My New Mini-e blog

So as a part of being in the Mini-e program we said that we would keep a blog about our experiences. So here it is. I will be adding things as there is information to report. So far it is very early days. Though it has seemed that way for a while.

The good news is that I have had my charger unit installed this past Friday. I took the day off of work to be here while it was being installed (and to watch the girls as our nanny is on her honeymoon). According to John from O'Sullivan Electric, who performed the install, I was the first wall unit installed in New Jersey. Or at least the first one installed by them. I am not sure if there are other companies doing the installation.

I will include a link to the photo of the installation. One interesting thing is that PSE&G had them install a port for an additional meter. This will allow PSE&G to monitor the draw of the car on the grid. I am hoping that it will allow me to do the same. If so I will try to estimate the charges I am incurring for power. I guess I will not be able to do that from the beginning as we have been told that while there are at least 400 cars in the pilot program for "pioneers", there are only 150 high voltage charging cords to go along. As we have also been informed there are monetary benefits to getting the cars delivered in most states if they can get that done in June. While that means nothing for us pioneers, I imagine it is beneficial to Mini. So we will be getting our cars with 110v charging cords (est 20+ hrs to fuly charge). There is no outlet on the other side of the new meter, so I guess we will start measuring actual draw after the cords are delivered and installed. Good news for us though is that it means we will like finally see our cars in January and the good folks at Mini realized that this is not a really feasable solution for daily use so we will not be required to pay the monthly charge until we get the garage charges functional. I was pretty impressed to see that in the email.

So more to come after I hear something more. I have pinged the folks at PSE&G and been told that they are going to tr to get a meter install scheduled (no mention of when), but since it will not be in use soon, I guess that is not a showstopper for anything.