- The all-new Mini John Cooper Works Electric was revealed today alongside the go-fast version of the Aceman four-door crossover.
- The Mini JCW Electric is front-wheel drive.
- It has a WLTP range of 230 miles.
After what felt like an eternity filled with official pictures of camouflaged prototypes and preliminary technical specs, the cat is finally out of the bag–for real this time. This is the all-new Mini John Cooper Works Electric in all its glory. Though, seriously, Mini, you need to get your act together and stop teasing the hell out of your upcoming models and then expect people to act surprised when you drop the camo.
Aaaanyway. This is the real John Cooper Works, not the JCW trim you can get on the regular Mini hatchback, which is only a cosmetic pack. This means you get a healthy 258 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque from a front-mounted single electric motor. There’s also a boost function that offers an extra 27 hp at the push of a button for short bursts of acceleration.
The battery pack has a gross capacity of 54.2 kilowatt-hours and offers a combined WLTP-rated range of 230 miles. Under the more conservative EPA procedure, we expect the range rating to drop to around 200 miles on a full charge, but we’ll know for sure when Mini introduces the hot three-door hatchback in the United States.
Going from zero to 62 miles per hour takes 5.9 seconds and the top speed is 124 miles per hour. The company didn’t say how fast the electric hot hatch can recharge, though. The Mini Cooper SE, which uses the same battery as the John Cooper Works, has a maximum DC charging rate of 95 kW, while the larger Countryman can accept up to 130 kW.
Mini said the new electric JCW hatchback has a specific suspension tune that maximizes the go-kart feeling Minis are known for, as well as ensuring agile handling.
Gallery: Mini John Cooper Works Electric (2024)
Black side skirts, black C-pillar aero blades and a black rear spoiler are part of the standard kit, as well as JCW-specific 19-inch wheels. There's also a pretty aggressive front bumper. Inside, the go-fast electric Mini comes with a black and red pattern on the knitted surface of the dashboard, black faux-leather seats with multicolored knitted fabric and red accent stitching, as well as a high-resolution 9.4-inch round center touchscreen display that acts as both the infotainment screen and the digital instrument cluster.
The new Mini John Cooper Works Electric three-door hatchback will make its global debut at the Paris Motor Show this week, but we don’t know when–or if–it will make it to the United States. Next to it, Mini also showed the John Cooper Works Aceman, which is like a four-door crossover version of the hatchback. It has the same battery, power output and top speed as the three-dor hatchback, but the zero to 62 mph time is a little slower at 6.4 seconds and the WLTP range rating is also down to 220 miles on a full charge.
