► Piers gets a home charger installed…
► …just as his Mini leaves his custody
► Read month 5
At last, and just in time for when Mini departs ironically, I’ve got my home energy eco system all sorted. Like CAR’s equivalent of Martin Lewis, I’m making savings everywhere. Efficiency is my watchword.
It’s all thanks to two upgrades. One is from Eon Next, which has joined Octopus and others in offering incredibly cheap overnight electricity rates – just 6p per kWh. The other is from Andersen, a British company that offers stylish car chargers at both 7kW and, assuming you have a 3-phase connection, 22kW speeds. The latter is vital because it means you can dump juice into the Mini at its maximum 11kW AC rate, so it’ll fully charge at the cheaper Eon tariff. It’s also rare, as there aren’t many 22kW domestic chargers on the market.
By combining the two, it meant I could charge the Mini from zero to 100 per cent for less than the cost of a pint. Even during the winter, when the Mini’s efficiency plunged from a summer high of 4.93 miles per kWh to a cold weather low of 2.49, it still meant seriously cheap journeys. It’s part of the reason why the car’s overall pence per mile figure actually dropped recently, despite that efficiency fall.
Getting the Andersen installed was remarkably simple. Like a lot of these companies, you need a site survey first but unlike others, the installers are all Andersen employees. That gives a continuity of service that’s lacking at others. It also comes with a unique, seven-year warranty and, thanks to the hidden tethered cable, never looks untidy.
Not that it’s cheap. The total bill came to £2844 including VAT but my ancient house, with its bespoke requirements, did cause the final number to balloon more than it would on a standard install.
What all this has done is emphasise how easy and cheap electric cars can be, once you’ve got your infrastructure sorted. Despite the Mini’s small 49kW battery, I only needed to public charge it once in nearly 5000 miles.
Not that that was a pleasant experience, as the Mini app’s nav and info badly let me down and almost stranded. Along with the tiny boot, it was the only blot on the Mini’s record.
Overall, it’s been a remarkably easy car to enjoy. Right-sized for the UK’s tiny parking spaces, the Cooper SE has spent six months darting and nipping and generally entertaining, with a sense of engagement that is lacking in a lot of other EVs. The steering would the highlight for me, not in terms of outright feel but more the way it is so pin sharp, reacting well to the exuberant torque steer. It was never a dull journey in the car thanks to how fighty those fronts tyres could be under full power – pulling out of junctions became a lesson in restraint.
The final verdict? Impressive. But don’t take my word for it – just look at the overall running costs including depreciation. It seems others feel that way too.
Read month 5
Read month 4
Read month 3
Read month 2
Read month 1
Logbook: Mini Cooper SE (month 6)
Price: £34,500 (£39,799 as tested)
Performance: 49kWh battery (usable), synchronous e-motor, 215bhp, 6.7sec 0-62mph, 106mph
Efficiency: 4.2-4.4 miles per kWh (official), 3.4 miles per kWh (tested)
Range: 240-249 miles (official), 167 miles (tested)
Energy cost: 6.0p per mile
Miles this month: 463
Total miles: 6298