Standby power consumption

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

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

 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

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

 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

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

 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