Why not a COOPER S?

I think you mean no other decent new gas or electric car

 

Drove friend's Minis and rentals for years. Drove a 2021 Cooper S prior to placing my order.

Why SE?

Performance, convenience, quietness, cheaper to purchase, cheaper to fuel, cheaper to repair, CarPlay standard, more fun.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you or missing some context, but it isn't a secret that they bought the Mini SE for their own use. They made a video of the drive from Arizona to home in Colorado on 8/1.



Rob

 

I contacted that dealer in NM. They had 2 Iconics in stock. The salesgal told me they got the additional 2k off because of some promotion I didnt qualify for. She offered 500 off the Iconics. I passed. Not worth 500 to go through that trip. After hotel and airfare down it is negative.

 

I like their videos. It's only because I watch all their videos that I knew that they owned that SE. However, those who do not watch all their videos might be interested to know he owns the car that won the comparison test.

Maybe I'm a bit critical because Tommy dissed the Head-Up display, which I think is great. With the comparison test he justified his choice of buying an SE vs a JCW and then he further justified his choice of a Signature Plus SE "without the Heads-Up display, which is OK because I hate the Heads-Up display."

Because I don't have an iPhone I wouldn't have minded him dissing his car's missing wireless phone charger that accommodates only small iPhones. OK, maybe I'm being overly petty.

But wait! Tommy grossly overstated the SE's charging time on 120 volts. He said, "On 110, this could take as much as a couple of days to fully charge." Level 1 charging the SE doesn't take more than 12 hours. That misinformation could discourage potential owners who don't have access to 240-Volt power.

 

Is the Level 1 charging you mentioned 12 hours from 0 to 100? Even though I do have a 240V setup at home its great to know the real-world possibilities.

 

I've read that takes like 14 hours, but most people don't coast into their driveways with zero charge.

 

It's more like 24-28 hours from 0-100%. 28.9 kWh (usable battery) / 1.2 kW (10 amps @ 120 volts) = 24 hours, but also assume ~ 85% efficiency and/or less than 120V to the house.
Though like you said, most people don't roll in at 0%. Some of my trips take as little as 4% (a 6.4 mile round trip from today, with a good bit of unnecessary acceleration).

The Tesla system with swappable NEMA adapters would be really helpful here, especially since the MINI is so efficient. That would allow people to double their charge speed in most US homes after a trivial cost (5-20 receptacle swap). There is a 16A L1 charge connector on Amazon, but it doesn't have safety certifications.

 

Before I got my Level 2 EVSE installed, I was driving 80+ miles per day while charging on Level 1 (provided 10 A cable). I couldn't quite get to 100% in a 13-hour charge period (6pm to 7am). I'd have to hit up a public charger every three days to "catch up".

 

I've made an account to ask how this car fairs in my conditions. 80+mile commute round trip at 80mph. Thank you for giving this info. If you dont mind, could you tell me what mode your commute is normally in (green, mid, sport, etc.)? Also, what you're average speed would be on the freeway?

 

From my experience charging only on Level 1, it's even slower than that. About 3% per hour, and a bit longer if you're charging all the way to 100%. For example, a charge from 17% to 95% took almost 26 hours. You'd be looking at about 33 hours for a full charge from 0%. And efficiency is not so good, about 66%-75% (charging less percentage of the battery all the way to 100% is less efficient; charging to about 90% or 95% is more efficient). It's definitely slow, but even then I don't need to charge every day, and I drive the car between 30-40 miles per day. The only thing that bothers me is how inefficient the charging is.

 

I think the default setting in the MINI is a meager 6A! Yes, you can boost it up to 10A, but maybe he didn't know that?

6A @ 120V is only 720W (0.72kW). 28.9kWh/0.72kW = 40 hours! Assuming 85% efficiency (it's probably lower at this rate, due to fixed overhead, but I'll use your number), you are at 47 hours, or two full days.

 

Wow! 33 hours is even worse than the 2 days Tommy claimed! I guess I'll should try it myself before believing what I read in some early road tests. It's not just about the Volts, but the Volts x the Amps (ie, the Watts).

 

I'm confused. 33 hours is less than 1.5 days. But I calculate 47 hours which is 2 days.

 

Good grief. I could set up one of those exercise-style bike power generator thingys and produce more current.

 

Your calculation is based on the default setting of 6A. If you bump it up to 10A, then it should take around 33 hours. Actually, probably more like 34 or 35, because charging to 100% adds a bit of extra time.

 

Haha, well not quite but surprisingly high:

Pedaling a bike at a reasonable pace generates about 100 watts of power. That's the same energy-per-time used by a 100-watt lightbulb. So if you pedaled eight hours every day for 30 days (no weekends off), then doing the math, you'd generate 24 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy. Note that I'm not worrying about the efficiency in the electrical systems involved, which would drop the number closer to 16 kWh.

https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/12/08/504790589/could-you-power-your-home-with-a-bike

 

Most of the freeway I drive on has a speed limit of 60mph, with one stretch being 70mph. I drive in mid mode usually but in the winter if it's cold enough (below freezing), I will drive in green mode and use slower-speed green routing. Originally I used to drive green all the time, but then I realized mid mode is more fun (better acceleration), and my range doesn't change much.

 

You're confused?!? I'm the one who's confused.

 

Just remember when charging, you have the current in, the efficiency, and overheads. Overheads include running the charging system, cooling/heating the battery etc. The actual charging efficiency is quite high, say 90-95%, however you have around 300W of overhead.

In my case, my 240V 10A charger can supply 2400W. You drop something like 300W on battery maintenance (heating/cooling, monitoring) which leaves 2100W. You drop 5-10% for efficiency, lets pick a middle ground number of 150W lost to efficiency. This leaves 1950W to charge. 28.9kWh/1.95kW = 14.8 hours. Call it 15 hours if you add in a little extra for topping off the cells. When you go to 110V at 10A, you get:

0.9*(110*10 - 300) = 720w into the battery = 40 hours.

Obviously this is for a 0-100 charge. In reality, you would go 20-100, so the time woulld be around 12 hours on a 240V/10A charger.