2022 MINI Cooper SE: InsideEVs 70 MPH Range Test 

Is the Mini's range enough for you?

Cooper SE is a great second EV. Most households don’t need 2 long range EVs.

The SE is actually fun and engaging, unlike my last two EVs. I never understood driving for enjoyment/relaxation until I got this car. You'll have more fun and get effortless efficiency on those 45-55mph alternate routes.

I’m still daily driving my 2016 i3 with a whooping 16kwh usable battery and 70 miles of range on a good day, no problem at all!

I just completed a 125 mile trip on a single charge and had 30 miles of range to go. It was mostly highway at 55 mph and then some two lane roads with traffic lights every few miles, but also 55 mph.. Country road settings.. I had no traffic and it was a easy drive. I expected to stop around the 85 mile mark at a DC charger but at that point I had 40 miles to go and 55 miles of range.. by the time I arrived I had 30 miles of range left.. This car loves light driving and moderate amount of braking and you can get a lot more miles out of it.. I think if I was able to continue on I could have easily gotten 160+ miles out oif it.. As a daily driver this car is absolutely a blast to drive and has so far only cost me about $35 a month to drive an average of 1000 miles per month.

I always like seeing you going 70 and people passing you like you are standing still.

An EV like this suits 98% of daily drivers. Most people drive about 13500 miles a year so if its everyday is only 37 miles a day. If you only use weekdays, then that's 51 miles a day. Charging at home would handle it.

All these people who say they want to drive 2-3hrs without stopping are seriously risking getting tired and having an accident. Chillout, charge and have a break.

When we bought one and needed to drive it ~700 miles from Florida to North Carolina, I expected it to not be very fun, but it was surprisingly easy! (There is a video of this trip on my channel)

I've been waiting for this test . Thanks

Easiest range test you’ll do all year unless you go to California for an MX-30

I love Minis and yes the range limitation will be an issue in the evolution of EV vehicles. However perfect as a city car and perfect for younger city folks that just don't need to travel long distances on a regular basis

Great review Tom!

Quite the nail bitter watching this. Glad you made it. I’ll be on my first trip going 120 miles tonight and have an electrify America stop planned mid route. Was hoping goto make it to the destination without stop but probably will need to.

That's good news Tom, meeting EPA range estimates at 70 mph, which is definitely not a speed to drive for peak efficiency. If you were doing 55 to 60, you might get 10% or 15% more range, but not many vehicles travel that slow speed on highways anymore!

Thanks Tom, they are building mine right now!

Great video, Tom! Waiting (and waiting) to see what Mini can do with a dedicated electric platform.

Great review, what an awesome little car

“65 in jersey in feb” I’m from PA and I agree, that’s absolutely crazy warm for feb

Love my 2023 Mini Cooper SE. Perfect for my lifestyle.

I am using my Mini electric for driving lessons and covering up to 30000 miles per year and the range of the Mini is perfect almost. In winter we sometimes need to add a 10% top up to comfortably complete the days work. Just drive the Mini in normal mode and enjoy the drive.

Thx, Tom

I kinda miss my MINI SE. I ordered it sight-unseen based on the original announcement of a modern BEV MINI when even my dealer had no substantial info about it. It was fun to drive but ultimately traded it in for a Polestar 2 and haven't looked back.

Hi , excellent video love the mini cooper. I have a question about evs in general! Maybe this question has already been answered? Here it is...why is there no alternator or more modern alternator self charging the battery? Am I missing something here ? After all we have them on petrol or diesel engine cars? Excellent video. Kind regards Danny uk 🇬🇧 ❤ 🇺🇸

We got our 2022 Mini SE in late November and it's been a great 2nd vehicle. It's used to commute round trip 16 miles a day so no issue for us with range. We very rarely take it in the highway. I would think the majority of folks purchasing this vehicle do not regularly take long highway trips. I ran an errand yesterday, 14 miles round trip, and used just 2 miles of range. I left with 93 miles displaying, arrived at my destination with 98 miles showing, and returned home with 91 miles displayed.

I live in a gated 55 and older community in Florida. There are many residence with golf carts. They’re cute and probably lots of fun to drive.

Great review as always Tom…as for why your last 1/4 was the most efficient, it’s because you already expended 75% of your charge…so, you weren’t carrying around all that battery power! LOL….

Surprising result. What did wind look like? Iirc the bjorn test got more range at 75 mph.

Lovely video, well presented, thanks. However, I know I am way behind the published date but wanted to comment in case it helps future videos. You missed the final step of the test. Having driven a precise mileage you didn't fill it back up to know EXACTLY how much electricity it used! Since when did we just trust manufacturers to tell us consumption? They really don't have a good track record at this! I really wanted to see how much charge it used for how much mileage. We get a Mini SE in a couple of months...

Do you know roughly how the combined EPA is calculated in terms of what percentage of highway driving being done vs what percentage of city driving being done?

I wish the Renault Zoe was offered here in the States

I have a 2022 Mini Cooper SE too (and a Tesla Model X Plaid). The Mini is surprisingly fun to drive, but Mini really need to work on their throttle pedal mapping. It's not nearly as linear as the Tesla.

In a world of EV’s that trend under EPA rating it’s a welcome and pleasant outcome for a nice little EV. Thanks Tom‼️

Why is so hard to find a lease on these? I was considering to replace my Bolt, but after all Mini SE offers pretty much less in every category.

I have a 2021 and have driven it 11k miles so far. It's the perfect city/commuter car for me, and likely many out there. But for me it's clearly a second car...just one that gets driven 90+% of the time and the ICE gets driven when more people, stuff, or long distance travel are needed. My commute is also 30 miles round trip.

Sounds nice and all but a Mini Cooper S means drive hard, fast and enjoy. If you did that. What would your real mileage be?

Great review but love our much better 2021 i3S 42kw range ok for us at 125 140 miles ruff our old first 2018 i3 33kw 110/20 miles range ruff thank you

No issues with the range on mine

So if the speedo is off by 2 what do you think the Miles driven may be off by ? I have done this type of testing with all my cars, on new tires, after each tire change. But I'll bet after 35k miles the rotation per mile are higher and the mile per are off. Oh well. That's life. your videos on the carious EVSE brands are the best. I recommend you to all who pose the question about chargers. TY. Good Luck.

we need a second car to replace our volvo wagon that has been driven around 5,000 miles a year. i think that it will be enough range.. my worry is the residual value in the future.

I guarantee they make the measurement of the battery look like it's going down faster from 100-30 percent and then you get more mileage the last 30% to try help people not run out who like to cut it close.

*Bring up dealer markups on the price too.

Cute car but the low range makes it a non-starter for me as does the leaf.

I bought one for my wife, she drives 30km per day, this will replace a 2013 Audi A1, which also only ever drove 30km per day. It's a second car, it will never do anything more than the 100km round trip to my wifes mothers house, we don't need an EV with 500 km plus range. For longer range driving we have a big diesel station wagon.

If the have their biggest mini gutted out to convert into an EV I would go for it... for 150 miles

I like the Mini....but the range is a bit short for my driving mode.....

Only as a second car, is this short range acceptable. The advantage of small battery is lower weight and lower cost. Could Mini make an auxiliary battery the owner would place in the rear for a long trip?

Needs a bigger battery, minimum is 200 miles

Sandy Munro had one in their shop and when he saw what they did inside the engine compartment he's response was "what the f did they do??", "this is what happens when engineers think they are the smartest person in the room", as far as the range, his verdict was they used inefficient batteries that were too heavy and not enough energy density, he wants a different battery set to give the car double the range, (that's right double the range") and clean up and make the engine compartment more compact and easier to get at, inspect and repair.

It’s a shame MINI don’t offer a ‘suitcase’ style drop in battery pack 🔋 to extend the range on those journeys where it’s critical, a 5KW maybe two 5KW packs which can connect up through a socket in the boot…. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I hear plenty of owners who’s commute journeys and other demands are capable of being met within the 100 mile range…….. but… I’m like many others have a PHEV, a golf gte plug in and of the last 8,000 miles driven, 4,500 of them have been on electric only⚡️ , the main journey I make that’s outside PHEV⚡️range is a 115 mile round trip (57 miles one and 58 the return with no chance to recharge because of turn around time 😬) a plug in extender solution could well help cars like minis get close to the guaranteed 150 mile range which would cover all most all but the most extreme journeys people demand, certainly in 🇬🇧 where 12,000 per year is the high average driven per year

Top (see our About): 1. range 2. miles Use our website to find more (see channel's 'About')

The winter range will be awful

You are spending $40,000 for a car you can't take out of the city. This has to be a second car, and one only used for short trips around town. Even if you do just need a little run around town car, $40k is was too dam much. You can get a Nissan Micra for less than $10k. It's going to take a loooooong time to save $30k in gas to make up that price difference.

Brother what is wrong with you, you running AC when it's 66 degrees, I have no need for AC at 66 degrees my friend.

BMW really needs to get its head out of its ass and stop selling compliance cars and sell actual ev cars.

Personally I think all range tests should plan to die on the road and be towed.

The range is rubbish. Glad I'd never want an electric car ever....

There is no excuse for the crap battery life....

The range sucks on this car

The mini is not a practical vehicle

pathetic range , bmw should be ashamed of themselves, charging almost $40k. for this joke of milage. min range should be around 180 miles for this car. even the old technologuy back in 2008 the mini you drove could do 100 miles. same as this new one after 14 years . bmw hasn't advanced at all , for 14 years, annoying. very.