MINI Countryman Electric now with ADDED range

The electric MINI Countryman E – and the Countryman SE ALL4 – get a range of technical tweaks to deliver an extended range.

When the MINI Countryman arrived back in 2010, it arrived with looks only a mother could love and seemed like a step too far as BMW tried to push the MINI brand into new sectors.

But over the years, the Countryman has become a mainstay of the MINI range with much improved looks, although we still find it incongrous having a MINI the size of a BMW X1 (with which it shares its underpinnings).

The latest MINI Countryman has continued to refine the recipe, and MINI has announced a raft of tweaks to the electric version of the Countryman to deliver more range and keep pace with rivals.

The MINI Countryman E now has an official range of 307 miles and the Countryman SE ALL4 287 miles, not just by increasing usable battery capacity a bit but through technical upgrades, most importantly a new silicon carbide inverter which delivers more efficient energy conversion and minimises power loss, as well as fitting new friction-reduced wheel bearings on the front axle.

The tweaks still don’t deliver as much range as rivals like the Skoda Elroq (355 miles), but, thanks to the full ECG, the Countryman E is currently the cheapest way into a Countryman with prices from £29,255.

The increased range MINI Countryman Electric will be available from March.