Try again on Sunday evening. Temporary closure due to planned maintenance/upgrade etc. of the building electrical system.

 

I find this thread personally offensive.

There are thousands of MINI owners out here in California, (i'm one of them) and you are telling us that California, as a whole, is "stupid" and "the problem child" of the country and we are "tree huggers"?

Personally, I don't give a damn whether you like California or not, because I'm sure you don't give a damn about whether I like NC or not.

But just because MINI plans to release Electric MINIs, doesn't mean you can take this opportunity to mock on California as a whole and implement that we are stupid and the problem child of the country.

Educate yourself, learn some manners before you open your mouth.

 

Why don't you STFU? I apologized at least 3 times.

You're either too **** stupid to understand that.... or you didn't read all the posts. In either case, why don't YOU read before you open you mouth.

*******. I'm not apologizing again. GFY.


Mark

 

Perhaps editing the title would help.

 

Orrrrr, reading all the threads before responding?? That may work....



Mark

PS. How does the title get edited?

PSS. Done.

PSSS. Didn't work.... changed the title but when you refresh the general page, the original title shows up. Perhaps a mod can make the change.

 

you're one of the few that post apologies when you need to, so if someone comes on line after the fact, just reads a few posts, and fires a rant without checking dates and the like, well, there's always someone...

As for that poster finding the whole thread offensive, they didn't read the whole thread cause some of the posts just have actuall information...

Life will go on....

Matt

ps, I'm also a bit surprised that the NAM filters let "GFY" stay! Cool!

 

Thanks and I shouldn't have had an outburst.... it's exactly like you said, someone read a few posts and fired off a response instead of reading.

As far as apologizing.... if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, I said something I shouldn't have and when I realized I was offending people, well, I shouldn't have... pretty simple. I'm human, I make mistakes and I offended my fellow mini'ers so I apologized.

I just wish other people followed their own advice.

Thanks though,

Mark

 

It has been an interesting discussion, I think.

 

And I gotta say, that because a lot of the stuff references other stuff, that it's pretty hard to find actual details, as opposed to general info...

So the ZEV program works on credits towards a goal of 10% of low emission cars delivered per year (the goal changes based on the year). While in the past, only pure ZEV cars qualified, that requirement went away sometime in the past (that's when all the EVs stopped being sold). The change was both rational, to some degree, and irrational, based on corporate oppositoin. Anyway, when the original laws were written, more progress in battery tech was anticipated, and the efficacy of hybrid drivetrains wasn't anticipated.

So, if a manufacturer delivers a vehicle with suffiecienty low emissions, they earn a credit that goes into a credit bank. These credits can be bought and sold as well, so Bugatti could just write a check to get out from behind the eight ball... There are also multipliers so that true ZEVs can earn more than a single credit (electrics fall into this class IF they are sold to an end user, or leased for at least three years with the option to extend at least two more years). Anyway, best I can tell, each eMini leased gets a single credit, but doesn't qualify for the multiplier. Since there are so few cars that will be delivered, it can't really be to generate a significant amount of credits, and looks to me like it really is an effort to do a) PR and b) get some real data on electric cars.

Matt

 

Yup, definitely a very interesting discussion.

I really hope the program works out for MINI, so that perhaps someday people in non-urban areas could enjoy such technology as well.

As I've said before, an EV would be extremely useful where I live. I just hope the EV MINI doesn't end up with the same fate as GM's EV1. It was really sad to see the EV1 program fade the way it did.

 

What is "GFY"?
Can't figure out

 

If you're angry, you might tell someone to, uh Go Figure-it-out Yourself!

 

I think that is why I was so disgusted with the idea in the first place. Being able to run 120 miles (at least to me) is useless. I guess in CA and NY where the living is so much more populated and you don't go very far, it may be the ideal answer. (I should have thought about that first before I opened my mouth)

Around here, it's so vast (in comparison) space wise, 120 miles wouldn't get a days' worth of driving in.

I would love to see an electric car, I guess I'm naive in thinking I would want to do everything a gas car does... ie. drive 400 miles on a single charge.

Mark

 

Last number I have for miles driven per day show that a bit more than 70% of drivers drive 120 miles or less per day. So this range would work for about 3/4ers of all drivers.

While it's true that this type of range isn't that good for all drivers, it's more than fine for most.

But really, is something that isn't perfect for you "disgusting"? Or just a shoe that doesn't fit. Seems to me that this is letting the concept of what's perfect undermine progress on something that is an improvement in many ways.

Matt

 

Again, bad choice of words... originally I called the idea stupid... but as you have pointed out, it's stupid/disgusting, (whatever silly word I call it) FOR ME. The idea seemed silly to make a car that goes 120 miles.

However, as many of you have pointed out, it may work out perfect for those in a tight community where your daily driving is within that amount.

I guess for me, it wouldn't be very useful or practical.

I'm sure they'll perfect it until it satisfies even the stupid people like me...


Mark

 

Where I live most families have more than one car, and chances are that one of the cars is generally used for fairly short distance trips. Plus some workplaces would probably provide charging stations, which would give you a 200+ mile commute car. Granted the EV is still a niche car, but it could be a fair-sized niche for us city dwellers!

 

I wish everyone here would check out a documentary on or Google GM's EV1, "Who Killed the Electric Car?".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FDmmJm9vSA
I'd buy an electric MINI today; I drive 50 miles roundtrip to work and would welcome a 120-mile range. Also check out John Whalen's White Zombie electric Datsun = very cool!!!
http://www.onelectriccars.com/tag/john-whalen/

I'm still pissed that GM dropped the ball and feel strangely that MINI will be doing the same with the MINI-E.

Greg

 

You know, one of these days, I'm going to actually rent that movie. I keep wanting to see it but just never seem to get around to it.

Mark

 

I would love an electric MINI. I don't think I will buy another gasoline powered car. I have a 15 mile round trip to work so I am easily within the range of an electric car. I figure in 10 years when I am ready for a new car I will either get an electric or if the technology is not ready then I will go with a diesel.

 

Oohhh OK I get it.

You gotta watch it try Netflix or you an buy on Amazon for 10 bucks, I am wondering what they are gonna do with the E MINIs after lease. I used to see them when I lived in Ktown on my way too USC.

On a Sour Note: Heard they are having problems getting them to charge, but they are being fixed.

 

What does it matter what happens to them? What matters is what they do in the long-term. BMW did the MINI-E program as a learning experience, and they seem to be getting a lot of info from it. According to MotoringFile, they are working with UC Davis on an indepth study of the real-world experiences of 50 participants.

I don't think you need to worry about this being a GM-like stunt to prove electric isn't viable. It looks like BMW is serious about making electric vehicles. From the same article:

 

You could have said the same thing about the first generation Prius. I wonder how they're selling now? (Over 1,000,000 sold, as of 08/05!)

I applaud any company that's willing to make a long-term committment to new technology, and that has the engineering and marketing savvy to sucessfully bring a new concept to market.

It's much easier to just focus on next quarter's P/L sheet, and then wait for Congress to bail you out when no one wants to buy your lousy cars.