This afternoon we were parked on Hollywood Blvd about a block down from the Pantages Theater. We had just seen Dirty Dancing and were checking out a small car show that was set up on a side street. I've become so use to folks not recognizing the car, I was pretty shocked when a large family approached us asking about the MINI E. We had short chat about the car and I showed them a few things. They were very happy to see the car in person.
Unfortunately, on the way home, the same warning light we've been seeing the past three days made it's appearance again. At first I thought it was related to stop and go traffic but this time it came on during highway driving. Each time it would stay on for 2 to 3 minutes with the loss of Regen during this time. Battery temp was 91, outside temp was 71. We stopped to eat for about an hour on our way back to Long Beach and upon starting up, the light appeared yet again but this time went out within 30 seconds or so. We jumped back on the 5. Once we hit the 605, traffic was flowing at 80+. I decided to keep it at 80 and flow with traffic. After about 10 minutes of this, the battery temp was close to 100 and finally hit 100 as we got off the freeway. The warning light did not come back on during this little test.
Tomorrow morning the vehicle goes in for service. Hopefully MINI E #140 won't be gone to long. Other than this little snafu, it's been a great week of driving.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
MINI E #140 Good News & Bad News
Today brought some good news and bad news. Good news first. Paul from Sunpower Electric came by this morning and made a fix to our timer. When the timer was turning on and triggering the Clipper Creek box to charge the car, it wasn't working...just a green blinking light on the charger. Now, all is working great!
26 kwhs worth of electricity for 80 miles of driving seems very consistent. This has been the number for the past three days.
Now the bad news. On the way to Burbank today, the warning light noted in yesterday's post came on again. It came on at almost the exact same part of my commute (approx 30 miles in) under very similar conditions...stop and go traffic, 72 degrees outside and a battery temp of only 87 degrees. Today it stayed on for approximately 5 minutes. When the light is on and you lift your foot off the gas, you just coast at full speed. It came on a second time during my journey but only for a few seconds. On my way home yesterday there was no traffic and no warning lights. As I write this I'm still in Burbank, keeping my fingers crossed for the drive home tonight. It's a little scary when the Regen goes out when you're coming to a stop in stop and go traffic. After a while you get so use to it, when it goes out, it's quite startling. Long Beach MINI checked with Nadine at MINI E headquarters (if theres is such a place) and the car needs to be looked at by the techs. Car will be going in for service on Monday at 6:30 a.m.
We love driving the MINI E and hope that this issue can be resolved quickly so we can get back on the road.
We'll be at 450 miles when I return home this evening. For those still waiting for your car, it's worth the wait...hang in there!
26 kwhs worth of electricity for 80 miles of driving seems very consistent. This has been the number for the past three days.
Now the bad news. On the way to Burbank today, the warning light noted in yesterday's post came on again. It came on at almost the exact same part of my commute (approx 30 miles in) under very similar conditions...stop and go traffic, 72 degrees outside and a battery temp of only 87 degrees. Today it stayed on for approximately 5 minutes. When the light is on and you lift your foot off the gas, you just coast at full speed. It came on a second time during my journey but only for a few seconds. On my way home yesterday there was no traffic and no warning lights. As I write this I'm still in Burbank, keeping my fingers crossed for the drive home tonight. It's a little scary when the Regen goes out when you're coming to a stop in stop and go traffic. After a while you get so use to it, when it goes out, it's quite startling. Long Beach MINI checked with Nadine at MINI E headquarters (if theres is such a place) and the car needs to be looked at by the techs. Car will be going in for service on Monday at 6:30 a.m.
We love driving the MINI E and hope that this issue can be resolved quickly so we can get back on the road.
We'll be at 450 miles when I return home this evening. For those still waiting for your car, it's worth the wait...hang in there!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
First problem with MINI E :(
Today I had my first warning light come on. It happened three times during my 40 mile drive to work in stop and go traffic. For those with the car, it's the symbol on page 101 of the manual, second one up from the bottom. Here's the description of what the warning light means:
"Energy Recovery limited due to hot high voltage battery"
"Be ready to brake at all times as the vehicle is not decelerated as is usual during energy recovery"
You lose the Regen function when light is on.
Outside temp was 74, left a cool garage before starting my drive. Battery temp was 91 when light came on.
I've been told that running the AC will help cool the battery as the cool air will go into the vents behind the front seats. Will try that and see what happens.
I'm now at 340 miles and loving the car! Still no one has noticed that the MINI E is anything special.
"Energy Recovery limited due to hot high voltage battery"
"Be ready to brake at all times as the vehicle is not decelerated as is usual during energy recovery"
You lose the Regen function when light is on.
Outside temp was 74, left a cool garage before starting my drive. Battery temp was 91 when light came on.
I've been told that running the AC will help cool the battery as the cool air will go into the vents behind the front seats. Will try that and see what happens.
I'm now at 340 miles and loving the car! Still no one has noticed that the MINI E is anything special.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
MINI E second trip to Burbank a success!
Our MINI E had it's first guest driver today, a former pilot. He loved it. The torque steer reminded him of some planes he's flown. He couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was to drive.
I quickly recharged and then was off to Burbank via Universal City. Today's journey consisted of light traffic both ways with my return journey at night using the headlights. The xenon lights provide great visability and didn't seem to drop the battery power to much. I kept my speed to around 60 mph on the return trip. As I pulled in to the garage, I had 26 miles remaining. Car is a blast to drive! Can't wait for tomorrow.
Miles driven today: 81
kwhs used: 26
I quickly recharged and then was off to Burbank via Universal City. Today's journey consisted of light traffic both ways with my return journey at night using the headlights. The xenon lights provide great visability and didn't seem to drop the battery power to much. I kept my speed to around 60 mph on the return trip. As I pulled in to the garage, I had 26 miles remaining. Car is a blast to drive! Can't wait for tomorrow.
Miles driven today: 81
kwhs used: 26
Monday, June 1, 2009
MINI E to Burbank and back
Today was our MINI E's first long road trip. First a little charging info. When our TOU (Time of Use) meter was installed this morning, I immediately charged the car to 100%. Our Clipper Creek box is the 32 amp version. There's even a note on the orange charging cable to remind you to set the car to 32 amp. The manual shows this version will take approx 4 1/2 hours for a full charge. The car was at approx 55% charge with 47 miles remaining. It took 2 1/2 hours exactly to charge the car. The indicator than showed I was good to go for 90 miles and 100% charge. If I'm reading my TOU digital readout correctly I used 15 kwhs worth of juice during this 2 1/2 hours. I haven't seen my bill yet to see if there will be taxes or not but based on my rate of .17 kwh it cost $2.55 to drive the car the 49 miles on the odometer. Granted most of these miles were hot rodding around town and I have no idea how the first 17 miles were driven before we got the car. I will do another calculation tomorrow based on today's drive which should be a more accurate representation of the cost to drive to work today and back.
Now on to my journey to Burbank. Since this was my first trip, I left everything off on my journey except the fan on the lowest setting. I quickly noticed that the 90 mile range indicator goes up and down as you drive. When you're on the highway it goes down quickly if there is no traffic. In stop and go it tends to climb back up or stay constant as the miles drive by. As luck would have it there was hardly any traffic today and I did my best to keep the speed to 70mph max however it creeps up quickly if you don't pay attention. Very happy with the driving experience. I did my best to use the brakes as little as possible. When I arrived at work, the indicator showed 57 miles remaining even though the actual miles driven was 39 miles. (90 minus 39 ='s 51)
On the way back home there was stop and go for the first 5 or so miles and then no traffic again. As I neared the bottom of the 710 freeway I had 21 miles remaining as I exited the freeway. I then had surface streets the remaining 4 or so miles home. By the time I pulled into the garage the indicator had climbed back up to 29 miles remaining. Slower speeds along with stop and go combined with mastering the regen braking appear to be keys to maximizing your mileage. Headlights were not used in either direction today. Total miles driven today: 78
Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be interesting. I'll most likely have light traffic driving to work and no traffic at all coming home. As an added bonus, I'll be stopping by the gym on the way to work which is a few miles out of the way and then when I do head home late in the evening, I'll be using the headlights all the way home. Will I make it...stay tuned! :)
P.S. An update...the drive to Burbank and back yesterday (78 miles) used 26 kwhs of power to rechage back to 100%.
Now on to my journey to Burbank. Since this was my first trip, I left everything off on my journey except the fan on the lowest setting. I quickly noticed that the 90 mile range indicator goes up and down as you drive. When you're on the highway it goes down quickly if there is no traffic. In stop and go it tends to climb back up or stay constant as the miles drive by. As luck would have it there was hardly any traffic today and I did my best to keep the speed to 70mph max however it creeps up quickly if you don't pay attention. Very happy with the driving experience. I did my best to use the brakes as little as possible. When I arrived at work, the indicator showed 57 miles remaining even though the actual miles driven was 39 miles. (90 minus 39 ='s 51)
On the way back home there was stop and go for the first 5 or so miles and then no traffic again. As I neared the bottom of the 710 freeway I had 21 miles remaining as I exited the freeway. I then had surface streets the remaining 4 or so miles home. By the time I pulled into the garage the indicator had climbed back up to 29 miles remaining. Slower speeds along with stop and go combined with mastering the regen braking appear to be keys to maximizing your mileage. Headlights were not used in either direction today. Total miles driven today: 78
Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be interesting. I'll most likely have light traffic driving to work and no traffic at all coming home. As an added bonus, I'll be stopping by the gym on the way to work which is a few miles out of the way and then when I do head home late in the evening, I'll be using the headlights all the way home. Will I make it...stay tuned! :)
P.S. An update...the drive to Burbank and back yesterday (78 miles) used 26 kwhs of power to rechage back to 100%.
TOU Meter just installed :)
Time of Use Meter was just installed from Edison moments ago. As the pictures show, the meter sticks out more than the original meter but not much. Car is now charging. Plan on driving to Burbank and back today. 82 miles round trip. Will report back later tonight.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Day 2 with the MINI E
We're now at 47 miles on the car and a little over 50% battery power left. Of course this includes a lot of hot rod starts and zipping on and off the freeway. Love it, Love it, Love it. The braking takes some getting use to but I'm getting better. Unless someone stops suddenly in front of you you very rarely need to touch the actual brake pedal. Most of our 30 miles since yesterday have been around the Belmont Shore area where there are lots of people walking around. So far zero folks have noticed that the car is anything special. There are tons of MINI Coopers in our neighborhood and without the stickers on the side, it just looks like a regular MINI. We've ordered the stickers and it will be interesting to see if anything changes once they're applied.
Some folks have asked if the car cover in the post below comes with the MINI E and unfortunately not. It might be available for sale however.
Looking forward to hearing from other folks as the cars appear to be rolling out on a daily basis.
More to come!
Some folks have asked if the car cover in the post below comes with the MINI E and unfortunately not. It might be available for sale however.
Looking forward to hearing from other folks as the cars appear to be rolling out on a daily basis.
More to come!
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