MINI E Charging Fiasco: 23 Hours for 150 Miles

by Edward Niedermeyer

June 5th, 2009 10:15 PM

mini e charging fiasco 23 hours for 150 miles

Let’s be clear: TTAC is not in the business of bashing EVs just for the hell of it; there are good reasons why battery-power is the gas foe’s great white hope. But this story is just too crazy. In BMW’s rush to launch its 450-unit MINI E test lease program, it has failed to secure Underwriter’s Laboratory approval for its high-voltage charging cord. As many as 300 of the 450 customers who’ll be getting Mini Es many not get their high-voltage charging cables for a month or so and will have to use sloooooowwwwww 110-volt trickle charging to replenish their car’s power pack when the battery runs down,” according to Edmunds. Which means instead of taking 4 hours to recharge the MINI E’s 150-mile-range batteries, users will have to wait 23 hours to fill up through a 110V cable. At an $850/month lease rate, that makes the MINI E the mother of all EV debacles. Approval for the charger will happen “within weeks,” say BMW. But as professional EV booster Chelsea Sexton puts it, “they are guaranteeing virgin customers a poor experience.” And ain’t that just the way it tends to go for virgins.

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Long126mike on Jun 06, 2009
Just wait until a couple of guys use a $1.99 cord from Wally-world and burn down their houses while their familys sleep. The end of the electric car. That’s what they are trying to avoid. So when a vehicle catches on fire and burns down a building, it's the "end" of that vehicle type?

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Shaker on Jun 08, 2009

So far, I'm seeing EV = Liberal Oil/Gas Power = Conservative Am I getting this right, or did I miss something?

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Volvo on Jun 08, 2009
So far, I’m seeing EV = Liberal Oil/Gas Power = Conservative Am I getting this right, or did I miss something? I see EV = Feelings (right brain) Oil = Rationality (left Brain)

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Bill Wade on Aug 13, 2009
maniceightball : June 5th, 2009 at 5:24 pm We don’t even have the power infrastructure to support that (yet). Unless there is quickly a massive crash program to start placing nuclear power plants on line it will never happen. Plasma TVs, computers and all kinds of new consumer electronic devices are already starting to strain the grid. There's no way it can sustain a sudden increase in high current consumption electric vehicles in any foreseeable future.

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