Tales of woe from the electric car frontier, MINI E edition
MINI E - Click above for high-res image gallery
We've heard the stories about the charging problems with BMW's MINI E lease program and understand that paying $850 a month for one of these electric cars doesn't appeal to everyone. Still, the issues that some early adopters are dealing with with these EVs are pretty dramatic: the car going into neutral when you step on the accelerator is a big one, as is paying an extra $1,500 for a home wiring upgrade. Also, the MINI E sends out a warning that the batteries are too hot when the ambient temperature is high. BMW recommends that, when this happens, drivers take a break, maybe smell the roses or something like that. More standard ailments – like brakes that need repair – are also present in the MINI E fleet.
BusinessWeek makes the case that the people who are shelling out for the MINI Es are more than willing to put up with hassles than "regular" car. An auto analyst told BusinessWeek that, until there is a battery breakthrough, "some of these cars will go begging for buyers." But there's a possibility that this is the wrong way to look at the issue. For ages, people have put up with filling their vehicles at smelly gas stations every couple hundred miles. Will the relative ease and lower cost of driving on electrons – even with all of the inherent problems of the early technology – be able to make us rethink which is a bigger hassle some day?
Gallery: Quick Drive: MINI E
Photos Copyright ©2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: BusinessWeek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
kballs 8:04PM (8/05/2009)
With bugs like this, they should be paying the customers $850/month to beta test (maybe alpha test) their 'prototypes'... especially with all the restrictions that go along with the lease.
Some people might get the impression that all electric cars will be this bad, but there isn't one issue here that they can't fix.
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Gary 11:30AM (8/06/2009)
These vehicles are very half baked. Rather than a genuine electric car with some credibility, these things seem more like something that was hastily designed and assembled in a garage by a do-it-yourselfer.
Well, it's shaped like a Mini and people love them. As much as these vehicles are POSes, at least their owners (or rather, lessees) are feeling good about themselves when spending $800 per month for POSes.
Ray 8:08PM (8/05/2009)
Yes Minni killed two birds with one stone. They help themselves skirt the emission's laws in CA and they set back the image of the EV buy hastily building troubled EV"s before June 30 so they could take advantage of the CARB mandate. BMW's CEO is no idiot is he? Those CARB buffoons didn't stand a chance against him.
What a bunch of idiots CARB is. It is truly possible at this point to believe that CARB has done as much to hurt the roll out of EV's as they have helped them. Actually I say they are morons and have hurt EV proliferation. There governator is a moron shelling out money for fuel cells when handing out IOU's. Arnold put the pipe down.
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twestberg 8:22PM (8/05/2009)
I don't think this is a "smelly gas station vs clean electric vehicle" story. It's a "Big Corporation tosses out an ill-designed hack to get a green gloss" story.
Say what you will about GM, but their work on the Volt appears to be meticulous. The battery's environment is controlled. They worry about how the sound of the range-extending engine will sound compared to drivers' expectations. They determine when to start that engine based on how close you are to your home. Loads of clever engineering, and it's taking them a lot of time. BMW tosses out something in a Mini skin that won't run on hot days and can't even get something conventional like brakes right?
Please don't apologize for companies that really just pretend.
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Rick 8:43PM (8/05/2009)
All electric car problems can be solved except range. Thats the killer.
Heres a dream idea - A buried electric cable running down the middle of the lane on highways. Car on top keep charge up by induction. I guess it wouldn't work but thats the sort of thing electric cars need to really take over.
Now I know you're thinking that 150k range is sufficient but it's not. Too much range anxiety. Even with gas cars range anxiety is a factor. People want their cars to go at least 500k and then quick refill for another 500.
I picked up an old F150 with 2 gas tanks last year. Don't use it much but I take it out camping once in a while. The thing goes over 1000k between fill ups on the highway. Theres something I like about that.
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CaramelZappa 9:30PM (8/05/2009)
Charging time is a lot more of an issue than range, the reason range is so low on current ev's mostly has to do with cost.
As for the F150, ford makes good trucks, but no one buys a tiny mini-e to go camping six hundred miles away. Most wouldn't do that in a regular gasoline mini. It's a small, sporty economy car, not a big utility vehicle. I just don't understand why you would even compare the two vehicles.
XYZ 8:53PM (8/05/2009)
I got rid of my old mobile phone that was running on gas and got one with a lithium battery because it's just so much easier. If I have a flat battery I quickly charge it a bit to get me going and if I find some time and get to the next power point I fully charge it. Easy!
Do you still use your old gas mobile?
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nrb 10:58AM (8/06/2009)
Actually, my stupid cell phone loses it's charge after completely random periods of use. Sometimes just a couple hours of non-use. I replaced the phone with a different model (new battery, chargers, etc) and I still have the problem.
Thank goodness I can charge the phone from my gas powered auto. It's saved the day more than once.
Nick P. 9:42PM (8/05/2009)
BMW will be among the last companies to actually sell a viable electric car. None of the German companies are interested in being leaders in that field. To them, diesel is enough.
They will continue to do the strict minimum until they are forced to do otherwise. This is surprising, coming from a country with otherwise great green credentials. Too bad.
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Mark Kiernan 5:31PM (8/06/2009)
It is sad. I had come to expect more from such a company that prides itself on it progressive approaches.
why not the LS2LS7? 9:52PM (8/05/2009)
I would say the inconvenience of not having back seats is bigger than any of the inconveniences listed here.
This stunt BMW has pulled does bother me a bit, but there are some who are more annoyed than me apparently.
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CaramelZappa 11:58PM (8/05/2009)
I'd have to disagree with the back seats being a problem. Do people with miatas and boxters complain about their lack of back seats? I have 5 seats in my car and have used the back seats maybe twice, and I wouldn't be that bothered either of those times if I didn't have the back seats.
CaramelZappa 11:59PM (8/05/2009)
Also, I've sat in the back seat of a mini, and those shouldn't be considered seats at all.
why not the LS2LS7? 3:53PM (8/06/2009)
Congratulations, you represent less than 10% of the market.
If rear seats really didn't matter, they wouldn't have designed the BMW MINI to have them in the first place.
Lad 11:09PM (8/05/2009)
Interesting approach by BMW: hand your prototypes over to the Public, for a price, and let them identify the problems in a real world setting, without all the expensive prototype testing up front. However, I'm surprised the drivers didn't sign a non-disclosure about problems encountered to keep them out of the press.
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nrb 11:00AM (8/06/2009)
"I'm surprised the drivers didn't sign a non-disclosure "
That was an extra-cost option.
jake 12:21AM (8/06/2009)
Well ,we all know the MINI-Es are all basically prototypes that customers pay to drive, so it's kind of expected that they have more problems than a refined, actual production vehicle. However, what is worrisome is the bad image this might give EVs, but I suppose that is the reason for the extensive customer vetting process.
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miles 7:57AM (8/06/2009)
Nice offer of excuses. What kind of skewering would these posts be offering if this were a GM/Chrysler product??
This vehicle performance is utterly discraceful, regardless of it's origins.
Serge 10:14AM (8/06/2009)
"However, what is worrisome is the bad image this might give EVs"
EVs have a great reputation so far, thanks to Tesla. They've shown what a properly engineered EV can be like to own and drive -- no worries. In fact, the only isolated problem TM had with diff. hubs on Roadsters was promptly resolved.
With Mini E the bad image is going to stick to BMW. Further proof that [formerly] much vaunted "German engineering" is loosing its edge and advantage.
nrb 11:02AM (8/06/2009)
Well Serge, in a round about way, you nailed it.
EV's that meet people's expectations are cost prohibitive.