Hi all, first, a huge thank you to the contributors to this forum. This has been an invaluable resource over the months that I waited for my 2022 Cooper SE to arrive, and continues to be a daily-visit for me now that my car has arrived. My apologies if this has already been addressed, but I hadn't seen it come up before. A quick bit of context: The SE will be my commute car, and I plan to always charge it at home, where I have a wall-mounted ChargePoint Flex EVSE. My Motoring Advisor—who was excellent!—showed me that my car came with a portable EVSE, but, because I didn't plan to use it very often, I didn't look very carefully when she pointed it out. Okay, with all that out of the way ... upon driving home with my SE, I checked the storage space under the luggage compartment and was surprised to find that my car came with not just one, but two portable EVSEs. As pictured below, the one on the left came in a Mini branded box labeled "Portable EV Charger," while the one on the right was packaged in a clear plastic bag featuring an "APTIV" sticker. Is it normal for the SE to come with two portable EVSEs? And, if you could only choose one to keep in your car, which of these two would you choose? Some details on specs, in case it helps... The Mini-branded EVSE supports 120 V (max draw of 12-amps) or 208/240 V (max draw of 16-amps). It features a standard NEMA 5-15 plug and includes a NEMA 6-20 adapter, which is required for 208/240 V (16-amp) charging. It's shown with the NEMA 6-20 adapter attached in my photo. The APTIV-branded EVSE supports 120 V (max draw of 10 amps) and features a standard NEMA 5-15 plug with no adapters for different connector types. The APTIV unit seems significantly more robust—the cable itself is thicker, and it includes a beefy control box with integrated indicator lights. The controller for the Mini-branded unit is integrated with the plug, and includes a multi-function status light. Even though the Mini-branded unit would offer a slightly faster rate of charge (12-amps vs 10-amps) and theoretically offers the option for even faster charging via its NEMA 6-20 adapter, my sense is that the former would be effectively imperceptible and that the latter would be of no actual benefit out in the real world. As such, based on the seemingly more robust build of the APTIV unit, I'm inclined to keep that one in the boot. But what say you? Any suggestions on this are more than welcome! Here are the EVSEs—the Mini-branded unit on the left and the APTIV unit on the right... And here's the requisite car shot...
I would select your MINI 240V capable connector and buy a couple adapters to allow the 6-20 to plug into other 240V outlets. Specifically, my first would be one for the 14-50 that is ubiquitous at RV parks and also electric ovens. Next would be a 14-30 for electric dryer outlets. You'll now be able to charge about anywhere AC outlets are present. Here's the 14-50: NEMA 14-50P to 6-15R 6-20R 240V 20 Amp Welder Welding Dryer EV Charger Power Cord Adapter Adaptor Connector Connecter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HX9JCC4/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_QFDCKKKW1XPPF2S7NAE4
Mine came with the APTIV pictured on the right in the first photo. I assumed they would all come with the same thing, but that shows what I know.
OMG, the mythical TurboCord! I can't believe it's being included now. It's not the greatest design, but at 240 V @ 16 A is going to be 3.8 kW, whereas the Aptiv at 120 V @ 10 A is 1.2 kW, so the TurboCord is more than three times as fast—if you can find an appropriate outlet. It might not be more useful than finding a public Level 2 charge, which I've found in my area often go up to about 6 kW. The TurboCord is a great thing to get if you don't have an EVSE installed at home. The Level 1 charging is going to be so slow it's not good for much except extreme emergency. But 12 A is 20% faster than 10 A...
Did you buy from mini of Portland? I have mine ordered from there and they said the TurboCord is coming with the dealer prep they force us to purchase. Did you pay the 1k prep fee? Also, if you don't mind sharing, how much were your registration fees?
Edit: dotori was faster than me lol I'm guessing you got your car from MINI of Portland? Were you charged for the "turbo cord" (dual voltage) one? This thread (specifically page 2) talked about this a bit. The car comes with the Aptiv charger from MINI but it seems like at some point after I bought my car in June, MINI of Portland started forcing people to buy the turbo cord in some sort of dealer prep package.
Wow, I didn't realize the Mini-branded EVSE was such an unusual item! First, as @chrunck noted, I am indeed in the Portland, Oregon area and I did purchase my car through Mini of Portland. I picked it up last week and I'd say it was probably the best car buying experience I've had to date. The MA I worked with, Ana, was able to convert a pre-existing order to the configuration I wanted (I think they just needed to edit the wheels and mirror caps), which probably shaved a 4 - 6 weeks off of my wait, which was just a bit over three months total. And, @dotori, to answer your questions, yes, they did force me to purchase the "Dealer Prep Turbo Cord" for $995. I asked for an explanation of what exactly that entailed and didn't get much specificity (they definitely didn't mention that I'd be getting two portable EVSEs), but, at that point, I just wanted the car, so I didn't push on it. In terms of my registration fee, according to my paperwork, it was $968.50. Is that in line with your expectation or does that sound out of whack? I did appreciate that Mini of Portland handled all of the registration paperwork, as I was dreading the idea of having to deal with the DMV. It also meant I was able to apply for the Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate the same day I picked up the car (the application requires your registration paperwork). Finally, @F14Scott, thanks so much for your suggestion on adding those adapters, as well as the link to that specific example! I'll definitely purchase those. Based on all of your responses, it sounds like the Mini-branded EVSE—aka the Turbo Cord—is the one to keep in the boot, along with a couple of adapters so that I'm ready for just about any plug I might encounter. I'm thinking I'll go whole hog and order the Tesla Destination Charger to J1772 adapter as well. Thanks again to you all—I knew this community would come through with great suggestions!
Glad it's all making sense! That said, I drive around with 15 lbs of connecting equipment that I have used exactly once in 16,000 miles. I tend to overprepare... I will say that your dealer's charging a mandatory grand for about $200 worth of connector. I suspect EVSE will be the modern day "rust-proofing" for a while.
My Boston area dealer did the same thing, but he swapped parts in the shop as the Mini was already on the boat. I think most dealers will swap mirror caps to make a sale, thats easy, anything else varies. Otherwise no price negotiation. The mandatory admin fee was $500 which is about the same as most new car dealers in the area. No sales tax here, registration was $925 for 16 months. It was a similar quick easy in-out process as other dealers in the area regardless of make, about as easy as it gets.
sounds like they charged him ~$1,000 for it though, ouch. Level 2 cords like that go for under $300 these days so sounds like the dealer just trying to make more money to me.
They bundled it into an overarching "DEALER PREP TURBO CORD" fee, so it wasn't quite ~$1,000 for the cord alone, but I recognize that it's a bit of a rip-off. My understanding is that BMW sells the same part for $500 (except with a BMW logo on it), so I'm comforting myself with the thought that I paid ~$500 for the cord and ~$500 for other things I didn't necessarily want. ;-P But, hey, they got me exactly the car I wanted before the end of 2021 and I absolutely love the car, so I'm a happy customer.
This is why I got a written quote from two competing dealers before ordering. Under no circumstances would I pay $1,000 for a duplicate of something that comes standard with the car, or any BS add ons for that matter.
In the Inside EVs forum for the Hyundai Ioniq 5, there are stories about dealers marking up those hard-to-get vehicles by $5,000 to $10,000--and the buyers don't even get a low-Amperage Level 2 EVSE as part of the "bargain!" No one on that forum has said they'd pay a dime over MSRP, however, because they're all very smart (almost as smart as the members of this forum).
