It’s no secret that Mini is working on an all-electric interpretation of the Cooper three-door hardtop and we have snapped it again, this time while charging at a hotel parking in the Austrian Alps. Known as the Cooper E, the newcomer is also anticipated to spawn a go-faster model, probably the Cooper E S to differentiate it from the E.
This possibility has been brought into the open by Japanese motoring publication Cliccar, with the report stemming from the Cooper S donor vehicle on which the test mule spied near the Arctic Circle is based. In other words, it’s just an average speculation, not the sort of report based on an insider’s knowledge.
In any case, two variations of the electrified Mini makes sense if you can make a parallel to what BMW is doing with the i3 and i3s. Also anticipated to borrow drivetrain technology from the smallest BMW i model in the line-up, the Cooper E and E S would cater to different customers with different needs.
As per Cliccar, the Cooper S E could develop up to 184bhp and 270 Nm of torque if the i3s supposition will be proven correct. On paper, that translates to 6.9 seconds for the sprint from zero to 100 kmph and 160 kmph in terms of top speed in the case of the i3s.
Driving range? The Japanese publication suggests that 400 kilometres are enough for this particular application, with 80 percent of the lithium-ion battery capable of being charged in as little as 40 minutes. And that’s a lot of range bearing in mind the i3s is NEDC-rated at 280 kilometres.
Whatever the future may hold for the Mini brand in terms of electrification, it is known that BMW is utmost serious about its next generation of electric vehicles. After all, the Bavarian automaker knows that electro-mobility will be a huge part of the automotive scene of the 2020s.
