Oh E-MINI ! English Version

Next Step: the BMW i3

2015-05-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

45 month after returning MINI E #14 the BMW i3 is my ride for the next 6 month. Switching from the 3-cylinder 218i two the 2-cylinder i3 REX.

I'm very excited to have an electric car again and try to give some feedback during the next 6 month while using the car.

Updates will be posted on http://my-i3.blogspot.de/

Deinstallation of the wallbox

2011-08-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version

As a last procedure of the Drive eCharged project the wallbox in my garage was removed. The wallbox was a contribution of Siemens, the installation of the box and the electric cable needed to feed the box was a free service of the project (German version only: http://oh-e-mini.blogspot.com/2010/09/installation-der-wallbox-erfolgt.html)

The installed cable remains and was not removed. It is a 3 core cable with a core cross section of 4mm². This is sufficient for a single phase 32amp/230V power supply. So the electric infrastructure in the garage remains prepared for an electric car!

Nevertheless, a 5 core cable would have been nice. In this case a standard CEE power connector (3P+N+E) with a three phase 32 amp/400V could have been installed. Or maybe in future a next generation power wallbox subject to the condition that an electric car could handle it.

The end of cable is fixed in a small distribution box and the according switch in the house main distribution board is secured to unintentional activation.

The cable now ends in a closed box. The power switch is secured to unintentional activation.

The display of the electric meter indicates 882,6 kWh. Less 10,2 kWh initial display status, the power consumption at home for the MINI E was 872,4 kWh.
However I did a lot of charging at public charging stations, so this is just a part of MINI E #014's whole power consumption during the nine month.

Closing event

2011-07-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version
At the day I gave back #014 there was a closing event at the Stadtwerke München, the public utilities being part of the test project.

Some MINI E rowed up at the closing event

At the event the results of the MINI E Drive eCharged program were presented. The original (sorry, only german) presentation can be found at:
Abschlusspraesentation

Of course limited and unsteady range especially in winter and the handling of the bulky charging cord was criticized, but all in all the drivers were very pleased with the car and the MINI E was a joy to drive. It fulfilled the demands both for the private users and for the fleet car users.

An ActiveE was also showcased at the event. Due it was one of the prototype cars with some additional emergency shut off switches and lacking interiour carpeting etc. we were not allowed to take a seat. Not a problem for me, I already have driven a 1series coupe for a couple of month and I know, that it is a great car.

Nevertheless we had a chance to examine the trunk. There are some additional bulges and covers housing the power electronics that require a significant part of the original trunk. I hope the space left is suitable to store some typical crates of beer to preserve the seats with their fine leather in Pearl Grey Dakota.

Needless to say that I and the other MINI E users had much interest in the car. But there was no information, if these cars will be available in Munich.

The first 700 cars will head to the US, another 160 support the olympic games in London and the first cars staying in Germany are planned to go to Berlin.

Maybe in mid 2012 or later there might be a chance for a test fleet of ActiveEs in Munich. But this all depends on the avaibility of the cars and the funding of a new test project by the authorities.

The fate of the returned MINI Es is unknown, the BMW staff could not give us any information. I hope #014 and the other cars are used for a follow on campaign (maybe London?).

Maybe a number of MINI Es will go again on the streets to fill the gap until the arrival of the ActiveE. But there was no confirmed information about this. In case this should happen, the former MINI E drivers will be contacted...

Of course there was some disappointment among the MINI E drivers that with the end of the Drive eCharged program a remarkable fleet of electric cars disappears from Munichs streets.

Traffic lights show red for MINI E.

So the traffic lights show red for the MINI E. Except some corporate cars used by BMW there are neither private used electric MINIs nor the new ActiveEs on Munich's roads at present.

Car hand back

2011-06-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version
So, now is the end of june and there came the day when I have to give back #014 to BMW.

...one last photo.

The car return took place at the MINI service center. #014 was in good condition and there was no damage. So no problems occured.
The car had 11476km (7128mi) on it's odometer at the beginning and I gave it back with 19507km (12116mi).
So I had driven 8031km (4988mi) with the car within 9,5 month. This was quite a lot for my circumstances.

#014 had no failures, no breakdowns or unscheduled service and with it's moderate mileage it would be good for another test phase.
Unfortunately I did not get any info concerning the future use of the car.
I hope there is one and I was very sad about returning the car.

The service center employee told me that it was the same with the other cars that have been already returned.

For the present the adventure of electric mobility comes to an end. But I will follow the next steps of BMW closely and I still have some posts to write.

Some impressions from the intersolar 2011

2011-06-12T02:38:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version
I visited the intersolar 2011 exhibition which is one of the world's largest trading fairs dealing with all aspects of solar power use.

Here are some impressions I got in connection with electromobiles.

There were some electric cars (mostly Tesla Roadsters and Mitshubishi iMiEVs, but also a dutch registered chinese BYD e6) to demonstrate the use of a public charging stations in connection with sun generated electricity.

smart ed and Tazzari Zero as demonstration cars

Also solar car ports for private and public parking space were extensively demonstrated.

Peugeot ion and Mitsubishi iMiEV side by side

One of the countless Tesla Roadster supported by an iMiEV demonstrating electric charging

For the direct use of solar power in a car I found the solar roof from asola that was developed for the Fisker Karma as an exhibit. With a power of 120W it needs 25 hours of sunshine to replace an 1 hour charge at a domestic 230V/13A wall socket.

Solar roof of the Fisker Karma

Smaller versions that can be used as part of an electric sunroof to make it a real "electric sun"-roof have a max. power output of 40W.
Although I like the idea very much, the weight of the -I guess- 4mm glass roof with the solar cells will be much higher than a conventional roof of a 0,7mm steel or 1,2mm aluminium sheet. This weight increase may consume a lot of the additional energy generated. But for electric cars a solar roof is more an issue of design and political statement.
And for conventional cars using a photovoltaic sunroof with climate control it is a real gain in comfort at sunny days because the tiny 12V batteries are not capable to run the venting fan all the day.

Another interesting aspect was the storage of excessive solar generated electricity in private homes to use it later when the sun is not shining, during peak power demand or even at night. Especially at the present situation in Germany the private solar electricity producer gets more money per produced kWh by using the electricity on his own instead of feeding it to the grid. With a local energy storage at his home he can increase the use of own generated electricity.
So there were several manufacturers of photovoltaik systems that integrate a battery pack (with capacities from 5-13,2 kWh) in their systems for local energy storage (solarworld, conergy, E3/DC).

The system from conergy for example with a 8,8 kWh or 13,2 kWh battery uses the same (or very similar) Li-ion cells as the Daimler S-class hybrid. So the boost of the development that batteries get from the automotive industry already reach the private homes.

Local energy storage system with Li-ion batteries

The next step to fully integrate an electric car with an additional 20kWh+ energy storage to your home's energy management seems not to be far away. Imagine also a plug in-hybrid- or range-extender-vehicle to act as an emergency power supply just in case of need.

Another public charging station (Irschenberg)

2011-05-29T02:28:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version
Last weekend I made a trip to the area south of Munich. As I passed a gas station near the autobahn exit of Irschenberg, I noticed a sign advertising a charging station for electric cars. I turned round and drove to the gas station to make a test charge.
There was a charging station from the power suplier e.on similar to the one I used in Starnberg. But it was a newer version with the new standard power plugs that I need for 32A charging.

Charging station at a OMV gas station at Wendling/Irschenberg.

At the cash desk I got an identification card to get access to the charging station. I spent 20 Euros deposit for the card, but electricity was free.
After identification via the card the flaps unlocked, I plugged in and the car started to charge.

MINI E #014 charging.

I took a coffee at the shop to give the car a couple of minutes to get some energy. Suddenly I remembered that there was a sticker on the charging stations power plug that said: max. 16A. And I reminded that the charging selector of the MINI E was set to 32A!

So, as I returned to the car the charging had stopped. Even worse, as I tried to end the charging operation by using the identification card once again the charging station aborted the ending procedure.It looked like the system software crashed. No reaction. This really means trouble because the Mennekes plug on the one side of the car's charging cord was still mechanically locked to the charging station and so the charging cord could not be removed. I remembered a former incident at a different charging station where I had to leave the cord at the station.

Locked charging cord plug. The symbol above on the flap illustrates an IEC 62196-2 Type II plug.

Fortunately an employee and the owner of the gas station came by to have a look on the MINI E. I explained the situation (and the MINI E) and after some more failed attempts with the card the owner opened the station with his key.
The circuit breaker of the power plug I connected the car was turned off. After the circuit breaker was turned on again the system still didn't release the charging cord. So the charging station needed a complete shut down via the main switch to restart the system software. Finally the locking mechanism released the plug.
In the meantime I set the charging rate of the MINI to 13A to make another try. The system software still was so confused that it did not recognize the identification card properly. So we tried a different card from the shop and then all worked well.

The problem was that the charging station was converted to the new IEC 62196-2 Type II plugs, but an additional module to detect the power connectors pilot contact was not installed immediately and planned to be done later. IEC 62196-1 regulates that a plug without pilot contact is limited to 16A. So with the missing module to detect the pilot contact there was a gap of #014's demand on 32A and the allowed 16A. As a result the circuit breaker got in action and the system software could not handle this incident.
At the gas station manned 24h a day this is not a big problem, but at a charging station located anywhere an unreleaseable charging cord would cause serious trouble.

In summary it was an informative experience. I had a pleasant conversation with the owner of the gas station. A few electric cars already had used the station (once a Tesla Roadster spent an overnight charge). With the station located at a distance of 50km from Munich at an Autobahn exit it is an opportunity when going to the south by an EV.

MINI E meets Mae West

2011-05-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version
The MINI E is a prototype car which is BMW's first step of introducing electric cars to the market.
Based on the actual BMW MINI the MINI E has a conventional steel body frame. Due to the additional weight of the heavy batteries the car is quite heavy for it's size.

To compensate the batteries weight on future electric cars, weight reduction by using leightweight materials is inevitable.

The all electric BMW i3 features a new car body concept existing of an aluminium chassis containing the batteries and the drivetrain - the drive-module- and a CFRP (Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic) module which shapes the passengers cabin - the life module.

The use of CFRP in the automotive industrie is limited at present to high performance cars with very low production output due to high cost and the production process based on manual work.
For the i3 BMW develops new automated production processes for CFRP to reduce the cost and make the material available for mass production.

So the i3 will be the first automobile with high output mostly consisting of CFRP.

BMW i3 life module of CFRP

At architecture and building industrie CFRP is not a very common material.

In the northeast of Munich, at the Effner place, a new work of art claims to be the first major architectural structure made primarily of carbon fibre.
The "Mae West" of artist Rita McBride consists of 32 tubes forming a 52m tall hyperboloid with a diameter of 32m at the ground, 19,5m at the top and 7,50m at the narrowest situation.

At the base the construction is made of steel tubes due to some structural specifications. For an optical reason the steel tubes have a carbon fibre cover. But above the first ring at a height of 15,5m the tubes are completely made of CFRP. Every tube has a lenght of 42m and a weight of 550kg (compared to 3500kg if made of steel).
Here you can find some pictures of the production of these carbon fibre tubes.

So maybe this is the beginning of a wider use of CFRP at building industry.

Skyline of Munich's northeast with Westin Grand Hotel - Sheraton Arabellapark Hotel / Mae West / Hypo Vereinsbank-Building

All steel MINI E in front of Mae West with steel basement and CFRP superstructures

I admit that a BMW i3 and the Mae West would have been a better couple for the photos. Due to the lack of an i3 I took the MINI E ;)

Charging at TÜV Starnberg public station

2011-05-06T23:54:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version
Yesterday we made a short trip to Lake Starnberg near Munich. I found out, that at the TÜV-office (technical inspection agency) in Starnberg the power supplier e.on operates a public charging station.
I tried out my charging station identifaction card which we were told that this card is planned to be accepted by e.on-powered charging stations. But it failed.

I walked inside the TÜV-office and asked the friendly employee how to deal with the charging station. It seemed clear to be a very unusual request. After consulting his boss he gave me their own card for free.

Unfortunately the charging station was an older model with two 32A CEE plugs and two 13A common Schuko plugs. There were no 32A IEC 62196 Type-II plugs.
So I had to charge via the adapter at 230V/13A.

Charging via the adapter due to the lack of a new standard power plug

We had lunch at a near restaurant for about 1.5 hours. In the meantime #014 draw about 4.5kWh of sun generated energy provided by the solar roof panels installed at the top of the TÜV-building.

MINI E charging at TÜV Starnberg

In for service and first contact

2011-04-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version
Today in the morning I drove to the Munich MINI service center to get a scheduled change from winter tires to summer tires. As I handed the car over to the service personnel it became clear, that MINI E #014 needed not just new tires, but a complete service.
Since December 2010 #014 tried to tell me that service was needed. I always interpreted it as a test symbol during the starting procedure. So I was very embarrassed as I was told that the car needs service immediately. I leaved the MINI service center without #014 and got to work by public transportation (which was not a problem because I still have an annual ticket for the public transportation, work was just a few subway stations away and, anyway, it was too late in the morning to get a parking space at work without trouble).

In the afternoon I got a call that the service no problems emerged and #014 is ready to come back to duty. Thank you, MINI Munich, for the fast "unscheduled" service and the fully charged battery!

My first impression on the new tires was a smoother driving and less noise. Furthermore I was enjoying the new wiper blades in the upcoming rain.

The new Continental Conti Pro Contact SSR 195/55 R16 87V

On my way back home I had first contact to another species of EV. Of course I've seen many Toyota Prii, perhaps some Honda Insigths and once or twice another MINI E in the traffic. But I didn't meet any other battery electric vehicle (not even a Tesla Roadster) nor an electric vehicle with a range extender (like the announced A1 e-tron) on Munichs streets. But today I gave way to a Smart ED and followed for a few kilometers before we parted ways.

Smart ED - another species of EV on Munichs streets!

Power consumption in winter

2011-04-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version
As a MINI E driver you realize that spring has arrived in Germany not only on the birds chirping and the green again nature. There are also the range of the car and the stability of the indicated range that make you feel happy.
Indicated range at a full charge is about 160km again and with for example SoC going down to 50% the estimated range behaves more predictible than during winter.
In winter usually indicated range at full charge was below 120km and with a SoC of about 50% even short trips of 20km became an intense experience.

Normally I try to use a public charging station at my place of work. But this charging station does not show the amount of energy the car took. Additionally I did not log the odometer every time I used my private wallbox. But there are a few charging operations, where I have written down the distance travelled and the amount of energy.

The Homepage of the MINI E reports an average power consumption of 14 to 17 kWh/100km.

With temperatures below 0°C in the winter, a cold battery with decreased power, activated cabin heater (to generate at least a tepid breeze) and switched on headlights you double the official value without difficulty.

Mostly you achieve values between 26 and 32 kWh/100km.

The final value of 22,5 kWh/100km is probably due to the significant increased ambient temperatures.

I'm curious to see what values I can achieve at ideal ambient temperatures during the last three month of the project...

MINI E Munich - Drive eCharged

2011-03-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version

The test fleet of 40 MINI E in Munich is part of a government research project.
Funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport there are several test regions concerning electromobility. The experience made provide basic information for future strategy decisions.

Each test region has several individual projects. Depending on the focus of each project, the partners are manufacturers of all kinds of electric vehicles, electric power suppliers, universities, research institutions, public utilities, local transportation companies and companies from the electric industry.

Currently the Munich test region is the location of four projects. One of them is called "Drive eCharged" with the following partners:

Federal Ministry of Transportation, Building and Urban Development
Project funding..

National Organisation of Hydrogen- and Fuel Cell Technology
Coordination and implementation on behalf of the Ministry.

Siemens
Development of the wallbox and public charging stations.

Stadtwerke München
Local coordination of the projects, maintenance of infrastructure and supply of electric power from renewable sources.

BMW Group
Supply and maintenance of the MINI E electric vehicles.

Psyma Research+Consulting
Not an official project partner, but supplies the test drivers with questionaires and interviews.

The project partners are named in the yellow decals at both sides of the roof. Additional a "MINI E München - Drive eCharged" lettering decorates the rear window.


The project partners listed at the lateral roof decals.

"MINI E München - Drive eCharged" with some damage after the use of an ice scraper.

Charging the MINI E

2011-03-12T01:25:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version

The charging device of the MINI E has some specific feature. Normally an electric car needs a special device called "on-board-charger" to alter the incomming AC to battery suitable DC and adapt the current to the charging characteristiks of the battery.
MINI Es electric drivetrain supplied by AC Propulsion does not need a special on-board-charger, because this functionality is integrated to the power electronics and the components of the drivetrain. AC Propulsion calls it the "reductive charger".

Electric drivetrain of MINI E. (source: gm-volt.com)

Using the components of the drivetrain limits the charging input source to a single phase and a maximum voltage of 240V. But the current is allowed to be fantastic 80amps leading to a maximum charging rate of 18kW.
In the MINI E the maximum setting is reduced to 50amps allowing a charging rate of 12kW at 240V.
But of course, this setting has demanding requirements to the electric infrastructure and for the private user in Germany it is useless.
The second setting 32A is the standard setting for charging at the wallbox or a public charging station. At 32A/230V it delivers a charging rate of 7,3kW.
The 12A setting is for charging at a domestic wall socket and delivers 2,8kW at 230V.

Using the components of the electric drivetrain for charging the battery may be both a technical challenge in detail and may be patented by AC Propulsion, so all other electric vehicles not equipped with a drivetrain from AC Propulsion need a conventional separate on-board charger.

An example for a typical on board charger is this device from the swiss company BRUSA.

It has a charging rate of max. 3.3kW which is sufficient for charging at a domestic wall socket at 12A/230V. It is a modular system, so you can combine two of them to get a charging rate of 6,6kW (this would fit to the 32amp charging stations)...

Two chargers onboard the Audi A1 e-tron (source: autobild.de)

...or even three to get 9,9kW.

Three chargers onboard the Rolls Royce Phantom 102EX (source: bimmertoday.de)

The installation of several of these chargers is an issue of cost, packaging space and weight.

Interestingly, for example the combination of two chargers can handle either a single phase input of 32amp/240V or a two phase input up to16amp/240V for each phase. This may have advantages for the electrical infrastructure.

Additionally the combination of an "on-board"-car module and an "off-board"-wallbox module is possible. This offers the possibility to give the car a basic charging rate of 3,3kW for occasional charging at domestic wall sockets (plus saving weight and space in the car) and a boosted charge at the own wallbox. However, boosted charging at public charging stations won't be possible as long the charging station is not equipped with an "off-board"-charging module as well.

The development of the chargers continues and aims at a more compact style with an increase of the charging rate. The matters of smart grid capability and data transfer via the powerline could be realized by the on-board-chargers, too. An example could be the EDcharge of the EDAG company.

Compact 11kW charger with communications interface.

So the charging rate of the MINI Es, Teslas and other cars equipped with an AC Propulsion drivetrain is mostly limited by the electric infrastructure, whereas the charging rate of other electric cars is mostly limited by the built-in charger.

Vanity Licence Plate

2011-02-27T09:28:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version

In Germany the letters and numbers on a licence plate follow restrictive rules. The first letters designate the city or county, were the car is registered. A big city has a single letter (like B for Berlin or M for Munich), smaller cities or couties have two or at a maximum three letters.
Then there is a hyphen (old style) or just a space (new style) containig the emblem of the county and (at the cars rear) the vehicle inspection sticker.
This is followed by one or maximum two letters.
At the end there is a number with minimum two to maximum four characters (but there are also some restrictions, e.g. a county with three letters never has a number with four characters).

So the highest joy for a german cardriver is a licence plate containing his initials, his birthdate or a number like 1000, 777 or something like this.
Depending on the county the car is registered, you may also choose combinations like AN-NA, LA-DY or even SE-XY.

The BMW corporate cars usually are registered in Munich, so the licence plate beginns with M-, but M-INI is an impossible constellation.
To get the MINIs have MI-NI in their plate affords that the cars are registered in the city of Minden to have the MI at the first letters.

BMW registers a couple of their MINIs for a marketing purpose via a local car dealership in Minden. And they did it as well for most of the MINI Es being part of official test programs.

The number 1231 is one of the simplest ones you can choose.
To say it at a german point of view: MI-NI 1231 is something very special.

Although it looks clear, not all people understand the connection of the car and the licence plate. A friend of my father asked me: Are you living in Minden now?
And as I was charging the MINI at a public charging station a pedestrian asked me: I see, you come from Minden. How do you get access to a charging station in Munich?

MINI E - ActiveE

2011-02-13T14:51:00.000-08:00

German Version

Like almost every other MINI E user I'm very interested in the upcoming ActiveE, the next step of BMW towards a serial production electric car.

Concept ActiveE at BMW Welt Munich

The MINI E is just an experiment that has to provide electric drive experience to a big number of people showing the advantages of an electrical drivetrain - but it has some obvious deficiencies due to its prototype status and its short time realisation.

The next step is the electrified BMW ActiveE based on a 1-Series Coupe. This car should be well engineered and it is a direct predecessor of the procect i /MCV (final name will be revealed at 21. February) using a first version of the new developed electric motor and batteries. Further the concept of operating the car and the display of information should satisfy in a BMW-typical manner.
Accordingly the expectations in this car are very high and it is clear that it has to be almost at a serial production standard with no major and almost no little deficiancies left.

BMW revealed news of the car and through the ActiveE-Facebook-group I found some very informative links:
BMW ActiveE press release
BMW ActiveE video

Based on this information, I made some comparison to the MINI E:

Thermal management of battery:
One of the biggest deficiencies of the MINI E is the lack of an active thermal managenent of the batteries causing significant influences on range, power, regenerative braking and charging.
So in consequence the ActiceE has a liquid thermal management system that should eliminate those impacts on the battery and should provide a reliable and constant range.
Further you can precondition the battery and the cabin when plugged in to the grid. This are the features every MINI E driver dreams about.
The remote control via smartphone may be a helpful feature. The precondition, however, is solely available with the car plugged to the grid.

Charging:
The charging port of the car meets the SAE J1772 standard so that public charging stations in the US can be used without an adapter. The European cars need a separate charging cord anyway which must have a SAE J1772 connector at the one end and a IEC 62196-Type 2 connector at the other end.

An estimated charging time of 5 hours indicates a higher battery capacity.
MINI Es total battery capacity is 35kWh, 80% of this as a usable capacity results to 28kWh. With an approximate charging rate of 7kW at the wallbox, this leads to the often mentioned 4 hours charging time for the MINI E.
5 hours charging result in a usable battery capacity of 35kWh. In case this is just 80% of the total, the ActiveE may have a battery capacity of about 44kWh.

Recuperation:
The MINI E as a front wheel drive has no problem with some additional load on the front wheels during deceleration.
The ActiveE as a rear wheel drive has the handicap of a decreasing load on the rear axle during deceleration. This means that the effect of the regenerative braking particularely at strong deceleration has to be adjusted dependent on the driving situation to ensure stability and safety.
So modifications on the cars electronic DSC were necessary to deal with the effects of regenerative braking.

However I wonder whether the regen is as strong and constant as in the MINI E.

Energy efficiancy:
As I said in a older post, I like the "braking with the gas pedal" concept of the MINI E and the strong effect of the regenerative braking. And I generally favour this behaviour over a "sailing operation" where the car is just rolling on unabated.
However, in some cases at highway and even urban driving, the unabated rolling would be the most energy efficient way of operating the car. Driving the MINI E means that in this case you have to find a position of the driving pedal that is either not accelerating the car nor slowing it down by regen. But you do not exactly know where this position is nor have a feedback when you reached it. So normally there will be a slight energy consumption or regen effect left even with the energy consumption indicator showing a neutral position.

Activating and deactivating the unabated rolling via buttons, paddels or gear levers is not a practical solution for quick changing driving conditions. This would also implement that the cars general behaviour is dependent on the actual mode activated which may cause difficulties in some situations.

The described "gliding mode" activated at an intermediate driving pedal position sounds like a really good and practical solution for this problem. As you can see in the video, the ActiveE's energy consumption indicator goes to the neutral position in a way that may give you a sufficient feedback when the car operates in this mode. I think this is a very useful advancement and enables the combination of acceleration, gliding and braking in just one pedal.
The addition of a button that reduces some basic settings of the drivetrain and the electrical consumers to a more energy efficient mode may also be an useful option when range is an issue or as a general setting when the effects are bearable.

Display:
Compared to other EVs and EV studies the instrument panel is very "analog" and does not feature any displays, diagramms and graphics. Like the MINI E it seems that the original instrument panel is just a little bit modified to show some different type of information, but it is not upgraded or completely reengineered.
The graphical display of the information is solely available on the cars navigation screen.

I hope I ever get a chance to make a testdrive with this car...

Charging cord storage

2011-02-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version

To connect the MINI E to the wallbox or a public charging station, you have to use a special charging cord. Contrary to the United States where the charging cord is a permanentely fixed part of the charging station, in Europe the charging cord is a separate item. The cord is specified to deal with voltages up to 500V and currents up to 63A. So you can imagine this is not a regular electric cable known from electric devices used in a common household, but it is a heavy and stiff electric line. On top this cord may be wet and dirty depending on the weather and the environment of a public charging station.
If you want to use a public charging station or just a common wall socket (via an additional adapter), you'll have to carry the cord with you in the car.
I was looking for a suitable bag for this cord and choosed a 14x6,5 " snare drum bag from GEWA. I added some hooks from the building center and connected them to the handle of the bag.
The bag is a bit bulky and maybe a bag for a smaller snare drum would have fit a little bit better, but I think its a useful and fine solution for the storage of the charging cord.

Snare drum bag...

... as a charging cord storage.

Charging at public station of Stadtwerke München

2011-01-28T09:06:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version
In the urban area of Munich the Stadtwerke München (local supplier) operate charging stations of different manufacturers. At sunday I tried out charging at a differnt type of charging station.
I was driving to the Landshuter Allee and spotted the charging station after a short search.
The Map of charging stations did not show the exact position.

Position of the charging station

Nevertheless I reached the charging station. Manufacturer seems to be a company called ESG.

SWM charging station at Landshuter Allee

The charging station has both at the left and right side two shut ports for the plugs and a small but sufficient display (indicating ready for use and a telephone number).

The activation of the charging process proved to be a challenge for an electromobile pioneer.

To use this type of station I got an identification card. Due to the card seems to operate with RFID-technology, I put it against the station underneath the diplay. No reaction. Next try left of the diplay, then right of the display, above the display, underneath again, on the SWM-letters, at the side underneath the closed ports... no reaction.
Maybe there might be a flap which has to be opened first? Going around the station several times, investigating every cavity for use as a handle or a card slot. Some soft-touch areas to open a flap? Negative!

Once more "scanning" the front of the device with the card and finally: as I positioned the card at a distinctive place which I just missed before between the display and the SWM-letters, the display says:
- proving authorisation

approximate position of the card activating the station

The lack of an adequate marking may be due to the recent installation of the charger.
After positive identification the ports are opened motor driven.

Schuko-plug and IEC 62196-2 Typ 2 -plug

Please plug in

After plugging in the charging cord the three unused ports close one after another, combined with an importunate beeping. So the beeping occurs every time one of the ports is closing, the inexperienced user presumes a problem and panics, but in the end the charging station starts charging the car.
Anyhow, the sound of the beeping and the loudness seems not to be suitable for sensitive residental neighborhood.

Charging cord plugged in.

To end the charging the card has to be positioned at the descripted area once again, the charging operation is aborted and the plug is released to be disconnected.
Concluding the amount of kWh is displayed and the port is shut.

#014 charging at the Landshuter Allee

UPDATE 31.05.2011:
As I had again the chance to use this public station, there was a new sticker on the front side. This sticker marks the position for the identification card. In this case the login works perfectly if you know the meaning of the marked point. A detailed instruction for a first-time-user like "Please apply your identifikation card here" would have been a little better.

additional sticker to mark the position of the RIFD-reader.

Standby power consumption

2011-01-21T12:12:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version
To have an idea, what is the standby power consumption of the wallbox and the car, I watched the electric meter that was installed with the new power cable feeding the wallbox in the garage.
Due to the electric meter switches digitally in 0,1kWh-steps and I do not have higher sophisticated measuring equipment, this is not more than an estimated conclusion.

Monitoring the electric meter for several days without pluging in the car shows a power consumption of 0,1kWh/24h. This may be slightly more because of the digital switch.
So the Siemens wallbox has a standby power consumption of about 4,2 Watt (or slightly more).
This is not a big value, but projected to the period I use the MINI E (9 1/2 month, 285 days) this means 285x0,1kWh = 28,5kWh. This is equal to a full charge of MINI Es usable battery capacity of about 28kWh. At a price of 0,207 Euro/kWh this is about 5,90 Euro for the powering of the wallbox during the test period.
Integrating some smart grid features, the power consumption may rise and developers and customers should have an eye on this.
Whenever I do not need the wallbox for a longer time, I shut it off via the circuit breaker.

Monitoring the electric meter with the car plugged in after achieving a SOC of 100% and the flashing charging light is gone, the effect is the same: 0,1kWh/24h combined consumption of wallbox and fully charged car.
So it seems that the MINI E has a negligible power consumption when it is fully charged and there is no need to plug it off to avoid some extra cost.


Siemens Wallbox with plugged in MINI E.

This issue changes with the next generation electric vehicles providing thermal management of the battery pack and preconditioning of the cabin.

I hope the driver may choose from different scenarios ranging
... from full range priority providing optimum battery temperature and fully conditioned cabin neglecting the energy consumption
... to an eco mode with priority to minium energy consumption providing just in time battery temperature sufficient for using the regenerative brake and a moderate cabin temperature.

Blogs of MINI E Pioneers

2011-01-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version
Some information I collected about other MINI E blogs.
I divided it up in users that still have a MINI E as far as i know (does not mean that it is updated regularely) and users whose lease had ended (does not mean that is is not updated regularely).

I try to keep this entry up to date at least as I'm involved in the MINI E project.

Some MINI E Pioneers

MINI E in active service
USA
#053: http://miniwink.com/
#111: http://petersminie.blogspot.com/
#140: http://electricminicooper.blogspot.com/
#183: http://electricmini.blogspot.com/
#230: http://coopere230.blogspot.com/
#249: http://cliffsmini-e.blogspot.com/
#250: http://minie250.blogspot.com/
#364: http://gotplug.blogspot.com/

Former MINI E Pioneers now driving a different EV
Chevy Volt
#304: http://drive-electric.blogspot.com/

Nissan Leaf:
#148: http://ev-nation.org/

Th!nk
#458: http://minie458.blogspot.com/

MINI E mission accomplished
#014: http://kathrynbakken.typepad.com/blog/
#017: http://mini-e-edju.blogspot.com/
#019: http://minie019.com/
#030: http://mini-eroy.blogspot.com/
#059: http://web.me.com/soareyes/Stans_Mini_E/Mini_E_Blog/Mini_E_Blog.html
#066: http://www.eanet.com/kodama/ev-chronicles/mini-e/index.htm
#085: http://www.genesisenergycorp.com/mini/
#116: http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/Vehicles/2009-mini-e/
#150: http://kenkuhl.com/mini-e-review.html
#167, #214, #228: http://www.calstart.org/learning-center/mini-e-blog.aspx?Year=2010
#203: http://digimojo.blogspot.com/
#217: http://electricride.wordpress.com/
#237: http://minielectricandme.blogspot.com/
#259: http://blog.honk.com/whats-it-like-to-be-an-early-adopter-for-new-car-technology/
#268: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/07/bmw-mini-e/
#269: http://mikegrahamjr.blogspot.com/
#277: http://www.stuartistry.com/my-mini-e/
#300: http://www.nygreen.com/MINI/
#339: http://mini-e-and-me.blogspot.com/
#348: http://myminie.com/
#353: http://mini-e-353.blogspot.com/
#380: http://mini-e-380.blogspot.com/
#402: http://mymini-e.blogspot.com/
#412: http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1021505_what-its-like-to-lease-and-drive-the-mini-e-electric-car
#418: http://mini-e-418.blogspot.com/
#466: http://thetruthabouttheminie.blogspot.com/
#484: http://magiccman.blogspot.com/
#486: http://myemini.wordpress.com/
#576: http://electricmini.tumblr.com/
#588: http://hubymini.tumblr.com/

MINI E Rescue Sheet

2011-01-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version
Reading an article at www.energie-info.net I became aware of the rescue sheet.

Modern automobiles become more and more complex and sophisticated. In case of emergency or accident this makes it more difficult for the rescue personnel.

In order to give fire departments and rescue personnel basic information for a quick, effective and safe rescue, the ADAC (German automobile club) claims a standard sheet which gives a brief overview of a car with special information that may be helpful in case of an accident and rescue.
The data sheet contains information like position of hard to cut ultra high strengh steels, the position of the fuel tank or the location of a cars battery enabling a quick disconnection.
Further the locations of various equipment is shown that can be harmful to the rescuers like airbag gas generators or gas filled spring devices.

High voltage electricity in hybrid cars or battery electric cars is another group of objects that threatens both vehicle occupants and rescuers in case of emergency. This is a very new and up to now a very rare aspect. The rescue and fire departments have little real life experience concerning this special sort of automobiles. So locally available information about position of high voltage wires/components and information about shutdown procedures of the high voltage systems are crucial for an effectiv rescue.

www.rettungskarte.de provides links to the manufacturers sites where the rescue sheet for their cars will be found. Some additional english information like a translation of the icons can be found at www.rescuesheet.info .
The ADAC recommends to store the rescue sheet at the drivers sun visor to make it quick available in case the rescue team does not have mobile internet access.

Following the links I found a MINI E rescue sheet. So I printed it and located it at the sun visor following the recommendation, because due to its limited number the MINI E may be a challenge for the rescue and fire departments.

Image of the MINI E rescue sheet. For full detail follow the links above.

The mounting to the drivers visor could not be organized in a useful way due to the MINIs vanity mirror. So I took a transparent envelope with the rescue sheet inside, put some self-adhesive hook-and-loop-tape (the hook-side) on it and fixed it to the roof lining.

Rescue sheet in transparent envelope fixed to the roof lining.

Battery Temperature

2010-12-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version
From the MINI E-team I got an e-mail that says: When the battery temperature drops to 5°C (41°F) or below, the MINI may not start.

Driving the car for a longer distance means rising the battery temperature to higher values. Driving the car regularely avoids dropping the temperature to critical values due to the slow cooling-down of the battery pack.

My daily commute is only about 20km (12.5 mi) in total. That means for the single trip with a distance of 10 km (6,2 mi) a gain in battery temperature of 2-3 °C (5-7°F).
At ambient temperatures of -7°C (19°F) i had typical battery temperatures of 2°C (35,5°F) with the car parked in the unheated garage. Driving to work results in a battery temperature of about 5°C (41°F) before leaving the car for the next 8-9 hours in the parking structure which causes again a drop in battery temperature to 2°C (35,5°F). Now i'm avoiding the open park decks over the ground and hiding the MINI E in the basement expecting more pleasant ambient temperatures.

So with this situation I really have a little problem now, because I can not ensure higher battery temperatures and this may go worse when the ambient temperatures fall.

At battery temperatures of 1°C (34°F) and below the MINI refuses to charge. In this case you have to drive the car until the battery temperature rises or you have to install an additional heater powered by a separate wall socket.

Battery to cold for regenerative braking. This indicates also, that charging may not be possible.

Yesterday I had a battery temperature of -2°C (28,5°F) with an SOC of 20%. I was driving a short distance just to ensure that the car is still operational except regen was completely disengaged.
I parked in front of the garage but still outside and let the car activated with the cabin heater at full power and the fan at second setting. This method has two effects: Activating the battery with the high power consumption of the cabin heater. And venting the battery with warm air from the cabin.
After one hour I returned and the battery temperature was 8°C (46°F) and SOC about 15%.
Because running the heater affords activation of the high voltage system I had to let the key in the car. I locked the car with the emergency key, so this could be done at a public place if necessary.

Using emergency key to lock door when car is activated.

The question is: If the battery temperature drops below the point were the car refuses to drive, will the high voltage system be operational to execute this method of rising the battery temperature?

After that I charged the MINI at the wallbox with the 32amp-setting, but still outside the garage.

The next morning the car was still charging. Although the car had spent about 11 hours connected to the wallbox, SOC was only at 75% and battery temperature dropped to 3°C (37,5°F). This was not the first time I noticed a significant reduction of the charging rate when the battery temperature is low.

The self generated heat when charging at 32 amp is not sufficient to rise battery temperatures to an optimum level at low ambient temperatures. So a fully charged battery at 3°C (37,5°F) cannot store the same amount of energy as it could at 20°C (68°F). This leads to the often discussed range limitations at cold weather. In addition to this the extensive use of the cabin heater intensifies the effect.

Keeping the battery at convenient temperatures with an additional heater like Jim McL did is the best solution for the MINI E to face low temperatures when full range is needed.

Compared to the beginning of the test now I connect the car to the wallbox every day to keep the SOC as high as possible to have more energy left in case of "off grid self heating" is necessary.

14of612, MINI E-collective, regenerating in it's alcove.

Guest entry on Tom Moloughneys blog

2010-12-23T08:26:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version
Tom Moloughney, driver of #250, asked me to write a guest entry for his own blog.
Tom is the most active and most famous MINI E blogger and with ~~almost~~ more than 45.000 mi driven he has the highest mileage of the whole test-fleet.

I fulfilled Toms request and gave a brief summary of the MINI E program in Germany.
The following will link to the page of my guest entry at Tom Moloughneys blog:

http://minie250.blogspot.com/2010/12/mini-e-driver-stefan-reitmeier-checks.html

MINI E in the snow

2010-12-14T07:53:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version

At the weekend I visited my parents again. After a 71km trip the charge level was reduced from 96% to about 25%, but I was pretty fast on the highway. During my stay I was able to recharge the MINI for about 6 hours at 12A/230V, which was sufficient to get the SoC to 86%.

Charging at 12A/230V in the heated garage

On the way back I visited an aunt. I was very relieved that I had chance to plug in MINI E for another two or three hours. So a achieved a full charged battery before driving home on the highway. Due to adverse weather conditions i drove moderately and reached home after 70km with little more than 20% SoC and 30km left.

I've parked the MINI at the return in the open, because on Monday I was not working and the garage was already occupied by the second car of the household.

MINI E 014 in the snow

The next morning the car was completely snowed. The outside temperature was -7°C, were the battery temperature was still at 16°C. After the trip the temperature was at about 35°C.

The following re-charging costs me 20kWh electricity of 20.7 Eurocents/kWh. Extrapolated to 100 km this are about 5.80 €. At the current diesel price of 1.30 €/l this corresponds to a diesel consumption of 4.5 l/100km for financial tie.

Two month with MINI E

2010-11-14T02:31:00.000-08:00

Deutsche Version

I'm driving MINI E # 014 for two months now. So far no breakdowns occured and I'm still completely fascinated by the electric driving .

Although I use the car almost every day, the trips are short. The current mileage is 13067 km, i.e. since receipt of the vehicle I drove 1591 km. This means about 800 km per month, which is pretty much for my circumstances.

90% of the trips take place exclusively in the city, the other 10% is pure highway driving at higher speeds.

Engine sound:
Inside the vehicle, the engine sound is noticable (with shut off radio) and you have some response caused by the driving conditions (such as the typical buzz that appears in recuperation mode from higher to lower frequency dependent on the driving speed).
Since the sound is not too loud nor unpleasant in the frequency spectrum, I think an appropriate and "natural" electric motor sound in the interior would be useful. The same is true already for normal combustion engines that are on the one hand provided with a sophisticated sound insulation, on the other hand it should be quite noticable for the driver in certain situations (e.g. intense speed acceleration).
An artificial distortion of the electric motor sound or even the acoustic simulation of a combustion engine, I do not consider expedient.

The low operating noise of the car is very pleasant, but it requires a correspondingly prudent driving. Until now there was a single situation where an elderly lady was crossing the street and did not notice me, because she was intensly watching the street to the opposite direction. Accordingly, she was surprised when she finally realized that I had already stopped on the other side and waited until she finished crossing the road. But perhaps she wouldn't had noticed me even with an conventional car.
With the low temperatures much less pedestrians and cyclists inhabit Munichs streets than in the summer, so I currently see no problem with the low external noise.

Recuperation:
I like the strong retarding when releasing the accelerator pedal very much, because with metered changes of the accelerator pedal position you can control the speed very accurately.
Personally I prefer the strong braking effect on the recuperation more than a little braking effect or even a "sailing operation," in which the vehicle does not brake at all and acts comparable with a conventional car with the clutch pedal pressed and rollin on unabated.
Choices between different modes for the recuperation, such as those in the A1 e-tron via shift paddles on the steering wheel or on a pre-selection of the gear lever as in the Mitsubishi iMiEV may be helpful at the beginning for inexperienced e-car drivers. But then maybe a consistent implementation and adoption of e-motor-specific advantages of speed control only via the accelerator pedal is avoided.
However, with the different opinions on this topic, an appropriate choice or a "personal" adjustment of the braking performance should be provided.

Since even the MINI E typical strong retarding effect is sometimes not enough, I think a feature of the AVL eMini is an useful addition. The description for this car says, that with a light touch of the brake pedal you increase the regenerative braking (which should already be active when the foot leaves the gas-pedal). The mechanical brakes are activated at the normal pressure on the pedal. This does not help for the "one-pedal-strategy", but provides more regenerative energy.

Charging:
Until now, I'm charging the MINI E as rare as possible. As my rides are predictable and a second car available, its not necessary to have the car always in a 100%-SoC-condition.
With SoCs of 40% or residual ranges of 50km I have not a big problem on short trips. This was different at the beginning of the test. However, with the temperatures falling I have to call my just won trust in the estimated range into question.

Charging is very simple, but the handling of the inflexible and stiff charging cable is uncomfortable.
A more flexible, perhaps self-retracting cable or even wireless charging based on induction would be an enormous advantage for the daily use of an electric car.

Annotation: here in Germany the cable is not a permanent part of the wallbox. We have a single cable to connect the Mini to all types of charging stations. If you want to carry the cable with the car to use public stations or to have it available just in case of need, you'll have to do all the uncoiling, connecting and restoring operations any time you use even the home wallbox.


Munich and MINI E #014

Charging at a public charging station

2010-10-31T02:11:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version

Charging the MINI E at a public charging station from Siemens is easy to handle. The following photos describe the procedure.


public charging station from Siemens operated by Stadtwerke München

description of the procedure

identification via RFID-chip

cover can be opened after identification
1 x IEC Typ 2 (400V, 32A)
1 x Schuko (230V, 13A)

plug in the cable to the car

plug in the cable to the charger

closing the cover starts the charging

MINI E charging at the Knorr-street

Visit of the eCarTec 2010

2010-10-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Version

On Wednesday i visited the eCarTec 2010 Expo at the exhibition center in Munich Riem (http://www.ecartec.de/ ) by an invitation of the MINI E-Team.

Stand of BMW
At the stand of BMW there was MINI E # 046 and the Active E (the known concept vehicle, not one of the new vehicles for the future field test). As a traditional vehicle, an electrified BMW 1602 was shown.The car was used as a support vehicle during the Olympic Games 1972.

8 of the 12 batteries in the former engine room of the 1602. The other 4 are located below.

From the future MCV the drive train could be seen.

Batteries and drivetrain of the future MCV.

Other
Furthermore at the show a variety of chargers, plugs, etc. .. were shown, which i looked at not in detail i have to admire. The electrical power suppliers e.on and RWE in any case already stirred vigorous promotion for their new market ...

... and at Lotus they tried to give the electric drive the sound of a powerful gasoline engine. Not only unnecessary, but rather silly.

Another variant of a MINI with electric drive

I was most interested, however, in the eMini of the company AVL. It is a concept car with a serial hybrid drive.

In the serial hybrid drive, the vehicle drives solely with the electric motor. The on-board internal combustion engine drives a generator which recharges the battery or directly powers the electric motor. It is not mechanically connected to the drive train. This so-called range extender (REx) can be positioned anywhere in the vehicle.

In contrast to this in a parallel hybrid the combustion engine drives the drive axles via a conventional transmission. An electric motor supports the combustion engine and is able to move the car at low speeds. The battery is charged either by a separate generator driven by the combustion engine or by the electric motor driven through the gearbox from the combustion engine to run as a generator. Furthermore, the generator / electric motor can create power via regeneration by deceleration. Is the vehicle a "plug in", the battery can be charged additionally by the wall socket.

But back to AVL eMini, which Rex is also called "Pure Range Extender" due to the lack of mechanical connection to the drive train.

Interestingly, the Audi A1 e-tron uses exactly the same concept with identical specification.

Package of the AVL eMini

The vehicle has a battery capacity of 12kWh (MINI E: 35kWh). Pure electric range of about 50 km should be possible. The electric engine has 75kW for short periods. This is exactly half of what the MINI E has available.
If necessary, a Wankel internal combustion engine charges the battery by a generator with an output of 15 kW. Due to this another 200km should be possible. Through the skillful arrangement of the components in the AVL eMini the back seat survived. Even the trunk has almost original size, except for a slightly raised ground.

AVL eMini

Battery in typical T-arrangement. It uses the space of the exhaust system and the fuel tank.

The compact AVL Range Extender Module with its wankel engine below the trunk.

This concept sounds very well, but there are some drawbacks.

The specified range of 50km electric + 200km by range extender can not be driven at once. Since the Range Extender provides much less energy for the battery than the engine cosumpts on higher speeds, after 50 + x km a break is needed. x depends from what point of the range extender will start loading and in which time the 50km are driven.
According to my conversation partner at the stand it takes the range extender about 2 hours to get a completely discharged battery to a SoC of 100%.

If the battery was completely empty, the output of the generator is only enough for a modest speed of 45 km/h. This is just acceptable in the city for urban driving, but not for highway driving.
A real range of 250km, which can be increased by simply gas refueling for another 200 km, can not be realized by the car.

For this a much more powerful range extender would be necessary which also may have a direct drive in the drive train for high speeds. This is a feature of the Volt/Ampera or the "Boosted Range Extender" by GETRAG. This solution blurs the boundaries between the parallel and serial hybrid. Since this detail of the mechanical connection of the combustion engine to the drive train in the Opel Ampera or Chevrolet Volt was revealed recently, there was discussion whether the Volt /Ampera is a pure electric vehicle or just an ordinary hybrid à la Toyota Prius. The fact is, that the Volt / Ampera can not drive solely with the internal combustion engine. (Link 1, Link 2)

... um ... back to Emini.
For me as a user the AVL eMini has no discernible benefits compared to the MINI E .

    * For the short daily commute of a total of 20km a range extender is not necessary.
    * The low battery capacity requires more frequent and more consistent charging on the socket to avoid the use of the Range Extender with its expensive fuel.
    * A ride beyond the electrical range also requires careful planning, because the range increase by the Rex depends on several factors. Even if the Rex is allowed to run unattended during a planned break, this shall be possible under the open sky, but not in a garage or parking structure.
    * A trip of 70 km highway is no problem for the MINI E. I'm not sure, whether the eMini manages this distance even with the REx started immediately.

However, the eMini has no limitations on space. In principle this is a possible "series" solution, whereas the MINI E was never intended as a series solution. And so the respectable battery capacity could be realized by rigorous elimination of the rear seat and a part of the trunk.
The REx module gives the eMini with the restrictions of the limited space available more flexibility than an for example 5kWh higher battery capacity, which could have been installed instead of the REx.

Other reasons in favor of the concept are:

    * Space, cost and weight advantage by reducing battery size
    * More "endurance" in traffic and traffic jam, when many electrical accessories are turned on
    * Support of vehicle climate conditioning (for this vehicle not yet implemented)
    * ...

Anyway, I'm excited about the experience made with the A1 e-tron. Therefore a small test fleet of 20 vehicles will be on Munich's roads in 2011.