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Mini E interesting blog entries thread

Discussion in 'EV (Electric Vehicle) Discussion' started by cwerdna, Jan 1, 2010.

  1. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Instead of starting a new thread for each interesting Edmunds long term blog post on the Mini E, I figured I'd add them here.

    2009 Mini E: Victory is Mine?

    I found it odd that the driver was trying to "gain back" charge while stopped. Maybe he's getting back some energy from regen by exiting a highway and consuming less due to drag at lower speeds, but there's no way he's "gaining" anything by sitting at stop lights. Perhaps he's gaming the indicator and might "gain" some time/distance before the car shuts itself down (assuming it has some shutdown mechanism to reduce battery wear).

    Feel free to discuss or add other interesting posts. :D
     
    #1 cwerdna, Jan 1, 2010
  2. Ads_green

    Ads_green New Member

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    It's not so much he's gaining bzck charge but trying to trick the estimated range reading.

    It's no different to driving fast with a heavy right foot in a conventional car and seeing the computed range drop based on the high fuel consumption. By stopping at the lights he was trying to get the range to recompute on lower drain on the battery.
     
    #2 Ads_green, Jan 1, 2010
  3. Allannde

    Allannde Just a Senior

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    My little EV (a ZENN) has no range computer, but I have noticed that if I have an interrupted trip (such as going to the store) the indicated amount of remaining charge will increase while the batteries rest.

    It has to do with the chemistry of the battery under load as opposed to the chemistry of the battery at rest. We assume that our gauges tell us a linear story when, if we could see what they really represent we would understand them better.

    There are a number of ways that the electric vehicle requires us to think differently about our cars. Range is probably the most troubling. We will not be happy with electric vehicles if we expect range which compares to ICE vehicles until there is a better electricity storage method.

    However, I find my EV to be quite useful.
     
    #3 Allannde, Jan 2, 2010
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