Our black Mini soaks up rays after replenishing its battery.
Image: Brenwin Naidu

Long-distance touring with an electric vehicle can be daunting.

Not only is there the prospect of “range anxiety” to deal with, there is also the notion of “charger anxiety”, as a seasoned consultant on the subject explained to me.

The fear is that even though you might have enough juice to get from one point to the next, your intended charging destination could be occupied or offline. Load-shedding is usually the cause for the latter.

Luckily, GridCars, which operates most of the charging facilities in South Africa, has app functionality which informs users what the status of their chosen facility is.

Last weekend myself and our long-term MINI Countryman SE embarked on our first-ever cross-province drive: from Joburg to Wolmaransstad and back — the furthest I had ever travelled in an electric vehicle, ever.

Happily I can report that neither of the earlier-mentioned “anxieties” wracked my brain. The whole journey was as smooth as one could hope for, popping my long-distance electric trip cherry.

Important vehicle data monitored via the My Mini smartphone app.
Image: Nafisa Akabor

I hear you asking, why Wolmaransstad? And where is that anyway?

The tiny town lies about 100km outside Potchefstroom in North West province. It's an agricultural stronghold, but it's also a strategic location for an off-grid solar charging facility on the N12 national route. There is space for six vehicles to charge, and it can handle commercial EVs up to eight tons.

Operated by the firm Zero Carbon Charge, the Wolmaransstad facility is the first in a planned network of 120 stations, built within 150km of each other. The idea is to enable stress-free, cross-country mobility for electric car drivers.

Getting registered to use the Zero Carbon Charge platform proved simple: download an app, link a card for payment, then scan a QR code at the charging infrastructure to get going.

My day began at 6.30am. The MINI had been fully-charged using our office AC plug point and the vehicle indicated a range of about 380km. The biggest range I have yet seen on the MINI is 406km, after using a 30kW DC outlet. The range claimed by the manufacturer is 433km. MINI states the average consumption of the Countryman SE as 17kWh/100km.

I met up with two other industry colleagues in their electric cars at a spot on Jan Smuts Avenue 7km away.

The vehicle's average consumption after arriving in Wolmaransstad.
Image: Brenwin Naidu

From there, it was a 229km stretch to Wolmaransstad, using the N2 and N12.

“Stretch” might be overselling it though, because with the indicated range of the MINI Countryman, the experience turned out to be a doddle.

As a precautionary measure we decided to stop in Potchefstroom (halfway to Wolmaransstad), should anyone require a charge at the GridCars facility at the Mooirivier Mall.

By the time we arrived there, my battery life was at 70%, with electricity consumption around 14kWh/100km. It would have been even better, but at some point during the journey I decided to crank up my heater and heated steering wheel. It was a frosty morning.

Nobody needed to charge up n Potchefstroom, so onward we trekked.

Crucial to mention is that my driving style was not overly conservative. All I did was stick to the speed limits and modulate the accelerator gently on take-offs. No over-the-top hyper-miling techniques were deployed: just a real-world driving style, keeping with the ebb and flow of traffic.

Green mode maximises range and has a unique screen display.
Image: Brenwin Naidu

The vehicle was kept in the dedicated Green setting, adopting a mapping profile that prioritises range over performance. If you drive the car in the most extreme mode of conservation, it caps permitted speed to 90km/h.

By the time we arrived at the solar set-up in Wolmaransstad, the Countryman's battery life was 43%, with consumption in the region of 15kWh/100km.

My next move was to plug one of the fast-chargers into the “tank” of the MINI and initiate the job.

The peak output of the charger fluctuated between 30kW to a peak of 75kW, which enabled a juice-up from 43% to 100% in about 90 minutes. We passed the time in the on-site Farm Flair restaurant, stocked with everything from biltong to koeksisters.

In all, the vehicle's battery took 37.38kWh to achieve fully-charged status (the total battery size is 66.5kWh); costing R342.03, which works out to R9.15 per kWh. A full battery from empty would cost about R608.

The 'engine' bay of the vehicle is deceptively similar to the ICE model.
Image: Brenwin Naidu

The total trip distance from Johannesburg to Wolmaransstad and back was 465km, so in effect I paid R1.35 per km.

How does the electric Countryman compare to a petrol-powered one in terms of cost versus range?

The current inland price per litre for 95 unleaded is R21.40 and the 2.0l Countryman S has a 54l tank size, working out to about R1,155.

With a claimed consumption of 6.5l/100km you could expect a range in the region of 608km — roughly R1.89 per km.

The savings in fuel bills represented by the electric model would translate into savings over the long-term, but the difference in initial outlay is also a factor that might influence your purchasing decision.

The Countryman SE costs R1,086,000 while the regular S is R810,774.

The next item on the agenda for our MINI? The customary Gerotek shakedown.

ODOMETER ON DELIVERY: 4,621km

CURRENT ODOMETER: 6,250km

PRAISES: Strong range on a full-charge makes lengthier journeys possible.

GRIPES: Central armrest has no storage bin.

AVERAGE CONSUMPTION: 15.5kWh/100km (over a distance of 451km)