Mini Cooper Electric long-term test: report 6

The car Mini Cooper SE Exclusive Run by Eleanor Cooper, news writer

Why it’s here To find out if this cutesy small electric car is more than just a pretty face

Needs to Absorb the stress of morning stop-start commutes, shrug off pangs of range anxiety and slot into small parking spaces with ease

Mileage 2282 miles List price £32,105 Price as tested £34,655 Official range 247 miles Test range 190 miles

1 April 2026 – Chilling out

In typical British fashion, the weather recently has been fluctuating between pleasantly mild and downright arctic conditions. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I don’t like the cold, and I’m not the only one who’s been feeling it recently – it’s also had an impact on my Mini Cooper Electric.

It’s no secret that electric cars tend to be less efficient in colder weather than in warmer weather, and this rings true with my Cooper SE. I haven’t been able to get as many miles out of it as I could when it was milder a few weeks ago. In these cooler temperatures, I can manage one and a half round trips to the office (around 90 miles), on top of a few shorter journeys here and there, before I need to start thinking about charging again.

What’s more, there have been some delays in getting my home charger installed, and without an exterior plug socket on my driveway, I can’t even use a three-pin plug to slowly top my car up at home. That means the local MFG public charging station has become sort of a second home for me.

My Cooper SE model has a maximum charging speed of 95kW, which is faster than the 70kW of the smaller-battery Cooper E. According to Mini, a 10-80% top-up should take around 30 minutes in ideal conditions, which is similar to rivals like the Renault 5 – and I think this figure is pretty accurate. In fact, the car often overestimates how long it will take to charge to 80% by five or 10 minutes, but it adjusts its reading as you charge.

Sitting for half an hour can get pretty boring, so I’ve found various ways to entertain myself. Recently, I’ve made sure to bring my Nintendo Switch with me so I can work on decorating my Animal Crossing island. It’s really coming along nicely.

Something I often forget to do is use the pre-conditioning feature that warms up the battery before you charge it to optimise charging speeds. This is something I should make a habit of remembering, because I’ve found it does make charging speedier the few times I have used it.

I still have unwavering faith in my home charger being installed soon. I hope it’ll live up to my expectations by doing wonders for my cold-weather range woes – and my running costs.

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