BMW Learing Lessons From Mini E Test - Pay Attention to Infrastructure is Big One
Duh...
BMW plans to being selling its own electric city car in the U.S. sometime after 2010 ad is studying the ins and outs of an EV launch with its ongoing Mini E trial ( we have one of the cars in the Edmunds long-term fleet and if you haven't been following its ups and downs you can get enlightened here).
It looks like the biggest issue, other than cost - the Mini Es come with an $850 monthly leasing fee and no mass-market EV is going to succeed with that kind of a price tag - is going to be infrastructure.
Our own experience with the Mini E has been that and EV with 90 or so miles of range - at best - makes a great runabout for local driving but for most people will never be more than a second, or third, car.
Mini's first big problem with its EV test, already well-documented, is that the cars were supplied with European-spec cords for the fast-charge system and hadn't yet been blessed with the Underwriters Lab seal that is required by electrical inspectors in most U.S. jurisdictions.
That left many of the first Mini E lessees with a puny 100-volt cable and a 20-hour recharging time until the UL approval was obtained and the 240-volt, 3.5-hour fast-charge systems could be installed.
But BMW's Jim O'Donnell, head of the North American operation, tells industry journal Automotive News that the company is still running into difficulties with its home chargers.
It seems, he said, that the company didn't realize that in the U.S., the rules can - and differ wildly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and that every town's building department has its own ideas about what's safe and what isn't.
In New Jersey, for example, Mini is still waiting for approval of more than 30 fast-charge installations.
"New Jersey is the most difficult because there are so many local authorities," each with its own inspectors to satisfy, O'Donnell said.
One big wrinkle is that while each of the components that goes into the fast-charge system is now UL certified, some inspectors maintain that the system itself hasn't been UL approved and thus can't be installed.
An unidentified spokesman for BMW told Automotive News that with the Mini E the company has had a plethora of problems dealing with just three metro areas (Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey).
"Think about when you start to build the national network and all those local codes," he said.
We suggest - to BMW and all other car makers big and small that are planning on EV and plug-in hybrid launches in coming years - that the time to think about it, and to do something to smooth the way, is now, long before the cars hit the market.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
- Posted by
- John O'Dell September 21, 2009, 5:02 PM
- Permalink
- Categories:
- BMW, MINI, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- BMW, EV, Mini Charging, Mini E
Maybe someone should clue BMW in about how things work in NJ. Bring money.