The MINI Electric

Staring anxiously at the display showing my 100% battery charge dropping to 99% charge, then to 98%, 97%, 96% as I drove on, I thought, ‘Why?! Why am I this concerned about my range! I’m only going to bloody Sainsbury’s!’ Yes, range anxiety is a thing, especially when you first start driving a fully electric vehicle. But by day 7 of driving one daily, you find yourself looking at the 6% range thinking, ‘Yeah, I can get back on that, no problem.’

The official maximum possible range for the MINI Electric is 145 miles which yes, would be possible if you average out your speed at 45mph and you didn’t fancy putting the 0-62 to test (which it can do in 7.3 seconds, I’ll have you know). But that’s not how I like to drive my electric vehicles. I want to smugly beat the car next to me off of the lights (especially when I realise I’m in the wrong lane anyway…). I also have a need to drive many miles on the motorway which I’m certainly not going to do at the speed of a lorry. I would estimate my own average range to be 105 miles which yes, isn’t a lot, but for the most part it’s absolutely fine.

If your job is a 9-5 with the UK average of a 23-mile commute, you can live with a MINI Electric happily. You’d even have enough range to pop to the shop on the way back and take the fun A-road route home. You get home, plugin, watch Love Island for the night and you’re ready to go with a full charge in the morning. No more, ‘Bugger! I need fuel!’ when you’re already late for work because your cat brought in a live mouse you had to catch before you could leave the house…

I’m not one of these daily commuters so yes, I had some problems. Driving to some jobs over 2 hours away from where I intend to come back the same day, or there’s no charging at my BnB, or I have be there for 8 am and I don’t want to lose any more sleep to allow myself charging time, has proven to be a problem. Sometimes I resign and decide to take another car - non of which are as modern or comfortable as the MINI. But other times I try to plan my service station charging with other things I need to do in the day. I’ll have a lunch break and reply to some emails, or I’ll bring my trainers and go for a run whilst I wait for the charge. I use the Zap-Map app to check where my charging points are and work out my route. It’s not the end of the world and I can work around it with a little planning. And at just 4p a mile, I don’t mind the planning. 

words by Amy Shore
photographs by Amy Shore
special thanks to Mini UK