Mini has always been known as a range of small cars. But with the ever-adapting auto industry where brands want to be as inclusive as possible in terms of car body styles. Mini has adapted to it. We saw Mini include the countryman and the clubman – both larger versions of the historically small car. Now, in the EV era, we have the 2022 MINI Electric. With the help of BMW’s i technology, they have converted the Mini into a new era. What would a Mini be without its retro styling? The aesthetic of a Mini is its unique selling point. Therefore, keeping the aesthetic heritage of MINI present in its new design was as crucial as it always has been. The exterior and interior feel and design remain as close to the Mini Cooper S as possible, however, now electric. The 2 key factors that everyone wants to know are price and range. And I shall reveal all. The 2022 Mini Electric starting price is £28, 500. This is for the level 1 spec, and I will explore this in further detail. The range isn’t so bad either, on a full charge the Mini Electric’s range is 140-145 miles. Costing approximately 4p per mile. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
Power and Range
With an average 7.4kW wallbox charger, the Mini is said to be able to be on full charge within 3 hours and 12 minutes. This would cost your household electricity around £8.81. With a regular power socket from your home, it would take up to 10 hours and 12 minutes with exactly the same price of £8.81. With a DC rapid charger, the Mini Electric can be fully charged within 36 minutes and would only cost around £13.50. I think it is important to note the prices of how much a charge would cost your home due to our current climate. This price is predominantly lower than what you would pay to fill up your car for a long journey, even if you charge twice on the way. I feel as though spending 36 minutes at a service station recharging your Mini Electric will not interrupt your long journey too much either, this is because even if you had a petrol car, this is how much time you’d spend resting at a service station anyway.
Mini didn’t want to disrupt any of the design of the traditional Cooper S and they wanted to keep as much room as they could within the vehicle as possible as it’s already a smaller car. Therefore, they have placed the 135kW battery underneath the seats. It’s a longer-situated battery that is flat and runs from front to back – they did this to create more space in the boot. The Mini Electric is 145kg heavier than the Mini Cooper S with an automatic gearbox, but the weight is balanced as the battery weight is spread across the back of the car and underneath. It does, however, have the exact same amount of power as a 2.0-litre petrol-powered Mini Cooper S – impressive right? With the electric vehicle, there’s no need to worry about forking out thousands of pounds to get the battery fixed by a specialist as the battery has a whopping 8-year warranty with MINI themselves (or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first). Giving you that safety and reassurance to take the step in the EV era.
Mini has harvested battery intel from their sister-company BMW and used the same technology that they used for the BMW i3. Similarly to this, Mini also borrowed the BMW i3’s ‘one-pedal’ function. If you lift off of the accelerator pedal, then the regenerative braking will slow down the car as aggressively as a normal push of the brakes on a manual-petrol car. This function is quite harsh and noticeable, as a result of this, Mini has included a function that can turn down the harshness of the braking through the dashboard controls. The car resets this regenerative braking slow-down function after every time you switch the car off however so that could be quite annoying if you don’t like it. What impressed me the most was that the regenerative braking actually puts the power back into the battery. Very eco-friendly and efficient.
Speaking of eco-friendly, Mini has introduced green and green plus modes. These modes dial back the throttle and even disable the climate control. Resulting in boosting the range of your vehicle and zero driving emissions being released. If you flip the switch in the opposite direction then the sport mode perks up the powertrain. Win-Win. Inside the car, there is no noise at all, however, outside the car there is a typical electronic whizzing sound that most electric cars make, to warn pedestrians of the vehicle’s presence. The stigma around electric cars not being powerful enough is slowly being erased as the release of fully electric cars by large companies proves it wrong. Vehicles such as the BMW i4 M50, Audi Q4 Sportback E-Tron, Mercedes-Benz EQS, Porsche Taycan Turbo S, and the Tesla Model S Plaid. In which the latter can do 0-60mph in 2 seconds. The Mini Electric can do 0-62mph in 7.3 seconds. You can feel the instant torque as soon as you put your foot down. With a top speed of 93mph. So that’s impressive power and speed. As I feel like if you’re looking for a car to be able to go super-duper fast you wouldn’t go for a typically small-town car anyway.
Mini Electric’s Interior
As mentioned previously, there are different levels available to purchase on your mini and each level provides you with a variety of different features on the interior and exterior. What I will be discussing first are the standard interior features of a Mini.
The infotainment screen is made up of an 8.8” high-resolution digital dashboard display. With a DAB digital radio, you won’t ever go without your favourite station. It also has Mini navigation, which includes live traffic updates and also can direct you to the nearest charging stations. This is useful when on a journey just in
case you need to make a stop to recharge. The eDrive services/iDrive-operable within Mini Electric gives you the ability to initiate charging, monitor charging status, and locate public charging stations. Mini has gone the extra mile here. If you opt for the Media Package then this will entitle you to Apple Carplay. There isn’t any Android Auto available, regardless of which level/option you choose. I feel as though this restricts Mini’s potential customers and this is maybe something for them to reconsider as they are cutting out a rather large potential market from this feature. You also get Bluetooth hands-free function with USB audio. There is something called ‘Connected Drive Services’ and this allows you to search online, receive weather information, intelligent emergency calling (e-call), MINI Connected, and also have remote services straight from your Mini Electric car.
Mini has introduced MINI Teleservices and from this, MINI collects your service-related data and has it stored ready to tell the MINI technicians what needs to be sorted at your next service.
This information is transmitted via Automatic Teleservice Call. This is an incredible and very efficient use of new technology.
MINI Connect smartphone app allows you to control your car straight from your phone. From the app, you can set the car to charge at certain times of the day. Something that we have never seen done before through the app – which is incredible. You can see how much range your vehicle currently has and even use the navigation to find nearby chargers. When you’re out you can set your destination straight from your phone to your in-car sat-nav. But most importantly, you can lock and unlock your car from this. Which is insane.
Previously I mentioned that Mini didn’t want to take up any space in the boot of their new EV. With 4 seats up, the Mini has 211-litres of space. With 3 seats up the Mini has 539-litres of space, an incredible difference. And with just 2 seats up, the mini has 731-litres of storage space. Enough to go on a long holiday with your partner.
Levels 1, 2, 3
Attached below is a breakdown of each available option in the MINI Electric Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. The information laid out in this way is a lot easier to understand what you are allowed and how each option will look.
The New MINI Electric Resolute Edition
In addition to the 3 levels available, Mini has created a limited edition version of the electric. This version is based on the level 3 Mini. However, the Resolute Edition includes: Rebel Green exterior paint, piano black and bronze exterior elements, contrasting roof and mirror caps in pepper white and of course, you can personalise all elements shown in the pdf previously shown. This edition’s starting price is £35, 995. The cheapest finance/leasing option available is £372 a month for 38 months. With a down payment of £6,411.80, I’m sure if you wanted to pay less on the downpayment and more on the monthly then Mini will be able to adjust to your needs.
Thank You
Overall, I believe that companies changing their current cars to electric by adjusting the dimensions and sticking a battery underneath the seat are generally a really good idea (if doable). We get to keep our beloved exterior design but also get to help the environment. So if you’re asking if the Mini Electric is worth the buy or if it’s a good vehicle, then the answer is yes and I would recommend buying one – as I’d even have one for myself. They are available now to order so get your hands on one before they go! If you are interested in owning your own Mini Electric then don’t hesitate to head over to our CONTACT us page and we will do our best to source this for you. If you want to read car-related blogs then head over to our NEWS page. Thank you.
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