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goodbye #304

Well my one year lease of an all electric MINI E has come to an end they came and picked up the car today, after driving it 11716 miles it was a sad goodbye. But I'm planning to get the Chevy Volt this year and also moving so its for the best. Though I maybe in the market for a new car sooner then I planned, no sooner had they driven away with my MINI E, then my gas powered BMW Z3 decided not to start, hopefully it will be fixed soon I need it to last 6 more months until the Chevy Volt goes on sale.
Addition: got my Gas car running, wouldnt you know, they had to replace the battery :) I'm already missing the smooth feel of driving an electric car.

Kauai Marriage

MINI E #304 spent the last week and a half resting in the Garage as Glenda and I went to Kauai where we got married on the beach. It was an idyllic wedding with surfers in the background and a Ukulele player.
We had a great time hiking and kayaking through the rain forest, swimming under tropical waterfalls, learning to surf, having a close encounter with a momma whale and her baby, and eating some really great local foods.
Hawaii seems like a great place for electric cars, all the driving is local and the weather is perfect for the batteries. Unfortunately they get about 90% of their electricity from burning oil, so they really wouldnt be saving much, but there is a growing push towards solar power and other renewable energies there.

3 month extension denied

When we first signed up for the MINI E Field trial, it was only for a one year lease, and we would have to return the car after that year. When the car came out without the 240 volt charger for many people, we were told we'd have the option to extend our lease so we could have a full year of driving with the 240 volt charger. Then around January it was announced that leases could be extended until the new Active E car was available.

I've been on the fence about whether to extend my MINI E lease. While I love the car, I must admit that driving it during the winter was problematic as the range dropped to the point where I was afraid to drive to my fiancee's house 80 miles away, with it. I'm also planning to purchase a Chevy Volt this November, so I want to return the MINI E before then. But I do enjoy the car especially during the summer months when its range is the best, and you can drive with the windows down and really hear nature, so I decided I'd like to extend the lease for 3 months.

I had contacted MINI USA, and my local sales rep asking if I could extend the lease for 3 months or if I'd have to sign up for a full year, but no one seemed to know. Today after speaking to MINI Financial Services I was told they are only offering lease extensions for a full year. So I had to tell them I would not be extending my lease.

I would have preferred to keep the MINI E a little longer, but now I'll be counting the days.
only 48 days left of clean quite electric driving.

Driving the Volt

As regular readers of this blog know, I'm very interested in the chevy Volt. I had been reading everything I could about it since well before the MINI E was even announced, and it was one of the reasons I decided to sign up for the MINI E.

A few weeks ago Lyle at gm-volt.com offered a contest entitled "Why I want a the Chevy Volt", with the 10 winners being invited to test drive the Chevy Volt. I submitted my essay and was lucky enough to be one of the 10 finalists.

I only live 40 miles from NYC, so my first choice was whether to drive the MINI E, into the event. Its been warmer lately and it has the range, but honestly I hate driving into the city, especially during rush hour which is when I'd have to go, do I took a different electric vehicle, the train in.

GM started with a presentation giving us a look at its new fuel efficient up and coming cars, first was the Spark, an all electric compact car, about the size of the MINI, with nice styling that seemed to take ques from the Scion, no mention of its range or when it would be released. Next up was a Ario RS (SP?) a sporty traditional compact car, then the Chevy Cruise a treditional mid to small size car, which shares many of the same components and is the same size as the Volt, and finally the Volt.

The Designers talked about the engineering, and showed off key features that increased its aerodynamics on a non-functional Volt prototype. Then we got our chance to see the real thing. The first thing I thought was wow it actually looks cute, this doesnt come across in pictures but its length seems a little compacted, and the lines seemed to flow together very well, something that wasnt obvious from either pictures or even the prototype. There was a silver and a dark gray version, and although I've told my fiancée again and again how much I hate that 90% of the cars on the road seem to be silver, I have to say it looked good, much better then the dark gray, where all of the cool black accent panels blended into the gray.

It was a rainy day as we got into drive and I had a big shock when I say the wiper blades, each of them was twice as long as a normal cars wiper blades, we had no troubles seeing through the light rain while driving.

At first I had to sit in the back seat, and I'm afraid the limited leg room in the back was my biggest disappointment from the whole experience. Luckly I dont plan on sitting in the back when I get a Volt, thats going to be someone else's problem, still 2 more inches would have made all the difference in the world.

I got to drive second and it was a very pleasant experience it was all in pure electric mode, unfortunately we didnt get to experience range extending mode. The car was so quite inside, I couldnt hear any road noise from the tires or wind or the electric motor, it made the MINI E seem down right noisy, something no MINI E driver would normally imagine.

The car has two modes an economy, or normal mode, and a sports mode, we got to try out both, and even in normal mode, it was quite peppy, with no hesitation from the dead stop, but when you kicked in sport the car jumped forward and I couldn't keep the accelerator floored for long, on the short course.

Handling was fantastic, the Volt has some very wide tires, and a very low and balanced center of gravity, and it held up to some tight weaving and sharp accelerations, and a wet track without any tire slippage, or spin outs, or even a traction control system kicking in. This car is a pleasure to dive.

In low gear you get regenerative braking when you let off of the accelerator, but even in normal Drive gear you get regenerative braking when you press lightly on the brake, and friction braking as you press harder.

We folded down the rear seats and this give you a lot of room in the hatchback, enough room for a bike, or two, or over 4 full backpacks. Well thats what I'm planning to put in there.

Yes I'm hooked, this is a pleasurable full featured car, that just happens to be electric, and I'm going to buy one the first chance I get.

Warm weather and the choice to renew

In the last week it seems that Spring is finally here on the east coast. The temperature has warmed up and the snow is melting, soon I hope to see green buds on the trees, Spring is a very happy time when you can feel the new year is coming and all sorts of possibilities are open.

I've been fairly lax about writing to my blog over the last couple months, part of that I can attribute to just being very busy with work, but much of it was not wanting to admit the limitations I've had with the MINI E over the winter. As you may remember for a month in December and January MINI E #304 was in the shop, then when I got it back, I was found running the heater on full barely kept the car warm, and killed my range, I've been averaging 70 miles per charge, vrs. 110 I was seeing in the summer.

So for the last two months I've been limiting my MINI E driving to just my daily commute, and using my Z3 to drive to my fiancee's house 80 miles away. There is a short distance route which actually takes longer but is only 70 miles, and maybe I could have gotten by using the MINI E. I would have had to leaving it outside on the 110 charger over the weekend, something even MINI USA doesn't recommend in the cold, then the car would have been VERY cold at 5 am Monday morning we've had a number of really bad snow storms and I was very worried about being caught in one of them while driving the MINI E. Even Lewis and Clark knew not to cross the Sierra Mountains in the Winter, and I was worried about ending up like the Dommer Party. Over the last two months I've only put 1000 miles on #304, while prior to that I was putting about 1200 miles on a month. Now that the weather has warmed up I'm looking forward to driving the MINI E to my Fiancee's house again, and putting many more miles on MINI E #304 until my lease runs out.

Today I received a letter from MINI USA offering me a chance to renew my lease for another year for $600 a month. Some people might consider that still a high price, but considering it covers everything but the cost of electricity and liability insurance it seems a fair price to me. But I have to ask am I right for the MINI E, during the weekdays the MINI E fits my driving well, I rarely drive over 60 miles, 80 miles tops, most days I only drive 40, for which the MINI E is a great commuting car. But on the Weekends I'm either driving to my Fiancee's or we are off to the mountains to go hiking on some back trail, or mountain biking somewhere new, we like to explore and get away from civilization, and technology. Unfortunately this means MINI E #304 usually spends the weekend sitting at one of our homes.

I'm afraid my life style isnt right for a pure electric car as my only car right now. I'm not giving up on Electric cars though, I think the Chevy Volt will be a better fit for my lifestyle. It offers the promise of pure electric driving for the first 40 miles then a gas generator kicks in and powers the car as far as you need, or to the next gas station. This will give me a almost all electric daily commute (All electric if I can convince my company to put chargers in at work), and it give my fiancee and and me the range and cargo room we need to explore the great outdoors, what could be better? Unfortunately the Chevy Volt wont be on sale until November at the earliest and then only in California, Michigan and Washington DC, who knows when it will be available in New Jersey. I may just have to buy it in Washington, and make service trips down there as needed, if they will let me get away with that.

But what do I do in the mean time? My other car a 1997 Z3 with 180,000 miles on it, is feeling her age and doesnt have the cargo space we need. As the weather improves I can drive the MINI E more and more, I'm hating the idea of returning it just as its at its getting to its peak usefulness time of year, and I have no desire to buy another car as a stop gap until I can get the Volt. I've asked MINI USA if the MINI E lease extension is only for a full year or if it could be for a few months, if I can I'd like to keep it a little longer, but not if it means driving it over the Winter.

Finally, stay tuned for a big announcement in two month, the date been set, the reservations made, the ring is being crafted, expect some amazingly beautiful pictures.

#304 back on the road

MINI E #304 is back from the shop and running well for theis relatively warm January we are having. Still no word on exactly what was wrong with it or why it was in the shop for a month, the service techs at Morristown MINI are as out of the loop on whats being done to the MINI E's as the customers are.
MINI is sending me a check for the time I've been without a car, I never bothered to get a loaner, as it would have meant anouther trip into the dealer, and I have a old Z3 I still enjoy driving.
I think the regenerative braking is aggressive again, They had turned it down after the service in September. Or it could be I've forgotten what its like to drive an electric car, but Im enjoying breaking with one petal again.

One Month without my MINI E

Well its been one month since I started having problems with my MINI E electric car, prior to that I'd had 6 months of problem free driving. It has been in the shop for repairs most of that time, I had it back for a week before it died on me, then again for a couple days when I only got to drive it once.
I've been reading other drivers posts about driving the MINI E in the cold, and needing to keep the battery temperature up, but I havent gotten much real experience with driving the MINI E in the cold weather yet.
I have a tough choice to make about driving to my fiance's house on the weekends, I can either drive the MINI E, and park it outside in the cold with just the 120v charger to warm it during the weekend, or leave it in a unheated garage at home the whole weekend. Either way the battery is going to get cold.
During the holiday I flew to Flordia, during that time I left my gas burner at an airport parking lot, where it got very cold, I'm not sure there is a good solution to leaving a electric car at the airport for a few days, its going to get cold, even if it has an onboard heating system.
Anyway I'm looking forward to driving my MINI E again, my Z3 is nice and warm, but its amazing how sensitive my nose is to the stink of hydrocarbons.

Batteries too hot?

MINI E #304 has been in the shop for 2 weeks, ever since it stopped running with the evil red battery symbol on the 20th.
I got it back on Saturday and it seemed to be running well. Still no word on exactly what work was done to it over the last two weeks. We took it out to the Movies saw Avatar what a great movie. It was frigidly cold outside hovering around 20 degrees but the batteries never dipped below 60 degrees, and the heat actually felt a warmer then I remember it feeling before the service. The range was low only around 60 miles with highway driving, but otherwise it was fine.

I didnt get to drive it on Sunday, then on Monday I went to drive it to work and I got the evil red battery symbol, meaning the high voltage system was disconnected. I had stored the car in my garage which was cold 38 degrees according to the MINI E. I thought the batteries might have gotten a little cold, but not too much, only when I looks, it told me the batteries where at 167 F degrees.
Well it looks like the battery temperature gauge is broken and #304 needs to go back to service.. again. I had to rush to work so I'll be calling the tow truck this evening if I cant get it running.