Mini Electric Will Make People Think You’re Driving An ICE Hatch

The Mini Electric has been a long time coming but is finally on its way and is currently being put through its paces with a development cycle that will see it travel the world.

Our spy photographers recently stumbled upon a Mini Electric prototype during winter testing and as we had suspected, it won’t look very different than ICE variants of the Mini. In fact, it appears virtually identical and you’ll need to have the eyes of a hawk to notice the differences. Fortunately for you, we do have hawk eyes.

The most significant point of difference between the Mini pictured and others currently on sale is the inclusion of a different grille that’s fitting of an electric vehicle. The Mini Electric will, of course, feature a charging port but unlike some EVs were the plugs are located in the front fascia, the Mini’s is where you’d expect to find a normal gas cap.

Mini previewed its electric hatchback with the eye-catching Electric Concept at 2017’s Frankfurt Auto Show. Sadly, these spy shots reveal that there will be little resemblance between the concept and the production car.

Looks aside, the Mini Electric will feature a powertrain unlike any other used by the British automaker. According to reports, the hatchback will use a single, front-mounted electric motor and perhaps, a battery that’s a similar size to the 42.2 kWh unit found in the most-recent BMW i3. A similar powertrain package could be later used by a rumored baby BMW i1 model.

Drivers of the Mini Electric will be reminded that they’re driving a special Mini not only when they press the throttle but also glance at a bespoke digital gauge cluster. There’s a chance that when the Mini Electric premieres with this cluster, it could be rolled out to ICE Mini models.

The Mini Electric will be presented later this year.