Mini’s sporty ‘green’ offering

Having dabbled with electric power as long ago as 2009 with the simply titled E demonstration vehicle based on the Cooper hatch, Mini has now officially revealed its first sporty electric vehicle in the form of the Cooper SE.

As its name suggests, the SE uses the regular three-door Cooper S as a base, but adds elements from the Electric Concept shown in Frankfurt two years ago which, externally, consists out of a sealed Mini E designated grille with yellow and chrome accents, a mostly covered underside to reduce drag, yellow mirror caps, unique 16inch Revolite Spoke alloy wheels or optional 17-inch light alloy twotone Corona Spoke alloys, standard LED headlights and yellow SE badging as well as the Mini E logo on the bootlid.

Inside, the Cooper SE differs little from the Cooper S, although unique touches include a 5.5-inch display within the instrument cluster and a Green+ mode as part of the four-mode Mini Driving Modes system with the others being Green, Mid and Sport.

Powering the Cooper SE, the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine from the Cooper S has been dropped in favour of a 32.6 kWh lithium-ion battery pack that develops 135kW/270Nm.

Despite tipping the scales at 1 365 kg, 145 kg more than the equivalent Cooper S Steptronic, the Cooper SE will complete the 0-100 km/h sprint in 7.3 seconds and reach a limited top speed of 150 km/h.

According to Mini, the Cooper SE has a range of 235 to 270 km on a single charge, and be charged up to 80% in two-and-a-half hours using the optional Mini Electric Wallbox.

Charging it from the same unit to 100% will take a further hour, while using a 50 kW charging station will result in a flat to 80% capacity in a claimed 35 minutes.

Although no pricing has been revealed, BMW South Africa has confirmed the Cooper SE will be made available in limited numbers from 2021.