July 15, 2022Cars / Green

Don’t Fall In Love With This Mini

It’ll show itself in the flesh at “Mini takes the States” in the USA.

It’s almost effortless to fall for a Mini Cooper that can drop its top at the touch of a button. So, it’s only courteous to caution all the readers from the get-go – do not fall in love with this Mini. Why? Because what you see here is a one-off and isn’t on sale. What you can do, however, is check it out in the flesh. Where? It’s heading to the USA and will star in the “Mini takes the States” event. And I almost forgot. It’s called the Mini Cooper SE Convertible.

No points for guessing; the specimen is a soft-top version of the Mini Cooper SE. Besides the retractable textile roof, which we’ll come to a bit later, everything else remains the same. So, the single electric motor offers 181bhp/270Nm, enough for a 0-100kmph sprint time of 7.7 seconds. That’s 0.4 seconds slower than the Cooper SE.

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The 32.6kWh battery, out of which 28.9kWh is usable, can last up to 230km (WLTP certified). However, the fixed-top electric Mini can travel 40km more. As you’d expect, the charging capabilities are identical. That means if you can find a 50kW DC charger, the Mini Cooper SE Convertible can replenish its battery in 36 minutes. Else, an 11kW AC feed will take close to 2 hours and 30 minutes, while a 7.4kW charger could take up to 3 hours and 12 minutes.

Coming to the roof, it’s made of textile. But it can open or close within 18 seconds. And for those who like to show off even more, that operation can happen at speeds up to 30kmph. Besides the open and closed state, one could keep it open enough to make a sunroof.

So, why has Mini built something that it doesn’t plan to sell? Well, it’s part of a stunt that could attract a wider audience toward open-air driving with zero local emissions. Think about an open-top Mini on the winding roads between Burlington in Vermont and Greenville-Spartanburg in South Carolina. Not many would shy away from experience like that. I know I wouldn’t.

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Rachit Shad Trehan

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