Mini’s 2024 Cooper EV comes with bigger batteries, more power
The next electric Mini will come with much bigger battery options, more power, and a refreshed design when it hits the road in 2024.
The car will have two battery options, 40kWh and 54kWh. These are significantly higher than the outgoing Mini‘s 32.6kWh battery.
While we don’t yet have official range estimates on the EPA cycle, it’s estimated that the battery options will offer 300 and 400km of range, respectively, on WLTP test cycles. But EPA numbers are always lower than WLTP, so these should work out to approximately ~145 and ~180 miles of range, respectively.
The smaller battery will keep the same 181hp/135kW motor as the current Cooper SE, and the upgraded 54kWh battery will get a power bump up to 215hp/160kW. In the future, Mini wants to offer a “John Cooper Works” model with even more power, as it has offered before on gas models – but this time the electric model will get a JCW version too. That upgrade should come in 2025.
Mini will still make a gas-powered model, but expects the electric car to make up 50% of sales by 2025, as compared to today’s 15%. Mini has stated before that it plans to go all-electric and stop selling any gas cars by 2030, with its last-ever gas model being introduced in 2025. So it’s going to need a high electric mix if it wants to keep on track for that goal.
While Mini declined to show the design of the refreshed Cooper, opting to keep it in yellow-and-back camouflage until its full reveal this fall, we’ve actually seen photos of it uncamouflaged before.
Back in December 2021, photos surfaced of a completely uncamouflaged Mini in China. The new Mini is being built in cooperation with Great Wall Motor, bearing fruit from an agreement made between BMW and Great Wall Motor in 2018.
Those photos showed significant exterior design changes, with the most drastic change being the taillights, and a larger rimless center screen.
And the uncamouflaged car was parked next to other cars – which look identical to the camouflaged car showed off today. So if you’re wondering what’s under that camouflage, well, just look back in time a couple years to see a pretty good idea of what might be there.
Electrek’s Take
My entry into the EV universe was as one of the original “Mini E Pioneers,” who drove the 500 original Mini Es first released in 2009. So I have a particular attachment for this little car, which was a great experience at the time, and one I remember fondly (read more in my review of the outgoing Mini Cooper SE electric).
The outgoing Mini Cooper SE was a pretty good deal when it first came out, offering a fun driving experience for people who know how much car they needed and knew that the Mini would be enough for them. While it was panned by some for “not having enough range,” it was the cheapest EV available at the time, and as long as the car has enough range for you – and 114 miles is more than enough for many, many drivers – then that’s all that really matters.
But since then, we’ve seen other vehicles drop in price (like the current screaming deal on the Chevy Bolt) or increase in capabilities, and the Mini has not only kept the same specs, but also got a price hike, taking it over the $30k mark which it originally started just a hair under.
So this is a much-needed refresh to get the Mini closer in line with the current market. It’s fine if it still stays smaller than other EVs – Mini buyers are often looking for less car, that’s kind of the point of the brand and the name to begin with. And we do expect Mini to come in a little higher in price than similar offerings, since Mini has always considered itself as somewhat “premium” brand, and consumers do attach some value to the “fun” aspect of the brand.
But if Mini can still stay somewhat close to the lower end of the price spectrum, in the same ballpark as the upcoming Fiat 500e refresh and perhaps somewhere in at least an adjacent universe to the impossibly low-priced Chevy Bolt, then this will remain a fun option for those who ought to realize they don’t need a land-yacht (I’m talking to the vast majority of you, here).
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Environment
Baidu- and Geely-backed JiYue brand unveils ROBO X EV that goes 0-100 km/h in under 1.9 sec
JiYue, a Chinese EV brand focused on delivering all-electric “robocars” to the masses, has unveiled its latest model, and it’s quite a deviation from its previous EVs—but in the best way. Earlier today, JiYue launched the ROBO X supercar, designed for high-speed racing. By high speed, we mean 0-100 km/h acceleration in under 1.9 seconds. My mouth is watering.
JiYue has only existed since 2021, when parent tech company Baidu announced it was expanding from software development into physical EV production, joining forces with multinational automotive manufacturer Geely.
The new “robotic EV” marque initially launched as JIDU with $300 million in startup capital before garnering an additional $400 million in Series A funding, led by Baidu, in January 2022.
In August 2023, Geely took on a larger role in JIDU alongside a greater financial stake as the brand reimagined itself as JiYue, inheriting the JIDU logo and its flagship model, the 01 ROBOCAR.
In December 2023, Baidu and Geely unveiled a second model called the JiYue 07. It was born from JIDU’s ROBO-02 concept, which debuted in 2023 and was designed to compete against the Tesla Model 3 in China.
The 07 finally launched in China earlier this year with 545 miles of range. With an all-electric SUV and sedan on the market, JiYue has unveiled an exciting new entry in the form of a performance supercar called the ROBO X. Check it out:
JiYue’s new ROBO X EV is available for pre-order now
JiYue showcased its new ROBO X hypercar in front of the crowd at the 2024 Guangzhou Auto Show earlier today. Similar to previous models but with a unique spin, JiYue described the ROBO X as an AI smart-driving supercar that, for the first time, blends artificial intelligence and autonomous driving into a high-performance, race-ready EV.
When we say “high performance,” we mean a quad motor liquid-cooled drive system that can propel the ROBO X from 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) in under 1.9 seconds. JiYue called the new ROBO X a “performance beast” with “the perfect balance of excellent aerodynamic performance and high downforce.” JiYue CEO Joe Xia was even bolder in his statements about the ROBO X:
For the next 20 years, the design of supercars will bear the shadow of Robo X. This is the best design in the history of Chinese automobiles today, and it is a landmark presence.
Fighter-style airflow ducts bolster the EV’s aerodynamics, efficiency, and overall posture. Per JiYue, the two-seater ROBO X is expected to deliver a maximum range of over 650 km (404 miles).
The new supercar features falcon-wing doors, a carbon fiber integrated frame, and a professional racing HALO safety system offering 360° of support. The interior features an AI smart cockpit with SIMO real-time feedback to give drivers an immersive racing experience.
Furthermore, JiYue said the vehicle will utilize parent company Baidu’s Apollo self-driving technology, which could make it the first electric supercar to apply pure-vision ADAS technology that enables track-level autonomous driving.
Following today’s unveiling of the ROBO X, JiYue has officially opened up pre-orders in China for RMB 49,999 ($6,915). That said, reservation holders will need to be patient as JiYue shared that it doesn’t expect to begin mass production of the ROBO X until 2027.
What do you think? Will people be talking about the ROBO X for the next 20 years?
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This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes the launch of the Lectric XPedition 2.0, Yamaha e-bikes pulling out of North America, LiveWire unveils an electric scooter concept, PNY readying its cargo e-scooters for pilot testing, Royal Enfield’s first electric motorcycle, and more.
The Wheel-E podcast returns every two weeks on Electrek’s YouTube channel, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
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Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the Wheel-E podcast today:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 9:30 a.m. ET (or the video after 10:30 a.m. ET):
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Crude oil futures were on pace Friday for loss for the week, as a supply gut and a strong dollar depresses the market.
U.S. crude oil is down more than 2% this week, while Brent has shed nearly 2%.
Here are Friday’s energy prices:
- West Texas Intermediate December contract: $68.56 per barrel, down 14 cents, or 0.2%. Year to date, U.S. crude oil has shed about 4%.
- Brent January contract: $72.36 per barrel, down 20 cents, or 0.28%. Year to date, the global benchmark has lost nearly 6%.
- RBOB Gasoline December contract: $1.99 per gallon, up 0.46%. Year to date, gasoline has fallen more than 1%.
- Natural Gas December contract: $2.70 per thousand cubic feet, down 2.98%. Year to date, gas has gained more than 4%.
The International Energy Agency has forecast a surplus of more than 1 million barrels per day in 2025 on robust production in the U.S. OPEC revised down its demand forecast for the fourth consecutive month as demand in China remains soft.
A strong dollar also hangs over the market, as the greenback has surged in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory.
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