What do people think of your SE?

Other than at Drive Electric Week meets I've attended, I've never met anyone who knew MINI made a BEV. The car's range turns everyone off, but everyone I let drive mine gets out with a smile.

 

I too would be concerned about range especially if I was driving a three row SUV losing 1 gallon of fuel a day to idling. That could be like 90 miles of range lost in a 5 day work week (1 gallon/day x 5 days x 18 MPG)! The 300 mile range ICE is now down to 210.

Even worse is when the 300 mile ICE range gets reduced to a 100 mile range in the winter by leaving the vehicle running for 30 minutes each morning.

 

This is my experience. Most people don’t even know it’s electric, then say the range isn’t enough but then love the drive.

 

I have had a couple of people stare curiously at the car in traffic when at red lights. Normally because I left them for dead at the prior lights even though I was only accelerating at 59% power…

I’ve also had a couple of sporty type cars want to race but I don’t o ie if that’s just because it looks like we’re driving a sporty car with the black wheels, roof and odd color mirror caps that match the badges and wheel caps etc, or if they have figured out it’s electric, I’m just not sure,

I have had a couple of people comment that it “sounds like a space ship” when I pull into a charger or parking spot and they’re amazed to hear it’s electric as they had no idea made such a thing. When I reveal the price (after incentives) they’re shocked for the second time as they assume it must be expensive. What kills their interest is the answer to the range question but they admit as a second car it’s ok.

We haven’t had any negative experiences so far.

 

Virtually everybody who bemoans EVs’ “limiting” range, including those who scoff at my SE’s “ridiculously small” autonomy, can’t tell me why they’d need more range.

 

10more KWh would have been nice. While it might not work for some even 100km a day is perfectly manageable at current capacity. I guess lots of people still have range anxiety and see on Facebook chargers being clogged up etc

My wife is getting better with it. She took the car last night next door to Verdun to see her friend at 25% SOC and came
Back at 18%.

 

It's too bad the EV media/community are so fixated on long range, which is unnecessary for most people. Long range means higher price, keeping EVs out of reach for a lot of people. Not to mention the obscene weight issue of EVs, which is one thing that turns a lot of safety advocates against EVs.

I drive over 80 miles (130 km) every day, and never have any range anxiety issues even during the winter, except in subzero (Fahrenheit) temperatures when I have to charge for about 30-45 minutes mid-day to get the extra range to compensate for loss due to cabin heating. When I bought my SE I thought I'd have to charge during the day all the time, but it has really exceeded my expectations.

 

None of my friends are car people so they don't ask about it.
Couple of the neighbours are into cars and curious but won't be ditching their ice cars any time soon.
occasionally a pedestrian will look at it due to the unusual sound but in general, people round here either have ear buds in or there is something sooo interesting on their phone that they wouldn't even look at an unmuffled lambo driving past.
I was in a carpark the other day waiting for the missus, and this young lady drove in with part of the plastic undertray loudly dragging on the ground. There were at least 6 other people walking or getting in and out of their cars. Not a single one looked up or diverted from what they were doing!

 

I often get comments and questions at drive up windows or HomeDepot parking lots. Mostly from younger women, and they are certainly not interested in me. They love the looks and most technical questions are about efficiency (cost to drive compared to an ICE). In this area, last I checked months ago, fuel cost was equivalent to an 70 mpg ICE. My experience is a bit better as we have a few restaurants and shops that offer charging while dining or shopping.

 

I generally charge at home with a 4¢/kWh rate. Charging from “— — —” to 100% on Friday used 34 kWh (gross). $1.36 to go 93 miles in a cold winter snowstorm on meaty snow tires. Regular gas around here is at $4.45 per gallon. That makes my equivalent economy more than 300 mpg in winter. Probably closer 450 in mild weather. [NB all figures above are converted to US.]

 

Charged with renewable hydro too? Incroyable!

 

They love mine. Grated mine has vinyl on the front bumper that sparkles. In general they just say how much they love my car and how cute it is! Some think it's cool that it's EV. My Mini driving friends love that it's an EV

 

Nice. When I first moved to New England electricity was cheap, but my last bill was over 33 cents a KWH and fuel is now $3 a gallon... that puts me in the neighborhood of 30mpg.. oh well... I'll have to wait till electric rates drop and gas prices rise to feel better

 

99.7% renewable yup.

 

I’m on a “dual energy” rate with Hydro Quebec: above -12°C (+10°F), it’s 5.4¢ (Canadian) and most of our heating is with a heat pump; below -12°C the rate leaps to 33¢ and a red LED on the wall near the thermostat indicates the higher rate. The heat pump gets locked out and auxiliary NG furnace provides all the heat. The red light lets us know to defer baking or running the dryer (or charging the SE if I don’t absolutely need to).

 

Most people are surprised to learn MINI makes an EV, then let down when they hear price and range. People who know about it think it’s in a weird spot. Not cheap but not luxury, not practical in a lot of cases, not very tunable/modable. It ends up excluding people from many deal breaking angles.

 

I was one of them, almost exactly one year ago. Googled for “list of EVs available in Canada” and I was surprised to see it. Made some time the following week to head to the MINI store where I test drove one of the first R50 demos in Canada 20 years earlier — and sat with the same MA! — to try it out, and within about 60 seconds behind the wheel I made my decision.

I of course began doing all sorts of research on it and its pedigree, and I still learn new things every day here (as well as at MF56 and, to a lesser extent, NAM). But boy it has taken a LOT of repetitive explanation to friends, family, and coworkers what the car is all about and how it suits me just fine. The lucky few who have gotten a ride in it are by and large pleasantly impressed by the fit, finish, materials, and joyful spirit. They don’t realize it’s a British-made BMW! They get caught completely off-guard by the performance, especially the spurts from 15 mph to illegal. Most of them would not live with such a small car, or put up with its less than forgiving ride. But almost universally, they totally get why I went ahead with purchasing the SE.