Your only current choice of MINI Electric is as a three-door, which comes with its own pitfalls in terms of practicality. Still – the EV MINI is a small car, so that should come to be expected if you’re looking to buy one.
Normally, when average cars are modified to use electric powertrains, interior space is compromised. Not so with the MINI Electric – there’s the same amount of space front and rear for passengers as any other three-door, and the boot volume is the same.
The MINI Electric isn’t a big car, by any stretch. It’s a supermini and will easily fit into most parking spaces and is great for zipping around town under its electric power, but it presents issues for if you’re transporting more than just yourself and one passenger.
Rear space is tight, and only designed for two passengers rather than three, but the seats themselves are comfortable and, as long as there’s nobody too tall in the front, two can squeeze in the back. The three-door’s boot measures only 211 litres with the seats up, and 731 with them folded down; despite the usual trope of electric versions of regular cars offering less interior space, this isn’t the case for the MINI Electric and its regular engine-powered versions.
It also keeps the false floor, so you can keep charging cables (three-pin and public cables are included) beneath the boot floor, and use the rest of the space for anything else, which makes more difference than you’d realise day to day.
How safe is it?
Same safety features as the regular MINI Hatch
Equates to a four-star Euro NCAP rating
Extra stiffening to protect batteries
The regular MINI Hatch has a four-star Euro NCAP safety rating, and it’s expected the Electric version should perform the same in the unfortunate event of an accident, as it hasn’t been crash tested individually.
The MINI Electric Hatch Hatchback was tested by Euro NCAP in 2014 and was awarded a 4 star overall rating.
This overall rating is calculated from the following individual ratings:
Euro NCAP provides motoring consumers with a realistic and independent assessment of the safety performance of some of the most popular cars sold in Europe.
The safety ratings are determined from a series of vehicle tests, designed and carried out by Euro NCAP.
These tests represent, in a simplified way, important real life accident scenarios that could result in injured or killed car occupants or other road users.
