Lack of UL Approved Charging Cord Means Slow Going for Many Mini E Customers
By John O'Dell June 5, 2009
New car launches rarely go off without a hitch, and with something as complicated as an electric car there's about a 100 percent chance that something will go wrong.
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Peter Trepp, the first Mini E customer, displays charging cord that Mini says many won't get right away.
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BMW has just found that out with its Mini E, a battery-electric version of the popular Mini, that is being leased in limited numbers in nationwide one-year test program.
USA Today's Open Road blog is reporting that a regulatory glitch means that as many as 300 of the 450 customers who'll be getting Mini Es many not get their high-voltage charging cables for a month or so and will have to use sloooooowwwwww 110-volt trickle charging to replenish their car's power pack when the battery runs down.
That means that instead of a 4-hour "fill up" for an empty battery, it will take about 23 hours. Customers whose daily commutes drain the batteries (the electric mini has a maximum range of 150 miles, but is less if driven at high speeds on the freeway) won't be able to recharge overnight and use the car and will only be able to use the car every-other day.
Mini spokeswoman Nathalie Bauters told Open Road that the problem isn't a shortage of the proper cables. Instead, its a regulatory roadblock.
Seems some inspectors are refusing to approve charger installations at customers' homes because the while the cords are certified by a European safety agency, they don't yet have Underwriters Laboratories certification. The UL stamp of approval has been applied for and is pending Bauters said. "This will only be for a few weeks."
She said the problem is expected to be worse on the East Coast than in the West, where inspectors apparently are easier to deal with.
Given that this is a test program, that Mini E drivers will still have about 11 months of faster charging when the cables arrive, and that Mini isn't charging them the $850 monthly lease fee while they wait, we don't expect many lessees will be so upset they'll send the cars back.
Still, it means a less-than-stellar experience for people Mini was hoping to wow from the start so they'd tell their friends and neighbors what a great car the electric Mini is.
"The are guaranteeing virgin customers a poor experience," EV advocate Chelsea Sexton told Open Road.
Bauters disagreed.
She's quoted as saying that the company believes that canceling lease payments until the high voltage cords arrive "is a satisfying solution" for a group of customers who'd rather have the cars now than wait for UL approval for the charging cords (only 23 of the 450 Mini Es have been delivered so far, and at least some of those do have the high-voltage cords).
And hey, a red tape hitch is a whole lot better than, say, batteries that won't hold a charge, or electric controllers that don't function, or electric motors that burst into flame.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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Photo courtesy of Chris Woodyard, USA Today
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