's to be used just as a city car, then there are too many other options available that do better.
ragemydream A bit much short...
I agree and none of them are a Mini. ;)
This compared unfavorably to a 2012 Leaf, which you can get with good battery for around $5000 U.S. and has much more room.
Lounge lizard yeah but it’s an early leaf, the driving experience is nothing compared to a modern mini
That's mainly because they use the drivetrain from the I3. Range is not great but remember majority of the people only drive around 30 miles a day in total.
I wish they'd called it the 'Cooper E' instead of Cooper S
they called it MINI Cooper SE
Or Copper.
What Jack said.
i wish they would go back to drawing board...having even glimpsed at the competition.
@@JP-wh5bt I see what you did there :P
As an around town car the Mini has always been one of my favorites. Now it is still one of my favorites whether electric or petrol based models. As a grocery getter, quick stop, or going out car they are phenomenal. For long trips there's nothing like a larger vehicle that allows us to stretch out a little more.
"Mini has been working on it for well over a decade"... Yeah... to finally decide overnight to fit the guts of an BMW i3 into the Mini and put it on sale...
indeed. the i3 was a good experiment with all that carbon fibre etc, but should have been improved more over its life. And then to stick the guts in a heavy mini and expect success is nothing short of moronic. I loved my beemer, but they have lost the plot with electric cars.
Yeah, if they have worked on it for a decade it should be a proper purebred EV instead of a converted petrol car.
The i3 is £40,000 so almost twice the price and very ugly and stupid.
EV cars should have 500km range at least at an avg speed of 100kmph.
@@allah___maadarchodThe batteries arent there man, do you want all EVs to be massive SUVs or trucks? because thats the only way that range is possible with current battery tech.
add another 100 miles to the range then i'll buy one
They have worked a decade to make this 100 mile range and will make 200 mile car by next decade. Please wait for it.
@@srijishks lol
Augustus Day Tesla is already at the 400 mile mark with the Model S Long Range.
Lazy
@@TheStopwatchGod agree with the great range, but tbh Tesla looks quite ugly.
TraderGang! We recorded this a couple of weeks ago... but now we're all stuck indoors, why not settle in to watch our latest film on the Mini Electric??! -Rory
Can you please pin your comments so that they’re at the top
@Rory Reid, 7:43 "on the upside, because [the battery pack] is small, it charges relatively quickly... recharge from zero to 80% in around 36 minutes."
No, No, NO NO! Stop repeating this talking point promoted by makers of cars with small batteries. Those 36 minutes of charging only add an optimistic 115 miles of range to this Mini. Another small EV that gains, say, 160 miles of range in 36 minutes of charging is obviously BETTER IN EVERY WAY than this Mini, even if when you unplug it's only at 60% charge. (I think the Citroën ë-C3 would achieve that.)
Why do you refuel/recharge a car? To get where you want to go. Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you keep charging until the EV reaches 80% charge. The Mini driver who feels superior because they hit 80% faster than another small EV will eventually realize they have to recharge again 45 miles before the other driver.
For the 1,000th time, time to charge to 80 or 100% is NOT an important metric. What matters is how long you spend charging to add a given amount of miles. That's a graph, not a sound bite, but there's no excuse for focusing on the wrong thing.
I think this is more practical than the Honda e but the Honda e just looks so darn cool.
Agreed. The eMini is ugly, the eHonda has clean lines, I think Alex Issigonis would have approved far more of the Honda.
The concept did...but in the flesh the Honda is a pig.
@@PaulMansfield I prefer the look of the mini
@@LivingLifeSlower I saw a honda e the other day, though it looked pretty decent
honda e has 5 doors though
100miles with no heating! It's literally only a city car.
The ability to get full juice every morning is what makes it a perfect city car.
its a mini why would you take that thing on the motorway not saying its not suitable for the motorway but yeah they are just trying to sell this thing to look good for the future honestly electric cars are gonna be garbage because their batteries will go bad quicker than an engine
And if you want a city car... why would anyone get this over a Honda E or Fiat 500e?
@John Edwards my dads merc had one replaced every year his friend had the same battery in his car and it was fine but my dads car ate 1 battery a year
@John Edwards Have to disagree. Not only are you saving on fuel costs and maintenance, but the extreme battery degradation you're describing is a bit of a myth. Many many old Teslas running around with nothing like the sort of degradation your talking about. Batteries aren't ideal in the long run at all, but as a whole they seem to be the best option at the moment.
Had two electric cars now and the Mini Electric I would drive any day. Yes, I live in the city, but I also have to drive up and down the motorway 112 miles every day, and I had never had to stop and charge anywhere other than outside my home overnight.
Mini got one thing right, having buttons to quickly change settings. Screens are cool but only one screen with zero switches is a horrible idea if you are still responsible for crashes.
That took over 10 years?
I know right. Tesla have been around for 12 years, and look where they are at.
RIP out motor slap in motors replace fuel tank with battery add electric style
Seriously 10 years lol
redeh2 but it looks like a Tesla.
Well, if you sit around twiddling your thumbs for nine years and then throw something together in one year, yeah, this is what you get.
Well it's more that they were planning for the perfect time to execute, they waited for other people to develop battery technology.
Well I have had my Level 2 car since the 16th and whilst the current situation has limited its use I can say I find it an ideal car. A 50 mile range would easily do for what we use the car for and the electric drive is perfect for the car, as the instant acceleration makes pulling into traffic or overtaking easy. I had forgotten how fun a 3 door mini is to drive and having driven a Cooper, Cooper SD, Cooper S and now the Electric I feel the Electric is the best of the bunch. As long as to don't want to drive long distances.
Interesting review. However, having seen other reviews reach 100-130 miles, I feel that where you drive it makes a difference too. Historically, with maximum regeneration on the brakes, electric cars do better in towns and cities. This is due to the need to start and stop and brake more regularly, (thus generating more electric current from the brakes). I would love to see how many laps of a real track these cars can do. With the constant need for acceleration and intense braking, it should really put an electric car to the test.
Yes, and petrol/electric hybrids exhibit the same feature in urban areas with regen braking. While Minis are a classic design, the last time I drove one was when I learnt to drive a few years ago, and probably wouldn’t want to buy one. The point not mentioned is that manufacturing the electric version will assist BMW with it’s ‘quota’ of reducing CO2 emissions (and many of the components are the same as in other BMW models).
No, I don't think starting and stopping boosts range - I think its about slower speeds in town.
@James Stewart There is a sweet spot for range. Too slow, and accessories (heater/aircon etc) start to be the major drain. Too fast, and air friction takes over. Power required for air friction is proportional to speed cubed, so going at 30mph will need 8 times less power than going at 60mph - but you get there twice as quickly. However, you will use twice as much energy for the accessories when going the same distance (because it takes twice as long). Energy lost to rolling resistance is approximately constant over a given distance. Regen helps, but you only get back a percentage of the energy - but that is infinitely more than ICE cars get :) In a warmer country, where the aircon is on all the time, I average about 250km (155miles) of total range (based on recharging at about 200km/125 miles and around 20% battery left).
Well, I took this car on a test drive and I could consider myself as a car enthusiast. Offcourse I needed to test the real power of this mini. I took it to an empty industry road and pulled the gas peddal to the floor in sport mode. It took me 5 minutes of high performance driving and got a message on the mini's screen telling me I only had 50% power left because of overheating. So this car is useless on the track
LOL YES SURE OF COURSE LET'S PUT THEM ON A RACE TRACK if we want to find out what their "REAL WORLD RANGE" IS!!
Should have been called the Min-e
Minnie!
I drove 133 miles from Lincoln to Gridserve at Braintree on a single charge in my Mini electric and still had 9% battery charge. A much underrated electric car in my opinion.
Hmmm...I wonder why Rory only achieved 98 miles.
Almost perfect but the Achilles heel is that range.
I'm a Mini Cooper owner for almost a decade and currently run a 2014 SD model that gets 64mpg on my motorway commute.
I'd be all over this like a rash if the range was closer to 200. I love that it's an F56 model and not lost any of its looks, room or handling...
But that range, that range is below the anxiety line for me, particularly because even though I strive for MPG efficiency even now in my Diesel, sometimes you just have to stick it in sport mode and go for it...
Such a shame.
Great review as usual, like the car but the range has already been surpassed by a lot of other models, therefore I'm a bit disappointed.
You'd think Mini was trying to go out of business
Rory, love ur content. You've really redeem this channel ♥️
Temperature will affect the range I noticed +3 Deg.C. which will take a 20% hit on range
I can say that this mini was one of the best cars i drove so far... super fun in the sports mode and traction off
OK, so I have had my MINI for about 4 months and I can now see how Rory only got 98 miles. First thing is never, trust the range. Second,. never trust the range (technically only one point, but it was so important I thought I'd mention it twice - ok so I am a Red Dwarf fan). You have 20ish miles *after* the range gets to 0. Check out carwow's range test to see for yourself. Secondly, to get the actual battery percentage, you need to use the trip computer. When the segments go down, it is about 7% higher (eg. at a displayed 4 bars, or 50%, you could actually be at 57-58%). I regularly get 140-155 miles (depending on driving style) from a charge. This is in normal mode with aircon on. Take off a bit for the cold weather, as EVs don't like the cold and there you have it. 98 Miles becomes 125-130 miles *actual* range. About 10% down on my range due to the temperature. It was worrying me how anybody could only get 100miles per charge - believe me I tried once to get down to 100 miles, and failed dismally.
Great review - I have watched it many times, and it is still a good watch. Thanks Rory.
thank for a true owners perspective. Do you still own it now? still like it? any new thoughts or feelings?
@@iMagic16 Yes, I still have the MINI. It ticked over 1 year recently, and I wouldn't swap it for anything else. As far as EVs go, it is one of, if not the most fun to drive. If anything, my range has increased. I now use sport mode all the time, and I am pushing 250+ (160miles). I would recommend the MINI without hesitation!
I test drove one with my wife yesterday. It will be a replacement 2nd car for us, handling a 55 mile daily commute. The car was superb to drive, really fun.
We’re looking forward to having one, it will save us nearly £6k a year than what we currently pay, for tax, fuel and repayment costs on a Honda HRV 1.5i Vtech.
Was it very loud?
@@kikita278 had one since June and love it. By law has to make a weird 'whirring' sound at low speed so pedestrian hear it, other than that silent but for road and wind noise.
@@1andyronly How cool! How is it doing with the 55-mile daily commute? Does it give you and your wife anxiety about recharging it? I had a Mini S in the past and it is my favorite care of all time. But the battery life worries me. I do however want to go electric. I test drove the ID4 by VW and it was so, so cool. But the Mini has my heart.
@@kikita278 absolutely no worries re. Range. Even in depths of winter, you still get 100 miles, with wipers, lights, heated car, seats, windows etc.
This time of year the 140mile range is usual.
It is by far the best frame for an EV. It's like a go kart. It beats the JCW mini around a test track on a video due to its acceleration and linear power delivery (no gears to change means no loss of power on acceleration).
It's a really cool fun car packed with tech. The L3 is the top spec, but you get plenty of toys for that. The L1,L2 and L3 have the same power etc.
Think turning the head and spot lights off during whole review would have helped do you think?
2 problems. range & price. a good step in the right direction. great review!!
I think that Mini did the right thing here. The battery is fairly slow, yes. But we all know that trips over 600km can hardly be pulled of with any electric car (unless you wait and charge them up, which is possible, but you‘ll need some patience) however having this as a second car for commutes, it‘d be brilliant. 180km of range is not a lot, but definetly enough. And from an ecological standpoint, the mini actually does make a difference - with the small battery you‘ll only have to travel about 60‘000 km to break even with co-2, granted your electricity comes from a green source.
I like it. Would need double the range to be any use to me though sadly.
A very good car, but still lacking in range. But the tech is moving along quickly so hopefully we will see a Mini Electric with a bigger range.
Great idea Mini. No heating in winter so you can get to where you need to go . This was the case 10 years ago !!
The most reliable modern mini!
Terry Smith 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Lmao true but with the least character
Are u joking
Great video ... as always :). Just one little correction the Mini has a 32.6 KWh battery but you can only use 28.something of it ;)
I test drove one of these and loved it. Was just about to put down a deposit but after watching this, I don't think the car is overpriced considering the range. Will probably get a leaf instead. Much more practical but not as fun. Gonna be a tough one.
90 mile range is garbage. cars would need at least 200 range to start getting practical. I still think hybrids is the best way to go. Prius cars get about 57 miles per gallon and about 700 mile range.
I like it! Ambient temp really affects range, probably would see 145miles in the warmer months of the year!
Good car for commuting to work and back. And the occasional weekend get away.
Rory as usual your video offers the best information about what I want to know as a driver!
Rory is increasingly compelling. Brilliant presenter.
Turns off heating and heated seats in eco mode, might as well buy an electric motorcycle
Yeah nothing says “motorcycle” like weather proof, able to carry groceries, luggage, passengers etc. Might as well not comment actually
Noah Ksiazkiewicz ah thanks I’ll not bother in future wasting my time commenting then
It'd be interesting to see a range test where you don't drive aggressively through winding B roads all the way (sticking it in eco mode won't help if you drive like that lol)
Still, 98 miles is actually pretty good since this represents the worst case for the car. 140 seems entirely possible.
I think the weather affected your range more than you think. I know from myself with an Ioniq(28) that rain/wet/cold weather reduce what the GoM says. It would be interesting to do the same test on a warm summer day dry no rain around say 20-25C outside temp. Plus the one thing you didn't mention but does the battery have active or passive management(heating/cooling)?
Well its England right? So this test is highly relative
It has active heat management and the battery can be pre-conditioned before a cold morning drive to help with range. The heater extracts heat using a heat pump, instead of generating it with a resistive element, so the vehicle isn't as poorly affected by low temperatures as is the case with older or less expensive EVs.
Well done, Rory. I think while many of us like the idea of going electric in theory, in practice the systems just aren't there yet. I also find the Mini too wilfully naff (Union Jack brake lights etc.). Range anxiety would be a real issue of ownership.
I love EVs, I drive an ev,... from 2015. So it doesn’t go very far. And that’s ok, I have a range extender that I hardly ever need. But this is 2020... This Mini,... litteraly,... needs DOUBLE the battery capacity it has now. At 65kWh this could be a practical car. Especially taken the fact that you will hardly pay more for a Peugeot e208, ZOE 52, or Corsa-e, or even a 42kWh i3 will do better. Camaan... not good enough BMW/Mini...
Old thread, but you are missing the point. You could tow a trailer with 10MWh of batteries (obviously not in the real world), and go 40,000 miles between charges, however it wouldn't handle, accelerate or be in any way fun to drive. The range, and I mean real range not the overly reported 100mile thing, is more than adequate for virtually all use cases. You will rarely be more than 100 miles from the nearest charger, so although annoying, you can still make road trips. For a city car, you get another 150 city miles each morning (yes, the real range) when you charge. Not many people's commute is that long I would guess. The trade off is that you will be driving the most fun EV available until you add another 0 to the end of the price. That is a trade off I am willing to take. If you want a practical car, don't buy a mini, buy a people mover/SUV.
just saw a red one drive by, caught my eye as ive owned two ICE minis that were both also red i could barely hear it drive by it looked sharp! good review
Great vid and review, you’ve really brightened up the AutoTrader Channel as it had been a wee bit lost 🚙👍🏻
Shame about the MINI Electric tho, it did half the mileage it predicted on a full charge in Eco Mode and for me it should be £15k for a One version and £18k for the Cooper E
Missing a trick as they had electric Minis in the 1960’s
This is man is able to point out obvious things without being boring. Shout out, RR :)
As a current F55 LCI Cooper S owner, I was excited about this and glad its kept up with the MINI chic. Was excited. The range is disappointing. Great if you don't leave the small urban areas, otherwise I'd be charging this daily and that will just get annoying. Maybe by upgrade time BMW/MINI will improve the range as batteries get better and better. Great review, one of the best auto channels out there!
Batteries are already better. BMW analysis of the market is faulty so they lack commitment to only compliance cars. Recent change of CEO and Board may rectify this - 5 years too late.
Great review very professional. I think this mini has its place especially city driving where it can maximise the regen
What was around a 24k starting price is now 28k. But by the time you spec it up to a reasonable level, you’ll be into 30k +
Not trying to be rude to anyone but I was in one of these and the range is roughly 120-130 miles ( motorway or main roads ) and it’s very comfortable we’re getting this as a second car so I’m pretty happy 😀 opinions welcome
The temperature is shown as 3.5 degrees, that is going to hugely affect the range.
Could do with a bit of extra range but otherwise is a great little car. I’ve driven it and in terms of handling and fun, it’s not in the same league as the the Zoe or electric Corsa.
3.5 degrees Celsius isn't that cold. Does it affect EV's?
Thanks for no adding add's!
Narration and videography are all top notch! Great to see you on video again, rory! ~ex-cnetter in SG
This might sound naive (!), but in a few years when range would be improved, would it be possible to upgrade the electric engine only? I love this car from your video and others that I've seen, but my concern would be re-sale as well as an initial purchase.
Wait the speaker always makes noise? Sure it’s just not only at very low speed to signal pedestrians? ie parking lots?
That’s a lot of yellow to remove!
The best review channel on TH-cam.
Well written review. Thanks.
10 years and noone thought of calling it the Mini Cooper E....wasteman.
What's the point of the bonnet scoop?
Since the backseat is not really usable, should they pull them out and add more battery capacity?
I‘ve been waiting for such a video to long👍🏽
My car which has a conventional Internal Combustion engine also comes to a complete standstill if I lift my foot off the accelerator.
It does not come equipped with a recovery feature.
Autotrader more like Auto awesome.
Do mini electrics sold in the UK have different size batteries than those for the US market?
To be fair to the mini, it was wet, cold and windy. Three things that reduce range. On summers day it would have done much better.
I didn't realise this was three years old until towards the end. Rory drove it in eco mode to get the most from it and still had a loss of around 30% on the claimed range. All manufacturers need to do better.
The problem is that a few years into ownership during the winter this car will struggle to get 50 miles of range. I think people need 120 miles of range with HVAC and normal driving style as a minimum. More than that is only needed if its your sole vehicle, in which case PHEV can make more sense.
maybe someone is working on an aftermarket batterypack that can be added to increase the range on these cars... like whn u add an amp and a subwoofer.. jus bolt it in the boot somewhere and ur goodtogo
Where there's a need there's a way.
It would be brilliant if we can have the option of an upgrade on the battery
Beyond the Saint Trinity, this presenter is the first brit car show host I dont want to cram in a glove box. Made me a subscriber here.
Surely this car is built for commuting, and 50 miles each way for a daily commute seems perfectly reasonable to me. Will appeal to style conscious commuters. I’d definitely ditch all those garish electric mini styling additions though. If waiting 36 minutes for a recharge is too long for you, and you need more range without charging , there are plenty of other EV’s available.
To charge quickly isn't depending on the battery size. Batteries have a rating to show how quickly they can charge, it's the C-Rating. The Hyundai Ioniq had a 28kWh battery and could charge with 75kW DC. That means the battery is capable to charge with almost 3C peak. The Mini barely makes 1.5C so in comparison it charges slower than the old Ioniq.
Battery size and quick charging are 2 different things. What's important for EV buyers is to know how many miles you can charge up in a set amount of time. That's why if you have an efficient car that can charge fast, you'll get more miles in a set amount of time while still having a smaller battery that allows for better efficiency (Ioniq for example).
I would happily pay more for extra range.... please MINI! I want one so badly, but 100-115 miles of range just doesn't cut it in the US.
one year on , Mini electric now 26,000. for 100 - 140 miles. worth it? and how much is that battery rplacement after eight years of cycle charge
80-90 miles then, Trying to go all electric as main commute without worrying about charging then to pass down to convert the household so would need to be main car for a couple of years, shame that, hope next version is cooper level pricing and 150 mile real range.
Nice review man, thanks. No matter how much I look into electric cars, it’s still to early to purchase one. One, the infrastructure. Two, still to expensive for your average Joe. Three, to complicated for their own good. Just look at Renault ad for the Zoe. Buying a new car should be easy, not a minefield.
Chris Mac Donald. Why is buying a new Zoe a minefield? We got one was easy and is nice car 6700 miles later and still loving it ?
We provide automatic driving lessons in a Mini electric and easily get over 130 miles from a charge. It’s my only car and what a car.
I had one as a loan car while my Countryman PHEV was having its first service - I loved it BUT it was a 23c day and I managed to see 110 miles range driving in sport and Max regen which means that it would be fine for my 32 mile round trip to the shops but useless in winter for my 110 mile monthly round trip to Edinburgh, where I have no access to public charging at my destination in the winter and nail biting range anxiety after a run down the M9 and back even in summer. Now if BMW Mini put the battery pack from the Mini E into the Countryman PHEV I wouldn’t be looking to changing my Countryman for a Zoe R135 GT Line or a Kona-e.............. or, with some help from the friendly bank manager , a Tesla Y when it arrives in the UK
Please can you test it at 70mph on the motorway with lights, wipers and heaters on and see how far it goes?
I know of winter cars here in Germany...never heard of summer cars. Although, guess you should also better switch of the AC to save for range...useless for us. We need to tow a trailer, cover 300+ km relatively frequently. And we do not want to take a break 3 times of half an hour. Also, there are quite some hills around us...
I have seen these statements along the lines of "it's a smaller battery so is quicker to fill up" before but they don't any sense to me. All other things being equal a car with a 32kWh battery pack will take less time to "fill up" than a car with a 40kWh battery. There's not as much to "fill up". But they will add the same amount of range in the same amount of time it's just that you will be able to add more range to a 40kWh vehicle.
does green mode deactivate the windscreen demister too?
In Malaysia only have 328 EV charger only. Some Difficulty using this car. But some people also buy this car or BMW i3.
I hope they give you the options to customize the exterior, I don’t like the colors or hood-caps..
I wonder what the average speed was on that trip. In the electric cars the faster you go the less efficient the battery is.
great review mate.
My Scotish grandfathers surname was Reid don,t think we are related though.Thank you for the vlog what would interest me does the "normal socket" at home overheat?
Is it faulty most of the time like the liquid fuel Mini?
One if the best presenters today
What's annoying is that we need now to be past Second Car status. And we can be.
My year old Renault Zoe couldn't get below 120 miles if you rag it at 70 on a motorway in freezing rain (I did this a few weeks ago). In the summer it's quite easy to get 190 miles in mixed driving. The new 2020 model is already going further.
It's a primary car. There's nowhere it can't go in a day.
It's disappointing that this won't do that so easily.
Tim Austin enjoy your Zoe . We had new Zoe ze50 and done 6700 miles in 4 months it’s a great car ! Did 1050 miles in 4 days with family of 4 , had upto 260 miles out of Zoe on one charge in summer and upto 6.8 miles per kWh on the flat on 25 miles trip .Would love a ev mini but too small range if wanted second car ev I would get Honda e .
Another great review, Rory!!!
This makes my wife's Focus electric rated at 115 miles (185 km) not seem too bad.
All fair points and a good review, however the range fixation is getting a bit old now...
BTW-why is it not mentioned that petrol or diesels range drop when you change your drive settings or indeed your driving style?
My old tfsi Octavia vrs had a range of between 650 and 300 km... Talk about range difference.
If the mini doesn't meet your expectations in any area, there are no other alternatives available. This car will sell well enough to warrant a purpose built EV platform before this decade is out.
Jist my 5 cents, keep up the great work Rory, just keep it fair and square and discuss both sides of the coin.
Real life conditions are always better when testing an E-car's range, i.e. heating or A/C on.
An entertaining review but flawed. You said you were cold and I saw 3.5 deg C on the dash but you did not say that this reduces the range of any EV so your 99 miles is representative only of that cold weather case. To illustrate the point, Carwow took one 153 miles on a hot day with most of that at motorway speeds which do not help range. I would prefer a much better range figure but the small battery allows the car to keep the mini's chuckable nature.
We had our electric mini delivered at the start of October 2021. It is now almost the end of February 2022 and we are still getting less than a 100-mile range. There are not many hot days in the UK!
Great review, Rory. As always.
Great review as always Rory.
This is a video that’s two months behind all the other tubers. On the pulse AT, on the pulse. 😂 just an idea switch the car off when outside it, it’s using power 👍
The second gen of this will be good in 2024. 👍
We’ll never be first to everything. Only one of me. Thanks for your feedback -Rory
Excellent review. Great job 👊🏻
Very good review... it's made for city's comute but that range will put so many people off 🙄
A friend bought one. Only came with a house 110 volt charger! Did NOT come with a Level 2 charger! The only decent home option is a $700 ChargePoint HomeFlex 240 volt 32 amp charger plus installation cost. The Mini dealership had NO IDEA how to arrange for level 2 home charging! Pathetic is an understatement. 🙄
Ahhh, I like the Union flag break lights. Very nice!