If John Newton Cooper - the famous engineer, driver and racing car builder who invented the first 'peppery' variant of the Mini in 1961 - could see it shooting at traffic lights, leaving behind famous sports models, he would be satisfied with 'his' Cooper SE. 100% electric. No one, then, would have imagined seeing the plate with this famous brand on the tail of a car powered exclusively by battery, just as no one would ever have expected to find a Turbo S denomination in a Porsche (the electric Taycan) that is supercharged in the sense traditional doesn't really have anything. But times change and they do it - if we talk about electrification of mobility - with the same speed with which a small premium car, like the Mini, becomes a zero-impact sports car (at the wheel). A long and detailed test on urban roads, country lanes and motorways allowed us to evaluate this latest generation electric car offered starting from 33,900 euros without calculating the incentives.
And the judgment on this Cooperative care of the third millennium is more than positive and in line with the brand's DNA, thanks to a 135 kW engine (which corresponds in the world of heat engines to 184 HP) and above all capable of unleashing just crushes the accelerator 270 Nm of torque. In the Mini Cooper SE, power is transferred to the front wheels via single-stage gearboxes and integrated differential, with a control (similar to that of a Mini with automatic transmission) that allows you to select between D, N, P and R. push the 1,365 kg (only 145 kg more than the Cooper S 3-door Steptronic petrol) of the first 100% electric Mini is provided by lithium-ion cells divided into 12 modules that form a T-shaped unit positioned in the floor of the vehicle, providing a gross energy content of 32.6 kWh. To allow this modification, the car is 3 cm higher than the traditional Mini, but the center of gravity has moved down by another 3 cm, to the benefit of road holding. The housing of the high voltage battery is protected by a solid plate while the components of the electric drive are repaired by specific structural solutions and are immediately deactivated in the event of a collision. No problem then for 'refueling' the Mini Cooper SE: you are guided by a special function in the navigator or by an App on your smartphone. The full energy is done from domestic sockets, public charging stations (in our case we found it convenient to take advantage of the possibility offered by a well-known supermarket chain, with free connection) or even fast stations up to 50 kW. For homes or offices there is also a specific private wallbox that delivers up to 11 kW. Charging times vary from 35 minutes with direct current to 50 kW to 4.2 hours with alternating current at 7.2 kW Autonomy obviously varies depending on the use made of the Mini Cooper SE: compared to that declared of 261 -270 km (NDEC homologation) in the test we obtained an average value of 192 km, with more interesting peaks in the city (225 km) and more contained on the motorway (174 km). But, after a minimum period of habituation, you learn to make the most of energy recovery, to increase autonomy. This is done by selecting - using a lever to the right of the yellow on-off one - the intervention intensity of the regenerative braking system. There are two positions: Green which is less 'invasive' which reduces the speed by 0.11 m / sec and a more pronounced Green + which reaches 0.19 m / sec. With a button on the central tunnel, instead, the one-pedal function is selected, which eliminates the use of the foot brake and transfers braking to the accelerator using the regenerative one.It goes without saying that the actual range is influenced by the driving style and the (often useless) search for performance. The maximum speed is already limited by the manufacturer to 150 km / h (perhaps a little more would be better) while the intensity of the shot is 'self-managed' by the driver. Regardless of the battery, it goes from 0 to 60 km / in just 3.5 seconds and from 0 to 100 in 7.9. And the recovery, which is not affected by the exchange rate (since it does not exist) is equally lightning. However, what should never be forgotten when you fully experience the go-kart feeling of the Mini Cooper SE is that you don't race to lower the times, but to beat the consumption of kW, a goal that is truly green.
