We drove the MINI from a completed full charge down until it put itself in park at a consistent 56mph / 90km/hr. The temps were chilly (45-50 degrees F), green mode, climate in auto 68-70F (second level fan). The car managed 132 miles before coming to a stop. Pretty impressive! Kyle
29.8 kWh usable. 213 km range. = 13.9 kWh/100 km. That's more efficient than my little Smart ED in the city commute I drive... impressive indeed.
@KyleConner, your test was exactly what I've been waiting to see. Especially interesting (and somewhat troubling) is the MINI's activation of Park as its last dying act. Fortunately, your MINI "Parked" within range of the EVSE cord. The big question is what a driver could do if their MINI parked just a few inches too far from the EVSE? How could the car even be moved onto a flatbed truck in this situation? Great test!
I was with Kyle and unfortunately, we didn't check to see if we could put it in drive again. I think we were both so surprised that it did that and that we ran out perfectly as we pulled into the charging station that we didn't think to check. I suspect (but not 100% sure) that if we powered the car down, and then turned it back on that we could have put it back into drive, at least for a short time before it put itself back into park.
Perhaps the Owners Manual information about preparing the MINI Cooper SE to roll through a "vehicle wash" applies to the Parked-when-empty phenomenon, too.
This weekend I took my mini for a 79 mile road drive and used 60% of the battery at an average of 54mph, which would give me 131.7 miles of range. I must have lost the 0.3 miles because was doing around 70mph for most of it The weather conditions were pretty much perfect, it was 70 degrees with very little wind and I didn't use the AC at all.
This road test shows a 177.1-mile drive sped-up to take just 16 minutes on YouTube. That's 177.1 miles on a single charge, which is awesome. Using the EPA's 33.7 kWh/gallon conversion factor, and the SE's 28.9 kWh of available battery charge, 177.1 miles works out to an amazing 206.5 MPGe!
I took my SE to the local Drive Electric Earth Day event today. I put this sign on top of my dash to stave off any negative comments from the Tesla crowd about my car's minimalist range. However, whereas I was virtually ignored by the Tesla crowd 2 years ago when I brought my Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, I was embraced by everyone there--even the Tesla owners. It seems that everyone knows someone who owns and loves a MINI Cooper and an electric MINI Cooper was clearly a win-win proposition for the attendees. Then I watched the Tesla Model X parked across from me do something that no MINI Cooper SE from 2020 to 2099 will ever do. I guess Elon's "Model Xmas" software has been around for more than 3 years, but it sure took me by surprise! Here's a YouTube video of this unique automotive extravaganza.
That's pretty amazing! Thanks for the video! Does the Model X really have huge external full-range speakers to play the music?
That was cool! Thanks for that video. I took my Mini for the grille, scuttle, badges, and boot handle wrap to a shop that does both personal and commercial wraps. One of our local cab companies has a fleet of Teslas and this place wrapped them. So they are very used to Teslas and even drove some back for the cab company. Mine was the first SE they had seen, though they see Minis all the time. The guy driving the car out said to me it sounded like a Tesla. I said better than a Tesla as they are more fun in terms of handling. He agreed After it was finished, the gal in charge drove it back to the front and loved it. She was saying the great off the line speed (we're talking model 3s for the cabs) but handles so much better. She personally has a BMW and is a fan so this car really spoke to her. She thought it was awesome. She also loved the spaceship start up sounds as she called them. She had started looking into them as she had no clue Mini made an electric and was pretty much sold on it after driving mine the short distance. Hope they both took time to enjoy the ride.
“Exchange the range for a ton of fun” is dead on. More weight = kill the fun. The Tesla crowd (me, kinda?) often isn’t as bad as people say IMO. YouTube is the worst. (“What’s up guys here I am in my Tesla Model 3”) The Tesla Motors Club forum is very open to discussion of the flaws. There’s strong agreement that Tesla needs to improve in many areas and the recent Model S update is unimpressive compared to the competition. I took my SE to the showroom to drive a Y and the salespeople showed a lot of interest in it.
