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I've had all the paper work in for weeks waiting on the next step, electrical inspection. Anyone see any more progress than that. I heard on the west coast of an actual electrical inspection but that seems as far as we have gotten. Anyone have any progress to report?
I wonder how many inspectors there are? If it is just a couple guys, getting 250 inspections done will take awhile. Then, any needed upgrades to your electrical system need to be done before they install the charger. I can see this taking a few months before all 250 of the west coast cars are delivered. I'm way out in Victorville, CA so I assume I'll be near the tail end of the inspection process.
I might be a tiny half step ahead of you- yesterday my dealer called and said they were sending my email address to Clean Fuel Connection, and that they should be sending me an email within a few days with information on setting up an appointment. Don't know what is actually going on, but it would seem logical to cover one dealer (and geographic location) at a time.
Hope this process goes quickly- understanding the work involved in getting the wallbox is my only real concern at this point- other than that, it seems like it's just getting the paperwork done and waiting for the cars to be available.
Thanks for your update Scott. It does make sense to go one dealership/area at a time. I'm assuming each dealership has about 25 Mini E's so maybe it takes about a week to complete the inspections for those customers. Pure speculation though! Anyway, I'm working with Mini of Monrovia.
Long Beach Mini here. Maybe a little optimistic but I have already reserved a license plate since the DMV says it takes 8-12 weeks to get. 'MINI E' wasn't available so I figured this was the next best thing.
Today I received the email from CFCI asking me to contact them with availability so they can schedule an appointment. It looks like they will do all of the coordination with the utility, pull permits, etc. They also included a few short documents to describe in more detail how a typical installation would go.
One item of note is that they are expecting a delay in delivery of the charging cables; however, they are proceeding with the wallbox installations- if the cables aren't ready by the time of installation, they will return with them as soon as they are received.
Good to see a little more progress, hopefully I will hear back with an appointment time in the next few days.
On the license plate front- even though I have reserved mine, my friends are still sending suggestions. I have to say I like 4DCELLS
Good luck with the inspection Scott. It's nice to see some action, still quiet here on the east coast. My dealer said they were having a meeting Tuesday but I don't have an update yet.
Keep us informed with everything that happens. I haven't heard from from Clean Fuel Connection yet, but this wait will give me a chance to paint the garage and put up some cabinets. The walls have been bare drywall since we bought the place 20 years ago!
When I moved some old shelves this last weekend, I found what may be a prewired 240V outlet box along one wall of the garage. There is no plug outlet attached, just three large wires wound up in the box. Hopefully this will make it easier (and cheaper) to install the charge box.
I like the "4DCELLS" license plate suggestion too!
Well I just heard from John Genese at Prestige Mini and he says:
A company called Clean Fuel Connection will be sending you an email to schedule an electrical inspection of your garage. They will be contracting the electricians that will do the installation.
This should happen within the next week to ten days.
John
So it looks like we will see some movement here on the east coast.
Another snippet of info from my guy at Irvine Mini - the process for pulling the electrical construction permit could take 4 weeks. Based on the delay I experienced getting my landscaping plans approved by my City, that sounds about right . . . Off-Oil by Earth Day is looking unlikely . . .
Good point ElectroBoy. I actually have a permit in process at my city for a room addition, and it has been about 4 weeks so far with no answer.
It's tough to find a plate configuration in CA that's not taken. Hopefully you have an easier time of it Chas!
It seems somewhat un Mini-like to make all the cars identical, but hopefully the plates will help them stand out. I haven't owned a Mini before, but I toured the factory in Oxford about 3 years ago- it was one of the best factory tours I have been on and we had a tour guide that had worked there for decades. They definitely take pride in the fact that they rarely if ever create a duplicate car.
FWIW, here are some plates that I came up with that are available in California:
AC4ME
ACPOW3R
ACPWRED
E POWRD
EPOWERD
GASFAIL
GASHATR
JUST AC
NO C8H18 <-- my favorite. Can you figure it out?
ONLY AC
PWRBYAC
And here are some that I tried but are taken:
ACONLY
ACPOWER
ACPOWR
ACPOWRD
ACPWR
ACPWRD
E POWER
ELCTRIC
ELCTRIK
ELETRIK
GASH8TR
GASNOT
GOTAC
H8GAS
HATEGAS
NEEDGAS
NO CORD
NO FUEL
NO GAS
NOTGAS
WHATGAS
Also for RPHOOPER, the plate "NO2GAS" is, in a matter of speaking, available. However you will not be able to get it because it is not a valid configuration (in California anyway). The pattern "Two letters, one number, 3 letters" is apparently reserved for amateur radio licenses. And sadly you can't use "zero" instead of an "O" because "zero" is not allowed.
Today I got an email directly from Mini called "Plugged-In", the first of a weekly update on the Mini E program.
It basically says most of what we know already, that home inspections have started on the west coast and will start soon on the east coast. They anticipate car deliveries to start in May. The charge cord production has been delayed but the wall chargers will be installed even if the cords aren't available yet. And finally, the large "Mini-E" graphic as seen on the doors of the show cars will not be on customer cars. They must have received a lot of questions on that!
It's great that Mini is trying to keep us up to date on the program. Thanks!
Anyone have any progress to report?
