Tidbits leaked of BMW’s beefed-up MINI Cooper Electric

Although nowhere to find in the official PR communication, some tech tidbits are leaking from BMW via British car magazine Autocar about a beefed-up MINI Cooper Electric, due in 2024. The MINI hatch, rebaptized Cooper, will get bigger batteries than the current 32.6 kWh to stretch the range beyond the somewhat limited 234 km (WLTP) today up to an estimate of 300 to 400 km.

And expect an even more muscled all-electric John Cooper Works in 2025 to complete a line of all-electric MINIs, as CEO Stephanie Wurst told Autocar on a special preview event. The new Cooper Electric “is our gateway into 100% electric and brings us from 15% now, to maybe a little bit more next year and then to more than 50% by the middle of this decade, then to almost 100%.”

Fresh new design details, an interior focused on manual buttons, and a circular OLED screen in the middle mimicking the iconic models of the past. No dashboard screen behind the wheel, apparently. This, combined with a young redesigned tail has to make the electric MINI that appeared in 2020 stand out again among the growing competition.

Two battery options

There will be two battery options, 40kWh and 54kWh, with the smaller one combined with the power unit of the current Cooper SE, providing 135 kW (184 pk) and the bigger one feeding an approximately 158 kW (212 hp) powertrain. The JCW version should combine a 54 kW battery pack with a 183 KW (246 hp) motor.

At the preview event, BMW showed the new MINI Cooper Electric in a heavily camouflaged yellow-black livery. Still, in December 2021, pictures appeared on local social media of the preproduction cars produced as a first in China. The new MINI Cooper Electric sits on the Spotlight EV platform developed with Great Wall Motors.

Countryman in production

In 2023, the new Mini Countryman production will begin at the BMW Group plant in Leipzig. The crossover model will be offered with pure electric drive and combustion engines. Preparations for the start of production of the first Mini ‘Made in Germany’ are already in full swing.

The expansion of electromobility is part of the BMW Group’s sustainability strategy. Today, one in five Mini models is already electrified. The next major milestone is the production of the new Countryman, which will roll off the production line in Leipzig at the end of this year. The new MINI Cooper Electric will come next.