MINI SE Undercarriage

Carsten Haase

Carsten Haase

Well-Known Member
The commentary in this video isn't great but it would still be interesting for anyone curious what's under their SE!

It's pretty crazy how much wasted space is under the trunk with the rear noise maker sitting all by itself. Someone with a welder could drop the trunk floor and get another whole trunks worth of space!

 
Carsten Haase said:
The commentary in this video isn't great but it would still be interesting for anyone curious what's under their SE!

It's pretty crazy how much wasted space is under the trunk with the rear noise maker sitting all by itself. Someone with a welder could drop the trunk floor and get another whole trunks worth of space!
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We didn't get Sandy Munro himself, but I still learned a lot from that video.

They should have taken the time to lower the car and look inside the trunk before assuming the lowest point in the trunk was for the "tool kit." Perhaps without that lower bump there might have been room for a tiny emergency spare tire but that would have required including a jack and tire-iron (now there's an oldster term), too, making the heaviest F56 even heavier. No, thank you.

It's alarming to see how vulnerable the high-voltage cables are where they're hanging below the floor-pan. Oh, wait, our MINI Cooper SEs have an extra 18 mm of ground clearance. I'll stop worrying.
 
insightman said:
It's alarming to see how vulnerable the high-voltage cables are where they're hanging below the floor-pan. Oh, wait, our MINI Cooper SEs have an extra 18 mm of ground clearance. I'll stop worrying.
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They didn't note in the video that there are cover panels they removed for those cables but it did seem like really poor routing...

Zip ties don't seem like the best choice to attach HV cables to the underside of the car. I'd think one of these moulded connectors would be cheaper and better than all those haphazardly placed individual zip ties.

2020052132650963.webp
 
Can't wait for the ground up EV version of Mini. The video, the first I've seen, confirms the negative ICE_to_EV conversion aspects the current Mini. I wish it was built on 100% EV platform with the Mini look and size.
 
No moving parts, no vehicle vibrations, and with some shielding above and beyond whatever insulation and covering is on those cables. I'm not saying it's as good as possible, but are those HV cables really poorly placed, and are zip ties really inadequate? I'm no car designer but electrical cabling is often minimally held in place. Other than the worries of road debris intrusions what is there to protect against?
 
NextEv said:
Can't wait for the ground up EV version of Mini. The video, the first I've seen, confirms the negative ICE_to_EV conversion aspects the current Mini. I wish it was built on 100% EV platform with the Mini look and size.
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I'll be very surprised if the next MINI Cooper EV can match the SE's look, size, and weight because MINI wouldn't dare to make a ground-up design EV with only 114 miles of range. The BMW i3 was a no-expense spared, ground-up design for an EV. Is that tall sedan the model for the next MINI EV or will the occupants be sitting just an inch above the slab-style battery to minimize the car's height?
 
insightman said:
I'll be very surprised if the next MINI Cooper EV can match the SE's look, size, and weight because MINI wouldn't dare to make a ground-up design EV with only 114 miles of range. The BMW i3 was a no-expense spared, ground-up design for an EV. Is that tall sedan the model for the next MINI EV or will the occupants be sitting just an inch above the slab-style battery to minimize the car's height?
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Can they keep the look, size weight? Sure. There are currently wasted weight due to the ICE body parts. That weight saving can be spent on a bigger battery size. How tall is the Mini's floor from the bottom of the side rocker panels (under the doors)? That's where the slab-style battery battery would go, with an inch or two difference possibly. I think it can be done.

BTW, I'm no car design engineer.
 
insightman said:
I'll be very surprised if the next MINI Cooper EV can match the SE's look, size, and weight because MINI wouldn't dare to make a ground-up design EV with only 114 miles of range. The BMW i3 was a no-expense spared, ground-up design for an EV. Is that tall sedan the model for the next MINI EV or will the occupants be sitting just an inch above the slab-style battery to minimize the car's height?
Click to expand...

Here's my super scientific analysis:
I may have some error in my dimensions but it's close. With a dedicated EV chassis it's clearly possible to maintain the SE's proportions, increase range, and decrease weight by removing useless ICE design features.

Battery.webp
 
NextEv said:
May be for 12V ICE cabling. Definitely not for very high voltage ones that low to the ground.
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I was thinking more about wiring in buildings. As I tried to indicate, what's the likelihood of those cables moving? And are those the cables that go to the actual motor, do they actually carry the main load? Or are they for the heat pump? It would be interesting to see a wiring diagram.
 
I don’t think we will see a dedicated EV skateboard platform until MINI retires the ICE entirely. One of the best (and wisest) features of SE production is that it’s built on the same production line as the ICE model. This keeps capital needs low, increases worker satisfaction, and allows for easy and quick adjustments of production ratio. As electric adoption increases MINI simply decreases ICE production and increases SE production. No need to fix something that’s not broken. The SE does not need a skateboard. It has a ‘flex chassis’ which serves both ICE and BEV propulsion quite adequately.


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Puppethead said:
... And are those the cables that go to the actual motor, do they actually carry the main load? Or are they for the heat pump? It would be interesting to see a wiring diagram.
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Good points. Don't know. They can be going to the A/C compressor, the heater and/or to the electric motor. May be the HV cables are buried somewhere else the video did not show. Usually the emergency responder guideline used by the firefighters is a good place to look (I could not find one).
 
Jim In Tucson said:
I don’t think we will see a dedicated EV skateboard platform until MINI retires the ICE entirely. One of the best (and wisest) features of SE production is that it’s built on the same production line as the ICE model. This keeps capital needs low, increases worker satisfaction, and allows for easy and quick adjustments of production ratio. As electric adoption increases MINI simply decreases ICE production and increases SE production. No need to fix something that’s not broken. The SE does not need a skateboard. It has a ‘flex chassis’ which serves both ICE and BEV propulsion quite adequately.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
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The MINI is adequate for now but will not be competitive in it's current state for much longer and I'm sure MINI knows that. The "flex chassis" is only cheaper in low volumes to avoid tooling and design costs at the expense of increased labor (otherwise nobody else would have bothered to change to a skateboard).

And if Toyota can make a RAV4 and a Prius on the same production line, MINI should be able to handle a skateboard chassis BEV and the regular ICE on the same line!
 
Carsten Haase said:
The MINI is adequate for now but will not be competitive in it's current state for much longer and I'm sure MINI knows that.
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Is there an EV car on the horizon that will beat the SE at its own game? Sure, it would be nice if the SE could go 250 miles on a charge, but there are plenty of EVs that go 250 miles on a charge. There are not any other compact, sporty 3,000-lb EVs to my knowledge since the demise of the original Tesla Roadster.

Carsten Haase said:
And if Toyota can make a RAV4 and a Prius on the same production line, MINI should be able to handle a skateboard chassis BEV and the regular ICE on the same line!
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Yes, BMW plans for that production line to be in a factory run by Great Wall Motors. Perhaps Great Wall Motors will build a great, 3,000-lb compact sporty EV the same size as the SE with a slab-style battery that provides 250 miles of range; we'll have to wait and see. I'm sure happy to be driving its predecessor while they work on it.
 
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insightman said:
Is there an EV car on the horizon that will beat the SE at its own game?
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In the US? Questionable because unfortunately we seem to only get giant crossovers and SUVs.

Globally, absolutely. So far there's a couple with some vague details provided but there are definitely more that we haven't heard about yet.
  • VW ID.X: an ID3 with AWD and ~3,800lb weight. VW is still selling the GTI here so maybe we get this?
  • Peugeot e-208 sport: current e-208 weighs 3,370lb with a range of 217mi, sport should reduce that a bit and improve handling. A bit bigger than the 2 door MINI but arguably a competitor even in it's current form.
  • Renault R5: 2024 target, specs are just guesses at this point but it's a 2 door hot hatch.
  • Hyundai ???: Maybe we'll see something similar to their RM20e concept. Hyundai has at least committed to "N" versions of their EVs.
  • Porsche Boxter/Cayman: not really a competitor but a sporty EV that may actually show up in the US

insightman said:
I'm sure happy to be driving its predecessor while they work on it.
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I'm definitely critical of the current MINI but don't mistake that for buyer's remorse! I love mine and wouldn't trade it for anything else available today.

Unfortunately the majority of the car buying public is very focused on specs over need (for example the ridiculous truck towing capacity wars) and once the EV rebates are gone I have trouble seeing the current MINI being successful.
 
Carsten Haase said:
Globally, absolutely. So far there's a couple with some vague details provided but there are definitely more that we haven't heard about yet.
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I think the Honda e could fit in that list, it gets favorable reviews all the time. And there's the new Fiat 500 EV, but I don't think it's coming to the US. A friend of mine just got a 2018 Fiat 500e and I saw it over the weekend, it's not too bad. The new one is probably going to be pretty decent.

Carsten Haase said:
once the EV rebates are gone I have trouble seeing the current MINI being successful
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By the time the rebates are gone MINI will be a BEV-only car company, and I suspect almost all of their existing customer base will happily buy the EV offerings because by then (minimum 3 years from now) the charging infrastructure will be radically better than it is now. Although sadly the next BEV likely from MINI will be the Countryman or the reported Traveller, both of which are huge enough to probably add at least 200-mile range worth of batteries.
 
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Carsten Haase said:
They didn't note in the video that there are cover panels they removed for those cables but it did seem like really poor routing...
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As you stated the HV cables are covered by panel that protects them. The panels also flatten out the undercarriage to improve aero. The fact that Munroe team did not mention that they removed the panel which protects the cables is a bit misleading. If all the zip ties were to get damaged they would still be covered by the panel.
 
Carsten Haase said:
Here's my super scientific analysis:
I may have some error in my dimensions but it's close. With a dedicated EV chassis it's clearly possible to maintain the SE's proportions, increase range, and decrease weight by removing useless ICE design features.

View attachment 13546
Click to expand...
You know what else is 4.2 inches thick?
A duck.
So, a Tesla battery pack must float and is, therefore:
A WITCH!
I'm very wise in the ways of science.
Screenshot_20210922-214041_DuckDuckGo.webp
 
insightman said:
We didn't get Sandy Munro himself, but I still learned a lot from that video.

They should have taken the time to lower the car and look inside the trunk before assuming the lowest point in the trunk was for the "tool kit." Perhaps without that lower bump there might have been room for a tiny emergency spare tire but that would have required including a jack and tire-iron (now there's an oldster term), too, making the heaviest F56 even heavier. No, thank you.

It's alarming to see how vulnerable the high-voltage cables are where they're hanging below the floor-pan. Oh, wait, our MINI Cooper SEs have an extra 18 mm of ground clearance. I'll stop worrying.
Click to expand...

there are also plastic coverings that were removed. I’m not concerned about those wires at all.
 
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