The new MINI Electric will arrive in Australian dealerships from July 2020 priced at around $50,000.
Exact pricing and specs are still to be confirmed for the Aussie market, but the first MINI EV has already come under fire for its lower-than-average cruising range of 235km.
MINI Australia will import just 80 models locally in 2020 and although 12 are already sold, the brand is aware of the significant challenges the battery-powered city-car faces here.
Although range anxiety is not the purchasing hurdle it once was as car buyers' understanding of EVs improves, it's still a considerable issue for many Australians. This is because Aussies typically travel further distances and are faced with sparse charging infrastructure compared to the USA, Europe and New Zealand.
Vehicles like the $60,000 Hyundai Kona Electric offer a range of up to 450km.
Even so, the 2020 MINI Electric's 235km range will be more than enough for most motorists, insists a senior executive from the brand.
“We don’t think the range is an issue,” said head of communications at MINI, Andreas Lampka, at the car's global launch in Miami.
Despite providing no greater range than the brand's first MINI E prototype that hit the road more than a decade ago in 2009, Lampka said the three-door, four-seat EV’s range is more than adequate for its intended buyer – city-dwelling urbanites.
“Range was a very conscious decision. For us it’s a sweet spot between weight, drivability, cost and the use case,” he said.
“The use case for this car is below 30km per day driven. That would mean you can drive it six or seven days with no recharge at all,” he said.
An electric motor drives the front wheels of the MINI Electric, also known as the MINI Cooper SE, which is equipped with a 33kWh battery that takes 12 hours to charge on a regular household power point, or around 35 minutes to get it to 80 per cent of capacity on a fast-charger. The maximum charging speed is 50kW.
The MINI Cooper SE's powertrain is essentially lifted from the BMW i3, which dates back to 2013, although modifications have been made to make the battery smaller.
The new three-door electric hatchback is a big deal for the BMW-owned British brand because it is the first mass-produced EV in MINI's 60-year history, following the prototype MINI E from 2009.
“[When] We talk about range we need to talk about which competitors,” said the MINI exec, referencing cars like the $50,000 Nissan LEAF, which has a 270km range, and the Honda e, which has a 220km range. The latter is priced higher than the MINI Electric in most of Europe but has been ruled out for Australia.
“One of our missions is to emotionalise electromobility. And there is only one brand which I'm aware of that could do that, the other one is the Porsche Taycan – that's a different proposition – and maybe the Honda e which has a different emotional appeal to it."
Lampka also noted that a bigger, heavier battery would blunt the car's performance and diminish interior space.
“If you go into the physics of an EV or combustion engine car, the more weight you put it, the more range you kill,” he said.
“The car was there, the [BMW i3] powertrain was there, this was a natural fit for us and bringing in more range would have sacrificed the trunk, which is already limited in the three door.”
Adding more range via a larger battery would have also lead to “terrible driving dynamics” he said, and this would not be acceptable for a MINI, which has to be fun to drive.
Developing 135kW and 270Nm, the MINI Electric can sprint to 100km/h in 7.3 seconds.
Stay tuned for our first drive of the new electric MINI Cooper SE next week.