New all-electric MINI Cooper: its high-tech features explained
There’s a lot of tech to love in the new all-electric MINI Cooper. So, here’s a simple guide to how it works and how it makes electric driving even easier...
Back in the ‘old days’, getting connected with your MINI was as simple as insert key and turn to go. The new all-electric MINI Cooper, on the other hand, offers a wealth of smart always-online tech that enhances every drive and makes electric easy.
So, here’s our comprehensive guide to just how easy it is to get connected – making every journey easier and safer – in the all-electric MINI Cooper.
The best all-round way to go high-tech
At the heart of the new all-electric MINI Cooper’s advanced tech is a true innovation: MINI’s first-ever fully circular touchscreen.
Designed to evoke the iconic round dials of the original 1960s Mini, this large 9.5in interactive display uses state-of-the-art OLED technology to deliver bold colours and super-crisp super-clear graphics – making it even easier to access and interact with all the features and settings you’re looking for.
It’s powered by MINI Operating System 9, which is simple and intuitive to use, and uses always-online 5G connectivity to ensure you’re getting the latest navigation, traffic and charging information from the cloud.
The upper half of the touchscreen always displays key vehicle information such as speed, range and battery status, which can be tapped for quick full-screen visibility. The lower half permanently shows your climate controls alongside essential shortcut buttons to navigation, media and phone calls, car settings and other apps.
The centre of the all-electric MINI Cooper’s circular touchscreen is where the real magic happens. You can quickly swipe through the widgets for MINI Navigation, hands-free calls, or your preferred music and podcasts using wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto smartphone connectivity – as well as widgets for essential car information and weather. Then, you simply tap the app and it goes full-screen.
You can store regularly used apps and widgets in the ‘tool belt’. Equally, there’s no risk of getting lost in the menus – because you can always quickly return to the core touchscreen display with the home button.
There’s still room for a few toggles
Although the new all-electric MINI Cooper is focused on digital thinking, MINI hasn’t forgot the iconic appeal and tactile convenience of good old buttons and switches.
That’s where the MINI toggle bar comes in. Sitting below the large circular OLED touchscreen, this bar of switches gives you quick access to essential driving controls. There’s a cool key-shaped start/stop switch, alongside a flickable drive selector and the parking brake button. Another toggle lets you pick the MINI Experience Modes to match your mood. (More on that in a moment).
You also get a dedicated button for the MINI Parking Assistant, as well as easy-access one-touch buttons for easy front and rear window demisting, helping you make a quick getaway on frosty early mornings.
“Hey MINI”: your own in-car personal assistant
It’s easy to access all the all-electric MINI Cooper’s key features on the touchscreen. But wouldn’t it be even better if you didn’t need to use your hands at all? Well, that’s where MINI Intelligent Personal Assistant – MINI’s first fully-fledged fully-featured voice control – comes in.
Simply say “Hey MINI” or use the steering-wheel-mounted push-to-talk button and you can visually see your voice commands appearing on the touchscreen display, so you can be sure it understands what you’re saying. You also get the option of having a friendly animated dog ‘Spike’ to guide you through your choices.
Using MINI’s enhanced voice recognition, you can control navigation, music and podcasts, hands-free phone calls and other key vehicle functions. The system also learns your behaviours, regular routes and uses geo-based data to make things even easier – such as automatically opening the window when entering a car park. You can even ask it to tell you a joke…
Find your way smarter and faster
The new all-electric MINI Cooper’s in-car MINI Navigation uses always-online high-speed 5G connectivity to pull in live traffic, live charging and live parking data from the cloud. That means you always get the most precise and efficient navigation.
As the all-electric MINI Cooper’s navigation is electric-focused – naturally – it intelligently helps you find the most efficient charging-optimised route to match your destination and your expected range. So, you can graze between fewer, faster top-ups enroute, or find slower cost-effective destination charging at your next major halt to do a longer refill for the next leg of your journey.
And here’s something really clever. The all-electric MINI Cooper’s navigation can be boosted with an optional augmented reality mode that feels even more intuitive. It overlays bold graphics over a forward-facing video image of the road ahead, making it even easier to ensure you’re on the right track.
MINI App: interact with your MINI remotely
The all-electric MINI Cooper’s high-speed always-online 5G connectivity also lets you interact with your car remotely from your smartphone, using the MINI app.
You can monitor and control your charging remotely or plan your route in advance from wherever you are, before syncing it with the in-car MINI Navigation. If you’ve forgotten where you’ve parked your car in an unfamiliar city, you can quickly find its location. You can even unlock and lock the vehicle remotely, if you need to give someone access, or if you’ve walked away from your vehicle without locking it.
The MINI App lets you use your smartphone as a MINI Digital Key, letting you walk up to, open your all-electric MINI Cooper and sync your vehicle with your personalised settings hands-free. The MINI App also pairs with your MINI Charging Card, giving you one-account access and billing for a wealth of the UK’s most popular charging networks. So, every interaction with your all-electric MINI Cooper is all in one place.
Customise your interior with MINI Experience Modes
Going digital in the new all-electric MINI Cooper means even more ways to personalise your drive. Using the MINI Experience Modes you can change the graphics on the large circular touchscreen and alter the ambient lighting that glows through the warm soft-touch knitted dashboard materials to suit your mood.
Core and Balanced Modes offer great default options. Pick Timeless Mode and you get a digital speedometer that evokes the iconic design of the original 1959 Mini’s speedometer, while Vivid Mode is inspired by MINI’s long links with the British music scene – using bold vibrant colours to evoke psychedelic album art.
Green Mode changes the driving character of the all-electric MINI Cooper – delivering power more smoothly and using more regenerative braking to recapture and redirect energy back to the battery during deceleration to enhance your range. A bar on the digital display glows green when you’re driving efficiently to help you hone your driving style. It even lets you know how many ‘bonus miles’ you’ve picked up.
At the other extreme, you’ve got Go-Kart Mode: which combines a crisp white-on-black race-inspired speedometer with configurable steering and traction control intervention to amp up the all-electric MINI Cooper’s sporty performance feel.
Finally, Personal Mode lets you custom-select your ambient lighting to suit your mode and upload images from the MINI app to display on the touchscreen.
Smarter parking with style
The new all-electric MINI Cooper boasts a wealth of smart MINI Driving Assistant tech lend an extra set of eyes and an extra helping hand on the road. They include Dynamic Cruise Control and Forward Collision Warning, Speed Limit Info and Speed Limit Assist, as well as Lane Keep Assist and Lane Departure Warning, all making journeys easier and ultimately safer for you and your passengers.
Key for the urban-friendly all-electric MINI Cooper is the optional new Parking Assistant Plus. It uses 12 ultrasonic sensors and four surround-view cameras to spot and suggest possible parking spaces, before automatically steering into them while you control the throttle and brake. The Explore Mode even lets you get out of the car and use the MINI App on your smartphone to park remotely.
Equally, more cameras means a better views of your surroundings, letting you pick panoramic, overhead or even 3D options to see hazards around you more clearly. If you pick the Remote 360 option, you can use the cameras to view the surroundings of your vehicle and the interior. You can even share moments with a Snapshot photograph that you can upload to your smartphone using the in-car wi-fi.
Stay up to date (and have fun at the same time)
Last but not least, the always-online 5G connectivity of the new all-electric MINI Cooper’s in-car infotainment system means that it can receive regular over-the-air updates to ensure your software is always up to date with the latest features.
It also gives you access to optional MINI Connected upgrades – such as dedicated apps for music and video streaming. There’s even an AirConsole app that turns the all-electric MINI Cooper’s OLED touchscreen and your smartphone into a gaming device. Perfect for keeping yourself entertained while charging.
So, that’s a quick breakdown of all the tech inside the new all-electric MINI Cooper, and how it makes electric driving even easier, more enjoyable and safer. But the best way to see how it works in the real world is to try it for yourself.
Book your new all-electric MINI Cooper 24hr test drive[1]
[1] Test drives subject to status and availability
