Mini will showcase the EV way forward for its John Cooper Works programme at subsequent week’s Goodwood Competition of Pace with the brand new Mini Cooper JCW E.
A camouflaged model of the electrical sizzling hatch will run up Goodwood’s famed hillclimb. The JCW E is alleged to function an “superior electrical powertrain”, suggesting it is going to pack extra energy than the 215bhp Mini Cooper SE.
Additional technical particulars are anticipated to be revealed on the occasion, which comes after a prototype petrol-engined Cooper JCW gained its class within the latest Nürburgring 24 Hour race, additionally carrying camouflage.
Mini product line boss Stefan Floeck beforehand instructed Autocar that the JCW E can be engineered to supply related efficiency to its ICE counterpart.
For reference, the Cooper SE dispatches the 0-62mph dash in 6.7sec and the previous-generation petrol JCW did it in 6.1sec.
Floeck implied that the JCW E would stay front-wheel-drive with a single motor, saying: “A very powerful factor when it’s a front-driven automobile is that on one aspect you may have an enormous profit, as a result of the centre of gravity is decrease, as a result of you may have the battery within the backside.”
Though he stated that the Cooper EV platform may settle for dual-motor powertrains, it hadn’t but been confirmed which powertrain the recent hatch would use.
Floeck added that Mini had labored to develop the “go-kart feeling” that defines the British model.
“You even have an excellent steadiness with the burden steadiness in the back and front of the automobiles,” he stated. “So the genes – a low centre of gravity and 50/50 weight steadiness – is best for driving dynamics.
“On the opposite aspect, you may have a bit larger weight. So to take care of the upper weight, it’s a query of tyres for driving dynamics. So we are going to put totally different tyres on the automobile to deal with this, that are an even bigger diameter.”
The JCW E will probably be unveiled in full this autumn.