Next generation (J01) MINI Cooper revealed

MINI UK site lists J01 range as "182–249 miles range (WLTP)". That's much higher than the Abarth 500e range of 100-164 miles (I would assume also WLTP since it's a European figure). I'd say that might be worth an extra 300 lbs (equivalent of a passenger or two) if the handling is on par with the SE.

 

Surprised Mini have released no technical information on the batteries at all. They wouldn't even let members of the public look under the bonnet at the events showing the car in the UK.
My J01 SE is going into production in less than 4 weeks now. Delivery week 13 last time I checked with the dealer.

 

It's probably SVOLT LFP batteries as that is Great Wall Motor's subsidiary. I'd imagine some blade style pouch cells arranged in modules.

The bonnet was pretty uneventful but it still uses the 12V low voltage system with the lack of orange wires.

 

Are the J01's windshield-washer squirters in the wiper arms? If so, I hope they work better than the ones on my Honda Clarity.

 

BMW generally put the washer jets tucked under the lip of the hood. The J01 is pretty much the same.

 

Mini did comment recently that there aren’t any parts that are shared with GWM and it’s all BMW parts.

 

I would agree with you on that. Since GWM is exclusively a pickup truck brand, it would be certainly difficult to pack all those GWM King Kong Cannon (長城 金刚炮) parts into the J01 MINI.

 

Is BMW saying MINI and Ora cars made in Zhangjiagang will travel down completely separate assembly lines and share no parts, not even batteries?

 

Yes and even the bauxite (aluminum ore) is shipped from Germany for processing in Zhangjiagang. The entire point of assembling in China is the current availability of batteries. It takes time to build a battery plant near the assembly plants across three continents.

 

Only in China...

 

Only in China there is a Caffè Nero for your brodozer.

 

Motoring File today reporting the J01 SE is much heavier at 3538lb vs 3175lb for the outgoing SE with worse weight distribution.

 

That strut top hat is a BMW part. I thought the entire car would be made up of Ora parts. Interesting.

There looks to be a battery tender on the 12v battery too.

 

https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/next-generation-j01-mini-cooper-revealed.18726/page-6#post-206380

 

The 1680 kg (3703.766 lbs) for the J01 SE that German brochure lists is a lot heavier than the 3,538 lbs Motoring File is reporting. Does the German weight include a driver or is the Motoring File's weight for the J01 SE with all the coolant drained (the "dry weight" for an EV)?

 

~75 L strikes me as a lot of coolant - do EVs really require much more than ICE-powered vehicles?

 

If the German weight doesn't include the driver, and the J01 SE doesn't carry 75 L of coolant, I don't know what would explain the Motoring File spec being 165.766 lbs lighter.

I can't wait for the first confrontation of the Oxford and Zhangjiagang MINI Electrics on a proper racetrack. I'll also be interested in the dragstrip comparison, but I chose my MINI Cooper SE for its cornering prowess. I bet a 3,582-lb RWD Tesla Model 3 is quicker than a 3704-lb Chinese MINI Electric. Seeing those two cars compete on a proper racetrack would also be interesting.

 

According to motoringfile, the J01 has 800L of cargo space compared to 941L in the current SE. How did they manage to make the new platform larger in every dimension but have less cargo space?

 

According to MINI the cargo space of the F56 SE is actually 211-731L, so the J01 does have maginally more space.

 

My R56S was 2400lb flat with the fuel light on. 3500lb is pretty ridiculous for a ground up dedicated EV design the size of a Mini. That's the weight of a Bolt or Leaf.