Today is the day I was supposed to take delivery of my MINI-E.
But after waiting almost 5 months to get my MINI-E and jumping through charger/cable install hoops, I was dropped from the program and given no reason.

Imagine my surprise! Yesterday evening, Friday, I was called by the sales manager at Nick Alexander MINI who told me “there was some kind of mix up and not to come down tomorrow.” He said he was sad that he had to be the one to tell me but “BMW corporate felt that I was not right for the MINI-E program.” He said he had no other details on their decision. He was simply asked to tell me. Then he asked if I would like to buy a gas MINI.

The MINI-E team has still not contacted me concerning this. Apparently, they simply want me to go away. I think I must have hit a nerve. I can only guess that they were tired of my blogging on this very site about the possibility of a hidden agenda that BMW has for these MINI-Es. Namely, that their real goal is to gain as many zero emission vehicle credits from the state of California before the ZEV mandate rules reduce the credits from 10 per car to 3 per car after June 30th. I became more and more concerned that this, in fact, was BMW’s real agenda rather than an honest field trial program to road test a car as part of their commitment to develop an actual production model plug-in electric car.

Let me say first for those of you who don’t know me that I am an extreme advocate for plug-in battery electric vehicles. I have logged over 32,000 miles in the GM EV1. This superior propulsion technology has proven itself for decades now. I am a proud member of Plug In America, the number one grassroots advocacy group that is dedicated to accelerating the shift to plug-in vehicles powered by clean, affordable, domestic electricity to reduce our nation's dependence on petroleum and improve the global environment. For me, the MINI-E is a fantastic car. Even though featureless, it represents almost exactly my ideal commuter car. It’s a fun and powerful car. I enjoy reading about the Pioneers who are enjoying driving this high-performance electric car and passing those gas stations. You are really getting it. You have the EV smile. I lived this for 3 years with the EV1 years ago. But sadly, the EV1 was just a tease. Since then I have made it my mission to educate myself and keep track of all developments in the EV movement.

So why would BMW drop a guy like me from this program?
I think it started when I pursued the $7500 Federal plug-in vehicle tax incentive that came along late in their MINI-E plan. When I asked BMW about this incentive, I was told by them to discuss it with my accountant. My accountant advised me that all BMW had to do was sign over the tax incentive to me so that I could claim it on my income taxes. When I told the MINI-E team what my accountant had advised me, Richard Steinberg (from the MINI-E team) told me that the BMW Corporation had no interest in pursuing the matter of the tax incentives. They wouldn’t give any plausible reason for this decision except to say that there was no upside for BMW given their corporate tax situation. I fail to understand why their corporate tax situation would have any bearing on their choosing to help the customers. Another blogger from the East coast suggested that perhaps BMW wouldn’t because they were planning all along to deduct the cost of these R&D cars on their company income taxes. That would make them ineligible to pass on the plug-in tax incentives. They can’t do both. The tax incentive was perhaps just an unwelcome and unanticipated development that coincided with their MINI-E plans. This is my conjecture because BMW has not chosen to respond fully and candidly about this matter in my opinion. I cannot imagine why they would not want their pioneers to reap the benefits of the tax incentive offered by the U.S. government. It’s no money out of BMW’s pocket or is it? And is my removal from the program a case of punishing the person who is asking too many uncomfortable questions that they just would rather not have to answer??

 

I suspect that good PR is one thing BMW would like to get out of this project. I get the impression that you would probably not be a plus for them in that dept.

 

Yeh, there's good PR and there's the truth.
So don't criticize the team or the car and you will be fine.
No negative feedback. OK.

 

After waiting almost 5 months to get my MINI-E and jumping through charger/cable install hoops, I was dropped from the program and given no reason.

Imagine my surprise! Friday evening June 19th, the day before I was to pick up the MINI-E, I was called by the sales manager at Nick Alexander MINI who told me “there was some kind of mix up and not to come down tomorrow.” He said he was sad that he had to be the one to tell me but “BMW corporate felt that I was not right for the MINI-E program.” He said he had no other details on their decision. He was simply asked to tell me. Then he asked if I would like to buy a gas MINI.

The MINI-E team has still not contacted me concerning this. Apparently, they simply want me to go away. I think I must have hit a nerve. I can only guess that they were tired of my blogging on this very site about the possibility of a hidden agenda that BMW has for these MINI-Es. Namely, that their real goal is to gain as many zero emission vehicle credits from the state of California before the ZEV mandate rules reduce the credits from 10 per car to 3 per car after June 30th. I became more and more concerned that this, in fact, was BMW’s real agenda rather than an honest field trial program to road test a car as part of their commitment to develop an actual production model plug-in electric car.

Let me say first for those of you who don’t know me that I am an extreme advocate for plug-in battery electric vehicles. I have logged over 32,000 miles in the GM EV1. This superior propulsion technology has proven itself for decades now. I am a proud member of Plug In America, the number one grassroots advocacy group that is dedicated to accelerating the shift to plug-in vehicles powered by clean, affordable, domestic electricity to reduce our nation's dependence on petroleum and improve the global environment. For me, the MINI-E is a fantastic car. Even though featureless, it represents almost exactly my ideal commuter car. It’s a fun and powerful car. I enjoy reading about the Pioneers who are enjoying driving this high-performance electric car and passing those gas stations. You are really getting it. You have the EV smile. I lived this for 3 years with the EV1 years ago. But sadly, the EV1 was just a tease. Since then I have made it my mission to educate myself and keep track of all developments in the EV movement.

So why would BMW drop a guy like me from this program?
Maybe because I kept after them about the $7500 plug-in vehicle federal tax credit incentive. Or maybe because I kept blogging that I wondered if they really meant to make a BMW production plug-in car at all. Or maybe because I pointed out that they over promised the range and charging time for the MINI-E and that was giving the EVs and the EV movement bad name.
This is all just my conjecture because BMW has not chosen to respond fully and candidly about any of these topics.
Is my removal from the program a case of punishing the person who is asking too many uncomfortable questions that they just would rather not have to answer??

 

I would venture to guess that they canned your app because you could be viewed as more trouble to "them" than you're worth as a tester, yes. if yo're honest you might agree. They probably have a list of criteria that they consider wrt people selected and overinvolvement in various groups and memberships might be a strike against.

 

Yes, we have to guess.

 

TheBigNewt - you can't be more wrong. Jeff has been a great pioneer from day one. I'm still part of the program, and it's people like Jeff and their honest input that will force change. FYI, Jeff and I are not the only vocal participants. There are plenty of us out there...

 

With the Los Angeles County Sherrifs getting 17, and Community Options getting 12, I wonder if MINI is pulling some back from individuals in favor of seeding them to organizations. It might be easier for them to deal with fleets, and the PR potential is much better with law enforcement and charities. Just a thought.

 

Robin, am I correct to guess that you are not in the E program? Actually the opposite is true. With so many people dropping out due to gouging by contractors (East Coast) and general delay of the program launch, BMW is scrambling to meet the minimum delivery number to meet the CARB requirements. When I asked Rich and Marian how many paying Pioneers were left, they had no idea. There are now about 80 vehicles going to non Pioneers. And I'm sure that number could be north of 100. I'm one of the MINI PIGS subsidizing this "trial"

 

Seems to me that in order for this to be successful and helpful to BMW the company and the Pioneers need to be part of a team (for the most part). What BMW probably doesn't want are their testers being suspicious and distrustful of them as to their motives. The prices have to be fair. Sounds to me some of these aspects are leaking oil now. Too bad.
EDIT: I forgot, E-cars don't use oil do they?

 

BMW's motives are a matter of public record. Bank as many CA ZEV credits before June 30th when the law changes. The NY and NJ cars apply to CA's ZEV credits as part of the travel provision in the ZEV mandate. The MINI-E units are "mule" tools designed to achieve this chess move.
The price is not fair, that's one of many reasons electric car advocates are up in arms. That high a price reenforces the myth that plug-in electric cars will always be too expensive for the average consumer. Not passing on the $7500 Federal tax incentive to the lesses keeps those payment unduly high, counter acting on the purpose of that law. Dose the incentive apply to the MINI-E? We as not the car owners we may never know.

 

Maybe this has something to do with it.