My wife and I enjoyed the Mini E event aka Meet & Greet last night at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Here are some things we learned about the car:
I'm 6' 1" and was quite comfortable sitting in it.
You can plug in your GPS, Cellphone, etc. One at a time.
It does have a mini plug to plug in an ipod, mp3 player.
The delay with the car appears to be related to getting UL (Underwriters Laboratories) approval on the charging cable. There doesn't appear to be a problem, it's just taking longer than Mini thought to get the approval.
On the turn signal arm there is a button at the end which allows you to cycle through the various charging options. If one wants to plug in to a regular wall socket (rather than use the Clipper Creek charger) all you do is use the extra cable they'll provide and choose that option by clicking the button. No dealer programming is required. I asked Dr. Anton Lesnicar, Chief Engineer of the Mini E what he thought about using this option every day when I'm at work. He thought this was a great idea and suggested I do it every day if I like.
I asked Josh from AC Propulsion, do the brake lights come on when the regenerative braking kicks in or only when I hit the brake pedal?
His answer:
"Yes, the lights are wired into the controller which measures the deceleration. When the deceleration exceeds a threshold, the lights come on. That means if you're slowing down lightly as if using engine braking, the lights do not come on. Only if the deceleration is similar to actually using the friction brakes do the lights come on. And naturally if you touch the brakes, the lights come on. "
It was wonderful having access to folks with the answers.
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