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MINI Cooper SE | Test Drive
The Cooper SE is not your traditional electric car mainly devoted for home-work commute. The switch to lithium-ion has not forgotten that those who choose a MINI do not intend to give up driving pleasure.
Words Christian Parodi / Photos Daniél Rikkard
It was only a matter of time before the electric MINI would have knocked at our door. It is called Cooper SE and at least as far as aesthetics remains much more than faithful to any version with an internal combustion engine. MINI also argue that driving pleasure and that inevitable go-kart feeling have remained in place, but the approximately 200 kg of extra weight and a controversial range of no more than 200 kilometers could penalize the legendary Anglo-German hatchback. That’s why I took the opportunity to be the first to get the key, thus trying to discover strengths and weaknesses thanks to a coexistence that implies a use as similar as possible to what I would have done if there were horsepower instead of electrons.
As mentioned, the Cooper SE is almost identical to its petrol counterpart. The only details that define its green vocation are precisely the yellow profiles on the front grille, on the particular rims that in full pandemic have providentially changed their name from Corona Spoke to Power Spoke, the badges and the lack of the exhaust at the back. As for the interior, there is almost no trace of differences with the rest of the catalogue, immediately making a MINI customer feel at home, who in the overwhelming probability of cases has chosen the Cooper SE for very specific reasons: being able to make a style statement, pollute less and not for this reason give up the driving involvement offered by an electric motor that takes the place of the petrol one under the front hood and is powered by a 32.6 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, of which 28, 9 kWh usable.
What in simple terms then? 184 peak horsepower and a torque of 270 Nm which, as we have now learned when it comes to electric cars, is delivered immediately, offering the driver an instant progression that certainly does not leave impassive. But if you think the electric MINI is just another hatchback only interested in saving the planet, wait one more second. In fact, behind a project all in all in line with rivals in the same and increasingly crowded segment, the Cooper SE keeps driving fun as its target. Front-wheel drive combined with a single-speed gearbox – of course – and responsiveness that in Sport mode takes all it can from the energy reserve stored in the batteries. Alternatively, in addition to the intermediate Mid setting, we find Green and Green +, which promotes energy saving by limiting the engine output and excluding all those functions that would absorb precious juice, such as heated seats and air conditioning.
What is defined as the Achilles heel of the electric MINI is its range. In fact, declared at about 270 km, by taking advantage of it with an eye to the residual distance, it is possible to obtain approximately 180/190 kilometers. Of course, it must be said that everything depends mainly on the driving style and that in ideal conditions (downhill and during braking) you recover a few kilometers, as in the case of using the Green + mode, which in a nutshell adds a +10 to the overall range, but if you let yourself be carried away by the liveliness of its 184 horses, staying away from the charging stations will be really difficult. In this regard, from a DC socket and accepting up to 50 kW, it takes 35 minutes to go from 0 to 80% and 80 minutes to reach 100%. After all, charging times are pretty much the same of the competitors, provided that you do your math well before leaving or in the evening when you come back home, in order to use your MINI without too many worries the following day.
However, since it is a hatchback with almost two hundred horses, getting carried away by the desire to go hard on the throttle is a fairly predictable scenario. Also in this case the Cooper SE does not disappoint and you’ll soon get used to driving with only one pedal – therefore using the brake almost exclusively in the city or for the most powerful braking – you move through the curves like on a petrol-powered Cooper S. Okay, there is no burble in release or no increase in revs to accompany you from one corner to another, but the hiss and the slight aerodynamic rustle are still able to give the idea of how easy it is to move very quickly. 7.3 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 kph, with 0-60 values of just 3.8 seconds. The maximum speed is instead electronically limited to only 150 per hour, but trust me when I say that this is a very important figure and that it reflects a marked energy consumption on the motorway.
Back to the cockpit, a familiar environment for anyone who has ever been in a MINI, the driver’s seat is comfortable and spacious, while those who sit behind will have to deal with the tiny space available for their legs, while the trunk remains unchanged compared to the usual 211 liters. Then we have the gear lever, which we should call selector, since it allows you to engage P, N, R and the only forward gear. Next to it the command for the infotelematic system, always top-notch and which offers impeccable voice recognition and a touch screen obtained in the classic customizable pizza from which to monitor all the parameters of the car, sat-nav and internet connection. Immediately behind the steering wheel we find the display that summarizes the main driving information, as well as the state of charge and the range left.
A little while ago we mentioned its weight. In the case of the Cooper SE we have 200 kg more than the petrol counterpart pushed by the 4-cylinder of the Cooper S, but the overall 1,440 kg does not penalize behavior between bends emphasized by a direct and always very precise steering. The driving style that clearly affects the state of charge of the batteries does not imply that the electrification of the MINI has lost driving fun along the way, on the contrary it makes the journey – possibly not a long one – a moment to fully enjoy the perfect dialogue between the chassis and the instant response offered by the electrons pawing under the hood.
17.2 kWh used to travel 100 km, or rather this is my average score after a week of use on a daily basis in the home-work commute. It should be noted that I mostly drove in Mid or Green, preferring a driving style that I would call conservative. But be careful not to make the mistake of reducing everything to range values, because after all the MINI Cooper SE is a pretty nice surprise. That’s because despite the electrification and the extra weight, it manages to maintain a driving dynamics that I have not yet found in electric cars of such a similar size. It is so because it maintains the strong MINI identity, an essential value for a car that first of all comes as a status symbol, a lovely object that in its case does not pollute and makes roads faced with zero emissions the most fun way to spend time between recharges.
MINI COOPER SE
Engine Electric Power 184 hp Power 270 Nm
Traction Front-Wheel-Drive Transmission Automatic 0 Gears Weight 1.440 kg
0-100 kph 7,3 sec Top Speed 150 kph Price €34.900 Range ca. 198 km
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