New all-electric Mini Cooper SE wows Las Vegas

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Las Vegas. This is a city with a magic glow where replicas of the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Egyptian pyramids and the Venetian canals form backdrops for spectacular hotel buildings. Las Vegas can easily take on an otherworldly aspect owing to its location in the middle of the Nevada desert. Here, everything is larger than life and more spectacular than anywhere else. This also applies in the street. Where super-long stretch limousines, exclusive sports cars and pickups with muscular engines meld into everyday experiences, only a truly awesome automobile is capable of generating the wow factor. For example, an all-electric small car from the UK. In Las Vegas, the new Mini Cooper SE (combined fuel consumption: 0.0 l/100 km; combined electricity consumption: 16.8 — 14.8 kWh/100 km; combined CO2 emissions: 0 g/km) is an exotic machine with high emotional appeal.

Anybody buzzing down the “Strip” in the Mini Electric while generating zero local emissions turns heads in astonishment and gets lots of thumbs-ups. When cruising down the “Strip,” the Mini Cooper SE amazes passers-by with snappy but almost soundless bursts of acceleration. The journey from one traffic light to the next represents an ideal opportunity to make use of the two-stage brake energy recovery. Depending on the volume of traffic, each of the two toggle settings has its own distinctive appeal. If you toggle to strong recuperation, the Mini Electric is aggressively decelerated as soon as the driver releases the accelerator pedal. This mode channels a particularly large amount of energy back into the high-voltage battery. In the other mode, the car rolls to a stop at a leisurely pace and with reduced braking action.

Just 30 kilometers away from the “Strip,” Red Rock Canyon at sunrise presents a wonderful play of colors on the shimmering rock formations clothed in a red glow.

Soon afterwards it gets really hot. If there happened to be some shadow somewhere on the desert roads, the thermometer would be indicating around 50 degrees Celsius there. Under the burning sun, the temperature is even higher. Any mobile phone battery will soon run out of juice when subjected to these conditions. By contrast, the high-voltage battery of the new Mini Cooper SE remains “cool.” The range is between 235 and 270 kilometers with a fully charged battery, and it only comes down very gradually. 

This is made possible by an extremely effective all-in cooling system for the interior and the high-voltage battery. Thanks to highly efficient heat-pump technology, the cooling system runs like a dream. It also permits pre-conditioning of the interior. After going hiking at Red Rock Canyon, the driver of the Mini Electric is in for an enviable treat because a refreshingly pre-cooled car awaits the driver’s return. The remote app for the Mini Electric even allows the pre-conditioning to be activated remotely — provided the all-important smartphone has not lost its charge in the heat.