Here’s The 2020 MINI Cooper S E All Electric Before You’re Suppose to See It
Brazen MINI. Very brazen. What you see above is a completely undisguised Mini Cooper S E – MINI’s first all electric car. Taken from a photoshoot this week in New York, the car is almost completely undisguised down to the crazy 17″ wheels and trim. The only thing missing is the revised rear diffuser jhidden behind black fabric. For more photos head over to Autocar
2020 MINI Cooper S E – US Availability
In the US we’ll see the MCSE at dealers in “early 2020” according to MINI USA. MINI has hinted at pricing being similar to an automatic Cooper S which is typically around $29,000. While it won’t compare with EV leaders in terms of range vs price, it will offer a different level of driver engagement and design compared to the Chevrolet Bolt or the Nissan Leaf.
MINI USA Head of Sales Claude Bruni made it clear that there’s a genuine enthusiasm for the MCSE for those that have sampled it. He described it as not just another EV but “it’s truly a Cooper S electrified”.
He also went on to clarify that there will be no loss in capacity for other models and that MINI USA is committed to bringing the right amount of cars to the US to satisfy demand. When I pressed him on how hard it might be to get a MCSE at launch he clarified “if we bring too few, we’ll ask for more”.
He went on to say that MINI USA is committed to making the Cooper SE as high a volume car as it can be.
2020 MINI Cooper SE – Drivetrain
No surprise here it’s based on the i3s which produces 181 horsepower motor and 94 Ah with a 33 kilowatt battery. Interestingly the 441 lbs battery is a 96-cell lithium-ion from CATL and not Samsung
The entire electric drivetrain is designed to for fit more or less where the standard ICE unit is on standard MINIs. MINI USA representatives have told us that, while the engineering investment was relatively low, MINI leveraged the engineering prowess from BMWi and then knowledge that has been built up over the past decade in EV design.
2020 MINI Cooper SE – Range and Performance
One of the outcomes of this change from ICE to electric is weight distribution which is now 50/50. According to those who have driven it, this allows the MCSE to behave at the limit slightly differently than a standard front wheel drive F56. Off the record we’ve been told that this all electric Cooper S could for the basis of an excellent autox car.
It would appear that the range will be 120 miles given what we know about the drivetrain of the i3s. In our recent testing we also found the i3s to be fairly quick. Officially it tops out at 100 mph and does 0-62 in 7.7 seconds.
2020 MINI Cooper SE – Charging Time
According to MINI, the Cooper SE take 40 minutes for an 80 percent charge when hooked up to a 50 kW D/C charger. But lets talk real world. In our testing of the i3s with its near identical drivetrain, charging from 0-100% on a normal outlet takes 8-12 hours. On a quick (Level 2) charger that’s 4-5 hours.
But what about the all new Level 3? That’s where the i3 starts to make some sense. Level 3 DC fast chargers can recharge the i3 battery up to 80% in as little as 20 minutes (80-100% slows to protect the battery from overcharging). It’s interesting that that number differs slightly from the 40 minutes MINI is quoting. Perhaps there are more differences between these two cars yet to be uncovered?
2020 MINI Cooper SE – Now it’s Your Turn
All you EV-heads – lets hear from you. Based on these numbers and what you’re seeing what else can we gleam from these early reviews. What have we missed here?
<p>I’m excited by this. But I don’t know if a 120 mile range can work for me with the charging infrastructure where it is today. I mean to and from work is fine, but many times I drive to other offices and that round trip far exceeds that kind of range and I don’t see chargers in places where I could use them. Time will tell. Maybe an electric Clubman S would have more room for batteries and more range.</p>
<p>An electric Clubman with more range and more batteries would have made more sense to those worried about range. However it would have also cost more. MINI was trying to find the sweet spot and also wanted to leverage their iconic car at such a pivotal point for the brand. Time will tell if it was the right call.</p>
<p>Officially, only the F56 2-dr Hardtop will receive the all-electric treatment. Unofficially, according to insiders, BMW might also give the F55 4-dr Hardtop the all-electric treatment if there is sufficient customer interest.</p>
<p>They need to double the battery and double the motors to make this competitive, not an ancient 7-year-old i3 powertrain.</p>
<p>It’s based on the i3s which came out late last year.</p>
<blockquote>it’s based on the i3s which produces 181 horsepower motor and 94 Ah with a 33 kilowatt battery</blockquote>
<p>Are you sure about a 33 kWh battery? The current i3/i3s has a 42 kWh battery. 33 kWh is uncompetitive and will be even more so in 2020.</p>
<p>I tried to test drive an i3 last month. Neither of the two BMW dealers in the area had any available. And while the EV display where an i3 used to sit was still in the showroom, it was empty.</p>
<p>That’s pretty interesting for a model that came out as recent as late last year.</p>
<p>The range isn’t enough for me and when you compare to the competition it isn’t really good. The i3 has struggled to sell precisely because of its range. It sounds like the Mini SE will have even lower specs than the i3. When you consider the Nissan Leaf 2019 will have 226 miles, it can’t compare. I don’t think will sell outside of being a city car. It struggle to sell in US due to range anxiety and the competition has specs which are simply double and better.</p>
<p>Looks good, especially without the current Cooper S lower front fascia. I would have even deleted the hood scoop to clean it up further. The 17″ wheels look oddly small, maybe because of that huge wheel gap.</p>
<p>I assume that 90% of these will be leased as the 120-150 mile range will kill any resale value in the future.</p>
<p>Good catch on the gap. The SE has been raised to accommodate the battery pack.</p>
<p>I have a highly developed wheel gap sensitivity.</p>
<p>Is that a blessing or a curse?</p>
<p>The MINI Cooper S E is currently in ‘Pilot Production’ at Plant Oxford.</p>
<p><a href="https://electrek.co/2019/05/28/mini-electric-production-line-video/amp/" rel="nofollow ugc">https://electrek.co/2019/05/28/mini-electric-production-line-video/amp/</a></p>
<p>Range is king with EVs, and 120 miles is too little, too late. MINI is playing catch-up, shoving an EV platform in an ICE chassis, when what they need to do is design an EV from the ground up where they can make more efficient use of space (MINI’s m.o., right?) and up that battery capacity.</p>
<p>Also, a 7.7s 0-60 time is not quick at all for an EV. The Kia Niro, Kia Soul EV, Hyundai Kona, Nissan Leaf, and Chevy Bolt all either meet or beat that time today… and they’re not going to get any slower by 2020.</p>
<p>The MINI S E has been developed on a “low budget” and is only intended to be a stop gap model, until the all-new all-electric MINI METRO City Car – the Joint Venture with GWM – goes on sale in early 2023.</p>
<p>Don’t enter the EV market with a forgettable stop-gap model developed on the cheap; enter with something good.</p>
<p>“forgettable”? That’s too early to say. The Cooper S E hasn’t even been launched yet (its launch will coincide with the 60th Anniversary launch of the 1959 Mini) let alone gone on sale, and we don’t even know its precise final specification, range or price.</p>
<p>BMW has been unable to make a business case for building a small all-electric city car, hence the JV with GWM. Nonetheless, in the meantime, BMW appears to have done a great job with the Cooper S E bearing in mind what it had to work with.</p>
<p>Ok, when the precise final specifications do come out and it shows competitive range (200+ miles) and a quicker 0-60 that the existing Cooper S (6.4 sec), I’ll take back calling it “forgettable”.</p>
<p>Good man :)</p>
<p>While I’m glad to see more options in the marketplace, I personally need more range. Not to mention that the way EV tech is currently evolving, there’s a chance that this will get a bigger battery within a couple of years, at which point the first gen model will have depreciated to about a third of the purchase price. We’re on our way to the electric future, but we’re not there yet.</p>