Mini E

The Mini Cooper S goes electric and tries to take on the future with prodigious slices of the best of the past's pie. Is this the gluten-free, no-dairy, low-fat, oil-free, organic version of the classic British fish and chips still served in the same newspaper wrap?

- Jim Gorde

ELECTRICS ARE BORING!" How many times have we heard that before! Truth be confronted, how many times have we said that before? Yet, it's time to face reality. The electric vehicle (EV) is everywhere and it's not the villain or even a mini version of one. From pedal-electric bicycles and higher performance scooters with car-like torque figures to performance cars and SUV as well as buses, the e-motor-and accompanying heavy battery pack-look like they are slowly but steadily heading to become mainstream.

Okay, so here we are. With this Cooper SE. Yes, it's supposed to be the electric version of the popular, fun, and feisty Cooper S. Yes, it's compact, it's light, and it doesn't have a huge battery pack to carry a family of seven for 600 km; that's what everyone wants, isn't it? Regardless of their actual use.

So, then, the first-ever Mini Cooper SE brings unmistakable styling that conceals a potent electric motor unit and a compact 32.6-kWh battery in the floor. Yet, the styling elements outside-light green mirror caps, special wheel-rim borders, "S" logo, rear badge, and the unique design charging port cover that mimics a fuel-filler cap, apart from the green number-plate-mark it out as the EV. It's the sort of green seen in spring, of new leaves taking shape and flower buds before they bloom.

And green the Mini Cooper SE is; if charged with green power and made with recyclable and sustainable materials, of course. Nevertheless, that's a given, but let's get to the car at hand. The Cooper SE looks every bit the iconic Mini. Its silhouette is nearly identical to the Cooper S' and so is the sane 2,495-millimetre wheelbase. It also weighs 1,365 kilograms, just 140 kg more thanks in no small measure to the compact and relatively lighter battery pack. The heavy bit is the price: Rs 47.20 lakh (ex-showroom).