almost as cute as the mini!!!

okay, this car is not a mini, and it's not even electric, but how adorable is it???? ps: I have seen this car in person and believe me, it is damn cute:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/automobiles/06EGO.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tiny%20Fiat%20car&st=cse

Let's Take a Ride in My Electric Car

thanks to Stan Sadorf for posting this on the Facebook Mini-E page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAv6M1Bai0c

passed the electrical inspection!

absolutely loving the car in the sparkling September weather in New York.

Wall Box Inspection

I finally got a call about the wallbox inspection.  Hopefully it will happen this Thursday, September 3rd.  

Change is Hard

Sad op-ed piece in my hometown rag yesterday:

New York Post piece

I guess it makes sense that someone who is president of something called TransGasEnergy would have this point of view.  Why is the Volt generating so much attention?  Pun intended.

Someone noticed my electric car!

I was stopped at a light and the car behind me beeped and pulled up next to me.  Guy in a white Volvo wagon.  He yelled over, "I like your car!"  I was thrilled that #237 finally got some attention.  I smiled and yelled back, "it's electric!"  (He was undoubtedly thinking, "no duh, it's all over your license plate, I wouldn't say this to just any Mini" but he had enough manners not to say it) He did say, "Yeah, I like it!"  Then the light changed and as we drove off, I searched for something appropriate to yell out the window to him, such as "have a low-to-no emissions day!" or "think outside the barrel!" or even just "party on, dude!"  But alas, words escaped me.  I guess that's why Mini gave us these handy little cards with vital stats on them.  You can hand them out at cocktail parties, I guess.  Or you can hand one out the window when someone (with clearly excellent taste) finally notices that you are driving an electric car, and this leaves you... speechless.

Wacky Window Wednesday

Today, after a full charge with the new super cable, my car acted a bit funny... after starting it up, I tried to close the windows... the passenger side window would not shut.  It just kept going up and down.  Thinking maybe the door wasn't closed fully, I got out and shut the door firmly.  Window still kept going up and down.  Turned car off and then back on.  Window still not staying closed... but at some point soon after the reboot, it did stay closed.  Also, after full charge the gauge was at 100 % but readout only said 94 miles.  

Finally, the charging cable is installed!

Today is a big day; my charging cable was just installed into my wallbox and I am finally ready to charge up in just a coupla hours.  Hooray!

'Nuff Said

back from vacation... and I really missed my car!

Just got back from a week in Santa Fe, so #237 sat in the garage with a full charge.  I missed my little car while I was away.  I was curious to see if I would have any issues starting it after it had a week off, but it started right up and had the whole charge.  Drove to the supermarket and parked (intentionally) right next to a regular Mini, with the driver sitting inside, and I still didn't get any comments or questions about my electric car.  Day-um!  I sure hope my personalized license plate and custom license plate frames come soon!  Read together, they will say "plug me in, I'm an electric car."  Yes, I have to hit 'em over the head with it.  And finally, since I don't have any new pictures of the car, I thought I'd include a cool picture of Tent Rocks National Monument, outside of Santa Fe.

Zen and the Art of the Mini-E

So I was driving 237 home from yoga class this morning, and I realized that life with a mini-e is very much of the "be here now" philosophy.  Yesterday while driving on the highway at rush hour there was (yet another) sudden torrential downpour, and had I been driving my old gas guzzler, I would have been thinking about what to make for dinner and trying to remember to watch the latest episode of Weeds on my dvr.  Instead, I was very present and in the moment as I maneuvered around deep puddles and my Vatta energy spiked as I chanted a new mantra, "car is dry, car is dry."  I have not had any issues during this New York monsoon season.  And on another note, I put my order in for my new personalized license plate, "PLUGMEIN."

Why Won't Anyone Notice My Electric Car???

I think the mini electric car is fascinating and adorable.  If I saw it on the road, I would certainly notice the plug graphics and want to pull alongside it at a red light and ask about it.  I truly would.  Why won't anyone notice it??  I even passed two other minis today (the gas kind) and they didn't seem to notice.  I get more questions when I walk my labradoodle.  Even when parked in the Whole Foods parking lot, a place where I imagine there are other people who are interested in organic food, alternative power sources and buying green, there were no questions and no looks.  Today I could at least forgive people for not noticing my car, since there was something else quite unusual and beautiful to see in NY:  the sun.  Ah, well.  And here is a picture of the trunk, just so you can see that, unless you are John and Kate plus 8, there is plenty of room for a couple of bags of groceries.

Milo in the Mini

I decided to use this photo of our labradoodle, Milo, in #237, as part of my blog header.  They are both so darn cute.  Milo looks slightly upset because I told him he can't have the car tonight.

Slipping into neutral??

okay, this has happened a couple of times already and it happened again today... I was pulling the car into the garage, very slowly.  I had driven it for about 30 minutes, got home, turned it off, ran into the house, came back out and turned it on again to pull it into the garage to charge.  While doing so, the car slipped out of D into N.  What gives???  Had to do the reboot to get it into D again.  Has this happened to anyone else?  Plus, we had more torrential showers today and I had more dread about driving through deep puddles.  That actually didn't cause any problems, even though there was plenty of water everywhere.  Had more dread with the charging cable and all the dampness in the garage, but all was fine.  Wow, this has not been the month in New York to develop a fear of water.  

Living with the Mini-e: Planning Ahead

So I have discovered that until the more powerful charging cable comes along, I need to really plan in advance (not the way I usually operate), since it takes over a day to fully charge on the 110 volt cable.  That means one day of use, one day of rest.  Also, arriving at home now means plugging in before I go into the house.   Yesterday during charging, one of my fuses kept tripping in the house.  I turned off every light, didn't use the washing machine or the A/C (a good thing to do anyway, if you can) and it still kept tripping.  On the brighter side, it is so much fun to drive that my husband and I both reach for the keys when we are taking it together!

first charge with the 120 volt cable

My wallbox charging station was installed weeks ago, but apparently Mini has been having a problem getting the charging cable that attaches to the box.  That cable will fully charge the car in only two or three hours (so I'm told) but since there has been a hitch getting the cable out to people, I will be using the 120 volt cable that comes with the car (takes almost a day to fully charge the car! but plugs into any grounded electrical outlet).  We drove #237 into Manhattan and back last night (about a 50 mile round trip) and the driving was great.  Parked in the Village and waited for someone (anyone!) to notice the car.  Only saw one guy pointing towards it and talking to his friend, presumably he knew it was electric.  I have a need for people to notice the car.  What's up with that?  Anyhow, got home late and didn't want to start messing around with the cable and the manual, so waited until today to charge her up.  

#237 comes home on June 16,2009

So I am participating in the Mini-e field trial... 1 of 500 people chosen to test drive the mini electric car for a year.  The prospect of having a plug-in Mini Cooper was ridiculously tantalizing. I decided to keep a blog for the year to document my experience with the car.  The story starts here, with #237's arrival at home.