I can't wait to plug-in again. Check out my new ActiveE blog for the goods.
Showing posts with label BMW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BMW. Show all posts
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Moving to a new EV adventure
Thursday, December 1, 2011
BMW and Toyota sharing the luv
Check the link for more at Autoblog
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Those MINI/BMW Engineers Are Drivers
Let me thank the engineers behind the MINI E for keeping it a drivers car. The MINI Cooper is a slot car and the MINI E is not that far off. Yes, it is heavier and if you really flog it you can feel that battery mass get a tad top heavy and want to come up front to see what all the excitement is about, but you really have to push it to get there. It still has that quick steering and razor sharp handling, but, one other item that might not be noticed when the brake lights pop on when regeneration kicks in. The brake lights only come on when you are really getting into a hard regen, not just when regen starts or during a coast regen as I call it (not really slowing down). Therefore, you can regen down a hill casually and not look like a clod who rides his brakes all the way down a hill or worse, up a hill. Yes, I do believe the engineers thought about that one.
Of course the brake light comes one under hard regenning but only then.
Thank you MINI/BMW engineers for not making me look like a clod while regen braking.
Of course the brake light comes one under hard regenning but only then.
Thank you MINI/BMW engineers for not making me look like a clod while regen braking.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
MINI E Northeast Gathering
(Looks like a MINI E dealer....hmmmmmm)On August 22nd Tom, #250, was kind enough to arrange a gathering of MINI Es at his restaurant Nauna's Bella Casa in Montclair NJ. Good food, good talk and good fun!
(Paul (left) and myself, Paul is Mr. EV and V2G - Paul, that's a lot of MINI Es, what if we all plugged in at once ...)It was a great turn out with about 9 drivers and a representative from MINI USA joining us. It was so good to see the faces of the drivers I've been chatting with via blogs and Facebook, for example, I got to meet the 'drag racer' in person ;) . You can find more info on the gathering at Tom's blog
I think all attended would agree that this is a program we are happy to be a part of, we love driving the MINI E and look forward to what BMW/MINI creates out of this field test. Thanks again Tom.
After the event I met up with some old friends that live in town. It was the first time they've seen a MINI E and of course I had to give some demo rides. This time I warned each one that the car is faster then they might think so be prepared....after the drive all 3 of them gathered among themselves to talk about how fast it really was and I was NOT kidding....I love that!
I also tried to charge up a bit at my friends house and as soon as I plugged in I got a Power Fault error on the yellow cable box, we tested the outlet with a vacuum cleaner and it worked, just not the cable for the MINI E. I guess that line did not have enough, it was an old house. No worries, I headed home around 10pm with no issues. I did 58 miles that day, with 3 aggressive demo drives and still had 54 left, use of headlights and rear defroster but no AC, acceptable range.
After the event I met up with some old friends that live in town. It was the first time they've seen a MINI E and of course I had to give some demo rides. This time I warned each one that the car is faster then they might think so be prepared....after the drive all 3 of them gathered among themselves to talk about how fast it really was and I was NOT kidding....I love that!
I also tried to charge up a bit at my friends house and as soon as I plugged in I got a Power Fault error on the yellow cable box, we tested the outlet with a vacuum cleaner and it worked, just not the cable for the MINI E. I guess that line did not have enough, it was an old house. No worries, I headed home around 10pm with no issues. I did 58 miles that day, with 3 aggressive demo drives and still had 54 left, use of headlights and rear defroster but no AC, acceptable range.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Charging Challenges
This is a follow up to my earlier post where I mentioned I was experiencing shorter range, due to heat and humidity, and real problems charging my car with the 110.
Well the humidity has relaxed a bit. It is still hot but my MINI E seems happier. My range is back, in fact, I should get around 123 miles according to the computer. I have not gone all the way to zero as I'm still on the 110 and I need the car daily.
As for my charging challenges this still goes on, however, I've been able to make it less painful. What was happening was the breaker on the 110 cable was popping every 15 or so minutes, especially if the batts were hot, 85 or higher. That batt fan would really blow and I'm sure #402 was asking for the full 12amps, 12amps the cable or my house was not willing to give up. I've also noticed charging does take longer, I'm sure due to the fan needing juice. As the night cooled with the batts I was usually able to leave the MINI E alone to charge, breaker free, but unfortunately it was not long enough to get a full charge by morning.....frustrating.
I tried another cable from the other cars we had, no difference, finally I just decided to open both windows all the way not just a crack, bugs were happy and there was improvement. The cable breaker popped but not as much and once the batts got to around 82 degrees I could close the windows and let the car continue sipping on the 110. Oh by the way - do remember to turn your vents to the open position, helps with cooling.
So what does this all mean, is my MINI E sick, no, am I having grid infrastructure issues, I think so. I'm guessing on these hot nights people in town still have home AC on which is creating increased demand on the grid, a time of normal quiet and when less power is produced. Probably there is 'dirty' power entering my house, uneven flow. It is just enough to cause the MINI E to gag a bit...theory yes, but not off base. I'm in a small historic town and like most of the small historic towns in North Jersey on a hot night the lights look a bit dimmer or flicker whether I have AC on or not. I have a 200amp line to the house but if there is not enough juice available it would not matter if I had double that. Imagine what could happen when the wall box is connected.
So this brings up a very good point. I've read statements from 'groups' about how there is plenty of energy around to power all the EVs the world can produce....really? What a pathetic and half ass statement. I agree there is enough energy, but, there is NOT an efficient way to deliver it to these cars yet. Think of the electric grid as our road system, or worse, our bridge infrastructure, load it up and...you get the point.
If you have a number of EVs pulling 40amps or more simultaneously and continuously for hours while in close proximity to each other you have a real problem - the gird was not designed for it. EV manufactures will need to be aware of this and work with utilities to upgrade or implement techniques to manage that load....it can be done...demand response is one of the technologies which requires little infrastructure upgrade, but that is for another post.
I love seeing bold statements from NISSAN on the LEAF and other future EV manufacturers about all the cars they will bring to our roads, that will be interesting.
BMW has a good head start, yes there have been some challenges with the wall boxes, but now BMW/MINI has a better idea of just how much it takes to set up a surface infrastructure, the other guys think they do. I look forward to more EVs on the road, I want an EV to drive after this field test, but I also look forward to keeping my lights on.
Well the humidity has relaxed a bit. It is still hot but my MINI E seems happier. My range is back, in fact, I should get around 123 miles according to the computer. I have not gone all the way to zero as I'm still on the 110 and I need the car daily.
As for my charging challenges this still goes on, however, I've been able to make it less painful. What was happening was the breaker on the 110 cable was popping every 15 or so minutes, especially if the batts were hot, 85 or higher. That batt fan would really blow and I'm sure #402 was asking for the full 12amps, 12amps the cable or my house was not willing to give up. I've also noticed charging does take longer, I'm sure due to the fan needing juice. As the night cooled with the batts I was usually able to leave the MINI E alone to charge, breaker free, but unfortunately it was not long enough to get a full charge by morning.....frustrating.
I tried another cable from the other cars we had, no difference, finally I just decided to open both windows all the way not just a crack, bugs were happy and there was improvement. The cable breaker popped but not as much and once the batts got to around 82 degrees I could close the windows and let the car continue sipping on the 110. Oh by the way - do remember to turn your vents to the open position, helps with cooling.
So what does this all mean, is my MINI E sick, no, am I having grid infrastructure issues, I think so. I'm guessing on these hot nights people in town still have home AC on which is creating increased demand on the grid, a time of normal quiet and when less power is produced. Probably there is 'dirty' power entering my house, uneven flow. It is just enough to cause the MINI E to gag a bit...theory yes, but not off base. I'm in a small historic town and like most of the small historic towns in North Jersey on a hot night the lights look a bit dimmer or flicker whether I have AC on or not. I have a 200amp line to the house but if there is not enough juice available it would not matter if I had double that. Imagine what could happen when the wall box is connected.
So this brings up a very good point. I've read statements from 'groups' about how there is plenty of energy around to power all the EVs the world can produce....really? What a pathetic and half ass statement. I agree there is enough energy, but, there is NOT an efficient way to deliver it to these cars yet. Think of the electric grid as our road system, or worse, our bridge infrastructure, load it up and...you get the point.
If you have a number of EVs pulling 40amps or more simultaneously and continuously for hours while in close proximity to each other you have a real problem - the gird was not designed for it. EV manufactures will need to be aware of this and work with utilities to upgrade or implement techniques to manage that load....it can be done...demand response is one of the technologies which requires little infrastructure upgrade, but that is for another post.
I love seeing bold statements from NISSAN on the LEAF and other future EV manufacturers about all the cars they will bring to our roads, that will be interesting.
BMW has a good head start, yes there have been some challenges with the wall boxes, but now BMW/MINI has a better idea of just how much it takes to set up a surface infrastructure, the other guys think they do. I look forward to more EVs on the road, I want an EV to drive after this field test, but I also look forward to keeping my lights on.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
MINI ME Clubman EV - Not By BMW
Just came across Jack Rickard's work - he is converting an 09 MINI Clubman to full electric.
Apparently it has a back seat ;) Anyway do check it out, it is pretty cool and way to go Jack!
By the way - Jack also converted a 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster replica to full electric
Links below:
MINI ME Clubman
Porsche 356 Speedster
Apparently it has a back seat ;) Anyway do check it out, it is pretty cool and way to go Jack!
By the way - Jack also converted a 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster replica to full electric
Links below:
MINI ME Clubman
Porsche 356 Speedster
Friday, July 17, 2009
EV Friday
Today brought a plethora of EV related articles, so get the JUICE flowing link below on the few I thought were cool
300K EVs on the road in 5 years, possible, maybe - MSNBC
Tesla's new showroom in NYC - AutoBlogGreen
What is better for EVs, DC or AC? - AutoBlogGreen
BMW working on an electric scooter...hmmm - TwoWheels (english) / originally - SoloScooter
300K EVs on the road in 5 years, possible, maybe - MSNBC
Tesla's new showroom in NYC - AutoBlogGreen
What is better for EVs, DC or AC? - AutoBlogGreen
BMW working on an electric scooter...hmmm - TwoWheels (english) / originally - SoloScooter
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