- The good news the Charging cables have finally gotten UL approval so they are starting to install them.
- The bad news they only have 150 of them and they are going to the west coast pioneers first.
- The good news they are waving the first months lease fee for everyone.
- The good news they will be delivering the west coat MINI E's as soon as the cables are installed and inspected.
- The good news they will be delivering the east coast MINI E's the second week of June.
- The bad news the east coast MINI E's will only come with a 110v charging cable initially.
- The good news they will continue to wave the lease fee until you have a fully functional charging box installed.
- The good news is they will give you the option to extend your lease so you have a full 12 months of driving with the charging station.
- The good news they expect the east coast wall boxes and charging cables to be ready in July.
- The good news is they want all pioneers to take delivery of their MINI E by June 26th
So what does this all mean to me? Well at first I was a little upset about having to deal with 110v charging, but since most days I'm only expecting to use less then half a charge, and on days I'll be fully depleting the battery I can drive my other car the next day, I dont expect this to be a major inconvenience. Im a little jealous of those on the west coast who get the free months lease and have a working charger. But maybe I'll get a second month or more where my lease fee is waved, if so I wouldnt mind if it ended up being another 6 months before the charging station was installed, driving the MINI E for free is well worth any charger hassles. The important thing is I should be driving electric in 3 weeks, just wish it was sooner.
Posts
My wife is having a problem with the $850 a month now that we learn that Manhattan Beach, L.A. and Santa Monica are getting several MINI-Es for free. BMW needs the ZEV credits before June 30th and that's what it's all about. She feels we are all being duped.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to the dealer today to drive the MINI-E there were 6 guys there from the City of Santa Monica to drive the car too. I asked them when they were getting their cars (8) and the guy in charge of fleets for the city said that he wasn't sure because they don't have a "DEAL " yet. So I email a friend of mine that knows a lot about what's going on with BMW and the California Air Resources Board and the Zero Emissions mandate and they said, "yes several cities are getting MINI-Es for free now", and mentioned L.A., Manhattan Beach and Santa Monica. He said that BMW needs to get these car registered and on the road before the end of June or loose out on valuable ZEV credits from CA. Costing the company dearly. The $850 is meaningless. Also, one of the SM guys said he wasn't sure what they would use the cars for. But there will be charge boxes in the parking structure on 4th by city hall. Nice! Free juice for me. If I get it. I haven't made a "DEAL" yet.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion BMW/Mini has been very honest from day one saying that 50 of the cars would be for fleet gov/utility/edu use and 450 of the cars for individuals.
ReplyDeleteI had always assumed that the fleet gov/utility/edu cars would be loaned and not $850 a month.
I think it wise to get the fleet institutions on board as well as the individuals.
I have no problems with it.
Peder
I also have no problems with the municipalities getting the cars at a very low price or free. It's bad enough I have to pay $850 a month for my car, I don't want my taxes paying for the others.
ReplyDeleteI still feel that BMW/MINI is losing money on this deal even at $850 a month. This is a very expensive project from hand building 500 cars, the cost of the electric drive (the folks at AC Propulsion have to eat, too) to the expense of hooking everyone up. They said they wanted committed individuals. I hope they appreciate the fact that they got them and continue to treat us right.
I'd love to hear that the field trial is such a success that we're offered a really sweet deal on a new MINI when we're done.
So far, I have no regrets.
-Stu
http://www.stuartistry.com/my-mini-e
It's common knowledge in CA that BMW needs to put these cars on the road by June 30th or loose out on the ZEV credits they need to comply with the Zero Emissions Mandate law in CA. BMW will get 10 ZEV credits for each car before June 30th and only 3 after. Each ZEV credit is worth tens of thousands of dollars to BMW. BMW has no hybrids so they need these cars to make up for that. If they don't get these cars out and registered it will be devastating for BMW. That's why they are giving them way. It's an act of corporate desperation. It was not planned that way.
ReplyDeleteThe California Zero Emissions Mandate is why these cars exist.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't believe me, ask them.
I dont live in CA and dont know about the ZEV credit, I would be interested in any articles that explain it, I doubt cash strapped CA could afford to pay BMW $100K+ per car as your suggesting, that sounds excessive. This credit isnt enough to cover the cost of the MINI E program, they arnt making anything on the 200+ cars in the NY/NJ region, or the 50 in Berlin.
ReplyDeleteAs a long time BMW driver I've been very disappointed that they still havent started to sell hybrids, and I feel they rely too much on their MINI brand to meet fleet mpg standards, rather then fixing the worst mpg offenders in their fleet. Mercedes is doing the same thing with the Smart car and their investment in Tesla. Toyota and Ford have both done a great job to improve gas mileage across their entire fleets
On Anonymous posting, I allow anonymous posting on this site as it encourages a freer expression of ideas. That being said I would like to encourage people to sign their posts so we know if a post is from the same person or someone else.
Robert
ZEV credits ALLOW BMW to sell cars in CA and now NY and NJ. They don't get money. They get value for the company. To sell cars in California automakers are now REQUIRED by law that a percentage of their cars be Zero Emission Vehicles. (ZEVs). If not there can be costly penalties.
ReplyDeleteJeff
So to be clear. BMW is BANKING ZEV credits early with this program. By putting these few cars on the road before June 30th they will get 10 ZEV credits per car. After June 30th they only get 3 credits per car. So then they would have to make a lot more ZEVs/ MINI-Es to make up for that to comply with the law. Or, as it is, they won't have to make any ZEVs for a while if they bank these credits now.
ReplyDeleteJeff
Thanks Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI did some reading up on the ZEV after your post, but havent found a clear explanation of it. Like exactly how much not having any ZEV credits would cost BMW in July 2009? I'm guessing Mercedes is just paying this fine, or did they get credits for Tesla? I saw some talk of NJ joining CA and sharing credits, but it sounds like its not in place yet.
If you find a clear article on this please post a link.
Robert
Robert,
ReplyDeleteSadly, no...it's meant to be confusing as you have seen. Basically, automakers have to get a certain # of credits based on how many cars they sell. Within that total are sub-requirements of gold, silver and bronze credits (pure ZEVs are gold, hybrids/phevs are silver, and clean gas cars are bronze.) If an automaker fails to achieve their total, they have to pay penalties- so many buy credits from other OEMs to avoid this. However, BMW is in transition from an intermediate manufacturer to a large one (the threshold is 60,000 units sold/yr in CA) and is therefore granted a few years to ramp up to full compliance. So the likelihood is that nothing will happen if they don't get these cars on the road by June, but that they instead are "banking credits" toward future compliance requirements- and are therefore motivated to get 10 credits per car instead of 3. The higher credits gives them more time to come up with a plan. Lower credits could make them have to BUY credits from say Toyota so they can keep doing business in CA. That may be very costly.
So as I said, the credits have a big value.
I hope this helps.
Jeffuren@mac.com
Also, Mercedes is in partnership with Tesla to quickly put out the Smartcar EV for the same reasons as BMW made the MINI-E with ACP. This is all good. The law is working and now the plugin EV market place is catching fire internationally. The breakthrough will be when you can BUY a plugin cars that are designed from the ground up to be an efficient EVs. Not conversions like the MINI-E and Smartcar EV. Those will be real cars and way cheaper once the economy of scale kicks in.
ReplyDeleteJeff
FYI, My Insurance company Ameriprise just qualified the MINI-E today. They had a special meeting with their underwriters and they agreed to insure it at less than half the price as Liberty Mutual.
ReplyDeleteJeff
Howdy folks,
ReplyDeleteAs a West Coast lab rat, I am moving through the maze which is the MINI program. My 23-ft cable is due for installation/permit inspection on 6/1. On 6/2, I got an invite for some Hollywood eco-wine/cheese social event....I think that will help with my food source as a juggle with the monthly bill. Told I can put the first payment (which is now on hold) on VISA but want to set up monthly credit card payments-out of sight, out of mind....and points!
Already amassing a list of folks that want to ride shotgun. Have found no one in my district (90027) that is a fellow lab rat. If any is....LETS RACE!
My accountant called today and said I'm good to go for the $7500 fed tax credit as long as BMW/MINI signs it over to me as they are the owners.
ReplyDeleteOther wise our TRAP money is off to Germany!
Jeff
Jeff
ReplyDeleteThanks for the ZEV credit info, your right as long as its pushing car companies to make EV's its all good.
I found LM way too expensive too, staying with my existing insurance company.
I hope your right about the tax credit, going to check with the IRS in January to be sure.
Robert
Robert FYI, December 31st 2009 would be the deadline to qualify your car for the tax credit.
ReplyDeleteJeff