Mini model goes for maxi green credits
FUTURE MODELS/ Plug-in hybrid power to join Countryman family, writes Michael Taylor
An emissions-free version of Mini’s biggest car will join the petroland diesel-powered line-up later in 2017, although it is unlikely to make it to SA before 2018.
Based on the engineering of BMW’s plug-in hybrid X1, the Mini Cooper S E Countryman All4 will offer 41km of zeroemissions driving on battery power alone before it needs to swing its three-cylinder petrol engine into operation.
It will deliver its all-wheel drive grip by having the internal combustion engine driving the front wheels and the electric motor driving the rear wheels.
TWO MOTORS
With the synchronous electric motor sitting on the rear axle, it means the Mini Cooper S E Countryman actually turns into a rear-wheel drive when it’s running in pure electric mode. It also means the hybrid can run as either a front-, rear- or allwheel drive depending on the power and grip demands.
Combined, the car’s two motors deliver a system power of 165kW and 385Nm of torque — both numbers well above the 141kW and 280Nm punched out by the four-cylinder turbo motor in the Countryman’s Cooper S.
The nose-mounted, threecylinder 1,499cc motor delivers 100kW and 220Nm of torque on its own, while the electric motor has 65kW of power and 165Nm of instant torque.
While pure straight-line performance isn’t the real reason for the plug-in hybrid’s existence, it should do a reasonable impersonation of a brisk C-segment crossover SUV.
Mini insists it runs to 100km/h in 6.8 seconds and runs on to a 198km/h top speed, while it can reach 125km/h running in its pure electric mode.
The upside is that it pulls the claimed consumption figure down to 2.1l/100km, leaving it with 49g/km CO2 emissions.
One of the reasons it’s slower than the Cooper S version’s top speed is that it runs a six-speed automatic transmission rather than the four-cylinder car’s eight-speed unit.
Well, that’s only partly true, because the electric motor, which sits beneath the luggage compartment floor, uses its own two-stage, single-speed transmission to drive the rear wheels, so the car sort of has seven speeds all up.
The electric charge is held in a 16-cell lithium ion battery which sits beneath the rear seats in a secure aluminium box.
The electric motor and the battery pack are built in BMW’s eDrive competence centre in Dingolfing, Germany.
The 7.6kWh battery can be recharged in two hours and 15 minutes on a 3.6kW charger, while domestic power adds another hour.
The car can be driven in pure electric mode or in a hybrid mode, where the electric charge and the electric motor are on call to support the petrol engine with hits of added drive when ’they are needed.
There’s a Save Battery mode, which drives the car on pure petrol power to preserve the battery’s charge and even build it up to 90% of the battery’s capacity. Of course, it uses a lot of fuel doing it.
The default mode is the Auto eDrive hybrid mode, which can run the crossover in battery mode at up to 80km/h.
Max eDrive tries to keep the car running on battery power alone and can maintain it there until 125km/h, when it kicks the engine power in because it’s more efficient that way.
The Mini Cooper S E Countryman also links its hybrid system to its satellite navigation unit to anticipate the energy loads and demands, ensuring it has enough battery charge to carry it through zero-emission areas in international markets.
LOST VOLUME
It’s not all plain sailing, as it loses some interior space because the battery and the smaller 35l fuel tank (down from the Cooper S’s 51l unit) lift up the rear seat they sit beneath.
That’s not the only price it pays, though. At 1,660kg, it’s 230kg heavier than the Cooper S version of the same car.
Its luggage compartment volume also shrinks from 450l to 405, while the higher rear seat means the fully folded volume falls from 1,390l to 1,275.
THE DEFAULT MODE IS THE AUTO EDRIVE HYBRID MODE, WHICH CAN RUN THE CROSSOVER IN BATTERY MODE AT UP TO 80KM/H