Charging at TÜV Starnberg public station

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...