The other day I decided to drive with the heat on for my entire commute to work. It was in the 50s so I set the fan to 1 and turned on the heat to 2 clicks. I also had the head lights on as it was foggy. Yes my range dropped, about 10%, after the 20 miles I had 90 left, I'm usually around 100 left. My % was at 83% while I'm normally at 88% to 90%.
On my return I had the wipers and lights on as it was raining, no heat, plus drove a little harder. The MINI E is fun in the rain. When all was said and done I did around 41 miles that day and had 63 miles left on the range indicator and 62% on the capacity, about 1% for 1 mile. Since I'm on the 110 I will fall behind during the week, with the wall box installed it won't be an issue for my commute, now if I want to take a 100 mile biz trip again that might be a real challenge.
Stay tuned.
Showing posts with label Range. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Range. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
110 Shuffle With No Highways
Yesterday I had to take a longer trip than I was used to in the MINI E. 100 miles round trip and near the end I knew I would need lights and heater. I was heading to a business meeting in Englewood Cliffs NJ, start point was Mendham NJ.
The day before my trip I could feel the anxiety setting in, I need a plan. I'd stay off the main highways, stick to 46 and stay off of 80 to extend range and while at my series of meetings I'd plug in the car where I could, to get a little extra boost.
On my first leg of the trip, about 48 miles I was doing pretty well, the computer said I had 70 left to go. I was feeling pretty confident at that point and one of the buildings where my meetings where held was kind enough to let me plug in for about an hr and I got a 4% boost. This was 4% after the 3 to 4 times I plugged in as the buildings I was meeting in were separated so I had to drive back and forth between them interrupting my charging - I left the cable at the one building and plugged in there when I could.
So now I am reading to head back home, the distance meter on the MINI E said 77 miles....of course I had to give one "thank you" ride to the building maintenance guy who let me plug in...that ride took the 4% he gave me ;)
On my way back I figured I'd jump on the highway to see how it goes, after 3 miles I could see I was going to eat up a lot of juice and I wanted have plenty left for heat and lights and anything else that comes my way...being in NJ a lot of things can come your way unpredictably on the roads.
I jumped off 80 and got onto 46, range ticked up a bit and I was moving along. Thanks to phantom NJ road signs I ended up on some other branch of 46, that cost me 10 miles and 15 mins before I got back on track. Now it was getting dark, I switched on the lights, range said 34 miles and I had about 25 to go...hmmmmmm. I will say it is interesting how adjusting speed and resting the battery at lights can play with the range indicator, in your favor I might add, but having a 10 mile buffer in Joisey is not the most appealing.
So I decided to pull off 46 and hit smaller roads, that did increase my range. Now I'm getting close to home, about 12 miles to go, range says 21 and I'm starting to crave heat as it was 58 degrees outside plus I was heading to a section of road that eats EV battery capacity for lunch. No EV soldier hold off until you are close enough to coast home, I thought to myself. Well, when I got to with in 10 miles I put the heat on, settings were 1 for fan and heat...by the way, very toasting. I think the heat index of setting 1 is pretty good, seems stronger than a gas car. Of course in the blink of an eye my range went from 19 to 16 but it then held for the next 8 miles and I actually pulled into my driveway with around 17 mile left and 17% at 99.3 miles total, there is long slow section followed by a good downhill before my house that usually gets me 3 to 4 miles back.
In conclusion, I probably would have made it without the boost on the 110, but it would have been close, I have not gone past 0% as others have so I do not know if I could have gone farther. Granted I really don't want to be down to crumbs becasue if I run out of juice on the roads where I live I could be there a very very long time before I'm found. ;) In the heart of winter I expect range to really drop as I will be forced to keep the heat going all the time and I will be taking this business trip again.....stay tuned.
PS - I'm still on the 110, so over half a day later I'm just at 70%, 110 does take awhile to get back to 100% when near 0%. Added, just got my electric bill with an actual read, wow, as in high. I think the 110 is not efficient as it is a long continuous 12 amps. I'll have details on this later after I speak with the utility.
The day before my trip I could feel the anxiety setting in, I need a plan. I'd stay off the main highways, stick to 46 and stay off of 80 to extend range and while at my series of meetings I'd plug in the car where I could, to get a little extra boost.
On my first leg of the trip, about 48 miles I was doing pretty well, the computer said I had 70 left to go. I was feeling pretty confident at that point and one of the buildings where my meetings where held was kind enough to let me plug in for about an hr and I got a 4% boost. This was 4% after the 3 to 4 times I plugged in as the buildings I was meeting in were separated so I had to drive back and forth between them interrupting my charging - I left the cable at the one building and plugged in there when I could.
So now I am reading to head back home, the distance meter on the MINI E said 77 miles....of course I had to give one "thank you" ride to the building maintenance guy who let me plug in...that ride took the 4% he gave me ;)
On my way back I figured I'd jump on the highway to see how it goes, after 3 miles I could see I was going to eat up a lot of juice and I wanted have plenty left for heat and lights and anything else that comes my way...being in NJ a lot of things can come your way unpredictably on the roads.
I jumped off 80 and got onto 46, range ticked up a bit and I was moving along. Thanks to phantom NJ road signs I ended up on some other branch of 46, that cost me 10 miles and 15 mins before I got back on track. Now it was getting dark, I switched on the lights, range said 34 miles and I had about 25 to go...hmmmmmm. I will say it is interesting how adjusting speed and resting the battery at lights can play with the range indicator, in your favor I might add, but having a 10 mile buffer in Joisey is not the most appealing.
So I decided to pull off 46 and hit smaller roads, that did increase my range. Now I'm getting close to home, about 12 miles to go, range says 21 and I'm starting to crave heat as it was 58 degrees outside plus I was heading to a section of road that eats EV battery capacity for lunch. No EV soldier hold off until you are close enough to coast home, I thought to myself. Well, when I got to with in 10 miles I put the heat on, settings were 1 for fan and heat...by the way, very toasting. I think the heat index of setting 1 is pretty good, seems stronger than a gas car. Of course in the blink of an eye my range went from 19 to 16 but it then held for the next 8 miles and I actually pulled into my driveway with around 17 mile left and 17% at 99.3 miles total, there is long slow section followed by a good downhill before my house that usually gets me 3 to 4 miles back.
In conclusion, I probably would have made it without the boost on the 110, but it would have been close, I have not gone past 0% as others have so I do not know if I could have gone farther. Granted I really don't want to be down to crumbs becasue if I run out of juice on the roads where I live I could be there a very very long time before I'm found. ;) In the heart of winter I expect range to really drop as I will be forced to keep the heat going all the time and I will be taking this business trip again.....stay tuned.
PS - I'm still on the 110, so over half a day later I'm just at 70%, 110 does take awhile to get back to 100% when near 0%. Added, just got my electric bill with an actual read, wow, as in high. I think the 110 is not efficient as it is a long continuous 12 amps. I'll have details on this later after I speak with the utility.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Heating Things Up
Today is the first day I used the heater in #402. It was a nice 55 degrees outside, rainy and foggy, perfect EV weather...not. I've been reluctant to try the heater as I've heard it would suck the life juice out of the pack at record speed, after all it is an electric heater and we all know how much energy they can use.
After a few miles of driving I was getting cold enough to cave and turn that puppy on. I set the dial to max heat and put the fan on about half speed. First thing I noticed was cold air, different from a gas engine that has been running awhile which produces instant heat. Not in the MINI E, it was cold for about 30 secs and after the heating coils heated up it blew warm. Once going it works really well in fact, the cabin warmed up fast and all was nice and toasty, things were good...mostly. I looked down at my range indicator and right before my eyes I lost 3 miles and this was while I was regenning down a hill. Wow!! That heater takes some power...I dialed back the fan speed to 1 and reduced the heat temp by half, that helped but I was still using more power then I was accustomed to, I would say more then even the AC. Of course I had driving lights and wipers on but still.
I eventually turned off the heater all together, gained some distance back but overall my range dropped by nearly 20% just in my 20 mile drive and I only used the heater for 10 minutes of my 40 min run. This is a lot of drain and we have not even touched on the freezing days where I will need to keep the heater on.
Have any pioneers driven with the heater on for extended periods of time and what have you observed?
After a few miles of driving I was getting cold enough to cave and turn that puppy on. I set the dial to max heat and put the fan on about half speed. First thing I noticed was cold air, different from a gas engine that has been running awhile which produces instant heat. Not in the MINI E, it was cold for about 30 secs and after the heating coils heated up it blew warm. Once going it works really well in fact, the cabin warmed up fast and all was nice and toasty, things were good...mostly. I looked down at my range indicator and right before my eyes I lost 3 miles and this was while I was regenning down a hill. Wow!! That heater takes some power...I dialed back the fan speed to 1 and reduced the heat temp by half, that helped but I was still using more power then I was accustomed to, I would say more then even the AC. Of course I had driving lights and wipers on but still.
I eventually turned off the heater all together, gained some distance back but overall my range dropped by nearly 20% just in my 20 mile drive and I only used the heater for 10 minutes of my 40 min run. This is a lot of drain and we have not even touched on the freezing days where I will need to keep the heater on.
Have any pioneers driven with the heater on for extended periods of time and what have you observed?
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Getting Cooler
Well I was off about thinking the MINI E won't let the batteries drop below 70 degrees when plugged in, charging or not. This morning they were 63 and on my drive to work did not get above 67. It did not cause any problems, in fact, I got the best range ever on my way into work today - 19 miles with 106 left.
I've also notice the car is charging faster on the 110 in the cool weather, I'm sure because the battery fan is not going as strongly.
So far cool is good...freezing is still a ways off, I hope.
I've also notice the car is charging faster on the 110 in the cool weather, I'm sure because the battery fan is not going as strongly.
So far cool is good...freezing is still a ways off, I hope.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Now This Is What I'm Talkin' About - Range And No Ticket
I attended the Opportunity Green event in NYC today, met a few MINI E 'Pioneers' and some MINI USA peeps. All in all a cool event and was fun to park #402 on the street and have people come by to talk to us about the car. I was impressed with how many people knew it was a MINI E.
(safe and sound - parking permit)Opportunity Green arranged with the city to allow some of us to park on Broadway...well I showed up early and parked as directed. I was taking a walk to the other end of the block, could not have been more then 3 mins, when I turned around to see an officer giving me a ticket. I ran over to plead my case expecting him to ignore me...instead he paused to listen and the host of the event also ran out saying she would be right back with the parking permits. The officer was a nice guy and did not push back, he stayed a little while and let me talk about the car...whew!
(Taken as soon as I got home)What I'm most excited about is the range I got today. For some time I've done short 40 mile runs and the computer told me I could do over 100 but I never pushed it. Today I pushed a little harder. I did 72.8 miles from a 99% charge and I had 36 miles left! 50% of my drive was highway and I'm talking Route 280 and the Turnpike in NJ (60-65mph)...not inviting for any car. I tried the A/C a bit once in the city and was using head lights all the way on my return trip, plus I had a passenger both ways.
I was really pleased. Go Go MINI E
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