New TOU-EV-1 Rates start Oct 1st

Was super happy to hear that the new rates start tomorrow and if you charge off peak and live in the Southern California Edison area, you'll be saving money. The meter rental fee of .18 a day is also being dropped. Might not sound like much but that's $5.40 a month. The on peak rates are going up. All the more reason to chage off peak. Thank You Edison!

ALT Car Expo Fri/Sat 10/2, 10/3 in Santa Monica, CA

I'll be attending on Saturday October 3rd. Check out the Facebook MINI E group for more info:

Facebook MINI E Site

Also see:

Alt Car Expo

MINI E presentation to CARB 9/21 & 9/22

Thanks to Steve in the Facebook MINI E group for posting the link to this:

MINI E Presentation to CARB on 9/21 & 9/22

MINI E get together on Autoblog Green website :)

I've always loved the websites Autoblog and AutoblogGreen. Yesterday, after our meet up in Long Beach, I sent in some photos. Was happy to see this pop up a few minutes ago on their website:

MINI E AutoblogGreen Article

West Coast MINI E get together earlier today :)

Wow, it was a sea of MINI E cars earlier today at Cisco Burger in Long Beach, CA. I've never seen so many MINI E's in one place. Heck, I hardly see any on the road even though I'm driving 80+ miles a day at various hours. Today was the first get together of MINI E drivers here on the West Coast that I'm aware of. Most folks at the event found out about it via the MINI E group on Facebook. It's an active group and if you're a MINI E driver or just someone interested in the car, join it. You'll find more photos on Facebook. I took these four with the Palm Pre. I have to say that the Pre takes better photos than my regular digital camera. :)

Got noticed, Edison picked up the Data Recorder, Frankfurt......

Yesterday, while out for dinner, we were noticed due to the KNOW GAS license plate. It's amazing that still hardly anyone notices the MINI E and that it's 100% Electric. I hear the decals for the side of the car, the plug and the word "MINI" will be arriving soon. Will be interesting to see if this increases awareness.

This past Tuesday, Edison was by to pick up the Data Recorder they installed a month ago to track our draw, charge times, etc. They'll be providing me with a graph charting everything in the next few weeks. While I've been keeping track of miles driven and kwhs used every day, it'll be interesting to see the other info.

Currently at 6200 miles and now that the early kinks have been worked out, this should climb pretty steadily. I charge every day at work via the 110 cable for approx 6 to 8 hours depending on the day. This has cut my overnight home kwh usage to an average of 23 from 28 to 29 when I wasn't charging at work.

It's exciting to see the numerous EV announcements this week at the Frankfurt auto show. I'm thrilled to be part of this shift towards EVs and look forward to what the future holds.

Went to Coffee & Cars this morning in #140

I'd been hearing about Coffee & Cars in Irvine for some time now and finally was able to check it out this morning. It happens most every Saturday at 1 Premier Place, nearest major intersection is Alton and Irvine Center Dr in Irvine, CA. Lots of free parking and you can buy coffee, muffins, etc on site. I arrived at 7am and everything was in full swing. By about 8am cars start rolling out so get there early. Was happy to see MINI E #67 in the exhibit area. We had a nice visit. He only has 1000 miles on his car. Here is a link to some pictures from this morning:

Coffee & Cars 09/05/09

This would be a fun place for other MINI E folks to gather as the spectator parking lot is gigantic and free.

Used up a lot of battery power getting there today on the 405. No traffic either way and seeing all those sports cars inspired me to drive faster coming home. :)

Now have 5500 miles on #140 and going strong!