I’ve been in possession of my Countryman SE PHEV for 7 weeks now and thought it might be of some use to others share things I’ve found out.
The PHEV suits my needs but I suspect it will not be suitable for the majority of UK motorists particularly with the loss of the £2500 grant. The main factors for me that make it suitable are: I am obliged to have a car at work with me every day but rarely drive more than 10 miles in total per day. I have a driveway at home where I was able to have a home charging point installed. My wife has a Skoda estate which we use for all family expeditions other than the morning nursery/school run. I live in a city and therefor use public transport for almost all journeys outwith the working week other than trips to the countryside when we take the Skoda.
For the non-technically minded like myself – particularly living in Scotland where installation is effectively free of charge – having a home charging point is a no-brainer. Standard charging from my UK domestic plug socket from empty to 100% takes more than 6 hours. I understand that the car can be set to charge from a domestic plug more quickly than this but to do so the manual states you need to have an understanding of the maximum current that your wiring can handle. I would need to pay an electrician to tell me this information (I accept many others wouldn’t).
I had a 3.6kw home charging point installed with a tethered lead 2 weeks ago. Charging to 100% from empty now takes just under 3 hours. The UK government provide £500 funding directly to the installation company themselves and people living in Scotland can claim a refund of upto £300 from the Scottish Government Energy Saving Trust which will cover the cost of supply and installation for most basic tethered units. This means I haven’t paid a penny for the installation of my home charging point. I am very happy with the installation and am happy to share details of the company involved by PM. The Scottish Government contribution needs to be applied for/approved before any works are agreed to/paid for.
As I understand it, for the Countryman SE, there is no point in installing a more powerful charger than 3.6kW as this is the maximum charging rate the car will accept.
Using public charging points is a bit complicated and will probably be something I rarely do. Some charging points require the user to provide their own type 2 charging lead. This is not included with the car. Type 2 charging leads cost upwards of £100. If you have access to public charging points that are likely to remain free of charge for the foreseeable future I suppose this might be worth the money. However, a lot of public charging points now seem to charge both by kilowatts extracted and by time spent at the charging station. I’ve seen a figure of £6ish for 3 hours being banded about for some stations. Given that this will only give 14miles driving in UK wintertime in the Mini this seems like a no go for me.
In cold weather (under 10 degrees as I understand it) the distance the car will cover per charge is reduced from 20-24miles to approximately 14 miles. This is further reduced if air-conditioning is used. “pre-conditioning” as described below helps prevent this battery drain by the AC a bit.
The petrol engine is inefficient and not fast. I previously drove a 2014 Leon Cupra but since my family got a bit older I was only ever driving it in town or on the motorway so have no need any longer for an entertaining car. If you are regularly driving more than 14miles daily without access to/time to charge in between journeys and live in the UK and are looking for low carbon emissions but don’t want to go fully electrical, I imagine you would be best to buy a car with a 1.0 TSI engine rather than a current generation PHEV.
“Pre-conditioning” is amazing. The car can be set to pre-warm at a set time each day if it is connected to an electrical outlet. Stepping immediately into a warm and fully defrosted car each morning this week when the temperature outside is -5C has been a joy.
The Mini Connected app is great for the SE once you get it working. My car has the standard post-March 2018 small touchscreen navigation/media system. As such it lacks the “mini connected assistant” option that the manual says should be used to activate many of the features of the Mini Connected app. A quick facebook message to Mini UK was passed onto the Mini Connected app team and within a few days, the app was fully connected to the car. The only note of caution I would express is that the type of features within the Mini Connected appt are only available to BMW drivers via payment of an annual subscription. I imagine such a thing is on the horizon for Mini owners.
The car feels really well put together and solid in comparison to my Seat which cost a similar amount.
I suspect in the long run – if I keep the car for my usual 7ish years – the extra cost of the PHEV will only just be balanced out by the fuel cost savings. This margin will be further challenged by the removal of the £2500 government grant that I was able to benefit from . However, having 2 kids, I will feel a lot less guilty than I did driving my 2litre turbocharged wagon.
The PHEV suits my needs but I suspect it will not be suitable for the majority of UK motorists particularly with the loss of the £2500 grant. The main factors for me that make it suitable are: I am obliged to have a car at work with me every day but rarely drive more than 10 miles in total per day. I have a driveway at home where I was able to have a home charging point installed. My wife has a Skoda estate which we use for all family expeditions other than the morning nursery/school run. I live in a city and therefor use public transport for almost all journeys outwith the working week other than trips to the countryside when we take the Skoda.
For the non-technically minded like myself – particularly living in Scotland where installation is effectively free of charge – having a home charging point is a no-brainer. Standard charging from my UK domestic plug socket from empty to 100% takes more than 6 hours. I understand that the car can be set to charge from a domestic plug more quickly than this but to do so the manual states you need to have an understanding of the maximum current that your wiring can handle. I would need to pay an electrician to tell me this information (I accept many others wouldn’t).
I had a 3.6kw home charging point installed with a tethered lead 2 weeks ago. Charging to 100% from empty now takes just under 3 hours. The UK government provide £500 funding directly to the installation company themselves and people living in Scotland can claim a refund of upto £300 from the Scottish Government Energy Saving Trust which will cover the cost of supply and installation for most basic tethered units. This means I haven’t paid a penny for the installation of my home charging point. I am very happy with the installation and am happy to share details of the company involved by PM. The Scottish Government contribution needs to be applied for/approved before any works are agreed to/paid for.
As I understand it, for the Countryman SE, there is no point in installing a more powerful charger than 3.6kW as this is the maximum charging rate the car will accept.
Using public charging points is a bit complicated and will probably be something I rarely do. Some charging points require the user to provide their own type 2 charging lead. This is not included with the car. Type 2 charging leads cost upwards of £100. If you have access to public charging points that are likely to remain free of charge for the foreseeable future I suppose this might be worth the money. However, a lot of public charging points now seem to charge both by kilowatts extracted and by time spent at the charging station. I’ve seen a figure of £6ish for 3 hours being banded about for some stations. Given that this will only give 14miles driving in UK wintertime in the Mini this seems like a no go for me.
In cold weather (under 10 degrees as I understand it) the distance the car will cover per charge is reduced from 20-24miles to approximately 14 miles. This is further reduced if air-conditioning is used. “pre-conditioning” as described below helps prevent this battery drain by the AC a bit.
The petrol engine is inefficient and not fast. I previously drove a 2014 Leon Cupra but since my family got a bit older I was only ever driving it in town or on the motorway so have no need any longer for an entertaining car. If you are regularly driving more than 14miles daily without access to/time to charge in between journeys and live in the UK and are looking for low carbon emissions but don’t want to go fully electrical, I imagine you would be best to buy a car with a 1.0 TSI engine rather than a current generation PHEV.
“Pre-conditioning” is amazing. The car can be set to pre-warm at a set time each day if it is connected to an electrical outlet. Stepping immediately into a warm and fully defrosted car each morning this week when the temperature outside is -5C has been a joy.
The Mini Connected app is great for the SE once you get it working. My car has the standard post-March 2018 small touchscreen navigation/media system. As such it lacks the “mini connected assistant” option that the manual says should be used to activate many of the features of the Mini Connected app. A quick facebook message to Mini UK was passed onto the Mini Connected app team and within a few days, the app was fully connected to the car. The only note of caution I would express is that the type of features within the Mini Connected appt are only available to BMW drivers via payment of an annual subscription. I imagine such a thing is on the horizon for Mini owners.
The car feels really well put together and solid in comparison to my Seat which cost a similar amount.
I suspect in the long run – if I keep the car for my usual 7ish years – the extra cost of the PHEV will only just be balanced out by the fuel cost savings. This margin will be further challenged by the removal of the £2500 government grant that I was able to benefit from . However, having 2 kids, I will feel a lot less guilty than I did driving my 2litre turbocharged wagon.
