https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/17/mini-cooper-se-ev-pre-orders-open-us/
A minuscule range of only 110 miles is kind of ridiculous considering the range of most mass-market EV's now are in the upper hundreds to mid-200s. For example the Chevrolet Bolt's range is 240 miles.
I read somewhere recently that MINI was going to introduce an electric model that was much smaller than the current not-mini-at-all range - something that is drastically needed in my opinion. This is obviously not that model.
Edit: Found the article https://www.autoblog.com/amp/2019/09/27/mini-hardtop-next-generation-electric-smaller/
My order was in by my dealer as soon as it could be done. Why is everyone complaining about the range? Do they want a heavier car? Very adequate range for most commuting needs my commute is about as bad as it gets and it'll do fine. Not that more range would be bad but with current battery tech, it comes at a weight/space cost.
I hope by smaller they mean first-gen BINI size not classic mini size.
ROCKETMAN!
https://jalopnik.com/the-wonderful-mini-rocketman-concept-will-actually-beco-1836243520
Even though my order was in early I was still behind a number of people I got a call in the order I was to pick a car only 6 were left in the first shipment to choose from picked a silver-white with black roof signature plus. We should have it around March. The dealer said the number of reservations they have after this shipment will take at least the rest of the year to fill.
I was concerned about getting home with the range it has looked up charging stations on the way at least three times as many as gas stations so no problem.
Congrats on the new ride! 77.gif
So, it won't be perilous, just slow getting home? ;D
Quote from: MiniDave on December 29, 2019, 09:43:13 PM
Congrats on the new ride! 77.gif
So, it won't be perilous, just slow getting home? ;D
Thanks Dave
Most the chargers are dc fast so it won't be too bad stop for lunch in mill city or Detroit and then on to Sisters or Bend to take on some charge then home to La pine. In a perfect world, one stop would do it but it'll probably be cold heat on and less range we will see. Lots of regen coming down into sisters not sure how much that does I'll be learning a lot soon.
got a call last week the car was in. At first I was going to pass due to business slowdown because of the corona.
But the interest rate they offered along with other incentives and the fact that I still really want the car...I did it.
All I can say is its an amazing car the handling is superb. power is good lots o torque I love it. It's just a damn nice car all around.
very cool! I'd like one but the range they have is a limiting factor for myself.
The thing that I really like about how MINI went about making an electric model it that they adapted the running gear to the existing chassis, and they build the gas and electric model on the same assembly line. I never liked the unique designs manufacturers have come up with hybrid or electric cars.
Tell us about the trip home?
Congrats on the electric MINI purchase. A local Mini club friend's son works at MOK and drove the electric MINI couple weeks ago. He was impressed with it, but I didn't get a response when asking if he's trading his JCW Clubman for it.
Garry
Quote from: MiniDave on March 29, 2020, 08:54:48 AM
Tell us about the trip home?
To limit my exposure to a potentially deadly virus and not knowing if the fast charger was active at the now-closed restaurant I planned on charging at. I took a trailer my own lunch, gloves, sanitizer. And just hauled the car home.
The range seems more than advertised so far I'll know a lot more by friday.
Awesome Get! I have a friend with an i3 = he commutes daily with it , plugs up at work ( not at home)
It's quality / Quiet / Efficient/ and works great. I'm sure this will be just the same.
That was probably the best move, look forward to hearing how the range works out, are you going to set up a charger at work?
Quote from: jedduh01 on March 30, 2020, 06:56:15 AM
Awesome Get! I have a friend with an i3 = he commutes daily with it , plugs up at work ( not at home)
It's quality / Quiet / Efficient/ and works great. I'm sure this will be just the same.
Charge at work, now that's a great idea. Company incentives to go green.
We are closing in on 70K miles on the i3 besides tires, a known weak point with this car and any BMW for that matter, it has been maintenance free.
How is the regenerative braking? Is it heavy like the i3? As in you lift off the accelerator and it is like hitting the brakes?
I have to go look up specs on the Mini, I likey!!
Dave, I ordered a level 2 charger on amazon for the shop.
Jim, Yes its heavy has a switch on the dash makes it less. It would be good on the ice I assume. But I like the full regen one-pedal driving.
Most of the time I never touch the brakes. You have to gently lift off the accel. Some people dont like it but it only took me a few minutes to get used to it.
Downloaded the mini connected app on my phone I got 5 stars for anticipation thats the regen. Everything else was 0 LOL I drive it F the eco+ modes.
I have to wonder if you have an i3 drive train. I cannot adjust my regenerative braking, it does have TC and is supposed to detect slipping on decel and step in. I have no ice here.... ever...
Rain is the closest we have and it is rock solid in torrential downpours.
When my wife drives ours it gets fantastic range and good efficiency ratings. When I drive it... LOL!! If the family is in the car I typically get yelled at for launching off from Red lights.
Yes, use the regen heavy, I get mad if I misjudged and had to use my brakes. I expect our brakes will last well over 100 K miles as we never use them at all.
The stage 2 charger is a game changer, you can charge up in a couple of hours. Smart move getting one, the trickle takes several hours.
Charger should be here Thursday The level one is barley keeping up I have to take it with me and charge all day then bring it home and charge all night.
I haven't been able to get it to 100% since I got it.
Loosing about 5% per day that the level 1 can't make up for in a night+day got home at 20% today.
If the charger comes Thursday I'll be good to go if not I'll leave it at the shop Thursday night and take the truck home so it can catch up. It won't make it all week on level one not enough hours per day to make up for use.
Its about 20 hours on level one max setting to charge from 30% to full level 2 is 4-5 hours on max. If you stop at a dc fast station its like 30 minutes.
I think it shares a lot with the i3 at least thats everything I have read.
I thought you only had like a 30 mile commute each way?
Jeff, I did a quick search, you have the i3s motor which has about 10 more HP and TQ than my i3.
You have the same curb weight as well. That means you probably have the same 0-40 MPH time, which is a hoot in my i3.
And yes, the Level 2 charge will change everything. We have one on the wall in the garage at home, I know it says 4 hours to full, but you have to be at 10% or lower to need that much time.
Typically we plug in at 30% and it takes about 2.5 hours to top off IIRC. One we got the Level 2 Charger we never gave charging time much thought.
With the Range Extender (REX) in ours and my Euro Hack we can switch on the genny and keep the battery over 50%, wife has to do that 2X a week due to the amount of driving exceeding the 85 mile range we have, so we use about 2 gallons of gas a week.
Right ow with the kid home from school and every shut down, I think we last charged it on Thursday last week.
Enjoy!! I imagine it handles 100X better than the i3 it looks 1000X better that is for sure. The i3 is Fugly.
Quote from: MiniDave on March 31, 2020, 10:48:05 PM
I thought you only had like a 30 mile commute each way?
I do 30 miles one way and some running around in the day was putting me at about 80 miles a day.
The problem is level 1 can only charge at about 3 miles per hour. so I'd need over 20 hours of charge per day to stay even and I was not able to plug in more than maybe 20 hours per day.
The level 2 did change everything got it at noon yesterday and plugged the car in it was at 28% and by 4:00 it was full.
I drove home had 70% left did not plug in and set the car to pre condition the inside at 6:00 am using the battery. went out to a nice warm car it had only used 2% of the battery to precondition and it was cold out 17 this morning.
Drove in with about 30% remaining and plugged into level 2 and was 100% by 2:30.
It's going to do exactly what I wanted out of it.
I can also get a 7.4kw level 2 and really get with it the one I just got is a 3.2kw system.
I did not realize that I could get 7.4kw at the time or I would have I'm learning as I go.
But The 3.2 does what I need I will eventually get a 7.4 as well.
0-40 or 60 or 90 mph is a hoot for sure.
I was wondering why your Level 2 charger was so slow. I assumed it was due to increased battery range, you have more batteries than I do.
I just looked it up, I have a 7.4 kw charger.
I'll be curious to see what a 7.4 can do. The 3.2 is good for now 4 times faster than level 1.
I figure it can't hurt having a couple of chargers around so I don't regret buying the 3.2 I may install it as a home charger and put a 7.4 at the shop.
The level one can stay in the car for emergency use.
670 miles since last Saturday.
So Jeff, coming up on a year now since you got your Electric MINI, what do you think so far? Is it a keeper?
How did the A/C do in the summer time? Does cold weather really kill the range? Ddi you get the high powered charger installed?
Did you take any trips with it this summer?
It's a keeper,
No real issues so far minor stuff like the charge door not opening after driving in freezing weather. And then it says it's open even when closed but that goes away if we get a day above freezing.
I won't hold that against the car as we have never owned any make of car or truck that could handle the extreme weather here without some issues. We experience 60 degree swings in 12 hours here.
The climate system is a heat pump system it works well a/c will freeze you out and doesn't seem to change the range much at all. Same with the heater to about 20 degrees I'm assuming some sort of resistive element takes over when too cold for the heat pump as the range seems to change a lot when I turn on the heat at say 3 degrees.
Cold weather definitely affects the range and power available on really cold mornings -15 F or colder it only shows 70 miles range and I can only accelerate with 50-60% power. But what I have noticed is as the car warms up the range goes up I have left the house with 70 miles range and got to work 30 miles away showing 72 miles range so the longer drive warming up the battery and systems helps. If you only did short drives I think the range would suffer more as much as 60% loss. But on a road trip not so much maybe 20% max range loss due to cold.
Still using the 3.2 kW cable it's fine for my needs. No trips this year between covid and business just didn't have time or want to. But in the 10 months, I have had it I have done 15k miles so far. It's a great car I have more to say about it when I get a chance. I have been thinking about posting an update thanks for asking I will continue with more technical stuff later.
Having no maintenance to do on an electric car sure sounds appealing.
Have you computed the running costs for charging it?
Looking forward to reading all about it.....I didn't think I would come around to electric cars so quickly, but I sure could see the use of one for a daily, around town car for us.
Unfortunately she's still convinced we're going to take long trips in our cars.....with pretty much any Tesla and maybe a Bolt we could make it to Dan's shop or her brother's place in the Ozarks on one charge. Both are about 185 miles away.
I was thinking that the longest trip I regularly take is about 65 miles, round trip. Trips longer than that are more of a rarity for me and my wife. And I guess for longer trips as an electric car owner there are some strategies.
- Plan ahead to recharge the electric car along the way. That prospect should get easier over time as more charging places come on line.
- Or, if you have a second car (gasoline powered), just take that car instead for the longer trip.
- Or, leave the electric car at home and rent a car for the longer trip.
I guess it's just the ability to spontaneously take a longer trip that is the issue. But I'm not in college anymore so there are a lot less spontaneous road trips happening.
I like my Tesla. 71.gif
my tesla stock is the best investment I ever made.