Anyone attending?
Will post details afterwords.

fiesty

 

Unfortunately, I won't be able to go.

Thanks for offering to post details, it will be greatly appreciated by those of us who won't make it tomorrow!

 

You know, even though I'm DOR (Drop on Request for those of you whose wives don't have to watch "Officer and a Gentleman" EVERY TIME it's on TV . . ) due to the additional cost to install the charger, I notice I haven't been "deregistered" from the event since I still got a reminder e-mail over the weekend.

I have to be in downtown LA tomorrow afternoon anyway, so I'm still toying with the idea of crashing the party . . . despite my own setback with the install, I am truly interested in this whole program and how it will play out . . .

 

Do it!

The dinner has probably been paid for anyway whether you go or not.

 

Wife and I will be there.

 

I'll be there.

 

"1 mini e" license plate will be there.

 

And I'll be there too.

 

Greetings from Carlsbad Ca,

Look forward to meeting you all this evening! I am also looking forward to the speaker.

http://electricmini.blogspot.com/

Cheers
Peder

 

Here's a quick review of the LA MINI event.

It was largely an unstructured event with the exception of John Picard's talk, so the value was access to lots of MINI people (program management, sales, engineers, dealers, finance, you name it) as well as CFCI and others. There was no formal Q&A or any detailed information about the program presented, however tons of information was available by talking to the folks that were available. There was an open bar, appetizers, and a buffet dinner all of which were very good. And of course the owners were an interesting mix of people as well. All in all I enjoyed it very much. There were three cars available to look at or sit in (including the coveted 007.)

It was my first look at a Mini E and I have to say I was very pleased. It was quite comfortable and well designed- really not different than other Minis but you never know!

Some tidbits of information:

- No Bluetooth or navigation. As others have reported there is am MP3 input but no iPod controller. Also I asked the lease guy if accessories could be added to the lease. That can't be done either.

- I had a good chat with the president of CFCI. Here's a tip that came out of that- if you are an SCE customer- per the CFCI flowchart they sent, once you have signed the contract you can/ should contact SCE on your own to request the EV Time Of Use rate. This will initiate installation of the meter housing which ideally would happen before the contractor comes to install the circuit. It was actually very interesting talking about the future of EV 'smart' infrastructure and the upcoming standards for chargers.

- There was a vague reference that cars could be delivered in 'about 30 days'

It was a lot of fun to see how nice the car is and how excited and passsionate everyone in the room was about the program.

- Scott

 

The event was amazing!! Kudos to Mini for putting on a first class event.

The speaker, John Picard, gave a down to earth, intelligent speech about the green movement.

Afterwords, an incredible dinner was served, followed by equally delicious deserts. Free cocktail bar, etc..

I got to meet Anton and Nadine from Jay Leno's Mini E video, very cool people. I also met one of the engineer/employee of AC Propulsion. I learned a lot about the Mini E from him, so here are a few tidbits:
- 80-100 miles is the conservative estimate
- AC propulsion does all the service work for all the batteries and electric components. Special BMW engineers work on the rest of the car when in service.
- BMW did not limit the AC motor or battery. Its run at full 100% spec as designed from AC. They only limited the top speed which is 95mph, at which point the electric motor is spining at 13000rpm!
- The electronics and motors are tried and tested, and should last a long time.
- The accleration while at freeway speeds is phenomenal. 60-90 mph happens in no time, and there no fall off of power like in an ICE car.

The silver metallic color for all Mini E's is definitely growing on me. I think its a very striking color. Its amazing how small and compact this Mini E is.

Mini was shooting a video of the event, so there may be a video online in the near future.

Overall, a very entertaining evening. Mini did an excellent job!

fiesty

 

How many people attended (ballpark number)?

Best

Klaus

 

I would guess maybe 150?

 

Thanks fiesty and Scott for the all the information. It sounds like the event went well and hopefully there will be a video available of Picard's talk.

Also, as a result of your suggestions, I called SCE this morning to set up their Time of Use program before CFCI comes out to do the charger install. They are suppose to call back in a day or two to make an appointment for the meter install.

 

BMW treated us to a great evening. It was fun to meet and talk with the group of "pioneers" last night in LA. There were a couple of famous people, but generally just a group of really nice, socially responsible, regular folks. The old armory venue was dramatic with it's high arching steel trusses and glass ceiling that opened to the nearly full moon and 747's flying over downtown LA on approach to LAX. Two open bars and good food didn't hurt either. With So Cal being so spread out, one theme that developed during the evenings conversations was the concept of networking our charging locations to allow for round trips that exceed the MINI E range. This would be great for weekend trips and for us to stay in touch with each other. Other than that we got to sit in real MINI E's, but not much more than that. Very little orientation information was provided. Those of you in New York be sure to browse the owners manuals that are in the glove compartment of the demo vehicles. I hope New York gets a more relevant guest speaker that LA got. We were treated to an egotistical environmental poser that was less than inspiring.

Happy motoring

 

Good summaries, all. For the East Coasters who will be attending their event, the gist of it is, don't go expecting to be "fed" anything other than a really good meal. There was really no "orientation" or new information given at the structured part of the event - the speaker gave more of a general enviro-pioneer pep-rally thing. The event's true worth (like most of this sort) was the informal networking afterward - all the BMW/CFCI/AC experts are there, as well as some really EV knowledgeable people - so come with your questions and fire away. Oh and you'll get to see the cars up close too.

One really useful piece of info I got from a fellow pioneer - he is having his charger installed at work (where he doesn't own the building) rather than home. For some reason I just automatically assumed this would be a non-starter due to the difficulty of controlling this space - but he is doing it. As some of you know, as of now I have DOR'd due to the excessive (in my view) cost to install the charger at home. As of this morning I'm now exploring the workplace option, and my Mini dealer has indicated the door is still open for me. I may end up in the same place, but at least it's a glimmer of hope.

 

My wife and I drove from San Diego County to attend the event.

I thought it was a very classy and worthwhile event. I would guess the attendence at 250-300.

Any question that you could possible have about the mini e's there was a resource availble to answer your question. I prefer this style over having 300 folks listen to a questioner who may carry on and on.

If you have questions they will be answers and that is the main point. Loved the venue, food, drink and speaker. Most of all I liked networking with the other mini e drivers and sharing emails phone #s.

The cars looked awesome, first time I have seen them in person. I was a bit worried about the yellow but it is a great shade or yellow, mustard or yellow olive in color.

Thank you Mini E, BMW, for a great event for the Mine E Drivers. Hope we do this again throughout the year.

Peder

 

Good thing you went after all, and I hope this gets you back in the program!

I wonder if Mini would allow a person with a longer commute to have a charger installed at home and work (maybe at their own expense)?

 

Stan, that reminds me of another tidbit I picked up. A few people asked if they could pay for an additional charger. Nadine's response was that they've received several requests like this - it's a possibility, but not until the fleet is deployed and they know if and how many extra chargers they have lying around.

And thanks for the encouragement - I need it!

 

One person last night is getting chargers installed at home AND at work. However, he is footing the bill for the work charger ($2600). He also is getting 60amp chargers at both locations. Somehow he convinced them to let him have the 60amp charger at home as well (he has 400amp service to his home). His office landlord was more than happy to accommodate his request. As he and I were discussing it, I could tell others at our table also appeared to be interested in the 2nd charger option. Sounds like if you wanna pay for it, you can get the chargers you want.

My wallbox was installed today without any issues. They are dealing with the city (Pasadena) and the permit issues. Unfortunately, I am not a SCE customer and PWP doesn't have any reduced rate as far as I've heard.

Thanks feisty and goducks for your excellent summaries and valuable info you gleaned from your hard work.. You certainly got more out of the event than I did, but then I couldn't stay until the very end. I did enjoy being able to check out the cars up close - I'm reassured that this is going to be a great car to drive and experience.

The two things that bothered me about the event: 1) why spend so much on such an event exactly? i guess you guys answered the question that it was worth it, but i'm not so sure, 2) I am a bit annoyed that it takes the above effort to get the useful information you have all provided here but I guess that's how it goes. I second the suggestion by Steve to East Coasters that you get what you put in. But I still have to ask -- why do we have to do that to get info that really should be provided anyways?

 

As others have said, the event was great. Some things I learned about the car:

I'm 6' 1" and was quite comfortable sitting in it.

You can plug in your GPS, Cellphone, etc. One at a time.

It does have a mini plug to plug in an ipod, mp3 player.

The delay with the car appears to be related to getting UL (Underwriters Laboratories) approval on the charging cable. There doesn't appear to be a problem, it's just taking longer than Mini thought to get the approval.

On the turn signal arm there is a button at the end which allows you to cycle through the various charging options. If one wants to plug in to a regular wall socket (rather than use the Clipper Creek charger) all you do is use the provided extra cable they'll provde and choose that option by clicking the button. No dealer programming is required. I asked Dr. Anton Lesnicar, Chief Engineer of the Mini E what he thought about using this option every day when I'm at work. He thought this was a great idea and suggested I do it every day if I like.

I asked Josh from AC Propulsion, do the brake lights come on when the regenerative braking kicks in or only when I hit the brake pedal?

His answer:

"Yes, the lights are wired into the controller which measures the deceleration. When the deceleration exceeds a threshold, the lights come on. That means if you're slowing down lightly as if using engine braking, the lights do not come on. Only if the deceleration is similar to actually using the friction brakes do the lights come on. And naturally if you touch the brakes, the lights come on. "

It was wonderful having access to folks with the answers.

http://electricminicooper.blogspot.com/

 

Because there were so many people, the ratio of BMW/Mini/AC engineers to customers was like 15 to 1, so I can understand some folks didnt get a chance to ask their questions.

I would just like to point out again, that I have never seen a manufacturer go out of their way, like MINI/BMW did last night. I will never forget that, and I think a lot of us feel the same way. It really showed me their commitment to this project.

fiesty

 

Jethro, it's good to hear that Anton wasn't concerned about how often one might use the 110v option. It sounds as if my company will be willing to mark off a parking space for the Mini near some existing 110v outlets (it would be a pretty good space too ). With my short commute I might not have to use home power too often during the week.

 

Hope everyone enjoys this article!

http://www.latimes.com/classified/au...,4183955.story

- Scott