A “naked” Mini Cooper SE electric has been spotted on the streets of Los Angeles, giving the public a first look at the iconic brand’s new electric vehicle.
Driving around the US city’s streets in a photoshoot – no doubt in preparation for a marketing launch – it’s the first time the all-electric Mini has been seen without camouflage.
Slated for an unveiling sometime in 2019, Mini has been keeping the public wondering about what the vehicle will look like in its entirety – its last release to the press in July 2018 revealing nothing but a design concept of the car’s grille and wheel rim.
And it appears that Mini has faithfully executed those features, as the new images which were first obtained by Autoblog has shown.
While for the main part, the electric version of the Mini Cooper itself doesn’t differ much from the combustion version of the 2019 Mini Cooper hatchback, both the grille and wheel rims distinguish the electric version from its fossil-fuelled counterpart.
In addition, it is easy to spot the distinctive plug design embossed into the charging socket cover denoting the fact that this is battery electric vehicle.
While Mini has not given out any more details as to release date and specs, the fact that the electric Cooper SE is out on the roads being photographed no doubt indicates that the British brand is readying itself for an unveil in the not-too-distant future.
As an integral part of parent automaker BMW’s NUMBER ONE > NEXT electrification strategy, the electric Mini Cooper is the culmination of ten year’s R&D from the automaker’s original MINI E pilot project.
While it is not yet known if the pure electric Cooper SE will come to Australia, Mini did announce last month that Australian drivers will be able to get their hands on a plug-in hybrid Mini Countryman sometime in this quarter.
The PHEV Countryman, which with a 7.6kWH battery pack offers up to 40km of zero emissions driving (just enough for the average Australian’s 38km/day commute), will start at $A57,000 before on road costs.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.