MINI Cooper SE is the Cheapest EV on Sale in the U.S.

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Puppethead said:
Finally an article that lays out what a great value the SE is.

In the ‘States, the MINI Cooper SE starts at $30,750, after destination fees, which makes it the cheapest all-electric vehicle on sale...If we just take the federal tax credits for the MINI Cooper SE, that drops the price from $30,750 to just $23,250, which is less than the starting price of the KIA K5 sedan.​
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They shouldn't be showing the expensive Electric Collection SE in an article talking about the $30,750 SE. And why can't they take a second to look at a spec sheet before writing, "Sure, it only has about 170 horsepower and takes 6 seconds-ish to reach 60 mph, so it’s not the most exciting of hatchbacks." The SE cranks out 181 hp to achieve 60 mph in 6-ish seconds. I wonder what BMW Blog considers to be the most exciting of hatchbacks? I'm plenty excited every time I push the Start button.
 
insightman said:
They shouldn't be showing the expensive Electric Collection SE in an article talking about the $30,750 SE. And why can't they take a second to look at a spec sheet before writing, "Sure, it only has about 170 horsepower and takes 6 seconds-ish to reach 60 mph, so it’s not the most exciting of hatchbacks." The SE cranks out 181 hp to achieve 60 mph in 6-ish seconds. I wonder what BMW Blog considers to be the most exciting of hatchbacks? I'm plenty excited every time I push the Start button.
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Details, details.

[emoji13]
 
Oddly enough I was looking around to see what the least expensive EV that was sold in the US when I started my EV journey. The Mini was listed and I went "no way!"

Mine was roughly $35k in the end. Minus the $7500 credit we'll get back and it's not half bad in terms of pricing at all compared to others. I sold my own Mini for about $2k more than I expected and my end result was I decided to finance the remainder... which is my 2nd lowest car payment in history. The lowest being my 2003 Civic Si that I bought with hail damage and that was really about $25/month less than I am paying now (that one was right at $199).

So do I agree it's well priced? Heck yeah. When comparing it to the Kandi K23, it's slightly more but way better.

Soooo much fun to drive. It's more fun than my last Mini tbh. As a suburban driver 100 miles is more than enough too. The Kandi has roughly the same mileage and a 67hp engine. Really close to same staring price too.

So they can dog the SE for its range. It's still a fantastic deal... and definitely can do more then 72mph
 
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Lainey said:
So do I agree it's well priced? Heck yeah. When comparing it to the Kandi K23, it's slightly more but way better.
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Not to mention the included features, and build quality. Even the plastic bits are high quality plastic.

And duh, maybe it's the least expensive EV because it's not saddled with two tons of batteries. I continue to contend that the SE's engineering is one of the most efficient EVs. I'd love to see a range versus battery weight chart or something.
 
Puppethead said:
Not to mention the included features, and build quality. Even the plastic bits are high quality plastic.

And duh, maybe it's the least expensive EV because it's not saddled with two tons of batteries. I continue to contend that the SE's engineering is one of the most efficient EVs. I'd love to see a range versus battery weight chart or something.
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Pop some solar on the roof and kiss the efficiency idea goodbye (relatively speaking).
 
Puppethead said:
And duh, maybe it's the least expensive EV because it's not saddled with two tons of batteries.
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Not really a Mini-specific comment so I apologize to the forum, but...who will be the first to market an EV with a swappable extra battery, just like the spare leaf (and chairs) that so many people have for their dining room table? (Maybe this is already out there, and I've just missed it.)
 
Hands down the best value in the EV world right now. I also have an e-tron, but my wife and I vastly prefer to drive the SE. Nothing in the sub $50k market compares on driving and fun factor. On fun factor alone I'm not sure anything beats it.
 
CuriousGeorge said:
Not really a Mini-specific comment so I apologize to the forum, but...who will be the first to market an EV with a swappable extra battery, just like the spare leaf (and chairs) that so many people have for their dining room table? (Maybe this is already out there, and I've just missed it.)
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There's a Chinese company, Nio, doing the swappable battery thing. I see a few problems. First is battery theft. If you make it easy to swap, you make it easy to steal. Second is confidence. What happens if you stop at the battery swap-shop, and get a tapped-out battery that poops out after 10 miles (I accidentally typed 110 miles at first)? However, I suppose the car could be outfitted with a way to test the battery as soon as it was installed. Third is reliability--will the contacts be up to frequent battery swaps? Finally, there's cost--a battery subscription would probably cost more than just owning the un-swappable batteries we now have.
 
Right, I've seen it in that context. I was thinking instead of having one permanent battery along with an expansion slot (the way many phones function now).

Or perhaps better still, two removable batteries, so you could rotate them if you wanted to.

In any case, I pictured swapping at home, not on the road.
 
Maybe cheapest by list price, but what about actual price paid? Eg Chevy Bolts can be found for sub-20k at least at California dealers currently (or leased for ~$100/month).
 
mustermutti said:
Maybe cheapest by list price, but what about actual price paid? Eg Chevy Bolts can be found for sub-20k at least at California dealers currently (or leased for ~$100/month).
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Not here. Cheapest is $25k. No tax credit either. Most are $29k so with tax credit it's still way more expensive. Leasing is $350 for a $25k car here. Not even close to $100
 
mustermutti said:
Maybe cheapest by list price, but what about actual price paid? Eg Chevy Bolts can be found for sub-20k at least at California dealers currently (or leased for ~$100/month).
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You're correct. Chevy made way too many Bolts that nobody wanted so they had no other way to get rid of them (especially because they don't qualify for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit). The Bolt with its longer range is more practical than a MINI Cooper SE, but practical isn't the SE's mission. The SE's mission is fun and it owns the compact, sporty EV niche because there are no competitors in that niche. Unless Mazda would make an EV Miata, I can't think of anything else that could compete.
 
I just read this post on the Inside EVs Clarity forum, which had this great quote on the Bolt:
> The way I heard someone else put the Bolt: It's a $10,000 car on a $20,000 battery.
 
It's interesting that we've already reached the point where at least some EVs like the Bolt (and maybe Mini - don't know enough about it yet to be honest) are already cheaper to buy and own than comparable ICE cars, but we're still not seeing mass adoption. Maybe just a question if time, or was it marketing failure? Purely from a value/practicality perspective, cheap EVs already seem to be the best deal available for anything but longer road trips. Suppose that (road trips) might still be holding back adoption. Or maybe value/practicality are just not the main criteria for buying cars?
 
Part of the problem is they went with a conservative EPA rating, while other companies will milk it for everything they can. The GOM is even more pessimistic. Where I live in warm weather, I haven’t been able to get less than EPA. If I tried to be any less efficient my tires would last 5k miles.
 
mustermutti said:
It's interesting that we've already reached the point where at least some EVs like the Bolt (and maybe Mini - don't know enough about it yet to be honest) are already cheaper to buy and own than comparable ICE cars, but we're still not seeing mass adoption. Maybe just a question if time, or was it marketing failure? Purely from a value/practicality perspective, cheap EVs already seem to be the best deal available for anything but longer road trips. Suppose that (road trips) might still be holding back adoption. Or maybe value/practicality are just not the main criteria for buying cars?
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The problem is our subsidized gasoline is so cheap that people can afford to fill up their SUVs and pick-up trucks. The sales of small cars like the Bolt, MINI Cooper, and Honda Fit are in the tank. When the cost, cost-to-operate, and range of electric SUVs and pick-up trucks approach that of gas-powered versions, I believe the shift to EVs will begin in earnest. If the oil subsidies go away, the shift will happen sooner than later.
 
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