Last Monday, the electrician arrived at my home to do the Wall Box Inspection and the news wasn’t good. In order to have enough juice flowing to our detached garage, he said we’d need to dig a trench from the basement of our house through our backyard to our garage and lay a 40 amp line. Heavy machinery would have to be involved. Price tag? He wouldn’t say, but told me that MINI would get back to me.
After consulting with a few friends who’ve had some electrical work done, I got the sense that at a minimum the cost would be five thousand dollars. That is no where near what I’d been expecting to pay. In addition, the idea of digging a big trench through our backyard, upending the swing set and landscaping (that we’d probably have to pay to replace) just seemed like too much to take on. Honestly, even if MINI paid for everything needed, I still don’t think I’d go through with it. Too much disruption for a line that I’d only use for one year.
It will come as no surprise that I decided to pull out of the MINI E Field Trial. I’m saddened by my decision, but think it’s the right thing for me and my family. I am eager to hear about how the trial progresses, MINI’s findings, and the experiences of the field trial participants.
To end on a positive note, I purchased my first MINI after I made my decision to pull out of the field trial. It’s the convertible 2008 MINI Cooper S you see on this post and I absolutely love it. I wish MINI and all of the MINI E Field Trial Participants all the best.
There’s been a lot of MINI E activity for me over the last 24 hours.
1. Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Clean Fuel Connection, Inc. to request my availability for conducting the initial inspection for the Wall Box. The e-mail had three attachments:
- Process flow diagram of how the Wall box installation process will work. It was very straightforward and easy to read. No Earth shattering revelations.
- FAQ document that answered some basic questions. Good to know more about the potential lower EV rate for electricity I might get from the local utility. We’ll see.
- Clipper Creek CS Brochure which was a high level specification pamphlet on the wall charger. It confirms that we’ll need to upgrade the service out to the garage. Thankfully, we have plenty of juice available.
I e-mailed my availability for the inspections and hopefully I’ll get a call soon to schedule the actual time.
2. I received two tickets via snail mail to the New York International Auto Show being held April 10-19. They are exhibitor passess that MINI sent me so that I can go and see the MINI E live. The dates fall smack dab in the middle of my vacation, but I’m negotiating to adjust my schedule a bit so I can go to the show. It would be such a great opportunity to get a preview of my MINI E.
3. This morning I received another edition of Plugged In, the MINI E newsletter. It was briefer than the last one and provided updates on the inspections and also let us know that the actual cars are all on the West Coast waiting to be shipped out to their respective dealers.
That’s all for now. As always, I can’t wait to receive my MINI E and get motoring.
Yesterday I received via e-mail the first of what will be a weekly MINI E Field Trial newsletter called PLUGGED-IN. Kudos to Mini for keeping us field trial participants informed and engaged.
Key points shared in the newsletter:
- that there is a newsletter and we’ll now be getting it weekly
- wall box inspections have started on the West coast and will start on the East coast shortly
- there’s been a delay in the production of the cable for the wall box but they’ll still be installing the boxes and will then come back to install the cable once it’s available
- due to the cable production delay, the cars won’t be available until May at the earliest
- final tidbit was that the pictures in the media of the MINI E with the decals (side graphics) on the side are the auto show cars. The MINI E’s in the field trial will not have those side graphics
My reactions:
- Was glad to hear from MINI and get the update
- Was not surprised about the pushing back of the delivery date because it aligns well with what my contact at Morristown MINI told me last week
- Thinking that my electrical service will need to be upgraded because I think we run 110v to the garage and the charging stations requires 240v
I’m very much looking forward to the arrival of my MINI E!
Caught up with my contact at Morristown Mini last week who gave me a call.
A few key points:
- No taxes will be assessed with the inception fee – love it!
- I should be hearing from the charging box installation inspectors in the next 2 weeks – haven’t heard yet
- He asked me to talk to Liberty Mutual to get an insurance quote and send it to him. They have a special line just for MINI E Field Trial Participants. Got a good deal because we already have our insurance with Liberty Mutual.
- It seems that that late April/Early May is turning into May/June. Bummed but totally understand that they need to do this right.
Will post again when I hear from the charging box installation inspector.
I just received an e-mail from the MINI E program folks letting me know next steps regarding the wall box charger. They have hired Clean Fuel Connection, Inc. to do the assessment and implementation work involved for installing the infrastructure needed for the wall box charger. They will do all of the permit requests and manage all the work required to ensure the wall box charger is installed correctly.
Apparently, the wall box chargers are almost all ready to go. For now, the waiting game continues and my anticipation grows.
Kudos to Mini for getting a communication out so that we’re all informed about where we are in the process.
I’m excited to announce that I’ve been selected to participate in the field test of the Mini E, a 100% electric, zero emissions Mini. I was at work on Monday when my cell phone rang. When I answered it, the caller informed me that I had been selected to be 1 of 500 Field Test participants. 250 from the East coast, 250 from the West coast. Out of all of the applications they received during their one month application period that ended 12/10/08, I guess something about mine must have stood out. No idea what that was, but I don’t care. I’m going to be driving a Mini E and participating in this groundbreaking program.
Today, I stopped by Morristown Mini, met the guy I’ll be working with from the Dealership (who was really nice), and submitted my lease financing form. He e-mailed me 2 hours later and informed me that I’d been approved.
So I’m official.
Next step is that I will get contacted for the Wall Box Installation, need to get insurance, and then await delivery which is due in either late April or May. I plan on blogging all about my Mini E experience. There will be logs I have to keep, notes to make, maybe even interviews with the Mini folks to help them understand the strengths and improvement opportunities for the Mini E.
My dream of some day having a Mini will come true at last!
