Next-gen Mini Cooper SE caught undisguised

Thanks for the report!

 

100kW is fine but make the curve similar to the current SE 0-90% SoC. If it was a straight line 100kW then it would take 26 minutes to go 0%-80% on a 54kWh usable battery pack.

 

The MINI guy said 25-30 min to go from 10 to 80%

 

I'd go with average rather than disappointing. Should be similar speed to the current model. Faster would have been nice, though.
CATL are just starting production of a new generation of 'Qilin' packs that are a step up on current ones. 4C charge rate! Maybe the LCI J01 will get those. It's a shame that the imminent Mini will not.

 

So stamp steel suspension, steel fenders, steel hood, steel roof, and a sunroof. They have some strange design goals for a Mini electric car. It should be under 3000 lbs and greater than 200 miles of range. Everything else is a bonus.

 

The Zhangjiagang SE has some very big shoes to fill. Great Wall Motor's Ora Good Cat weighs more than 3,300 lbs--I'll be surprised if MINI can build a 200-mile SE that weighs much less than the Cat.

 

I think fixating on max charge rate is misguided. It seems most of the EVs that advertise high max charge rates have crappy charging curves. The real number to look at is amount of time to charge from something like 10% to 80% SoC.

 

Lucky, lucky! I'm quite jealous.
Many of those bullet points had been reported in the past, but a few are new (yay, Apple car key!).

"- there won't be any openable sunroof. Just a transparent roof."

I thought I read somewhere a while back that it would tilt, but not slide. You're saying it's completely fixed?​

"- Electric seats with memory."

Both front seats, or just for the driver? I always thought the benefit of manual seats was quick ingress/egress for backseat passengers. Seems odd for them to ditch that completely.​

"- 7 driving modes totally configurable."

That's a lot of driving modes. Too many?​

"- larger battery model will be 54kWh / 410 km range / DC charging at 100kW top."

ThomasGeigerCar had said in his 'first drive' video that charging would max out around 130kW. Whether he's right or you're right, I trust MINI to get the charging curve right.​

"- max speed 180km/h with 218hp"

125 mph (200 km/h) had been reported last month... not that it matters outside of a track day or on the autobahn.​

 

I really hope this means we'll also see an app update soon to support Apple's EV range/charging support inside Apple Maps, which is getting even more functionality in iOS 17: iOS 17 adds real-time charging availability info for EV drivers

 

All I want is for my brake lights not to light up every single time my power metre needle dips into regen. That’s all I want them to fix.

 

I was expecting a max rate around 125-130kwh. 100 max rate means 70-80 for the most part. 25-30mins for 54kwh pack is pretty slow… around here is still endless 50kwh dispensers as well. I think that Polestar 2 rental really spoiled me

There is also the elephant in the room of if BMW will switch to NACS over CCS connectors for NA

 

- Sunroof was totally fixed.
- Driver seat had much more options/buttons to adjust its position than the passenger one. the guy said both are electric. But I'm not 100% sure and neither was he, I think.
- You don't have to use the 7. Actually they are moods / ambiance modes where you can adjust several settings like driving modes, regen, along with lighting effects, and several stuffs.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath for our generation of SE getting this capability. From what I gather, Apple's EV range support requires periodic updates from the car (via the manufacturer's "cloud") while driving, and our SE only "phones home" at the beginning of a trip and at the end of a trip (e.g. when doors open/close), but not during a trip.

 

The fixed transparent roof, no screen behind the wheel, and button removal are major downgrades for me. Nearly a year later and I'm just as happy with my '23 SE as I was on day one. (Maybe even more so after seeing these changes.)

 

AND ANDROID, PLEASE!

 

I would think it could come directly from the car via the wireless CarPlay connection, but maybe that's why it hasn't happened.

 

Any one of those, I could probably learn to live with. Together, though, they are significant negatives (especially the 1st and 3rd).

Fortunately, the next-gen SE won't be making it to the US for a few years (if ever?), so there is plenty of time to enjoy the present one before making any decisions. So far, the lesser range has not been an issue for me, meaning that I would be "upgrading" mostly for the greater power and even better (?) handling. I have yet to live through winter with my car, though, so I might still change my tune. (I still have my aging Mazda 3 to drive, but prefer the SE - in fact, this morning I waited for the roads to dry after overnight showers, just so I could drive the SE w/o getting it dirty. First world problems and all that.)

 

My assumption is based upon the Apple Maps EV setup requiring you to install & setup the EV manufacturer's app. That, and I would not expect any OEM willingly broadcasting the vehicle's CANbus data via wireless connection to a third-party app--that seems like a cybersecurity and safety risk. But I could be wrong...

 

My understanding is the Apple API relies on the manufacturer's app to provide the EV data, so that leaves manufacturers the ability to maintain proprietary communications with the EV.