( A MINI E fleet - 1 company car the rest personal) My company, Comverge, is in the energy management business so anything that plugs into the 'smart grid' we touch. The MINI E was a no brainer for us....and adding it to the list of 'show and tell' products at events was going to be fun.
The day after we got our cars we had an Eco-car event to attend on June 16. We already had our V2G (Vehicle to Grid) eBox concept on the way and having a MINI E join would be icing on the cake. I'll have more on V2G in later posts. By the way, the eBox was coming from Delaware and made it with just 1% left on the charge indicator, talk about close, whew!
(On the roof top - MINI E up front, the V2G is in the way back getting a charge)
(Good looking and very fast EV)This was a private event on the roof top of a large investment firm in Jersey City. There were quite a few cars to be seen, Mercedes had their new S400 Hybrid and some natural gas cars, Chevy was there (or what's left of them) with their fuel cell Equinox. Toyota was there as was Honda and Nissan showing off their hybrids. Smart was there and an all electric 3 wheeled delivery type car called ZAP. What was a nice surprise was to see Tesla there, so we were not the only all electric cars in attendance.
The MINI was an instant magnet - people just flocked to it - not because it was an electric MINI but because it was a MINI. When they found out it was all electric their eyes popped....the Mercedes guys were carefully examining the car as well as the eBox we had...sneaky.
This was also the day I experienced 'range anxiety'. For one the 110V cable provided with the MINI failed so I was unable to get some juice while at the event and I had 60 more miles to travel (about what was left in the batteries). I may have been one of the early calls to MINI E road side assistance, they asked if I wanted a tow but I said I'm going to go for it. So after the event we head out but hit bad traffic leaving Jersey City and most of it was up hill. I made a straight line to the dealer with about 15 miles to spare (still had 30 more for the day to do) for a quick charge and a new cable....they of course accommodated me.
All ended up well.
The MINI was an instant magnet - people just flocked to it - not because it was an electric MINI but because it was a MINI. When they found out it was all electric their eyes popped....the Mercedes guys were carefully examining the car as well as the eBox we had...sneaky.
This was also the day I experienced 'range anxiety'. For one the 110V cable provided with the MINI failed so I was unable to get some juice while at the event and I had 60 more miles to travel (about what was left in the batteries). I may have been one of the early calls to MINI E road side assistance, they asked if I wanted a tow but I said I'm going to go for it. So after the event we head out but hit bad traffic leaving Jersey City and most of it was up hill. I made a straight line to the dealer with about 15 miles to spare (still had 30 more for the day to do) for a quick charge and a new cable....they of course accommodated me.
All ended up well.
Hi I'm Robert from TwistyBlitz. I have just added you blog to my website. If interested go here... http://www.twistyblitz.com/
ReplyDeleteI am doing a 4 part MINI E post form my interviews with 3 west coast lessees at my blog and will be offering tshirts and badges at my online store this week.
Hope you will stop by, RB
The post is talking about in car DVD player and traffic entertainment. Useful post.
ReplyDeleteMazda GPS DVD player & Headrest DVD player