The Mini Electric Car Lease Review

The Mini Electric Lease - the best small EV?

One of the e-car lease best-sellers for 2022 has been the pure electric Mini, a 3 door city car which has been equally popular among personal, business and salary sacrifice customers. But why? The electric Mini Cooper is seen as a safe replica of the existing Mini platform which has been in mainstream production, albeit in petrol and diesel format, for many years.

Small cars are ideal for many customers who have low annual mileage requirements or restricted budgets - the rising cost of living throughout 2021 and 2022 is almost certainly changing the UK’s automotive buying and leasing habits. Ostentatious and luxury choices may come into question, particularly for any vehicles which are using combustion technology. With petrol and diesel rising north of £2 per litre, there is a noticeable change in the conscientious consumer.

But electric Minis are expensive?

Before we analyse this query, it’s probably worth being fairly clear on the price of all new cars (and vans) - they have all rapidly increased in price throughout 2022. Many customers may have noticed that the price of used cars is increasing, as online used car procurement and purchase websites like WeBuyAnyCar and WeWantAnyCar offer what appear to be stupendous amounts for your used vehicle. But, much of this is due to a severe lack of new cars in stock.

This has arisen due to microchip and parts shortages further to the COVID pandemic. However, recent logistic issues due to the Ukraine war and Brexit have not assisted in this sector. While many new car retailers posted unbelievable profits for 2021, the outlook for 2022 is looking more difficult.

And for customers, the lack of stock is leading to higher prices as manufacturers increase their list price (due to the issues) and reducing the discounts available - the automotive sector is not unlike any other economy in that it is based on supply and demand. And with demand for electric cars being at all time high, it is clear that there will a limited amount of cheap, or sub-£200 a month, options for leasing.

Within all of this, it would be untrue to say that the Mini is expensive compared to other small city options like the Peugeot 208-e, the Vauxhall Corsa-e or the VW ID.3, all of which have £30,000 and upwards price tags. And the electric version of the Mini Cooper is only a little more than an equivalent automatic petrol option (yes - all EVs are automatic!). But in understanding the cost of the car, don’t just think that the OTR or list price is determinative of how much value you or the company receive from the vehicle.

What a car will cost is made up of individual elements like fuel, servicing, tyres, insurance and other running costs. In our industry, we refer to this running cost as a Whole of Life cost. With our “Living with your …” tools we set out to customers much of this information so that they can understand a cost for finance, maintenance (known as funder-maintained) and a cost for a full charge.

In essence, we can set out a cost per mile, so you can work out the true cost of any EV (without taking into account any tax savings for company car or salary sacrifice customers). When you compare a petrol mini vs an electric mini it’s important to utilise these key metrics, as part of achieving best value. The “best price” is not always a headline rental.

Does the Mini have a good electric range?

In the UK customers are clearly focused on EVs with 250 - 350 mile range capabilities; the notion of “range-anxiety” is diminishing but is still very much a concern for some. However, we try to educate our customers by firstly using more honest range data, as opposed to the WLTP headline ranges which are often misleading. To further help we have created a list of the best EVs for range which are available in 2022 / 2023 which can be found at - Electric Vehicle Comparison h

But in understanding the range of an electric car, it’s key to note that there is never just “one range”. The way in which your BEV performs is impacted by speeds, acceleration, temperature and load. Looking at a Mini, a motorway journey in winter would provide around 80 miles of drive on a full charge compared to 170 miles in warmer weather in city-driving.

For a high-mileage lease customer, the Mini isn’t going to be suitable. But should manufacturers be increasing battery sizes and ranges? According to a report from Exawatt and Minviro, this isn’t something we should be pursuing quite so heartily. In their report on battery cost (financially, environmentally and socially) their conclusion was that businesses (like us) needed to educate customers on the benefit of small batteries while pushing investment into C-rate capabilities and higher charging rates. Their White Paper was made available on LinkedIn

This approach is really something to take on board. As a customer, much of your expenditure for an EV is for the battery - the bigger the kWh the bigger the battery size and therefore the higher the cost. Unless you are a high-mileage customer, you need to question what value you get from a battery arrangement so large.

While range is a big focus, the charging speed is actually something which is more important. As we will cover in a further blog, the notion of AC and DC charging is of the utmost importance. One of the greatest inconveniences is awaiting for your car to charge - regardless of the range, when it comes to charging times, particularly on a DC, or Rapid, session, you want this to be as quick as possible. Investment and focus should not be in the range but in the speed of charge. The prospect of 15-minute 10-80% charging sessions is something we all need in this industry.

Mini Electric Hatchback 135kW Cooper S Level 1 33kWh 3Dr Auto (Pure Electric Vehicle)

In terms of the car shown, the Mini Electric Hatchback 135kW Cooper S Level 1 33kWh 3Dr Auto (Pure Electric Vehicle), this is based on the following configuration:

Special metallic paint - Moonwalk Grey
Double stripe cloth - Carbon black with sport seats
16" Revolite Spoke alloy wheels
Body Colour Roof & Mirror Caps
Type 2 charging cable (Suitable for Public charging and home wallbox charger – Fast charging)
10amp 240v charging cable (Suitable for charging from a domestic 3 pin plug - Slow charging)

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