Bye bye, my sweetheart… :’-(

Farewell my sweet, lovely and adorable Mimi. I wish you all the best with the new family (190 km from my home) in the top east part of the country.

For sure I shall miss you more than you know and you’ll be always a precious memory to me.

My first 100% EV and the best and most enjoyable car I ever owned…

 

Kisses from the family and be safe and happy holidays with Dirk and his family.

This Blog will end here as the new owner has no intention or special skills to write a Blog like Edwin and I did the previous years.

 

I still hope I can meet you again some day on our Dutch roads somewhere. Best to you and don’t forget about us…

Time to say goodbye (with pain in my heart)…

Some few years ago, I was blessed to have been able to purchase and experience my first 100% EV vehicle from the previous owner (who also was blogging about the lovely e-car).

Due to recent changes in my personal life, the need for an improved range and the wish to step in a V2.0 EV-environment, have made me decide (in the end) to offer “Mimi” to other people new to electric driving.

I hope I can find an as loving ‘home’ for Mimi. We have had some wonderful and new experiences and comfortable trips and it is with pain in my heart (and especially that of my daughter) that Mimi is up for sale:

http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/auto-s/mitsubishi/m1114989557-mitsubishi-i-miev-feb-2011-grijs-metallic.html

We are soon entering, like Edwin (the previous owner/blogger), into the world of Nissan Leaf.

Sweet Mimi, you are always in our heart and for many reasons we will miss you when you’ve gone. (Not to mention when looking to find a parking space.)

Farewell and all good to you…

Happy New Year… Time for an update!

Well, it’s close to three years driving with ‘Mimi’ now. In the mean time, I’ve driven 30.000 km, saving 2400 liters of petrol and enjoying zero emission (also thanks to our solar panels)…

And this is where I start ranting about the on-going response by many people who have no experience with electric cars whatsoever.
Too often I catch myself listening in on other people stating all kinds of nonsense when it comes to this kind of transportation. People who have formed their opinion and reasoning on hearsay, their own first impression and prejudices.
I overheard such discussion on HAM-radio the other day. And as usual all the regular disgust on electric vehicles passed the scene. Unfortunately I’m not a licensed HAM-radio operator, so I was unable to take part and ‘educate’ as well as place some nuances at their disapproval.
Some statements that always enter the stage:

* Zero emission cars actually do generate emission, because the electricity generated at powerplants is not emission-free.
– On the other hand, cracking oil at refineries take a bigger toll on the environment. In my case the 22 solar panels on my roof generate enough power to keep me rolling all year without any emission. (And yes, production of solar panels also are not environmental friendly, but so is production of petrol, oil, fuel-lines, fuel pumps, fuel hoses, jerrycans and so on…)

* Already from scratch, electric cars pollute the environment when they are being assembled. Especially batteries; the chemicals used and plastics are a disaster!
– That only proves how short-sighted people can be. Any product that undergoes some kind of production phase tend to leave a mark on the environment, but petrol cars are in no way different, except for the battery. But arguments dissolve quickly when realizing the compensation. All these years the petrol car is not driving emission-free, the fact that petrol requires distribution to petrol stations all over the planet (big trucks pollute when distributing), the conventional engine requires a lot of oil during its ‘life’, which is not uncommonly spilt in the environment due to leaks, fitting a catalyst (to reduce toxic exhaust) brings the problem that it needs to fabricated too, the conventional car doesn’t recuperate lacking a regenerative braking system and so on…

* Driving electric will never work, “it just has no future” and previous attempts on fuel-economic vehicles have all failed due to the fact that ‘the big petrol companies’ frustrate and avoid success of such plans.
– People tend to be ‘frightened’ by new innovation and technological breakthroughs. The first steam engines were monsters and that kind of transportation was considered very dangerous or even diabolic.
The fact is that trains run up to 574,8 km/h ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOdATLzRGHc ) these days and transportation by train is much safer than participating in traffic by car.
Also the range of current electric cars is always one of the first (counter) arguments. But do you remember only a decade ago? When mobile telephony meant carrying a GSM-phone, the size of your average TV remote control, enjoying some 2 hours of quality talk-time and several hours on standby. Nowadays we have very thin and compact devices with processors and memory that would make any computernerd jealous in 1999. Batteries have evolved significantly since mobile phones have been introduced. Once heavy and crass containers have become slim and light weighted creditcard-shaped units.
Imagine where our electric car will take us in the future with the improved battery technologies like:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/07/aluminium-battery-can-charge-phone-in-one-minute-scientists-say

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/130380-future-batteries-coming-soon-charge-in-seconds-last-months-and-power-over-the-air

 

So, to all those people with their very limited knowledge on the subject, I would like to state: Get your facts straight and open your mind.

Sometimes it takes a revolutionary pioneer to educate the world and prove that unknown fields can bring radical changes, as long as you are willing to give it a try.

And if you are still in doubt: In 1998 nobody needed a mobile phone, 25 years later people already can’t live without:

Price of a new i-MiEV has dropped significantly in the Netherlands…

Interesting… Just browsing some generl pages on electric vehicles and new introductions, I recently discovered the price of a new i-MiEV in the Netherlands has dropped below € 20.000,-.

At first I decided this might be an error or be excluding taxes or even when the battery would be leased or something.

But checking the Mitsubishi Motors website, I was proven wrong. That made me think: Maybe it’s time to do an update?

The new(er) i-MiEV has a very clever remote control, which enables me to cool down (airco) or pre-heat (in these colder nights) the car before even drving off, preserving battery power for the trip, in stead of having to do the initial climate control…

But checking the website, I quickly realised that the dashboard has been altered to a more in-dash stereo system, removing the double-DIN rack which offers me now a Pioneer AVIC-F20BT audio/navigation/handsfree phone system.

The information display has been reduced to a single-line and monochrome LCD-screen, like all others aboard.

I am not willing to sacrifice the on-board companion that I find in my Pioneer AVIC-F20BT, just to upgrade.
Also it would mean I would lose my rear-view camera, which is also integrated.

So, considering my options, I have decided (together with my wife, who is also very satisfiedsith our Mimi) not to replace or update our ride, but just see where she’ll take us more. And maybe later on consider our options again when a completely new model might surface at Mitsubishi.
Also it’s still nice to follow development at other brand: The Volkswagen e-Up! seems like a real competitor for the i-MiEV (same length, but wider/more mature body: 1.64m).

Another update on my experiences was another maintenance/servicing at Mitsubishi. A what we call ‘big service’ and first technical check (APK) required for the first time, only set me back € 177,91 all-in.
With a 20.000 km interval for servicing, I’m guaranteed to drive safely and well checked.

Mentioning the ‘safe’ part, “Mimi” has been selected for 2 seperate call-backs. One had to do with the brakes, there might be a small flaw in one part, that might extend the breaking distance somewhat if it malfunctions. The replacement was available at my dealer, but in the meantime they received another notice from Mitsubishi for whiich the part had to be ordered. But I was able to pick our i-MiEV up after the weekend again. Additionally I was told the software was also upgraded (sort of firmware upgrade).
Although I haven’t noticed any differences in comfort of driving, range or even smoother acceleration or something, I’m sure it would do no harm and I benefit from all these checks, free of charge of course. 🙂

10.000 km within 11 months

I forgot to mention that in February, it was time to overview a year of driving electric.
Already after 11 months I had collected another 10.000 km on the total mileage, (Strange term when your in the metric system, but OK… 🙂 )
That means I exceeded the first expectations of 7.000 to 8.000 km on a yearly basis.
So the savings are also way better than expected. Every 100 km, means saving 10 euro’s on fuel. (That is not totally accurate, on a summer range of 130-140 km, I save more, but using A/C and heating in winter combined with a reduced range, it’s not a weird average for calculating…)
So within about 11 months, I saved 1000 euro’s on fuel. Add the road-tax (free) advantage (about 450 euro’s compared to my other car, which weighs the same) and the lower maintenance cost (at least 200 euro’s a year cheaper), I might say I saved about € 1750,- in one year.

These days there’s more than 63.000 km on the mileage meter and I’m looking forward to putting more on that meter in the future and enjoy some entertaining, interesting, comfortable, carnoise-free and budgetfriendly kilometers.

Winter-experiences and a new challenge: Long distance and 100% free!

Well, it’s been some time since I last posted a note here. In the mean time I have been experimenting with larger distances… And also I had to get used to the cold weather conditions in relation to the battery-power/range of Mimi.
Luckily I have discovered before that there’s an ANWB service point half-way between Amersfoort and Amsterdam, which has a ChaDeMo-fastcharger available.

So when the cold weather had reduced my range from about 130-140 km regional traffic to a mere 90-100 km when the temperature drops below 10 degrees Celsius, I can still make it to the Amsterdam region (my mom’s place).
One of my trips to there and back was due to a PC monitor breaking down and needing a quick replacement (I had a spare that was not in use). But I wanted to drive back directly and not sit and wait about 3 hours for the range to be sufficient to make it back to Amersfoort.

I calculated that, when I would take a much earlier exit on the highway and drive interregional roads, I would save enough to go from home to my mom and then on the way back make it to the ANWB fastcharger. The ANWB fastcharger was still 31 km seperated from me at my mom’s place.
Though the range reported 42 km remaining, I knew that the range had degraded less significantly, due to driving the last part of the trip interregional with 45-70 km/h. But as soon as I had to accept the last part of my return trip, I would not be able to avoid a highway-part of about 15 km.
Avoiding the highway as long as possible and carefully driving, I could doublecheck with the navigation the remaining kilometers on the range meter would júúúúúúúúst be enough.

Although that empty gastank feeling was already some time ago (mostly my first trip from where I bought Mimi to home was as exciting), I made it with only 7 km on the range and the very last block flashing already some time…
Now on a (inter)regional road, 7 km isn’t that much of a deal, but driving on a highway, not being able to tow or push your car, worse: not being to fill it up with a jerrycan, now that is something different. I was (very) glad my calculations, including the degrading range from the weather conditions, were accurate.

Now that the weather has progressed to spring, and more spring matching temperatures, I decided to work on my latest idea/project. Especially because I have 2 weeks full-time parenting and not need to show up for 2 weeks at work in that time (‘sort-a-vacation’, but I call it: “not needing to attend at work”, since it’s not vacation and had to do several chores besides taking care of my daughter during my wife’s absence).

The challenge:
I want to go budget-shopping at a Kaufland-store in Germany. It’s a cheap supermarket, where we usually buy stuff that we can’t get in the Netherlands or just has a much higher price over here.
We visit the Kaufland only on our way back from holidays, because driving there (and back) just for the purpose of shopping, wouldn’t make sense. At least not budget-wise.
But…, I want to drive there with Mimi. The most near Kaufland for me would likely be the one in Emmerich, just across the border past the (Dutch) city of Arnhem (or in German: Arnheim).

But since the trip will be mostly highway, it’s not likely I’ll make it there on just a fully charged battery of 16 kWh. In the ‘optimum efficiency’ situation, I should be able to make it up to almost 100 km of range, just on the highway, with 84-90 km/h behind some kind of larger vehicle, like a truck.
But the REAL challenge is that I want the trip to Kaufland and back absolutely FREE!
I shall use only free charging points.
At the moment that is not too hard still, because the earlier (on the Blog) mentioned “FastNed” charging stations are still increasing in number and more and more are getting operational. But for a little while they are still in a test phase and charging is free at the moment (and has been since the opening of the first FastNed charging station quite a while ago).
These yellow arch (like half the McDonald’s logo and with solar-panels on the (wooden support pole) roof) stations are located conveniently near highway petrol-stations.

Because I can’t leave with a drained battery, but want to make sure the trip is free, makes that when I return home: the remaining blocks on the fuel/charge-meter should be the same or more.
My goal is to depart with 5 blocks on it (of 16). That enables me to make it to the FastNed facility on the A1 highway near Terschuur (near Barneveld).
Time… is not of essence! So I’ll spend all day on it, if required. But my plan is to depart about 09:00 (after most of the traffic jams have cleared that might have occured during the commuter hours) and spend about 22 minutes at FastNed for charging.
That would mean the time to have evolved to about 10 AM. Then the eco-driving part sets in, driving just over 70 km. Usually that is not a problem, but a fast-charger charges only about 80% fast and then shuts down, if I want more, I’ll have to move the car a few meters from the ChaDeMo-charger to the slow (for me 16A) Mennekes-connection.
For Mennekes-charging sockets I have already used the red/orange cable I bought on eBay before (see earlier in the Blog) some times and it will suit me here fine once again.
So, depending on how things go and how much time I want to spend, I’ll charge a bit longer via the Mennekes-socket.

Then I drive to another FastNed station, located on the A18 highway (just beyond Arnhem), but I should mention that it requires to turn my car around on the following exit, because the FastNed facility over there is located on the ‘way back’.
Because I not need to drive on that highway at all (just a detour of several kilometers for charging there), it’s not of much importance, but it might puzzle you readers when I post my next Blog-entry with the results of the challenge with a GPS data-logger registration in addition to it.

From over there I should be able to make it to Kaufland Emmerich and after shopping, back to that same FastNed facility on the A18 once again. There I’ll charge a third time that day and it would enable me to make it home (barely). But due to the fact that I don’t want to pay anything (just for the ‘fuel’), I might need to charge one more time somewhere to add up to 5 or more blocks before getting home…

If this challenge is succesful, I might skip one or two charge sessions on a next time and try to make it on just 2 charges. And maybe even trying to drive solely on interregional roads not exceeding 80 km/h if that saves me more (charging time) in the end…
With all that in mind, my guess is that it’ll be about 5 PM when I get home.

OK, I’ll keep you updated and posted: Friday is the day.

Those who’ll ecodrive-challenge themselved to Germany and back, greet you! 🙂

Quick-charging at FastNed(.nl)…

Today I visited a new and modern charging station:
Facebook-link

http://oplaadpalen.nl/laadpaal/31554

Fuel(cost) savings: almost 900 euro’s… and still counting!

That’s about $1200, you know. That’s a hand full of 20 dollars bills as shown below.

Not bad for 9,5 months of happy driving “electric”…

The value of the Yazaki – Mennekes adapter cable…

This pictures gives you an impression of the places I can charge at when I receive the Yazaki-Mennekes adapter cable, compared to the situation now.
That’s a lot more possibilities for charging along the way, so my guess is that the adapter cable will turn out money well spent. 🙂

The first quickcharge session… and the second…

On the way to Amsterdam, I planned to stop at the ANWB service center in Naarden. Keeping my fingers crossed that the quickcharge point wasn’t occupied, I blasted with 110 km/h to that place. Because temperatures on daytime are about the same as inside your refrigerator, I kept the heating on low position aswell.

When I arrived there, all 3 (1 quickcharge and 2 regular charging) positions were free. I noticed immediately some kind of memo on the cable with the connector of the quickcharger.
Reading it, it informed me that the ‘free charging’ days are over soon and in order to access (turn on) the charging stations, you need a ANWB charging card. Trying my L2L (LoveToLoad) card, it accepted it without hesitation and started flowing the electricity at high speed.
It took me about 10 minutes to fill up five blocks, which corresponds with the reports that you can quick charge the battery up to 80% in about 30 minutes. I have 16 blocks and I was able to reach 13 blocks on scale.
After succesfully disconnecting (reintroducing my L2L “RF” card to the quickcharger the systems unlocks the ChaDeMo-connector and I resumed my trip to Amsterdam.

On the way back (some hours later, slow charging to 100% at my mom’s place) it was becoming quite cold and my daughter started complaining. I said I could turn up the heat to “max” if we could make a stop at the ANWB quick charger once more. That was no problem whatsoever, so it’s where we went. Eating away the blocks and quickly seeing the range-meter drop. After 25.2 km driving (almost all highway) and the heat turned up high, I lost a whopping 9 blocks (more than half the capacity).

Again some 10 minutes spent at the ANWB and I departed with 13 blocks on the scale once more.
Now that is something. After that I slowed down some more, following a truck (90 km/h) and switching the heating on and off, I made it home with a 8 blocks remaining. 28.9 km for the trip from ANWB Naarden to home (Amersfoort) had taken now 5 blocks.

All in all a great test on quickcharging. By the way, ANWB wrote in the memo that after December 17th of this year, the charging will be a paid service. But I guess they don’t empty the wallet, but charge just a bit more (my guess would be about € 0,28 / kWh) than charging slowly at home (€ 0,23 / kWh).