Driving Sports

Just a couple years ago, the Los Angeles Auto Show was all about bigger, heavier, taller, faster. But what a difference a fuel price spike can make!  There were a few standout fast cars this year (The Nissan 370Z springs readily to mind) but the big noise at every automaker’s display was alternative fuel, hybrids, and electric cars.  Last year, they had non-running prototypes, but this year the press could hike down to the parking garage and test-drive an assortment of green cars on the roads around the L.A. Convention Center.

Among the most hotly desired rides was the Mini Cooper E - an all-electric version of the popular Anglo-German subcompact hatch. At first, it looked like we wouldn’t get a chance to take a turn, but persistence and a Japanese journalist who didn’t show up for his appointment earned us a jump in the line.

The Cooper E is based on the basic Cooper chassis, but incorporates several significant differences in addition to the obvious lack of an internal combustion engine. The Cooper E loses the back seat to hold the sizable battery packs and the brakes are made to regenerate electricity for the batteries as you slow down.

The transmission in the Cooper E is in line with every other all-electric coming on to the market - it’s a direct drive unit without gears. This is distinct from a continuously variable design as used by the original two-pedal Minis – it’s simply a reduction gear mated directly to the electric motor.

The other notable differences include the charge indicator, which lives on top of the steering column where the tachometer generally sits. There’s also the plug interface, predictably located under the “gas cap.” Finally, there’s the exhaust pipe, which isn’t there. It’s no surprise that there’s no exhaust, but it’s still something of a mind bender when you notice that the Mini’s signature little chrome tip that looks like the bottom of a Coke can isn’t there. Mini used the rear bumper cover from the Cooper S and put a plastic cover over the exhaust area.

Driving the Cooper E is a different experience than piloting a hybrid. Where a hybrid takes off and then kicks in the gasoline engine, all of the power runs through a traditional transmission. Wth direct drive, the Cooper E simply takes off – and takes off fast!  Electric motors are renowned for offering max torque at 0 RPM, so your off-the-line performance in the Cooper E is comparable to the Cooper S.

The electric engine is rated at 204 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque, but the Cooper E also weighs more, with a curb weight of 3230 pounds. Still, Mini says it’ll do 0-60 in 8.4 seconds and has a top speed of 95 MPH.

But as you drive, the first thing you notice is that the “gas pedal” feels different – it’s a speed selector. That distinction is easy to feel, but harder to describe. In a gasoline or diesel engine, stepping on the throttle increases the fuel and air fed to the engine, generally returning more horsepower and torque, which causes the engine to run faster, or it keeps the engine from losing speed under greater load, such as when climbing a hill.

But in the electric Cooper, changing your accelerator position does not vary the torque of the engine, it simply changes how fast the engine wants to run. So when you hit cruising speed, if you back off the throttle in the normal way, the car slows down immediately. As in Right Now! There’s no “cruising throttle” position, so you just have to learn to hold the throttle for the speed you want.

In addition to the accelerator, braking the Cooper E feels different. As you transition from the accelerator to the brake, the car’s already slowing down more than a gas-engined car just by virtue of withdrawing the accelerator input. But when you step on the brake, you’re not initiating any friction from the brakes at first. In the interests of science, we should really have tried some experiments, but we didn’t want to attempt any panic stops in the middle of Pico Blvd. on a Thursday afternoon.

What you feel when you apply the brakes is a smooth slowing based on the car kicking in a set of generators attached to each wheel. Then, at the last moment, the friction brakes kick in and there’s a noticeable change in pedal feel. If you’ve ever driven a Toyota Prius, you know just we’re talking about. It’s a bit unnerving until you get used to it.

As you accelerate and brake, you can watch the gauge that lives by your steering wheel - where the tachometer would be on a normal Mini. This shows you the state of battery charge and the trip computer can tell you how far you can go before you need to juice up. If you lay into the throttle, you can watch the gauge drop, but then it comes back a bit when you apply the brakes - it’s pretty slick!

Of course, the other difference is that the electric car is very nearly silent in its operation. After a lifetime spent in internal-combustion cars, it feels like cheating to drive along without the sound of an engine – as if the car is moving by magic.

Interior comfort (for two, anyway) and suspension are all just like any other Mini - very nice, no-nonsense, just like you expect. Apart from the lack of engine noise and exhaust tips, someone driving next to you would never know you were in a Mini E.

Recharging the Cooper E from 0-100% takes about 24 hours on 110-volt house current, or about 3-4 hours if you can allocate a 220-volt stove or clothes dryer circuit. With a full charge you can drive it about 150 miles. Depending on the cost of your electricity, that should be quite a bit cheaper than buying gas.

So, what does it all mean? When you get over the novelty, what’s the bottom line on a Mini Cooper E?  Here’s the good: The Cooper E is pretty fun and groovy, and if you live in or near a city and don’t need to travel great distances or haul much stuff in the car, it’s a good choice. If being green makes you all warm and wiggly inside, this is a pretty sexy little ride – the best of the current crop of plug-in cars.

But the initial run will be just 500 cars and those will be leased to consumers only in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. And here’s the catch - they’ll lease for a most un-frugal $800 per month on a one-year contract with an option to extend. Ouch! And there’s no lease-end buyout, either – Mini wants these cars back at the end of your contract.

So, the bottom line – one of the things we like best about our Minis is the ability to drop the rear seats and haul a big load of stuff,  and we like the fact that we can put the kids in the back and still have a little trunk space to use. That, on top of the big cash cost to put a Cooper E in the garage, will keep us in a gas-powered Mini for the time being. But if you’ve got the cash, you want to go green, and you don’t mind having less cargo capacity than a Miata, the Cooper E might just be right for you.

Photos by the Author and BMW AG.