Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Front Suspension Noise

It may just be that I am noticing more noises with the quiet car, but the front suspension has seemed very noisy over the last few days. At any little bump I hear some good groans from under the front of the car. Not to mention a little rattling sound. It does not sound like anything is going to fall off, but it just seems noisier than I would expect.

Nothing to make me stop driving every day. It can certainly wait until the first service visit. But I will be surprised if I hear that there is nothing wrong.

Anyone else have a noisy front end?


#269 will be at the Project Green event tonight in Manhattan. The event is actually only 3 blocks from where I park every day, so it wont be a very long drive. Hope to see some of you there tonight.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Time to start some measurments

So after almost a month of getting used to the new MINI-E I have decided that it is time to start paying attention to the numbers. While I was 110v charging I did not pay any attention to the usage patterns other than to make sure I could get where I was going and home again.

Now that I have the 32A charger and will be leaving with a full tank every day I am going to start my log of stats. I went down to the garage and reset all the measurements that I am able and we will see what we get from here.

It is worth mentioning that I do not drive #269 with any sense of conservation. I drive it like I would drive a gas powered equivalent. Though up to now I have been avoiding the AC when I can.

Here were the numbers I had when I reset them

Miles 736
Avg Mph 18.5
Ah/100M 72
Miles remaining at 100% = 93

I dont think I'm getting what some are.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

#269 is running on Premium (32Amp)



So both PSE&G and O'Sullivan electric came by the house today to activate the wall charger. I am happy to say that #269 is now drinking in NJ's finest at 32A. I am looking forward to the 1 hour "top off" charge, rather an the 10 hour "as much as I can get" charge.

Everyone was great today and now I guess I need to get to cleaning out the garage to be able to fit both cars in there. Good thing it stopped raining.

Picked up my plates from Morristown Mini today as well. Now I can apply for the EZPass Green Pass

Sunday, July 5, 2009

NJ mini-E friendly car wash

This post will only be interesting to the half dozen or so folks who live in Essex County...

So I had been putting off going to a car wash with all the rain and the stern warning about undercarriage spray when I picked the car up. As I was driving around in Maplewood today I came across a new hand wash car wash. Pull in the garage and a team of people and a hose wash the car. This is new for our area (at least to me). They said they have only been there 3 months and I got the manager very intrigued by the electric Mini. As well as the person in the garage who turned off the car trying to turn it on because he didn't know it was already on.

Anyway, I'll keep the plug to a minimum, I have nothing to do with this place other than I am glad that I found it. The address is 1830 Springfield Ave in Maplewood. Across from Burger King. I'll include the Google map link here...

#269 looks a lot better today.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Wall charger activation scheduled for Tuesday

I was contacted by the company installing the new wall charger cable that mine could be installed this coming Tuesday. So I will be working from home Tueday to be her for this. When my wall charger was installed my power company PSE&G also installed a blank for an additional meter for them to track the usage of electrity. I was told it was so they could gauge the imapct on demand if this electric car thing catches on. I think they should pay attention to what it says because I am pretty convinced that 24 months from now they will have a broad new demand that they dont have today.

After an email to PSE&G to let them know that my cable install was scheduled for Tuesday, I just got a reply that they would also be here Tuesday to install the meter in the blank on the wall.


So starting Tuesday night I should be rapid charging. Which also means I will be garage sharing with my wife as I wont need to hog the garage every night to top off. I am driving about 35 miles a day round trip to work and 12A charging every night. Each day I lose a little less than 10% off the top with this routine. So by Friday I am pretty low when I get home from work. I dont think I could live much further out and still make the trip all week. I understand what some other drivers are saying about having to skip days to top off.

More soon....

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Tired of getting pulled over

So it is not nearly as bad as the title. I actually started ot very proud of myself. I commute every day through the Holland Tunnel, which has a useful HOV lane. As a ZEV (NJ term for Zero Emission Vehicle) ,I am allowed to use the HOV lane, really the only perk during commuting time. Last week I was sitting in traffic and in my mirror I could see the Port Authority officer approaching my vehicle. He tapped on the window and asked if there was a reason I was driving alone in the HOV lane. "Yes officer, this is a Zero Emission Vehicle and I am allowed to use the HOV lane." "Zero Emission?" "Yes, an all electric car, no gasoline" "Oh, and that carries over for our facility?" "Yes" (a smile) ..... license and registration (I guess while he had me stopped, no biggie). "OK, go on"

Actually, I was feeling quite proud at the time. Everyone learned something. Just another person that we are spreading the word to as EV pioneers.

Then, the next day...... and then this morning.... at some point I am going to want to just get to work. I'm sure after a while they will all have stopped me and it will be fine. Maybe the PA can have some kind of info sharing. All in all, not so bad.

I also got questioned by another Mini owner in traffic about the car. "Is it new?"