Thinking about a holiday? Try camping. Wouldn’t it be great if you were driving car that not only carries your tent, but can also inflate your tent and allow you to sleep on the roof of the car, snug within the pitched tent? If this is for you, MINI have come up with the ideal solution.
The message from many governments to their populations during the pandemic is to stay at home for a holiday instead of catching a flight, the so-called ‘saycation’. This is because international travel remains one of the main ways by which the virus is transmitted.
Latching onto this, MINI (the German manufacturer of the popular small cars) has connected the stay-local message with a driving trip, using an eco-friendly form of transport – which MINIs form part of. To this end, MINI has launched a campaign based around the MINI Cooper SE Countryman ALL4 and the MINI Cooper SE. The former is a hybrid model, and the latter is an all-electric vehicle.
Both of these MINI models come with electrified drive. As well as not running directly from a fossil fuels, the two cars boast low electricity consumption combined: 15.5 – 14.8 kWh/100 km. The low environmental impact is supported by the cars having ultra-low carbon dioxide emissions.
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The electric drive does not affect the vehicle range compared with a petrol of diesel equivalent. Here the electric range of the MINI Cooper SE Countryman is 59 kilometres. However, the hybrid nature of the car means that computer control enables the combustion engine and electric motor to interact and replenish the energy reserves of the car’s high-voltage battery.
The battery is also sufficient for essential like charging up a cool box for the necessary refreshing drinks and with sufficient back-up to power the audio system so that suitable camping music can be played. If there is a charge point available in the campsite, the option exists to recharge the car whilst drifting off to sleep or while out for a countryside ramble.
To strengthen the environmental credentials of the MINI initiative, the car company is emphasizing vacations based around camping, thereby twinning a low-environmental impact holiday with a more sustainable form of mobility. Among the accessories range that the cars come with this includes an option for a vehicle roof tent: perfect for the most essential item of camping equipment.
The tent can even be put up on the roof of each model of MINI with a neat design innovation. A mechanism enables the tent structure to rise up automatically via the operation of gas springs. There is also an aluminium ladder that unfolds, allowing the user to get into the tent quickly and safely into one of the two sleeping berths.
Tests run using the MINI Cooper SE have demonstrated how the vehicle performs when carrying a roof tent across country. The aerodynamically optimised profile of the car’s body ensure no loss of driving performance. A further ergonomic feature is with the position of the battery. The location is low to the ground which opposition the the vehicle’s centre of gravity downwards and the provides comparatively good agility.
