Electric Mini

Come Join us on our BMW ActiveE Blog!

2012-02-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

I promise it will be better than this blog :) Julie will be posting as well and she is a much better writer than I am. Please join us for the next two years on our Active E blog http://electric-bmw.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-car-new-driver-our-bmw-activee.html

Cheers! and it's been a Mini-E blast to write about my loved Mini-E # 183 the past two and a half years.

Solar, "The Ultimate Fuel" for the ActiveE

2012-01-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

~~I..~~ strike that, my wife, is loving the ActiveE. After 36,500 sunshine miles in the Mini-E, I am going through major withdrawal pains not being able to have the ActiveE as my daily driver. I need to buy gas now for the old dinosaur fueled engine and it really really sucks big time.

Not having the electric car after you have had one will really show you how much superior the technology is and how much you miss it. All is not bad however because I do get to drive the ActiveE on occasion.

In many past post you have read about my experience powering the Mini-E - ActiveE with solar energy.

I believe that solar is the "ultimate fuel"

Recently I was asked to give a 5 minute talk on that experience so I summarized the whole experience in 5 easy to read slides. The two companies most responsible for our energy independence are BMW and Stellar Solar. A giant thank you to both of those great companies for the products they make.

Here's the presentation: you can click on the images for a larger size.

A pic of the house, the Mini-E with solar panels and the ActiveE

This was our energy bill in 2007, the blue line is when we installed solar. January 2008 was a partial month for solar

This slide summarizes the basic math. Around July or August of this year we will be cost neutral, from that point on all the energy is free and courtesy of Mr. Sunshine:)

This slide summarizes the sources of emissions in our city. It also shows the that the cost of a Solar PV fueling station equals three years of buying gasoline. You can imagine how healthy our air would be if we all were solar and drove electric.

This is my favorite slide. It is our True Up bill from January 17th 2012. For the 12 months prior, we were a net energy producer.

You can live and drive on Sunshine.

Cheers

Peder

Spouse of an Active E driver.

Wow! Long Range Driving in the ActiveE

2012-01-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

I'll be migrating over to our New ActiveE site soon, Julie , my wife, will begin to write and I hope you follow us over there. I'll let you know the site in my next post.

Wow!

Just finished my first long drive in the Active E. I am a San Diego County Planning Commissioner and my routine has been to go the PC meeting on Friday morning, then visit with my parents afterward in Del Cerro, concluding with the drive home. I’ve made this trip 50+ times in the Mini-E. The trip length is 85 miles and it is 95% freeway from Carlsbad. My average speed is 70mph with some stretches of 80mph and some bottle necks at 55 mph. At the conclusion of the trip the range indicator in the Mini E would be at the lowest 8 miles and the highest 14 miles indicated remaining miles.

Today in the ActiveE, I did the same trip and returned to the home with 19 miles remaining in range and an expected total range of 104 showing on the instruments. I averaged 3.6 MPKw. WOW!

Some thoughts to share and they are just my experience. I believe the ActiveE is more efficient than the Mini-E on the freeway due to better coasting and better aero (the Mini-E is a brick.) I think the Mini-E has better range at city driving compared to the the ActiveE due to better regen and aero is not so important at city speeds.

So if you’re a freeway driver expect the same or more than the Mini-E and if you’re a city driver expect the same or slightly less than the Mini-E. In any event the BMW ActiveE has at least a 25% greater range than the Nissan Leaf as just one comparison. The EPA estimated range for the LEAF is 73 miles and for the ActiveE it is 94 miles. Incredibly the ActiveE also has a higher MPGe number of 102MPGe compared to the Leaf's 99 MPGe.

Both the numbers are amazing to say out loud and the ActiveE truly is an impressive engineering feat. Now understand that as a person with a paid in full solar PV system, our MPGe is close to infinity. How friggin cool is that!

Some of the features of the ActiveE that I really like: Great nav system, premium stereo with hard drive storage for your cds or mp3s, incredible leather with blue stitching including on the door, Bluetooth system that recognizes either of our phones when one of us enters the car, On star equivalent for BMW, love the back up sensors that make parallel parking a breeze, The eco pro button, and the improved gauges.

The guages on the Mini-E were the most reliable that I have seen in an electric car and I thought that BMW would be hard pressed to make the ActiveE as good. They have surpassed the Mini-E in reliability and information provided to the driver with mileage down to the 10^th of a mile and charge indicator from 1 percent up to 100 percent numerically. The indicators are rock solid and do not go up and down and all over the place as in some electric cars that I have experianced.

The battery gauge is calibrated to show 50% battery usage early to insure the last 50% does not leave you short. I would guess this to be at 45% real world when indicated is 50%. That’s a nice little safty feature to insure you don’t screw up.

On my drive I am working the phone as any good politico would be. In the Mini-E it was ear buds, in the ActiveE it is blue tooth and it works amazing. The ride is so quiet with minimal road noise as compared to the Mini-E.

I officially love this car! The problem is, so does my wife, and it's her car.

Cheers

Peder

ActiveE spouse

A last Mini-E lesson learned...2 cars 1 charger, easy!

2012-01-10T17:14:00.000-08:00

All you need is a little $0.99 two plug doohicky adapter from Home Depot. That’s a joke.

After two and a half years and 36,000 sunshine powered miles, I have learned and shared many lessons about how driving a sunshine powered electric car fits into our lives, you can read the dozens of prior post to see all the experiences, but to cut to the chase, the answer is brilliantly! It is simply the best car I have driven in 33 years.

As an antsy…as in anticipation, Mini-E family transitioning to the ActiveE, we signed up as early as possible and were approved for the ActiveE in early December. On December 10th, AV came out and installed our new universal J1772 wallbox for the ActiveE, removing the proprietary box for the Mini-E, as we expected the car on December 13^th.

A slight delay - not unusual in the world of pioneers - has pushed back the delivery of the ActiveE for the original Mini-E drivers until mid January. This left us with the Mini-E to drive for another month, but only with the ability to charge at 12 amps and 110 volts. This is why it’s great to be a pioneer. This small timing glitch gave us a chance to see how two fully electric cars would fit into our lives. Let me explain how.

We know that one electric car does, and we know that we do not have the ability to run two 40 amp circuits for two chargers in the garage. In our garage we have the 220 volt 40 amp circuit and a 110 volt dedicated circuit with no load other than the garage door opener. So the opportunity to drive a month on 110 voltage was a great chance to see if charging that way would work for me.

The results?

No difference at all compared to charging at 220 volts on weekdays, and a 50% hindrance on weekends as we wanted to take longer drives, multiple times a day and we could not do so charging the Mini-E at 110. I call this a great success and here is why.

In our case it will work like this, Julie will drive the BMW ActiveE with her 45 mile RT commute and will be the primary user of the 220 AV wallbox. I will drive the second (future) full electric car like the ActiveE for my 25 mile RT commute, and use the 110 circuit as my primary charger. Most of the time on weekends we will use the ActiveE for our longer trips but anytime I need a little extra juice, either during the week or on the weekends, the 220 charger is always available for my use as well. 95% of the time I will not need it, but I will have access to it anytime I need the 220 charger.

This little month long experiment has now changed my thoughts on my future car, Before this I was leaning to a Volt type small plug in hybrid SUV. Now I’m convinced that my second car will be a fully electric small SUV like the upcoming BMW electric iX5 (not really, just a dream, please?)

One or two times a year we will rent a long range gasser for trips of several hundred miles. My hope is that manufactures like BMW will consider loaner programs for their owners of premium electric cars on a once or twice a year basis.

Julie drives 18,000 miles a year, I drive 15,000 miles a year, in the past we spent $5,500 a year on gasoline. We both will have no problem driving electric cars powered by sunshine, sharing one 220 volt charger. Our gasoline savings alone equal a new $27,000 car every 5 years. Remember, my Solar PV system has completly paid for itself in 5 years and is now paid off.

We are looking forward to the ActiveE. It’s going to be a real gas to drive!

Cheers

Peder

Mini-E #183, 36,000 miles.

Solar Spill in San Diego!

2012-01-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

In a story ignored by major media, San Diego has been under the siege of a huge uninterrupted solar spill lasting the past 30 days. It is unknown how long this spill will continue to flow disrupting the work and social lives of millions of Southern California residents. Economists are estimating the lost productivity caused by the spill to total in excess of $10 billion dollars.

Elected leaders from the region are asking that California Governor Jerry Brown declare a state of emergency so that state and federal funds can be accessed to offset the economic damage of the ongoing spill.

Reporters from Sun Media have observed that the local population is abandoning their cars and taking to paddle boards, kayaks, inflatable rafts and surfboards as emergency vehicles as they fight for survival.

Solar executives and scientist from Americas top companies and universities are working collaboratively to solve this spill and cap the unrestricted flow of energy that is effecting natural habitats and biologically sensitive wetland areas. Authorities are unsure if this spill can be capped and are reported to be deploying a solar dispersing agent in an attempt to have the solar spill fall harmlessly to the ground.

A second disaster is expected to hit San Diego as the solar spill crisis is soon to be joined by 10-14 foot waves at local beaches. “We don’t know if these events are related or separate disasters just happening at the same time” said San Diego Mayor, Jerry Sunray-Sanders. Many local residents are saying that the solar dispersing agents used by federal authorities are the cause of the high waves.

Sun Media reports from San Elijo lagoon and Aqua Hedionda Lagoon located in North San Diego County, that uncontrollable plant growth due to high levels of photosynthesis are now occurring. Local authorities are stretched to the breaking point as they deploy efforts to deal with the ongoing crisis.

“People are behaving crazily and the crowds of birds and people flocking to see this spill is stressing our government systems to the breaking point” said San Diego Mayor, Jerry Sunray-Sanders. He added, “Whoever is responsible for this needs to pay for the massive clean-up that will be necessary, and it will take years to get this place back to normal”

Authorities are seeing similar relief efforts underway with the solar spill as happened with Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf States. Many corporations, fraternities, church groups, and non profits are driving in from surrounding states offering their assistance. Colleges and Universities around the country have been temporarily shut down so that student groups can be deployed to the solar spill region.

Clean up cost from this spill are yet to be determined and federal authorities are just beginning to calculate the long term effects on the regional economy.

In a final emotion filled statement, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sunray-Sanders said "This is terrible, I wish we could turn back the clock and return to the good old days when we got our energy from oil. In those days, the oil created a natural atmospheric layer that filtered out and diffused the sunlight thus eliminating solar spills such as this, you could see the layer with your bare eyes and it was really beneficial in preventing these devastating solar spills."

Sunrise On A Brighter Future

2011-12-22T02:42:00.000-08:00

Sunrise on a Brighter Future from Peder Norby on Vimeo.

I love driving the Mini-E. My favorite time of the day to drive is early in the morning, as the sun is rising over our lagoon.

The dawning of a new day reminds me of our connection with a peaceful nature, of our ability to harvest sunshine using the sun as a “new form of gasoline,” and lastly, the sun rising is restorative as a new beginning. No matter the trials of the day before, when the sun comes up, it’s a new day.

My daughter Betina and I met last Saturday just before sunrise for a little fun with her Go-Pro and the Mini-E.

I’m getting a bit sentimental as we get ready to shift from the Mini-E to the ActiveE.

After 36,000 of the most fun sunshine powered miles the past two and a half year, I’m turning the wheel over to my wife Julie who has the longer roundtrip commute of 45 miles. I wish we could afford two electric BMW ActiveE cars but at this early stage, we simply can’t afford two payments. We also have yet to wear out our small 2008 SUV.

It’s Julie's turn next and she is very excited as she waits for her new car, the ActiveE. I’ll get to drive it at night and on weekends so I’m not to bummed about it :)

Enjoy the video, stay tuned for the next one featuring Julie and the ActiveE.

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E #183, 36,000 sunshine powered miles

Go "Sun" Diego!

2011-12-02T11:17:00.000-08:00

Nearly 1,100 electric vehicles now circulate in the San Diego area — the highest per-capita penetration of owners in the United States.

EVSE chargers are slow to roll out but they are coming on line faster and faster. The game of the chicken or the egg is soon to be history.

As a Mini-E driver soon to be ActiveE driver, and as a San Diego County Planning Commissioner, I am very excited about the clean energy economy, clean air future of San Diego.

I promise to keep EVangelizing what is in my opinion the answer to many of our domestic issues, EV+PV

Go "Sun" Diego!

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/dec/02/vehicle-owners-seek-a-charge/

Cars, Garages And Outhouses, An Electric Future.

2011-11-20T16:53:00.000-08:00

I love driving the BMW Mini-E and contemplating how radically different the future will be because of the electric car.

In the early 1900’s, around the same time the first affordable cars were being massed produced, the outhouse moved from the back forty, to inside the home. Can you imagine the conversations of the early pioneers of that revolutionary technology?

Wife: You want to move that smelly stinky fly infested s---hole to the inside of my home?

Husband: Yup. Honey I promise it won’t smell because I’m putting a pipe in as well.

How radical was that!

The electric car offers us new technology such as no emissions from the car, which means we can radically change the way we interface with the car, both at home and at Home Depot. It is the emissions and fluids that cause us to park the car outside or in a garage.

In part one of the BMW film “Wherever You Want To Go” (click to see clip) I imagined a future where in our dense urban cities, the electric car would ride up the elevator with you.

Think of it as a vertical road with parking places on each floor, replacing the shared experience and expense of a large multi level, mechanically ventilated subterranean parking garage. In our single family homes of the future, the living space will incorporate the electric car (perhaps next to the pantry or the pool table) and what we know of as the “garage” will soon join the "outhouse" as an architectural relic of a past era. The ability to take a car inside is just one of many ways that electric vehicle technology will revolutionize transportation and land use planning. (planners hate the long rows of ugly garage doors facing the streets)

If you think this is a bit far fetched, remember the outhouse was once the norm, and read on,

From the Miami Herald,

Pull over into the designated space. Turn off the engine. And enjoy the oceanfront view as you escalate in a glass elevator that takes you, while you are sitting in your car, to the front door of your apartment. No, this is not the latest Disney ride. The $560 million Jetsonesque tower will rise in Sunny Isles Beach. It likely will be the world’s first condominium complex with elevators that will take residents directly to their units while they are sitting in their cars.

From Germany, http://www.carloft.com/v0/htdocs/index.php

Fed up with looking for somewhere to park? Afraid of your car being vandalized? Nervous about dark alleyways and gloomy underground car parks? Your worries are a thing of the past. Imagine living in a flat - but parking your car on the same floor! Using the special CarLift, within just two minutes you can be either zooming off or back in your own home again - a loft with unparalleled standards of safety, comfort and exclusiveness. The CarLift is a special elevator which takes you to the floor you live on without having to get out of your car. A transponder inside your car informs the CarLift that you're authorized to enter - and the CarLift knows which story to take you to.

Imagine the future, welcome to the future.

Cheers!
Peder
Mini-E #183, 35,000 sunshine powered miles

The solution to pollution is elimination

2011-11-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

“The solution to pollution is dilution”

This is the dictum that has governed the modern world since the mid 18th century and the beginning of the first industrial revolution. The dictum describes an approach to toxic management whereby sufficiently diluted pollution is acceptable and of no harm ( look at the picture.) Every factory, every discharger, every government, is controlled by this dictum.

Think of a “straight” 2 oz. shot of whiskey, versus a “mixed drink” consisting of the same 2oz. of whiskey in a 5 gallon pail of water, the latter makes it impossible to get drunk.

“The solution to pollution is dilution” governs every aspect of environmental law and is the backbone of the worlds Cap and Trade, Climate Action Plans and Kyoto protocol.

Fine and dandy in an agrarian world.

The world is changing rapidly and dramatically. For the first time in our history, more of earth’s residents, greater than 50%, are living in densely packed cities. The trend lines are that up to 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by the turn of the next century.

Back to whiskey, now think of 1000 people, each pouring 2 oz of whiskey in that same 5 gallon pail ( look at the picture.)

Today in a world where most of the population is living in mega cities, the dictum, like any good virus, has morphed into a new form more resistant to mans calculations and “antibiotics.” That morphed dictum and its relation to the mega city world of today is:

“The dilution of pollution when concentrated is a disaster”

One example of why I think it’s a disaster. A few months ago as an invited guest of the German Consulate, I participated in a high level exchange of information with 20 other world leaders, activist, corporations, scientists, academics and pioneers. I was seated in the Bradley Tower, on the very top of Los Angeles City Hall. Next to me on my left was a Global Vice President from Siemens, on my right was Mary Nichols from the California Air Resources Board. Speaking was Joschka Fischer, former Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Germany.

Vice Chancellor Fisher looked out the windows of the Bradley Tower room, over a 360 degree view of smog polluted Los Angeles, and said “Look what we have done! 15 million people live with ever increasing health issues and social degradation, with this air that we have polluted and that they breathe with every breath.” As a native So-Cal resident, I was struck like never before by that comment.

The new dictum in our ever increasing concentration of population centers must be:

“The solution to pollution is elimination”

Elimination of fossil fuels and elimination of combustion, as Amory Lovins would say, we need to Reinvent Fire. For the first time in our history it is possible and economical to live in mega cities powered by earth wind and fire. Geothermal energy, Hydro, wind, and solar.

We can today live in home powered by, drive a car powered by, and work in a building powered by geothermal, hydro, wind and solar.

This solution is not a pipe dream nor is it an academic exercise, it is the very description of my life living in a solar powered home, driving an electric car powered by solar energy and working in a city hall that is powered by solar energy. This transition for a nation and world will not be easy and it will be incremental, however the new dictum for our future and our mega cities must be,

“The solution to pollution is elimination” we should strive for that as leaders and as individuals in every decision we make.

I am happy to be affiliated, as a Mini-E field trial driver with a company like BMW that is leading the way in reinventing mobility for our mega cities.

We need to think differently about pollution.

Cheers!
Peder
Mini-E 3 183, 34,000 susnshine powered miles

100 Million Electric Vehicles

2011-11-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

If in the course of daily life, you use a yellow pages phone book, a manual typewriter or a rotary phone, you might find this vision of 100 million electric cars, a little farfetched.

For the rest of us, the question is not if, it’s how soon the electrification of the car will happen. And one of the big questions after how soon, is how do we make all that electricity to power a large percentage of our domestic fleet of 220 million vehicles?

The answer is surprisingly simple. To begin with we need to understand that 100 million electric cars will require 1/3rd of the gross energy of 100 million gasoline cars. Energy is expensive and is needed to create both electricity and to refine gasoline. The cost of this energy is contained within the retail price of both. The electric car is three times as efficient as the gas car converting that energy into road miles thus will use 1/3 the total amount of energy. This represents a huge energy savings as well as energy independence for our country.

Here are four basic reasons why we will have more than enough electricity without building one new utility power plant to drive 100 million electric cars.

1. An energy revolution is happening. The phenomena is that approximately 25% of electric car drivers are choosing, for the first time in history, to generate their own electricity for their cars via home solar PV or use renewable energy sources via a choice from their electricity supplier. Who knows if that percentage will go lower or higher as the electric vehicles moves beyond the early adopters? Most cars have a garage or a carport to call home and an increasing percentage of drivers will want to “own or lease their fuel station” on top of these structures at a fixed cost of less $0.40 a gallon of gas equivalent forever. 25% or greater of the 100 million cars will be powered by small scale home grown electricity and renewable energy.

2. Refineries are one of the largest electricity users in the country. The refining process to turn crude oil into gasoline uses approximately $0.25 in energy cost and 8 kwhs of total energy for every $3.75 a gallon of gasoline produced. 3 kwh of that energy is electricity the rest is generally natural gas. 3 Kwh of electricity will drive an electric car 12 miles. If you add the natural gas (the other 5kw of energy) to generate additional electricity this number grows even higher to 5 kwh or 22 miles in an electric car. 22 miles in an electric car is 100% of the current fleet average of 22 miles per gallon for gasoline cars, and remember this is just the energy used in the refining process! This is 100% or the total electricity required for 100 million electric cars.

3. Per the 2010 US Census, There are 112,611,029 households in the USA. The average household energy use is 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year. Appliances, lighting, LED TV’s, Computers, DVRs, HVAC, and other components are all getting substantially more energy efficient each year. The average home size, growing the past 30 years, is now stabilizing and in some parts of the country homes are getting smaller. Efficiency gains of 20% in households are easily achieved with very low cost items such as insulation or LED light bulbs or new appliances when needed. Couple this with simple behavior modifications such as turning off the TV or the lights when you’re not in the room and a 20% energy savings in each household is a no brainer. This will conserve 2150kws per household. This is enough electricity to power 100 million electric cars 8,000 miles a year. If you add similar efficiency savings in places of work, schools, shopping and manufacture, Enough electricity can be conserved to power 100 million electric cars 12,0000 miles per year. This is 100% or the total electricity required for 100 million electric cars.

4. The electricity grid. Telegraph to telephone, analog to digital, digital to wireless, wireless to connected gps and data wireless. Using this comparison of voice communication, our electricity grid would fall somewhere between telegraph and telephone. It’s 100 year old technology that cannot store energy on the grid. Because of this we generate base loads of energy at 80% of consumption, and then use peaker plants intermittently to provide extra energy when needed on high load times or when a base plant is off the grid for servicing. Unfortunately when loads are extremely low such as at night, much of this base load cannot be used or stored and is run to ground as a waste product. In energy markets, between midnight and 5am electricity trades at a price of zero. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the base load electricity run to ground at night coupled with the capacity to use the existing power plant infrastructure more effectively could power 84% of our existing fleet of 220 million vehicles without one new power plant needed. How can this be? A large majority of electric car owners will choose to charge at night with this previously wasted energy, responding to when the prices are the lowest and when it is the most convenient for them to charge, while they sleep. Enough electricity is wasted due to lack of storage and unbalanced use of existing power plants to power well over 100 million electric cars 12,0000 miles per year. This is 100% or the total electricity required for 100 million electric cars.

In Summary,

I used 100 million electric cars as a number that represents about 40% of our US fleet. The electric car will not work for everyone in the near future and we need to be very realistic about that. Based on my experience driving an electric car the past two years and 34,000 miles, research conducted by universities and auto manufactures, and the price trend lines of any emerging technology, I have no doubt that the majority of urbanites, suburbanites and those in a two or more car family will find the electric car perfectly suited for their lifestyle with zero compromise and value added. In rural America, single car households, and those that drive long distances for work, the electric car is not the answer, at least not yet.

Shifting to 100 million electric cars will not be easy and will be one of the greatest challenges that we undertake as a nation. Significant challenges and great opportunities exist beyond just the supply of electricity covered in this writing. Scale and cost, charging infrastructure, availabilities of commodities such as lithium rare metals used in some motors are just a few examples of the challenges. Huge benefits to society such as cleaner air, lower health care cost, independence from imported oil, and lower cost of energy to drive for consumers also are part of the equation.

In the great debate between using gasoline or electricity as power sources for our cars, one issue is crystal clear, we already have more than enough electricity domestically produced to drive 100 million electric cars in a manor that is cleaner, cheaper with no dependency on foreign nations. Driving 100 million electric cars will require one third the energy and cost compared to drivng a gasoline car.

And my favorite argument of all... you will never be able to drive a gasoline car powered by sunshine.

Cheers

Peder

Mini-E #183, 34,000 sunshine powered miles.

It takes a lot of energy to make gas.. A Bright Idea...part four.

2011-10-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

It takes 6 kwh of energy to refine one gallon of gasoline to drive one car 22 miles.

250 million electric cars (our US total of cars and trucks) can drive all year without one new kwh of electricity generated. Read on!

I don’t know about your home, but ours has approximately 150 light bulbs inside and out. Gone are the days when a square room had one bulb in the middle of the room and the outside of the home had one porch light.

So here’s a quick and easy way to fuel your electric car for the next 30 years, I love the dimmable LED bulbs that Home Depot sells.

50 Dimmable LED bulbs at Home Depot = $500

Each LED bulb is comparable to a 50 watt incandescent bulb. (it’s much brighter than a 40 watt bulb)

Each LED bulb saves 41 watts an hour.

Assuming the bulb is illuminated for four hours a day on average, each bulb would save you 164 watts a day, approximately 60 kwh a year.

50 bulbs would save you 3000kwh of electricity a year.

The 3000 kwh you saved by replacing the 50 incandescent light bulbs, will drive a BMW ActiveE 12,000 miles a year for 30 years which is the rated lifetime of the LED bulb. (46 years or 50,000 hours)

You can drive an electric car 12,0000 miles per year for $16.66 per year of saved electricity. (The $500 in light bulbs divided by 30 years)

In an equivalent gasoline car the cost of gas would be about $2,000 per year or $90,000 (assumes 3% annual increase) for 30 years.

Another interesting electricity factoid is that just four 100 watt light bulbs on 24 hours a day will use more electricity in a year than driving an electric car 12,000 miles a year.
Did I mention that our country exports its weath and is dependent on imported oil?
Did I mention that these LED lightbulbs are made in the USA?

In Summary,

We don’t need to generate a single watt of new electricity in this country to fuel our entire electric vehicle fleet. Simply by using more efficient light bulbs, appliances, and electronic equipment like computers, TV’s and DVR’s in our 114 million households as well as our stores, offices and factories we can save more electricity than the electric cars will use.

It truly is that simple.

It’s your choice,
$16 a year to save the electricity or $2000 for gasoline.
50 light bulbs or 15,000 gallons of gasoline.

Cheers

Peder
Mini-E #183 34,000 sunshine powered miles

Mini-E Diary, June 12th 2009: Driving on Sunshine

2011-10-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

It's getting to be sentimental time as I contemplate returning Mini-E #183 in a few weeks and accepting the new BMW ActiveE. What was supposed to be a one year test drive for me, has turned into a guy-car love affair with the Mini-E over 2.5 years and has resulted in an altered view on life and our future.

Nearing the end of the Mini-E trial, I once again love cars and the joy of driving, that passion was lost for over 20 years. My views on our collective future are very optimistic as I can see a clear path towards energy independence, cleaner and healthier cities and a much lower cost of driving.

For me, the Mini-E is more than just a hugely successful field trial of a car technology, it is an answer to questions far beyond just the car, that have concerned me about our future.

I am sure we will love our ActiveE; however the Mini-E will always be the car that altered my views on driving fun and an optimistic future. It belongs in a museum like the San Diego Automotive Museum, if it can no longer stay in my garage.

The Mini-E is the best and most fun car I have driven in my 34 years in the driver’s seat. I have driven the Mini-E more miles per year than any other car in those 34 years. So much for range anxiety and a limited functionality.

After two and half years and 34,000 miles, the words of my first post in June 2009 (see below) still ring true, a deeper truth based on a longer tenure.

Put that magic in a bottle and sell it to the world BMW.

June, 12th, 2009

WEEK 1: The tires struggle to maintain their thin connection to asphalt as you mash the pedal to the floor, racing down the freeway onramp from 20mph to 80mph in a knats breath of time. BMW/Mini has detuned the drive train so as not to let their drivers do something really stupid, or break the test mule that is the Mini Cooper. The car is on the perpetual edge of control, tires sounding off, steering wheel twitching as there is so much power and torque in that speed range.

The car is ultra responsive letting you get a little out of line but not to far as BMW has the Dynamic Stability Control permanently on (smart move on their part.) You are not driving a typical small car and the sooner you realize that you have a beast underneath you that requires your full attention as if on a race track, the better off you are.

Cruising the freeway at 60 you turn off the stereo so you can hear the quiet. You decide to pass a truck. Damn! That is the first thought that comes to mind as in ‘torque now” and loads of it as the car aggressively assumes the spot in front of the truck.

Before I go any farther, I should clarify that it is very easy to drive the Mini-E like a regular car, really no different than a gas car, (except no gas, brake pads, rotors, oil changes, transmission work ….) and you don’t need what it can give you in spades to simple cruise from point A to point B. Why would you drive like that? OK now that the “car is normal” disclaimer is over, back to the fun world!

Driving as an enthusiast the car gets about 90 miles per charge with 10 miles in reserve. Driving freeway speeds 65 to 75, the car gets 110 miles per charge and in the city about 130 to 140. Charging at home is an hour to a couple of hours typical as I plug the car in a 50% or lower state of charge. A quick 30 minute top off gives me an additional 25 miles.

I have range anxiety!

In my G35 I drove about 18 mile a day, In My Mini-E I drive about 80 miles a day, I am anxious that I may never be able to drive the short range of 18 miles again. It’s a trip to Space Mountain only ten times better every morning as I simply must sneak in a 20 minute drive around the lagoon on twisty roads while the wife is in the bath preparing for her work day.

Driving around the lagoon which is located on the Pacific Flyway migratory bird route, you literally hear the birds! It is an unreal experience to drive on a fun twisty road with windows down and hear the birds! OK it sounds corny but when you drive full electric new experiences come to your senses and you notice them immediately.

I’m driving on sunshine, sunshine that powers my home and provides the sun fuel for my Mini-E. Try that in a gas car!

I am liberated, dependent no longer on the mandatory drug of oil from foreign land. I invite you to join me. For more info on the car and home, http://www.heronshouse.com/

Thanks for reading and commenting!

2011-10-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

A record day yesterday for this blog. More and more people are interested in electric cars such as the Mini-E and they're interested in saving energy and energy security. Thanks for reading, it's why I write :)

Solar Energy Beats Gasoline By A “Clean Country Mile” It takes a lot of energy to make gas... Part three.

2011-10-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

Continuing on with my financial analysis of the energy cost to power gasoline and electric cars.

As you know by now, I power my BMW Electric Mini-E by solar energy. I drive on sunshine. My overall system size is 7.5kw and that system powers both our home and car. It is a balanced energy use and energy generation solution, We generate 11,700KWH a year and we use 11,700KWH per year.

Each KW of a solar PV system cost approximately $3700 when part of an average sized residential system. The space required for that one KW is about 60 sq feet, about half the size of a small bedroom.

In California and other sunshine states, that one KW will generate approximately 1550KWHs of electricity annually. The solar PV warranty is 25 years, thus generating 38,750Kwhs over the 25 years. It should be noted that there is a slight degradation of annual generation over that time, and that one inverter replacement will most likely be needed as well. However the system will last a far greater lifetime than the 25 years of warranty (think of a pane of glass and how long that last) so we are going to call those data points a push.

The cost of driving an electric car powered by sunshine 7,750 miles per year.

Electric cars are evolving quickly, electric cars such as the Mini-E are returning between 3.5 and 4.25 miles per kwh. The upcoming BMW i3 will be pushing the 5 miles per Kwh threshold. For this analysis, as it looks at the next 25 years of driving, we will assume a 5 miles per Kwh efficiency.

5 miles per kwh multiplied by 38750 KWHs equal 193,750 miles driven for the energy cost of $3700. This works out to to 7,750 miles per year, and a cost of $148 per year, per kw of generation. It also provides absolute certainty of energy cost, as the sun never increases it’s price.

The cost of driving 7,750 mile per year powered by gasoline.

Over 25 years the gas at today’s mpg efficiency, a car travelling 7750 miles per year will consume 8800 gallons of fuel. Using the US fleet average of 22mpg, driving 7750 miles a year, a gasoline car will consume 352 gallons of gas or $1442 for the first year at $4.00 per gallon. And no you’re not reading this wrong, a solar pv system cost is the same or less than buying gasoline for three years ($3700 total cost for solar vs. $1422 annual cost for gasoline.).The next 22 years of driving the EV are on the "house of the rising sun" :)

Let’s be generous and assume that the gasoline car fleet averages 40 mpg during the next 25 years beginning at 22mpg of today and ending at 60mpg in 25 years, That would be an average of 194 gallons annually and 4850 gallons of fuel for the nest 25 years. With a modest multiplier of 3% annually for the increase in gas prices you’re looking at $35,000 in fuel cost for the next 25 years. If gas prices and cars maintain their current 22mpg fleet average, that number would be approaching $80,000. If crazy stuff happens in the oil supplying regions and global consumption increases dramatically, your guess is as good as mine. This is the uncertainty of energy cost.

To summarize,

At a fleet average of 40mpg, a gasoline car will use 4850 gallons of gasoline which will cost $35,000 to drive 7750 miles per year for the next 25 years

An Electric car driving on Solar will require 60 sq. ft. of space, $3,700 in cost to drive 7,750 miles per year for the next 25 years.

"The answer my friend, is blowin in the wind." The answer is the ""sunshine on my shoulders." It cost 1/10th (and is dropping in price) as compared to gasoline.

Cheers

Peder

Mini-E #183, 34,000 sunshine powered miles.

Song title credits:
The Animals
Bob Dylan
John Denver

It takes a lot of “Energy” to make gas... Part Two.

2011-10-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

I used coal in the title of the first post as a cheeky reference to the favored argument by EV naysayers that electric cars replace a tailpipe with emissions from a coal powered electricity plant.

They still might want to look in the mirror :)

The previous blog post has been picked up by Autoblog Green and by the Washington Post and dozens of other sites. This has led to well over 100 comments from individuals debating the statistic and offering input as to how much electricity and how much energy is required to make a gallon of gas.

Some agree with my conclusions some don’t. Some say it’s higher some say its lower. All kinds of data is offered in the comments usually with several zero’s behind it, cherry picked data depending on the point of view of the author pro or con.

I wish there were an Energy information Agency FAQ that answered this simple question, How much energy is used to make a gallon of gasoline?

Unfortunately there is not a simple answer and it’s very complicated to find the information to make a compelling case either way. The various nature and different qualities of crude and the various efficiencies of refineries add to the complexity.

So let’s keep this simple shall we?

Step 1

Let’s begin with the price of a gallon of gas and the percentage of that that goes to refining. According to the Energy Information Agency on this page http://www.eia.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp

16% of the August 2011 gallon of gas cost of $3.64 goes to refining cost thus resulting in $0.58 a gallon in refining cost.

Step 2

According to the EPA and the Petroleum energy guide on this page

http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/industry/ES_Petroleum_Energy_Guide.pdf.

(abstract page 3, first paragraph) Refineries spend typically 50% of cash operating costs (i.e.,, excluding capital costs and depreciation) on energy,

So we have 50% energy cost for a refinery, which would result in a cost of energy to make a gallon of gas of $0.29 per gallon.

From here we split off into energy types or feedstocks used to make gasoline.

Step 3

According to the Energy Information Agency, http://205.254.135.24/emeu/mecs/iab98/petroleum/expenditures.html

Just less than 50% of the energy cost come from Natural Gas and about 33% come from electricity, Also much energy is generated by co-generation, with an undisclosed amount of Natural Gas used to provide electricity for the refinery.

Using the energy cost to refine of $0.29 and dividing that by 33% gives you $0.10 of electricity cost per gallon of gas.

Step 4 What do refineries pay for electricity and energy? Good question. The most they would pay is the wholesale cost of electricity.

As an energy plant owner myself that has over generated for the year, SDG&E is paying me 3.7 cents per Kwh of generation . You can bet the power plants pay between two and three cents per KWH.

Congratulations, you were a net energy generator!

Account Number: 582687++++

You generated more electricity than you consumed when you trued-up earlier this year. As a result your Net Energy Metering (NEM) account will be credited for the excess generation.

Excess generation:	1607 kilowatt-hours (kwhrs)
Credit per kwhr:	0.03692
Amount Credited:	$59.93

With a cost of $0.03 cents a kwh we can come to the conclusion that refineries use around 3 kwh of electricity per gallon of gasoline.

Furthermore, refineries have nearly 50% of their energy cost in Natural Gas, about $0.14 cents per gallon, If that Natural gas were used in a plant to make electricity an additional 2kwh of electricity per gallon would result for a net total of 5 kwhs of electricity per gallon of gas.

Using these simple government non biased information websites of the US Energy Information Agency and the EPA, as well as my own payment from SDG&E, the information resulted in a 5kwh of electricity used to make a gallon of gas. Not to far off of my original estimate of 6kwh per gallon of gas. Throw in unknown energy cost to extract, pump, ship, store, truck and sell, I am confident an additional kwh or two would be added to that figure.

I stand by original conclusion that a gas car with an average fleet 22mpg will use more electricity (or if you prefer, electricity equivalent in energy units) used just in the refinery process to drive 100 miles as compared to an electric car.

Add to the discussion, what do you say?

Cheers

Peder

Mini-E # 183, 34,000 sunshine powered miles.

It takes a lot of coal to make gasoline

2011-10-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

BP Oil refinery in Long Beach California

Quick draw critics of the electric car often (miss their target) criticize EV’s because in their words “Electric cars simply replace a tail pipe with a smokestack” The gist of their argument is that the emissions still occur, not at the tail pipe but at the electric power plant. That great observation is usually followed by the statement that 45% of our grid electricity is coal and coal is dirty thus the EV provides no net gain.

The critics may want to look in the mirror…..or in their garage.

In California, refineries are the second largest users of electricity. Moving water around the state via water authorities is the single largest user of electricity. You guessed it, refining crude also takes a tremendous amount of water!

It is a simple fact that just the refining of gasoline requires approximately 6 kwh of electricity per gallon of gasoline. In fact electricity and natural gas cost are estimated to be 43% of the US oil refineries total expenses. If you tack on the energy required to extract and transport the oil to the refinery and then to the gas stations as well as the energy cost of the gas station, I’m sure that number jumps a few more kwh per gallon.

So let’s be conservative and cut the oil guys a break and say it takes 8kwh to extract, ship, refine and transport each gallon of gas.

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Drum roll…….

It takes more electricity to drive the average gasoline car 100 miles, than it does to drive an electric car 100 miles. A gas car at the US fleet average of 21mpg will consume approximately five gallons of gasoline which took 40kwh (5 times 8)of electricity to make, to drive 100 miles. An electric car will use approximately 30 kwh of electricity (3.3 miles per kwh) to drive the same 100 miles.

In summary,

Gas cars use more electricity than EV’s, thus polluting at the smokestack, They burn that refined gasoline in a very inefficient engine, thus polluting at the tailpipe. In our large urban cities in the US, the emissions caused by our transportation fleet accounts for 70% or greater of our man made emissions and visible particulate matter (smog) and related health care cost. Think of that as smoking two packs of cigs.

Electric cars run on electricity created by a mixture of energy sources. Many electric car drivers like myself quickly discover that making your own via solar PV is the best and cheapest way to fuel (about $0.40 per gallon of gas equivalent) Think of that cleaning up the air in our major cities, saving money and as not smoking,

Cheers

Peder

Mini-E #183, 33,000 solar powered miles

Source material below.

Petroleum Refining:

The United States uses more petroleum than any other energy source. Petroleum provides the U.S. with about 37 percent of the energy we use each year. Petroleum can’t be used as it comes out of the ground. It must be refined before it can be used.

Oil refineries use a lot of energy to convert crude oil into gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, chemicals, and other products. Almost half of a refinery’s operating costs (43 percent) is for energy. (US Energy Information Administration)

In a 2008 report, Argonne National Lab estimated that the efficiency for producing gasoline of an “average” U.S. petroleum refinery is between 84% and 88% (Wang, 2008), and Oak Ridge National Lab reports that the net energy content of oil is approximately 132,000 Btu per gallon (Davis, 2009). It is commonly known that a barrel of crude oil generate approximately 45 gallons of refined product (refer to NAS, 2009, Table 3-4 for a publication stating so). Thus, using an 85% refinery efficiency and the aforementioned conversion factors, it can be estimated that about 21,000 Btu—the equivalent of 6 kWh—of energy are used per gallon of gasoline refined:

The documents referenced are as follows:

US Energy Information Administration

http://205.254.135.24/tools/faqs/

Wang, M. (2008), “Estimation of Energy Efficiencies of U.S. Petroleum Refineries,” Center for Transportation Research, Argonne National Laboratory, www.transportation.anl.gov/modeling_simulation/GREET/pdfs/energy_eff_petroleum_refineries-03-08.pdf

Davis, S., Susan W. Diegel, and Robert G. Boundy (2009), Transportation Energy Data Book, edition 28, National Transportation Research Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, cta.ornl.gov/data/

NAS (2009), Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use, The National Academies Press, www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12794&page=1

Dufass and the Mini-E. D’OH!

2011-09-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

A disclaimer, it’s my fault, not the car, and my family will be “lashing” me for years.

Mini-E #183 and I have had a wonderful relationship the past 33,000 miles and 2.5 years. It’s been a relatively event free time, which is amazing considering the Mini-E is out in the wild in the hands of drivers like me D’OH! with no or little infrastructure to rely on.

I’ve had three driver error events, two in the past. and one this past weekend.

First about two years ago, was the combination of my hard working schedule and a string of appearances at events the same evening. I arrived home at midnight and forgot to plug in the car. The next morning I had a Planning Commission meeting with a roundtrip of 80 miles and only 40 miles of range on the car. I groveled to my brother and borrowed his gas car for the day. He was merciless in his mockery of “Mr. Electricity Was Better.” The Solution to this problem is a simple web interface and smart phone application so that you can check, be alerted by text message, to insure you are plugged in for the night, this is standard on all new electrics. The Mini-E has no such communication so my brother made a plaque as a gift to me. D’OH!

Second, about 1 year ago, My race car cousin was visiting from Denmark (to see an Indy car race and a NASCAR race in the USA) I was down at my parents, an 80 mile roundtrip, and he asked to take the car around the block. About 20 minutes later he brought the car back with a huge grin on his face. I could smell the burnt rubber, he had some serious fun and depleted my battery to 30%. Nonetheless, I thought I could make it home D’OH! I came up about a mile short, (BMW you don’t want to know how I got the car home ) The solution to this problem is not to let your race crazy Danish cousin drive your car!

This past Saturday I made my third mistake D’oh! It was the compound accumulation of three error’s in judgment.

Saturday evening I was to attend my friend Chris’s birthday party, about a 75 mile roundtrip in the Mini-E to a rural area of San Diego County. Earlier that morning I had made a run to Home Depot and another garden store and used about 10% of my battery, no problems, no need to plug in as the 75 miles is a piece of cake with 90% battery. Error #1 D’OH Always recharge when you have the chance!

I rely heavily on the GPS map in my smart phone. I program in the destination and keep the blue dot on the purple line. I arrived at the party about 15 miles east of Hwy 15 and had a great time. As I left the party, I realized I had no cell connection but hey no problem, I’ll just follow the blue dot backwards. I drove about 15 miles expecting to come up on the Hwy 15 and I still had no cell reception thus the blue dot did not move! I pulled over and tried a compass app on the cell phone, It does not work without a connection! I kept driving and 5 miles later I found myself in Ramona, 35 miles east of Hwy 15! I had gone the wrong way over 20 miles! Now I had range anxiety, I was 45 miles from home and only 32 miles of range left. How I missed that 10% of range that I used in the morning. If I had recharged in the morning, I would have had enough range to get home. Error # 2, Don’t rely solely on technology! D’OH! (BMW please tell me there is a compass in the ActiveE and the I-3

So who you gonna call? Mom and Dad. I could make it to their home about 20 miles away. I could charge for a few hours and then drive home. But…..D’OH! I did not carry my 110 cable with me, it was at home. Error # 3 always carry the 110 emergency charging cable with you, you know, just in case you have an emergency. D’OH!

I had to borrow my sisters giant GMC and drive home to get the cable. The next morning I came back with the cord, recharged the car during the Sunday Football games, and suffered endless merciless barbs at the hands of my several siblings. It was awful! At 4pm I drove home, me and my Mini-E, all was good.

The worst part of the whole story, I had to put $80 in gas in the GMC monster SUV. 20 gallons of gas to get from ¼ tank to full. Ouch!

D’OH!
Cheers
Peder
Mini-E # 183 33,000 sunshine powered miles, driven by a Dufass.

Post Script,
Lest you think this post has in any way exposed a weakness in the electric car, be assured that my driving errors in gas cars were equal to the electric car and in some cases were much greater…..like the 350 mile 5 hour driving error by the two smartest guys in the world. That story shall wait :)

The Supremacy of Electric Cars, the Misguided Tea Party.

2011-09-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

It’s been very interesting as a generator of renewable energy (7.5kw solar PV) and as a driver of EV’s powered by the sun, to read about the “Top Ten”…, or the five reasons why…, or the 12 things you need to know…. post’s regarding electric mobility. Most of these writings are focused on the perceived and in fairness, real short comings of today’s electric car, often written by folks who have never experienced the joy of driving an electric car (more than a test drive.)

Not to get too political, but as a lifelong conservative, I am shocked at the Tea Party’s response to these innovations and advancements that offer independence, self reliance, improved health, jobs and wealth creation, as well as military strategic benefits, while ignoring long standing government subsidies to oil, gasoline cars (cash for clunkers) and the related dependencies and cost (protection of oil) that have the net result in the exportation of our nation’s wealth.

Promoting the idea of $2.00 gas for all Americans is in my view promoting the decline of America, the decay of our car companies, the exportation of our wealth and the degradation of the health of our citizens living in major population centers. While the world marches on and innovates with science and technology breakthroughs, those in Tea Party America want to stand still and stand shackled to our dependency on oil in a form of slavery and dependence to foreign nations.

What happened to independence? To self reliance? To conservative principles such as conservation? To wealth creation for individuals and for our nation? To saying “To hell with you if you want us to be dependent on your tea and volatile taxation !”

Let us never forget that the original patriots of the 1773 Tea Party threw overboard the product of an oppressive foreign nation and their East India Tea Company (EITC) who sought to relegate us to their servitude. Who severely misjudged the will of the American people for independence and misjudged their desire for tea at any price.

A true modern day equivalent of a Tea Party acting in the spirit of those original patriots of 1773, would be one that threw overboard the product of foreign nations and their Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) who seek to relegate us to their servitude. Who severely misjudged the will of the American people for independence and misjudged their desire for gasoline at any price.

A true Tea Party patriot would “make their own tea” for the equivalent of $0.40 cents a gallon of gas, and not make populist moronic proclamations such as “if you elect me I’ll give you $2.00 a gallon gasoline.” How’s that for a loaded but true paragraph?

Well, deep breath, rant over, a prayer for my fellow conservatives and on to what Gas Cars can’t do.

You’ve heard what the electric car can’t do. I thought it would be fun to flip the tables and talk about what gas car can’t do and why the electric car and electricity will be the motive power of the future.

With 40,000 miles clocked in the drivers seat of EV’s for the past four years, I’m qualified to give you a lay person’s practical experience.

In no special order.

Gas cars are not emission free. They will never be emission free. Our American cities are saturated by emissions and visible particulate matter. 15 million citizens live In Los Angeles and are surrounded by and breath with every breath, toxic visible emissions caused by our transportation fleet. These emissions from transportation account for 70% to 80% of the total emissions and related health issues and cost in our major cities. The electric car is 100% emissions free when powered by renewable energy.

Gas cars rely on a commodity, oil, that is in the hands of the few, desired by many, protected at great cost by superpowers, and is becoming harder, riskier and more expensive to extract. Gas will always increase in price and in my lay person’s opinion, looking at 2-3 billion more consumers educated by facebook and the Internet to what the good life is, will exponentially increase in price in coming years. Electric cars can run on dozens of sources of electricity including hydro, geothermal wind, and solar. With renewable sources of energy, Mother Nature has never raised her price.

Gas cars rely on 100% on Gas Stations, that is simple to understand. What is harder to comprehend is the conveyance system and related cost/pollution to get that oil from Saudi Arabia, Canada, Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico and Venezuela to your gas tank. Electric cars powered by solar energy (generated during the day)have a conveyance system of 30 feet. From the rooftop to your batteries. Electric cars are charged (from the existing grid) primarily in the safety and comfort of your home while you sleep.

Owners of Gas cars can’t make their own gas. Perhaps an asterisk is appropriate here. If you’ve got two acres and want to grow corn, ferment it and then distill it (against the law) to ethanol, perhaps you can make your own ethanol gasoline equivalent. For electric car owners, if they wish, its 100 sq ft of rooftop or backyard and you can make your own solar fuel to drive 12,000 miles a year for the equivalent of $0.40 a gallon of gas.

Gas cars are poisonous. If you disagree, (please don’t try this) roll up your windows and port the exhaust of a gas car to the interior cabin, please change your mind before you die. Electric cars are not poisonous.

Gas cars require the national policy of protection of gasoline supply. America spends untold trillions of dollars to secure the safe stable deliver of gasoline to our population from overseas. Nearly 70% of what you put into gas cars tank is imported. Electric cars run on electricity. No matter the source, electricity is domestically supplied and not imported. The money, the profits, and the jobs stay in America.

Gas cars are inefficient machines. The most efficient gas cars convert gasoline to motive power at less than 33% efficiency. Electric cars convert electricity to motive power at 90% efficiency.

Gas Cars are noise polluters. OK, I admit to being fond of the exhaust notes of a high performance car. I love the sound of being at a Formula One, Indy Car or NASCAR race (I’ve been to all three) But I’m fond of those in the same way I am fond of listening to a P51 Mustang at an air show, or listening to a 1900’s 4-8-2 Baldwin Steam Locomotive pulling out from a rail yard on an exhibition run down the rails. In the city or on the street where I live, I prefer less noise pollution. We’ve moved on past these complicated mechanical marvels. The Eclectic car is quiet.

Gas cars are heavy on maintenance cost. It cost a lot to keep those 400 moving parts in tip top operating condition! Friction brakes are so last decade!

Gas cars evolve slowly. They remain mostly unchanged in their DNA from 100 years ago. We’ve moved from the Radio to the B&W TV, to Color TV, to the LCD TV, to the Internet in less than 50 years. I won’t even pretend to understand how that 10 mega pixel image is transferred to a chip the size of a postage stamp that holds 1000 of images without a moving part. Electric cars are evolving rapidly.

Well, That’s a good start, please feel free to add to my list and to share it broadly. And please don’t diss me for being a conservative. We are all Americans and we are diverse and imaginative of every creed color and belief system… including the Tea Party.

God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy, Billy Currington

Cheers

Peder

Mini-E #183, 33,000 miles powered by sunshine.

“Sun”day is everyday,

2011-08-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

I’m in heaven drinking from a bottle of our estate 2007 Herons' Flight "Brunello" as I type. I look into the wine through the glass, I marvel at this ruby red “liquid love” made by sunshine, earth, water and time, with a small interpretive role played by me. The wine, from clusters of liquid sunshine, is harvested twenty yards from where I write.

Wine has been made of liquid sunshine (grapes) for thousands of years, unimproved by mans advances in technology. Generally speaking, the relationship of man and wine is an equation. The greater the machinery, the greater the mechanization, the greater the intervention of mans inventions, the lower the quality of the wine. More consistent and in greater quantities, but much lower in quality.

A quality wine grower is not a conqueror of wine, but rather, a protector of wine and a partner with nature. An environmentalist by fiat. The more natural the processes are; sunshine, rainfall, gravity, Oakwood, cork, nutrients, subterranean earth, the better the wine. This has been the way for thousands of years.

Tonight, I greatly enjoyed a film documentary of a close friend recently passed, shared with 700 friends at the historic La Paloma Theatre. We drove to that event in BMW Mini-E #183 on the energy of harvested sunshine, harvested twenty yards from where I write.

There is no question that man has the ability to overpower nature, but at what cost? Do we have the wisdom to accept Mother Nature as an equal and a partner, or do we insist on our supremacy as humans overpowering, exploiting and polluting her?

The question is, do we have the wisdom to be a protector of nature and a partner with nature? Do we have the wisdom of lessening the mechanization of man, extraction of oil, pipelines, port storage, ocean tankers, refineries, gas trucks, gas stations, engine, transmission, exhaust, and the millions of moving parts needed to get our gasoline from the ground to the La Paloma Theatre?

We can learn a lot from wine.

I am the most optimistic now, more than any other time in my life for our future. I participate in, and have witnessed that we can now power our two most prized inventions the automobile and the home, by sunshine. We live and drive on sunshine, four years for the house and two and a half years for our car.

We can harvest this gift of nature from our rooftops or land at a cost far less than gasoline or natural gas both in dollars and in our health. We can shrink the millions of moving parts and thousands of miles of conveyance, for gasoline, gas engines and transmissions of our cars, to a conveyance of twenty yards of sunshine and less than eight moving parts of our electric cars. We can eliminate 100% of the current emissions that harm and kill millions of all earths creatures including us humans around the world, to zero emissions and the corresponding greatly improved health.

Please let us possess that wisdom and let us not desire to conquer Mother Nature but rather to partner with her and protect her. It can be “Sun”day, everyday for everyone. Sunshine has been the answer for thousands of years. The sooner we figure that out the better off we will be.

We will get there one person, one car, one home at a time. Make no mistake we will get there, it will be a far greater world when we do. Mans best vintage is yet to come. Thank you BMW for your efforts with the Mini-E, ActiveE and the upcoming i3 and i8.

One more sip from our earth, water and sunshine that is my wine, one more sip for the eternal optimist that is me, one more thought in remembrance of a good friend before the last drop of the day passes.

Cheers
Peder

Mini-E #183, 32,000 sunshine powered miles.

OPEC is soon to be history. Meet the new energy cartel, YOU!

2011-08-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

For less than the equivilent of 4 years of buying gas ($220 a month), you can drive on sunshine for the rest of your life, 20,30,40 years or more.

Imagine a future that allows you to purchase a zero emission car and "gas" for a lifetime? No pollution, no dependency on foreign oil, wealth creation for individuals and personal independence? That future is here.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Here-Comes-the-Sun-Ford-and-prnews-3881783729.html?x=0&.v=1

This is a great idea for BMW to offer when it rolls out the i3 and i8

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E #183 32,000 sunshine powered miles

EV+PV is cheaper and cleaner. Ford and Sunpower to change the way we motor.

2011-08-09T09:20:00.001-07:00

I am extremely excited about a planned press conference tomorrow (8/10/11) between Ford and Sunpower.

As frequent readers may know, I have powered my Mini-E with Sunpower solar panels installed by Stellar Solar for the past two years and 32,000 miles. I have written at length about the low cost of driving on solar with my real world conclusions that it is about 10% to15% the cost of gasoline and offers an ROI in excess of 30%.

Essentially, Powering my Mini-E or any electric car for that matter, with Solar PV cost the same as buying three to four years of gasoline. After that, you’re driving on free endless sunshine for over 20 years, and that’s just the guaranteed energy production from the panels. In most cases with quality panels like Sunpower, you will be driving on free sunshine for the rest of your life.

So why I am I so excited? My hope and my prediction is that this will be a partnership between two international market leaders that will bring great benefit to consumers and to our environment. How so? The same way car makers and oil companies have had a mutually beneficial relationship for 100 years,.

I am hopeful that what will be announced tomorrow is a cooperative purchase experience for a retail customer of a Ford electric car. That a person will be able to buy a Ford Focus Electric, Transit Connect Electric or a C-Max Energi plug in and purchase a Sunpower system at the same time financed by either Ford or Sunpower to fuel their car with clean renewable energy forever. A true zero emissions combination.

The synergies in financing both the car and the Sunpower system are great as most buyers are financing their car purchase for three to six years, and to add on a solar PV system to the same three to six year loan results in a total customer cost that will be similar or in fact lower from day one, to a comparable gas model plus the $250 a month for gas (assuming an average of 15,000 a year.) The relationship to the size and cost of the Sunpower system, and the miles that you drive is proportional to the cost of gas in most cases except extremely low mile drivers.

Most are familiar with Solar PV replacing grid energy for a home that has an ROI of 10%, or a payoff time of between 8 and 14 years, however when you use solar PV replacing gasoline, the ROI grows to over 30% with a payoff of three to four years.

Can you imagine a future that allows you to purchase a zero emission car and the renewable energy to power your driving for a lifetime all in one stop shopping? No pollution, no dependency on foreign oil, wealth creation for individuals and corporations and personal independence?

That is the future I imagine, and that is the future that will change our world.

Let’s hope the future begins tomorrow with Ford and Sunpower.

Cheers

Peder

Mini-E # 183, 32,000 sunshine powered miles with Sunpower PV

BMW ActiveE offers lower total cost.

2011-08-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

I have driven 31,000 miles in a little over two years, powered by only the sun. I love saying that!

Last week BMW showed details about the upcoming BMW i3 and BMW i8. As a Mini-E driver, I know the role the Mini-E drivers are playing in validating and bringing forward this technology. As a driver, I would have no problem at all telling you horror stories about the car if warranted, however the Mini-E has been a blast to drive, problem free, and the most fun, best car I have driven in 32 years on the road.

Around December, my wife Julie will become the driver of the phase two car which is the BMW ActiveE, a 1 series coupe which will serve as a “development mule” carrying and testing in real world conditions over millions of miles, the future running gear of the BMW i3.

While it’s not inexpensive to be part of this field trial, and the i3 and i8 will be no less expensive, I thought I would do my best to put the cost into perspective compared to driving my previous car, a Volvo S60R which I drove for four years and 58,000 miles. The Volvo was a great car and the last of 4 Volvo’s over 16 years that I leased/owned. In my case, I lease 65% of the time and buy 35% of the time. If I were given the choice of the S60R or the electric Mini-E same-same, the Mini-E would be my choice by a long shot.
My total monthly cost for the Volvo S 60:

Volvo S60 R

36 month lease $2500 down payment = $ 69 a month
Lease payments with tax $479
Insurance $ 89
Maintenance and repair $140 (tires and brakes were very expensive)
Gas $260
End of lease cost $30 (extra mileage)

Total $1067 per month

My total cost of the Mini-E:

BMW Mini-E

30 months, 11 month lease at $930 (first month free), 18month lease at $640 no down payment.
Average lease payment with tax $730
Insurance $26
Maintanace and repair $0
Solar Electricity $25 ($7500 divided by 25 years divided by 12months)
End of Lease cost $0

Total $781

Now comparing 5 years of driving the Volvo(s) S60, which admittedly are a very nice car but by no means extravagant, and I think arguably is considered in the same class as the BMW 1 series the cost are:

Volvo $1067 per month (as above)

BMW ActiveE

Lease inception fee spread over 24 months $83
24month lease at $535 tax included
Insurance $89 (both liability and collision)
Maintenance and repair $0
Solar Electricity $25 ($7500 divided by 25 years divided by 12months)
End of Lease cost $0
Total cost $732 per month

That’s a difference of $335 a month lower or $20,100 lower total cost over 60 months for the ActiveE and Mini-E.

The lesson in this is that while you may enjoy a low car payment or lease payment for a comparable gas car to the BMW ActiveE, you must also add the cost of gas (gas is expensive!) repairs, insurance, origination fees, etc. to get your total monthly cost. I think you might be surprised at how well the electric car (any electric car) does in the total cost department. Your results may be higher or lower than mine, but this is my real world experience of the cars I drove before the Mini-E and the ActiveE.

See how it stacks up for you when you compare the total monthly cost of your car to an ActiveE. I am looking forward to the BMW I3 and i8.

Bravo BMW
Cheers
Peder
Mini-E # 183, 31,000 sunshine powered miles.

The Mini-E, Golf, James Dean and Carmageddon!

2011-07-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

What have we done!

http://youtu.be/5El7aHD2ngU

The writing below is through the filter of my experience living with an all electric BMW Mini-E. As no two lives are the same, your experiences may vary (I love saying that!)

Julie and I live in North San Diego County. For over two years and 31,000 miles we have been scooting about in our Mini-E all over San Diego, Orange and Riverside Counties. Our lives are unchanged as far as our driving patterns and routines with cars for the past 20 or so years.

It’s absolutely no different for us since pre Mini-E when I was driving a nice sedan and Julie was driving a small SUV. Annually we are now putting about 2000 more miles a year on the Mini-E than my previous sedan and about 2000 less miles on her small SUV. The main reason for this is that the Mini-E is nearly always the car we choose on evening or weekend ventures. Who wouldn’t, free gas via solar, non polluting, fun as heck to drive, and always 100% full and ready for the days adventure. It ‘s the only car since I was 25 that I wash by hand 

In the 800 days or so that we have had the Mini-E, there have been exactly two times when the Mini-E was the “wrong club in the bag” to use, both trips to northern California. An 8 iron is not the club to use when you need a 300 yd. drive. In our bag we have two clubs, a small SUV and the Mini-E. (do you know that almost 50% of all golf shots are on the putting green and that 4/5ths are from 150 yards and closer?)

That being said, if we were a one car family, I would choose the Mini-E to use 360 days a year and then for the one or two times a year, for the long drives, rent or borrow a “driver” to use. Why drive a car as your only vehicle that is perfect 5 days a year and a beast of burden the other 360 days?

I believe for many, especially in urban cities such as San Diego this makes sense.

Last week we used the “driver”, to tour the Pacific Northwest racking up 2800 miles in eight days, making sure we visited Napa, Sonoma, The Willamette Valley and Paso Robles (noticing a theme?)

On the way home we drove the entire 900 mile length of California on Hwy 101. As we drove this nationally important historic route home, I was channeling the Beach Boys, James Dean and the car culture of the 50s 60s and 70s made possible by the car and the interstate transportation system. What a great era exploring unique interesting places as the car and the road set us free to move about the country as we like.

It’s safe to say that the mind numbing cars of the 80s (K-car,) the generic sameness of urban sprawl (my Home Depot looks like your Home Depot,) and the increasing congestion on the once free flowing open road (Carmageddon in LA) pretty much trashed this idyllic dream.

Or did it?

We have our challenges to overcome to be sure, but I’m noticing a strong pendulum swing back to relocalization. We are once again accentuating our unique differences as “places” creating a tapestry of diversity in our unique towns worthy of having visitors as opposed to the sameness of the past three decades. We are once again designing cars with unique attributes and differences, and we are still moving about the country, however that movement is becoming smarter using the right club for the drive. Perhaps it’s a plane, a train, a bus, a car share, an electric car or a small suv that we will use.

Our next trip, a car free weekend on Amtrak with bikes and the electric shuttles in Santa Barbara.

I love this place! And I love our Mini-E. Looking forward to the Active E.

I hope LA survives this weekend and Carmageddon!

Cheers

Peder (proof I am a treehugger below)
Mini-E#183, 31,000 sunshine powered miles.

Choose Independence.

2011-07-04T09:52:00.000-07:00

90% of phones will be wireless by 2010
90% of TV’s will be flat panels by 2010
90% of homes will have computers in them by 2010
90% of the U.S. will be using the internet by 2010
90% of refrigerators will be twice as efficient by 2010
90% of cameras will be digital images on memory cards by 2010
90% of the U.S. will know of Google by 2010

If someone was quoting the above in 1980, you would have discarded the person as crazy or a hopeless dreamer, what the heck is a Google? They are today all part of our lives and we accept the facts above as normal. We even have a slight indignation about them, sort of a “no duh, I’m not stupid, of course they are” in our attitudes about what is our daily living.

In the near future:

90% of cars will be EV’s and Hybrids by 2030.
90% of those cars will be charged at home vs. a traditional gas station by 2030
90% of those will be charging at home will charge with renewable energy by 2030
90% of those will sell back to the utilities their energy at peak times for a 100% or greater profit.

If your laughing hilariously (dude your crazy!) or have concluded that I am a first class nut job, please refer to the first list of 90%s, and also know that I live today with the second 90%s list in my daily life. Is the prediction of 90% of cars will be EV’s and Hybrids by 2030, so hard to believe considering the innovations of the past?

Google recently conducted a study titled “The impact of Clean Energy Innovation” The Impact of Clean Energy Innovation Study
among their conclusions:

90% of cars will be EV’s and Hybrids by 2030
1.1 billion barrel reduction in oil use by 2030
$155 billion per year in GDP increase by 2030
1.1 million net new jobs by 2030
Household energy costs reduced by $942 per year by 2030
49 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050

In our family's case, our household energy cost has been reduced by $4000 a year, our gasoline cost has been reduced by $2400 a year. There’s an EV in our garage, solar PV on the roof, we charge at home, we sell back our power to the utility during peak hours at twice the price, we use the energy at off peak hours at half the price to charge the car and cool the wine cellar. Our annual household utility bill is zero or below zero. We refer to that as normal and as energy independence.

Believe in our future, in the imagination, innovation and creativity of future generations, in the Independence of our County. We’re on a trajectory towards fixing our most vexing problems, I am now more than any other time in my life, most optimistic about our future as a nation.

Happy 4th of July, choose Independence.
Cheers!
Peder
Mini-E #183, 30,500 sunshine powered miles.

The Mini-E, a valuable car in the drive for a more sustainable lifestyle

2011-06-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

Julie and I took a 40 mile RT drive in Mini-E #183 today to visit with our friends Andy and Tess in Vista Ca.. They live in a beautiful 1400 sq ft. craftsman bungalow built in the 1940s, recently restored, on 1.5 acres of land. Julie and I are helping them establish a 800 plant vineyard that we will plant in February 2012. The vineyard will produce around 1600 bottles of premium Viognier, Brunello and Cabernet Sauvignon wine annually. A very nice story, what does this have to do with Mini-E?

The Mini-E is part of the drive for a more sustainable lifestyle, especially if you harvest your own sunshine to provide the energy to drive the Mini-E. Our gifts that we brought Tess and Andy were a Native Californian ‘Indian Mallow’ pupped and then own rooted from a mother plant in our native plant garden, several zucchini’s and yellow squash grown in our garden, ½ dozen eggs, laid by our vineyard fertilizer machines, and two bottle of our home estate wine. All delivered in the Mini-E using no gasoline and producing no pollution.

A peasant’s lifestyle in the old days was a requirement of economic life. I would suggest that neo-peasantry today is a requirement for an enjoyable life. Essentially, a life that is more in balance with nature is a life that is lived to a higher degree outdoors with hands on the earth, living, rather than looking at an LCD screen. A way of life where we are more self reliant, self generating, and giving to our communities and our friends, as we share and barter different goods between neighbors, a more localized and healthier supply chain of food and vegetables and beverages that taste amazing!

Our trip in the Mini-E was made with power harvested from the sun, bringing gifts harvested from the land, grown with rainwater harvested from our roof top, helping friends plant their land, while drinking incredible wine made from our grapes, contemplating a better future…

I’m not sure how all this squares with mega cities with a growing percentage of our population living in cities of 10 million or more. I would suggest to you that sustainability in such cities is a far wider conversation than just mobility and reduced emissions.

We need to keep our ag and food production localized and achieve a balance between the land, the buildings and the occupants. They all have wonderful gifts to share if we are wise enough to use them to their fullest, if we are wise enough to truly be sustainable.

The Mini-E, ActiveE, i3 and other electric cars are a giant leap forward towards that tapestry of a sustainable life. Now all we need is an app that points us to farmstands, farmers markets, local co-ops, and community gardens as well as to charging stations. Perhaps a Vertical Earth Garden is the way we will grow our food in tight urban areas. They are popping up all over Encinitas Ca.
http://www.verticalearthgardens.com/gallery.html

A raised wine glass to you, Skol!

Mini-E #183, 30,000 sunshine powered miles.

The Cost and Savings of our Home Energy Plant and Fuel Station

2011-06-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

If you find this writing compelling, please share it broadly.

Cost of the energy plant upgrades with tax breaks $35,000
Cost of the energy plant upgrades without tax breaks $54,000
Achieved Savings after four years $23,720
Projected savings after six years (cost parity) $38,196
Projected savings after nine years (cost parity with no subsidies) $59,910
Projected savings after 30 years $155,980
Projected savings after 30 years (adjusted for rising gas and electricity cost) $445,000

This post is going to be a little techie. This will definitively describe to you how our home energy plant and electric car fueling station is far less expensive than utility supplied electricity and gasoline for a gas car with or without government subsidies. This is our actual experience as a typical family and home owner, car driver.

Julie and I constructed our home and moved in in late 2006. Our base year before the installation of Solar PV was 2007, January 1st 2008 we turned on our first 4.5KW solar pv station.

you can see how it went down in 2008!

In 2007 our electricity use was $4928. Our gasoline use for our Volvo S60R was $2,600 a year. This establishes a baseline of $7,528 a year for electricity and gas use.

Our cost associated with our original 4.5kw solar PV system was $20,000, 2 years later we added a 3kw system to power the electric car for $12,000. We have also upgraded our lighting in the home to LED and CCFL for a cost of $3,000.

The total cost for our home energy upgrades was $35,000.

Without any state or federal grants or subsidies the cost would have been $54,000.

We are approaching the end of our fourth year for the system, I am rounding to four complete years. Our average energy bill for the home and the electric car has been $290 per year for the past 4 years.

This represents a four year savings in energy cost for the home of $18,520 ($19,680-$1,160)

We have been driving Mini-E #183 the past 2 years 15,000 miles a year, saving $5,200 in gasoline cost. The electricity cost is included in the above $290 per year figure, so a net savings of $5200 a year.

Our total savings to date after four years of solar PV powering the home and two years powering our Mini-E equals $23,720.

Adding two more years, 2012, 2013 at an annual savings of $7238 ($7,528 minus $290) equals $38,196

This is a six year savings in utility energy cost and gas cost of $38,196. (Parity with original energy system cost) Our ROI on home solar compared to utility provided energy is 12%, the ROI on solar electric fuel compared to gasoline is 33%

The Solar PV system will provide energy for 25 years warranted and well beyond. A simple calculation of taking that six year savings number and multiplying it by five for 30 years of energy production yields $190,980 or a net total savings of $155,980 ($190,980 minus $35,000)

That simple calculation is in today’s dollars and does not factor in the rising cost of future electricity and gasoline in the next 25 years. Remember solar is a fixed price (the sun has never raised its price) and gas and electricity will continue to rise in cost.

The real savings adjusted for increasing gas and electricity at 5% a year is nearly $450,000

first year, $7528.00

In summary.

Cost of the energy plant upgrades with tax breaks $35,000
Cost of the energy plant upgrades without tax breaks $54,000
Achieved Savings after four years $23,720
Projected savings after six years (cost parity) $38,196
Projected savings after nine years (cost parity with no subsidies) $59,910
Projected savings after 30 years $155,980
Projected savings after 30 years (adjusted for rising gas and electricity cost) $445,000

Multiply our experience by 100 million American households and you have national energy independence, a much healthier, cleaner USA, and much wealthier families and a country.
That’s our experience and our simple road map, take a drive with us :)
Thank you Stellar Solar and BMW Mini-E for making this a reality.

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E # 183, 30,000 sunshine powered miles

Mini-E #183, 2 years, 30,000 miles.

2011-06-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

What a powerful little car.
The single best car in my 33 years of driving experiences.

The fundamentals of our family’s life have not changed at all the past two years, the way we drive our car, historically averaging 12k-15k a year, has not changed at all the past two years. How we drive, primarily with one pedal in an electric Mini-E powered by renewable energy, detours in a radical way from the previous 32 years of driving.

A little over two years ago, I drove up to Irvine for my first test drive of the BMW Mini-E as an inquisitive skeptical Mini-E Pioneer. Would it go slow up the hills? Would it be safe to drive in the wet? Would I be able to get to where I wanted to go? Would I fit in the car? Will it always turn on? Would the batteries wear out prematurely? Would living with the car be too complicated? Would my wife, family and friends think I was crazy? Oh my, the questions!

I drove the Mini-E that day with Huw John, my Mini-E rep, both of us 6’3” and in that short 10 minute drive, a match was struck creating a flame that continues to grow within me. I was stunned at the performance and fun of driving the Mini-E and at the possibilities of living and driving with electricity.

The past two years with Mini-E # 183 has done no less than alter my opinion, my imagination, creativity and hopefulness that we as a family or a city or a nation can become energy independent, that we can become wealthier, that we can clean our air and live a healthier life, That we can have global energy equity with electricity, standing in stark contrast to the have and have not’s of an energy source that is in the protected hands of the few.

For those that are fearful or for outright opponents of the electric car, ( Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh I’m calling you out ) replace your fear with imagination and curiosity for the future, while maintaining a dose of healthy skepticism. The electric car or any car for that matter, won’t work for everyone, but they will work for a majority of American households.

As I have written before, "Our greatest roadblock to our future, is the inertia of the status quo."

I believe, fear is rooted in the lack of knowledge or experience in a subject matter. Nature abhors a vacuum, so we fill that vacuum with the comforts and knowledge of the status quo and with the comfort that 99% of the population understands us when we support the status quo, (especially if we are a talk show host or a radio personality.) It amazes me, the lethargy of our population, and the desire of folks to offer inane comments about electric cars. It reminds me of the awkward times in classrooms a few decades ago when the students knew more about computer technology than the teachers did, so to hide their lack of knowledge the teachers just banned the calculators and computers from school, lest they be thought of as less than the students.

Those of you over forty can perhaps remember being in awe over a neighbor who installed one of the first garage door openers and who actually had a magic “genie” in their car to open the garage door remotely. We would stand in their garage and gaze up at this transformational device while our neighbor drove around the block remotely opening and closing the garage door. Today, nobody builds those old fashion heavy garage doors anymore; we have evolved thankfully to lightweight rollup electric garage doors powered by genies.

After two years our Clipper Creek EVSE, or charging station, is as exciting to us as your garage door opener is to you. Both are electric devices about the same size, located in the garage. It’s just another appliance running off of house electricity similar to your oven, cook-top, dryer, air conditioner or garage door opener.

A daily drive in the Mini-E is about as exciting for me, as a drive in your exciting car is for you, It really is no different. In the two years we have had the car, the Mini-E has been able to make all our trips except two, both trips to Napa Ca, where we would take the Ford Escape, even prior to getting the Mini-E.

In two years and 30,000 miles I have not gone to a gas station. My sympathies are with the owners of the gas stations as I know their future is fairly short lived. I’ve noticed more and more of them are closing, perhaps investors are sensing the same thing. In less than a year from now my own personal solar fueling station located on my roof will be paid off entirely simply by the savings of not buying gasoline for three years ($7,000) For the rest of my life, I will be paying $0.00 to drive 15,000 miles a year. What will you be paying for gasoline for the next 25 years?

A few decades ago many of us began to recoil when being in close proximity to a smoker. At first we would find a table away from the smoker, and later we would ban smoking all together in most restaurants and places where the public gathers. Second hand smoke is disgusting to me and I am sure it was for the food service worker who was inhaling all day. If you smoke that’s fine but keep it away from me because its unhealthy.

As a Mini-E driver I am beginning to look at tail pipes the same way. Why are we polluting our air? In major urban areas, 70% of the man made emissions come from our transportation tail pipes. Imagine a world of electric mobility powered by renewable energy and those emissions turn from 70% into a big fat zero. Imagine those that are living by freeways and heavily trafficked roads breathing clean air once again. I would present an argument that there are as many cars as there are people, and that breathing second hand smoke from 300 million cars is a far greater national health threat than second hand smoke from smokers.

So here is my summary from two years of driving a solar powered BMW Mine-E.
It’s better, it’s cheaper, it’s healthier, it’s more fun, It last longer, It’s better for my neighbor and I continue to have a blast and love Mini-E #183.
You can live and drive powered by sunshine.

Whether the first sunny and warm spring day, or your two year anniversary with an electric car powered with renewable energy, sunshine always makes you smile:)

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E #183

Electricity producers launch free study into fire risks from gasoline powered cars

2011-06-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

The study "Fire Risks From Gasoline Powered Cars" was released today.

The Executive Summary concluded that gasoline cars do catch on fire and pose a fire risk to consumers and emergency responders. Further, the in depth technical studies concluded that fuel pumps can catch on fire as well.

In other news,

Fed launching $8.75M study into fire risks from EV batteries

Explaining the $0.02 cents per mile chart

2011-06-08T07:31:00.001-07:00

A few folks have asked how Stellar Solar arrived at the numbers used in the charts. Since we did this based on real world experience and cost for both the Solar PV and for the Mini-E, I thought it might be helpful to elaborate.

For a gasoline car they used 20mpg and a 100 mile trip as a baseline.

In San Diego our SDG&E rates vary from a low of $0.14kwh to a high of $0.31kwh. The average is $0.22kwh so they rounded down to $0.20kwh. Some will go TOU metering, some will not depending on how much energy they use.

Most electric cars get around 3.5 mpkwh real world consumption. Some get as high as 4mpkwh but 3.5mpkwh seems to be a good number for most.

Solar PV in San Diego is around $4000+- a kw nameplate. A 1.5kw system ($6000) will provide 2400kwh of electricity, approximately half during peak hours and peak season ($0.27cents kwh) the rest at off peak rate ($0.17 kwh.) The production of 2400khw, half during peak hours-peak season, equals the cost of using 3600kwh a year when charging at night between midnight and 6am, which is when I charge, during super of peak ($0.14cents a kwh)

25 years at 3600kwh of usage is 90,000kwh. 90,000kwh multiplied by $0.07 cents is $6,300 which equals the cost of the system.

$0.07kwh divided by 3.5 mpkwh equals $0.02 per mile.

There are some variables on the solar such as degradation of 0.5% per year and you will most likely need a new inverter around year 12 (enphase inverters are now warranted for 25 years) however the solar PV system will go on producing electricity far beyond the 25 years, so to keep it simple we just calculated that as a wash.

All that boiled down to as simple of a chart as possible.

Oh, and the best part, not included in the chart, those 3600kwhs will drive an electric car 12,600 miles. In a gas car again at 20mpg, you would use 630 gallons of gas or $2,500 of gas per year. 2.5 years of driving on gasoline is slightly more than the cost of the Solar PV system to drive an electric car for 25 years. This gives a 40% ROI for a Solar PV system used to offset gasoline.

Sounds impossible but that is my real world experience and for most the numbers will be similar if installed as part of a larger house system. A small 1.6kw system installed on its own would be higher in price.

Cheers
Peder

Faster Horses Running On Cheaper Gas

2011-06-06T20:34:00.001-07:00

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."
— Henry Ford

What people want today is cheaper gas, but is that really the answer?

I am one week away from my two year anniversary, 30,000 miles, driven in an electric car powered by sunshine. Those words of Henry Ford are as relevant today as they were over 100 years ago.

The BMW Mini-E remains the most fun car to drive in my 33 year driving history. The smoothness, the torque, the “jet on a runway takeoff surge” from 20mph to 80mph is like nothing I have experienced before except in a jet:) I am positive that BMW will keep this going in the ActiveE in the short term, then really step it up with the lightweight i3 in 2013.

The Mini-E is also by far the least expensive car I have operated in terms of reliability, and fuel cost. If you are solar or renewable energy powered like I am, today’s equivalent cost to a gallon of gasoline is $0.40 cents, you have to go back to 1915 to find gasoline that inexpensive.

Graph courtesy of Stellar Solar

In the future the price of electricity will only go down as renewable energy continues the long technology trend line of becoming less and less expensive.

Cheaper gas is most definitely not the answer. Funny thing is we still refer to horsepower as our way of explaining how powerful a car is, horse drawn, gasoline or electric. Some things never change.

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E#183, 205 horsepower, 29,500 sunshine powered miles.

Electric Racing, Love it!

2011-05-26T08:11:00.000-07:00

The sounds remind me of my slot car sets when I was a kid.
I can't wait for electric street racing to start happening all over the US.
Perhaps that might be a good use for 50 or so of the Mini-Es.

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E #183 29,000 sunshine powered miles.

Under The Zero Line We Go for 2011 :)

2011-05-20T16:51:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic time we are living in regarding the evolution of energy and transportation. Of all the great advances of our time, I would suggest that the ability for the average family to power their home and their transportation by electricity generated from the sun ranks as #1.

The ramifications of this for our nation is staggering in its consequences as we redefine our relationship with nature, with our utilities, with domestically produced energy, with an improved healthier environment, and perhaps a new definition of strategic national interest that has as less of a priority, securing safe production and delivery of imported oil.

This is my favorite time of the year. As the sunny days get longer, around April 20th we dipped below the zero cost line for our home electrical energy and 15,000 miles a year driving in our Mini-E. To think we actually get paid a credit for over production and driving for the next 6 months.

Try going to a gas station and see if they are willing to pay you to put their gas in your tank.

That is exactly the life of a solar powered zero energy home and an electric car such as the Mini-E or the ActiveE.

This month our bill was a credit of $28.34 and this will grow slightly in the coming months. Beginning in mid October as the days shorten we will slide back above the zero line for the remaining 2-3 months of the year.

At the end of the year, +-$0 is the energy cost to power the home and the Mini-E.

amazing, and simple.

Cheers

Peder

Mini-E #183, 29,000 sunshine powered miles

Gas Cars & EV Fueling, History Repeats

2011-05-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

‘When going forward, a rear view mirror can be most helpful’ Peder Norby

Electric vehicle charging and the lack of local, regional and national, EVSE infrastructure is a well documented area of concern among those considering an EV. A look at our history reveals no need for worry, that the path of EV development, mirrors exactly the early path of the gasoline powered automobile.

“If you think this is just an interesting piece of trivia, you’re likely not ready for the MINI E, the BMW Megacity or any other EV, for that matter. But if you consider this fact to be a powerful parallel, a bigger charge from your driving experience is fast approaching” This according to Mark Hacking in his article Mini’s Electric Future.

Let’s start with the gas car.

Karl Benz was granted a patent for the two stoke engine in 1879. Benz demonstrated the first gasoline car powered by an internal-combustion engine in Mannheim, Germany, on 3 July 1886. It was called the Motorwagon. From 1886 progressing to 1908 dozens of manufacturers produced low volume runs of the gasoline car in many derivatives, primarily for the wealthy few that could afford such luxury.

On September 27th, 1908 the first Model T rolled off the “assembly line” and the auto era burst onto the scene, with the car now affordable to the masses. In the early years between 1879 and 1908, a driver would have a 50 gallon drum of petrol, kerosene or ethanol (home made ethanol)at home. The driver could go as far as their tank would allow and back home again. The early cars had a range of between 20 miles and 100 miles depending on the model. With the Model T that grew to 150 miles. I wonder if those early drivers had range anxiety?

Around the turn of the century many towns had multiple cars in them and the drivers began to drive to each other’s farm or property within the range of their car, an informal sharing system of fuel between drivers and their drums of fuel was established thus extending the range of the gasoline car.

The first "drive-in" filling station, Gulf Refining Co. opened to the motoring public in Pittsburgh in 1913. Prior to this, automobile drivers pulled into almost any general or hardware store, or even blacksmith shops in order to fill up their tanks or drums. On its first day, the station sold 30 gallons of gasoline at 27 cents per gallon. This was also the first architect-designed station and the first to distribute free road maps. (wikipedia)

Hay was plentiful and availble everywhere, gas stations were not.

Thus the modern era of gas stations was born 27 years after the first car appeared and 5 years after the first mass produced car was on the road. The electric car charging road map is on an identical course nearly 130 years later, an identical course however much more rapid in deployment.

As a Mini-E driver it began with our home charging station or EVSE, as far as I could go and back again to my garage. Several months later an informal sharing system of chargers between drivers emerged. You can few that system here http://waterway4.com/mini-e/

This year, with the BMW ActiveE, several other plug in cars and a uniformed J1772 standard for the EVSE, a city wide roll out of public charging stations begins.

Let’s make sure we record for history the epochs and episodes of the electric car world as well.

Milestones such as making your own electric fuel from sunshine. Not all that far removed from the farmer who made their own ethanol 130 years ago.

Today you can make solar fuel for the equivalent of $0.40cents a gallon, not all that far removed from that day 1913 when gas was $0.27 cents a gallon. Give it another 10 years and solar fuel will be cheaper than gas 100 years ago.
Something to think about for the future, while looking in the rear view mirror.

Cheers Peder

Mini-E #183, 28000 miles powered by sunshine.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Underground E-Mobility Show and screening of "Wherever You Want to Go"

2011-05-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

Calling all Peds, Bikes, E-Bikes, E-Scooters, E-Motorcycles, Plug in Hybrids, Electric Cars, Segways and other e-mobility forms of transportation!

San Diego County and Encinitas in particular, have emerged as a national hot bed of innovation and adoption for Electric Vehicles and for Solar PV installations. San Diego leads the nation in both categories. In my professional role as a County of San Diego Planning Commissioner and the Hwy 101 Coordinator for the city of Encinitas that makes me a very very happy boy :)

The Cottonwood Creek film series featuring the BMW Documentary "Wherever You Want To Go" and the Underground E-Mobility Show has already attracted approximately 40 entries including Mini-Es, Teslas, Volts, Leafs, Toyota EV Rav 4s, regular custom bikes E-Bikes and E-Motorcycles, Home Built Ev's and a local Segway club not to mention the Coaster Train!

The Underground garage at Pacific Station has room for 250 cars/entries on two levels. This is a great event to bring your EV or to learn about E-Mobility from drivers and experts in muti modes of transportation. Plus you get to see a really cool film 'al freso' under the stars featuring three Mini-E Drivers, Tom, Todd and yours truly.

The event has already attracted the attention of the San Diego Union and The North County Times and several local papers and TV Stations.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/07/electric-vehicle-show-set-encinitas/

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/encinitas/article_ca3e7eb4-6ec8-5724-af02-8ef4cb3830e5.html

http://campaigns.ratepoint.com/campaigns/2eff8afb1e1772506ecb5f371e06fe17?r=a00569b4ae5e1cb419edd642bbc06703

Contact: Carris Rhodes
Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association
Email: crhodes@encinitas101.com
760.943.1950 P
760.943.1977 F

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WHEN: Thursday, May 26th from 5:30pm-7:00pm
WHERE: Pacific Station at 687 S. Coast Hwy 101
WHAT: Underground E-Mobility Show
Who: Presented by the Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association, Stellar Solar and Pacific Station.

The Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association (DEMA) is calling all electric and alternative fuel vehicles to downtown Encinitas on May 26th. DEMA will be hosting an underground E-Mobility show on May 26th featuring electric cars, scooters, bikes (electric and non-electric), plug-in hybrids and others. DEMA would like to welcome electric vehicle owners to showcase their vehicles and share their experience at the underground car show. The show will take place in the parking garage beneath Pacific Station at 687 S Coast Hwy 101. Come see cutting edge vehicles and the future of commuter transportation. This event is free to the public, come share information and learn about the technology of the future. If you are interested in bringing your electric vehicle to the show please email crhodes@encinitas101.com.

The evening will also include a free film screening and panel discussion on the Future of Mobility. The film and panel are presented by Stellar Solar and BMW. The film, “Wherever You Want To Go,” is the first release under BMW Documentaries—a new franchise dedicated to crafting original, thought-provoking and entertaining content. The film aims to take audiences to a place they’ve truly never been: the future. From the minds of some of the most influential scientists, academics, pioneers, and entrepreneurs of our time, this documentary paints a unique picture of technology, culture, cities, and our past, present and how it all relates to the future of mobility.
Join us for a fun night al fresco in downtown Encinitas.

Roll up on or in anything besides a gasoline car to the Cottonwood Creek Environmental Film Series in Downtown Encinitas. Ride a bike, skateboard, strap on your blades, use your feet, charge an electric car, use public transportation and get creative for a free raffle ticket. Hybrid vehicles do not count.
The event is free and open to the public, we hope to see you there!

Organic Driving and the Mini-E.

2011-04-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

Can we Organically Drive?

Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm. Organic farming excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured fertilizers, pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, and genetically modified organisms.

At Herons’ House we organically farm Brunello (a clone of Sangiovese.) The cover crop of California Poppy provides pest control and dead organic material in the root zone, We compost our must (grape skins and seeds) and return it to the vineyard as organic material. Free range chickens provide the best fertilizer in the world and a few dozen super tasting eggs a week, We use a natural mineral oil to control mildew.

The result of this is five years of beautiful wine with nothing brought in and nothing leaving our vineyard, not one pesticide, fungicide, fertilizer or any additives whatsoever in the vineyard and not one ounce of trash or waste from the production of grapes leaves the vineyard. Beginning in 2007, the vines reward us each year with 400 bottles of outstanding estate grown Brunello.

What does this have to do with the Mini-E? Everything.

“Organic Driving” “Organic driving” is the form of driving that relies on motive power from renewable non polluting sources to power a vehicle that is made from material that is 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable with zero contributions to landfills. The energy source shall be local and located in close proximity to where the vehicle is used. The vehicle shall have zero emissions, contributing zero manmade emissions by driving the vehicle or by supplying the energy/fuel to power the vehicle.” “Organic Driving” prohibits the use of fossil fuels, combustion, exhaust, or emissions from any vehicle or from any source of energy/fuel required to provide power for the vehicle. Organic Driving prohibits the discarding of any portion of the vehicle in landfills or any other form of waste at the conclusion of the normal life cycle of the vehicle and it’s components. Organic Driving is the ultimate symbiosis of nature, machine and driver” Peder Norby

The Mini-E and the power for the Mini-E, rooftop solar energy, comes very close to this ideal. No emissions by the Mini-E, or by the power source, sunshine of the Mini-E. It is true that the grid acts as an energy bank, depositing our daily sunshine over production of electricity and allowing us to make withdrawals at night. The net result of this “bank” is a positive, fewer emissions for society as less energy is needed during peak hours thanks to our independence and over generation, and wasted energy previously run to ground is now stored during the evening hours in the battery of the Mini-E. So I consider this zero emissions from the car and the source of the energy.

Most of the Mini-E including the battery is recyclable or reusable. As a field test vehicle and a prototype I am pretty sure that it would not meet the 100% that would be required for Organic Driving. A glider made in England, shipped to California for a power plant from AC Propulsion, shipped to Germany for final fitting and then shipped back to California for me to drive has some serious carbon footprint issues, but as I said it’s a prototype, an experiment.

Organic farming is what we do. “Organic driving” is just down the road.

We have a great opportunity with the BMW I3 for “Organic Driving” 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable, zero emissions, and renewable energy powered.

The future is an amazing place to be.

Cheers Peder Mini-E # 183, 27,000 sunshine powered miles.

Can you imagine, 205 horsepower in a Carbon Fiber Mini-E Rocketman?

2011-03-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

Commuter cars have an earned rep of being small boring and lack luster in performance due to the fuel sipping nature of their composition.

It's high ime to write a new chapter in the history of the auto.

The race car/commute car!

Track days with slicks on Saturday, The not so boring ho-hum commute Monday-Friday.

A few months ago I wrote this:

"Give me the same 205 horsepower electric motor as in the Mini-E, the new 2nd gen batteries like in the Active-E spaced in the front and back for optimum weight. Carbon fiber, lots of it, I want to be able to select the DSC off or on, and I want the suspension to be able to handle the horsepower and torque so no need to detune the controller/motor at take-off. I’m fine with the top speed governed at 95. Lastly an integrated aero kit and a j1772 connector.

That’s my dream car, A Mini-E “Peder Spyder Special”

2250 pounds.
A 0-60 time in the low to mid 5 second range,
Range of around 90-100 miles with less batts (thanks to the lightness and aero of the car"

Please Please BMW/Mini make this Rocketman car a Mini-E. It will be the car of the century!

Can you imagine, 205 horsepower in a Carbon Fiber Mini-E Rocketman?
I'm going car crazy just thinking about it. It would launch a revolution in cars!

You are my Mini-E,
My Rocketman Mini-E.
You make me happy
When roads are clear.
You'll never know Mini,
That I ‘d love to have.
A Rocketman with electricity.

You Are My Rocketman
You run on sunshine.
You make me happy
When roads are clear

You'll never know gas
That I don’t miss you
Please make my Rocketman today.

Cheers

Peder

Electric fuel is $100k cheaper than gas.

2011-03-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

And they say electric cars are expensive!

First a few disclaimers, This is not advise, this does not come from a University, a think tank, a car manufacturer, a utility or an oil company. Now on to what it is!

This is my actual experience driving a super fun Mini-E, 26,000 miles the past 20 months and my actual cost to provide “Electric Fuel” for the car. Your results may vary (I love saying that!)

The upcoming BMW Active E gets even better miles per Kwh than the Mini-E, and following that, the BMW i3 will be an even more restrained kilowatt sipper.

On to the charts.
25 years of Gas driving, $114,536
25 years of Electric driving, $8,800

Click on charts to enlarge

*Electric driving on solar PV cost about the same as buying three years of gasoline.

Ok, so a few points to clarify, This chart does not take into account the cost of batteries and the service cost of an EV over the next 25 years , nor the cost of a gasoline drive-train and the service cost of a gas car for the next 25 years. You could make a fair argument that either will be cheaper over the long haul, after all the electric car motor/battery warrantee is as long or longer than its competitor the gas car. but I won’t get into that.

This also does not estimate how long you will keep your car, some trade up every two years and some keep cars for over a decade. This does not take into account peak oil, or new oil supplies, or 2 billion new potential consumers of that oil, or continued unrest in the Middle East. It simple begins with today and adds a 5% cost increase each year for gasoline. Again you can argue less or more, but 5% is my best conservative guess.

What this does assume is that you will be driving for the next 25 years (I’ve been driving for 32) and that you will be buying fuel for your car. For the first time in history we now have a real choice of how to power our cars. In fact we now have multiple choices including gasoline, utility supplied electricity, natural gas and “homegrown, roof top solar” to name a few.

I have chosen the homegrown roof top solar option combined with an electric car. The combo of solar PV and an EV provides the most economic savings. ( It’s amazing to say ) and it's amazing that this has gone from the domain of environmental-futurist crazy dreams, to my radio, TV and internet being bombarded with adds for Solar PV and for the new crop of electric cars. Today, one phone call to a car dealer and one phone call to a Solar PV installer and your on your way to energy independence. It truly is amazing light-speed progress and as simple as that. Well ok not quite that simple as the cars are slow to roll out.

The cost of the Solar PV in the chart is determined by 15,000 miles multiplied by .25kwhs per mile for a total of 3750 khw per year to power the car. A 1.7 kw solar pv system in sunny states like California will produce 2635kwh a year. As part of our larger sytem to power the home and car the per kw system price was $4,000 for a total cost of our gas station of $6,800.

In our case this production is at peak time when we are at work and we are paid $0.29 per kwh produced. We plug in and power our car at super off peak times between midnight and 7am for $0.14 per kwh hour. The net result is that the 2635 kwh produced at peak time is the same cost as 3750kwh used at off peak. This is called time of use metering. In year 15 we project a new inverter will be needed for $2,000.

Again your results may vary.
You can live and drive on sunshine.

If you would like to see our "Electric Fuel" system in action with live real time monitoring, just click on the following link. Total system size is 7.5 KW.

Norby House Solar Production

Cheers
Peder Mini-E #183
26,000 sunshine powered miles.

“Our greatest roadblock is the inertia of the status quo”

2011-03-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

BMW Mini-e, BMW ActiveE, BMW i3, A methodical approach to the ultimate car.

Over the past 20 months, Mini-E #183 has collected 26,000 miles of pure sunshine powered enthusiast driving pleasure. It simply is the best car I have driven in 32 years on the road.

I know, I know, it’s a myth. A super fun car powered by rooftop solar is some crazy futurist pipe dream. I get it.

As a "conservative" person, what was I thinking?

Don't let the turmoil in the Middle East or the cost and pollution from the extraction, transportation, refining and delivery of gasoline, as well as the tailpipe emissions of 270 million gasoline cars persuade your thinking, after all this is a just a dream.

Forget about our national dependency on oil and how if the Middle East burps, our fuel prices skyrocket.

I’m sure our founding fathers who set us on a course as an independent nation won't mind the huge detour away from independence as we justify our supersized SUV's as freedom.

You have to admit all that wealth in the Arab Emirates and other oil producing nations is pretty sexy stuff. Their wealth coming at the expense of our independence, but again....it's just a dream. No need to worry.

And let us not confuse the liberation, self reliance and energy independence of an individual who makes their own power for their home and car with our gross dependency and reliance on oil from others, That problem is to big to solve and who will pay the bills for big oil and the utility companies if you go renegade and make your own? Remember it’s just a dream.

Don’t bother to pinch me, really don’t, I like this crazy dream world I’m living in.

I love the fact that my “solar gas station” allows me to drive at a price not seen for 50 years at the pump, at $0.35 cents a gallon of solar fuel compared to $4.00 a gallon gas. I love the fact that in just 1.5 more years my “solar gas station” that I own, not Exxon, is paid for and for the next 30 years plus, I will drive for essentially free while others buy gas at $4.00 a gallon and increasing at Exxon for the next 30 years.

Dammit please don’t wake me up!

The “gyroscopic inertia of the status quo” prevents most others from enjoying this “crazy pipe dream” of the future of mobility.

Who is really sleeping?

As much as I enjoy my Mini-e, I look forward to the future. With the new electric cars and hybrid cars now on the road and others soon to be out, the Mini-e, after only a couple of years is looking pretty rudimentary though still damn fun and practical to drive. The progress of the past 24 months has been incredible.

The success of the Mini-e validation “phase one” has led BMW to the strategic decision of pressing the go button on a billion dollar investment in new factories and tooling to get ready for the i3 and i8. A key component of the path to these cars is a “phase two” pilot series test, verifying the BMW in house engineering of the car in a BMW 1 series car chassis. The basic components and drive architecture of the Mini-e and the ActiveE differ greatly. Rear wheel drive versus front wheel drive is just one example, battery size , type, number and assembly another.

The ActiveE will weigh 600lbs more that the Mini-e, For this you get 4 seats and a trunk, liquid thermal cooling, connectivity and the ActiveE is larger in all dimensions and more refined than the Mini-E. The ActiveE will have 20% less batteries, and yet will drive more miles per KWh that the Mini-e. All this and it will still sport 0-60 time of 8.5 seconds and a slightly improved 100+ mile real world range, both these nearly identical to the Mini-E. The Active E is done in house completely by BMW, as compared to the third party prepared AC Propulsion validation Mini-E. Now that is progress and some very good performance, but its only a hint at the future. Don’t make the mistake of comparing the performance stats of the ActiveE to the BMWs of today.

The Active E and its drive train is a “pilot series” for the upcoming i3 and as an enthusiast driver, that makes me really excited. Like drooling at the mouth excited. Why?

Let’s begin with the fact that the i3 will be made on an aluminum “drive” chassis. Fastened to this chassis will be the Carbon fiber “Life” module. These two technologies and a core principle on weight reduction throughout every component of the car will result in a car that is at least 1000 lbs lighter than the 3950 lbs ActiveE. If I were to craft a guess, I would say the carbon fiber i3 will weigh in at between 2250lbs and 2750 lbs. Now insert the same drive train piloted on the ActiveE and your talking a 0-60 time of 5 to 6 second range and a total range of 150 miles plus.

BMW could offer the i3 in three flavors, a 100 mile EV with 20kw of battery, a 150 mile EV with 30kw of battery and a PHEV with a 100 mile 20kw EV range and a range extender for another 150 miles or so.

All three, BMW i3 (catchy huh?) models would sport 0-60 times in the 5-6 second range, have rear wheel drive, connectivity between the driver their phone, their home and charging stations and essentially be the leanest meanest green machines on the road. All but the fastest supercars and a few of the BMW M series cars would be able to keep up the the BMW i3.
That’s the future, that’s where we’re headed. Excited yet?

I’d like to order the 100 mile (more than enough for me) BMW i3 in flat graphite black . I want to order the $1400 i option of weight reduction (which gives the i3 a 5.5 second 0-60 time). Strip every last thing from the car. no radio, (I will take an integrated I-Phone charging dock,) No power windows or door locks, the most basic and lightest materials used inside the car including the carbon fiber seat molds and a lightweight poly rear window and rear passenger windows. I am so ready…It’s a great dream that I live in.

Cheers

Peder, Mini-e # 183

San Diego Pacific Magazine

2011-02-26T18:06:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Pacific San Diego Magazine came by with a photog and did a shoot with the Mini-E and the home.

The idea is simple. Power your home and your transportation by that big bright star that we all circle around.

The reasons are even more simple. Cleaner air and environment, cheaper energy, wealth building for an individual and a nation. The wine part is a little missing but the 400 bottles refers to our vineyard and estate wine production.

Pacific San Diego Magazine - San Diego Pacific Magazine

Cheers!

Peder

A mysterious countdown has appeared on the BMW Project I website

2011-02-18T16:44:00.000-08:00

Project I is a future mobility think tank of the BMW Group.

They have just posted a countdown clock.

http://www.project-i.com/countdown/

Anyone care to venture a guess on what's about to appear?

BMW ActiveE?
BMW Megacity?
BMW Scooter?
BMW Flying car?
Anti Gravity Machine?

True Up - True Dat!

2011-02-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

This year was a relatively poor year for solar PV.

We were overcast for nearly the entire summer along the coast in So-Cal. Not that I am complaining.

In January we received our annual true-up from SDG&E. This is the bill for the entire year for our electricity usage for the home and car. In summer we generate far more than we use, in winter it is the reverse, so the true up is what’s left at the end of the year.

This past year to power our home and our Mini-E 16,000 miles, our bill was $410. In addition to that we have a $260 gas bill for our natural gas usage. Again it was not the best year for solar. Last year our bill was $185 for the year.

Our home is a net zero energy home. How can that be if we have a bill for $670 this year for gas and electric? Because the home also supplies the electricity to drive a car 16,000 miles. This offsets what would be a fuel purchase of 640 gallons of gas at a real world 25 miles per gallon. At the current rate of $3.49 a gallon this is an offset or savings of $2,233.

If we did not have the Mini-E, thus not using 4500kwhs from the home to power the car, our utility bill including gas and electric would be below zero for the year.

A similar 4500 foot house/guesthouse (I will not apologize for living in an estate home) with a temp controlled 450 sq. ft. cellar and similar amenities to our home would have a monthly gas and electric bill of $500 or $6000 a year, and a 25mpg car using $2,233 of gasoline for a combined home utility and car gas bill or $8,233 a year.

$8000 a year or $400 a year, it’s your choice America.

We are in year three of our solar pv world and year two of our electric car world. At the above savings, after 5 years total (we're more than half way) our total cost for home energy efficiencies (8k) and solar pv (30k) will be paid off in full simply by using the same money we are not paying the utility company and Opec.

After another 2.5 years, it’s free energy for the home and our electric car for the rest of our life.

True Dat!

Cheers

Peder

The New City, BMW Films and Mini-E #183

2011-01-31T21:45:00.000-08:00

From the minds of some of the most influential scientists, academics, pioneers and entrepreneurs of our time, this four-part documentary paints a unique picture of technology, culture, cities, our past, present and how it all relates to the future of mobility.

http://www.bmwactivatethefuture.com/index.php

As a Mini-E “Pioneer” I had the great fun of spending a day in Hollywood working with a very talented production crew in the filming of the Mini-E segments for these four films. The very best part of this experience and one that I will always remember, was meeting my fellow Mini-E Drivers, Todd Crook Mini-E #140 from Long Beach, and Tom Moloughney Mini-E #250 from New Jersey. We all come at this from slightly different angles, but we all love the Mini-E in particular and the electric car in general. We have blogged together for 20 months but this was our first meeting.

I want to acknowledge the work of Donald Shoup in his book the High Cost of Free Parking. Although we all quote figures and statistics from time to time including in this film, I do want to recognize his research I have paired with my observations.

We have shared an interesting journey together, the three of us have over 100,000 miles logged in the Mini-E. Tom is the mileage leader of the group with over 50,000 miles in his Mini-E. It’s a neat feeling to know that when we signed up for this ride we were the only ones along with a handful of Tesla’s, legacy EV Rav4s, and the conversion electric car guys. In just 20 short months we now have major manufactures with the Leaf and Volt in the marketplace today, several more coming online next year, and just about everyone by 2013 including BMW with the imaginative, innovative lightweight Life Drive architecture and carbon fiber construction of the Megacity car.

The 500 or so Mini-E Pioneers provided a lot of knowledge and experience that has been helpful in the development of the electric car. BMW let loose in the wild a pre production car and gave the keys over to hundreds of normal everyday people and let those individuals experience and refine future BMW project I cars. That was a huge risk and BMW is to be congratulated, not chastised for that effort. Step two of the program begins this summer with the Active E, an in house rear wheel drive BMW 1 series with vastly different battery and drive architecture, not to mention four seats, a small trunk and connectivity.

I am very aware and appreciative of the pioneers that arrived before us, in some cases a decade or more before us. You are the ones that we read and researched when contemplating our entry into the Mini-E program. That list is distinguished, very small and includes the publisher of this website, William Moore and his many contributors.

The morning of the filming day, I left Carlsbad in Mini-E #183 that we have nicknamed Buzz, derived from Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story, which was derived from the Astronaut Buzz Aldrin. The same Buzz who is also in this film series. Go figure!

I knew I had a 210 mile drive that day so my plan was to drive the 50 miles to the Lake Forest BMW dealership and then charge up during an early lunch. I left there and drove up to Hollywood, around Hollywood filming and then drove back to the Lake Forrest BMW dealership around 6pm. That was a trip of 107 miles, all freeway at 65-70mph with about 25% stop and go near LA, all done on one charge with 9 miles remaining on the range indicator! I plugged Buzz in and then had a wonderful dinner nearby. After about 1.5 hours I returned and Buzz had charged up to 55% more than enough for my last 50 miles back to the house.

A heck of day with 210 miles of driving up to and around Hollywood and back to Carlsbad and a personal record of 107 miles in one charge with room to spare.

To this day, it is still a bit unreal that I am driving all over So-Cal in a blast of a car to drive powered by solar energy from the sun. Well, at least the 25k in miles that I charge from home.
It is also with great interest that I watch the film series beginning with the “New City.” As a San Diego County Planning Commissioner, in a county of 3 million citizens the question is perhaps the most important one we face. We know that transportation has historically driven land use patterns and decisions, from the time when man and woman first jumped bareback on a horse.

What is the future of mobility?

You can drive on sunshine. To Infinity and Beyond.

Enjoy the films.
Cheers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mini-E drivers prove EV’s are more than city/commuter cars.

2011-01-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

Popular belief is that electric cars of a range of around 100 miles are only good as commute cars or city cars. This is a story line pushed hard by Chevy in the marketing of the Volt, journalist and bloggers unfamiliar with electric car technology fearful of range anxiety. The Volt has a range extender thus is an all in one vehicle.

The Volt has cast its vote into the range anxiety fear of the public and their prior EV experience, while downplaying the experienced voice of current edition EV drivers via the UC Davis study who express that range is not a significant issue in the use of their cars. A big mistake.

I beginning to think Elon Musk had it right when he said of the Volt, and I paraphrase, It’s neither fish or fowl, and is not particularly good as an electric car or a gas car. The Volt only goes about 25-35 miles as a pure EV around 30% of the range of a pure EV. In range extending mode the Volt which uses premium gas, gets 35MPG. This is 15 miles per gallon less than the Prius that gets 50mpg on regular gas as well as less than other gasoline and diesel cars in the similar size market segment.

So as neither a longer range electric car, or a fuel sipping hybrid or gasoline car while costing significantly more than either the Leaf or Prius, Its hard to make a case for mass market appeal with this vehicle architecture. Even harder when you consider the future with reducing battery prices and increasing fuel cost.

But what about the myth that pure EV’s like the Mini-E, Tesla Roadster and Model S, the Leaf and the Ford Focus Electric and many more on the way, are just commuter cars or city cars and will require you to keep a second car?

Listen to what a few of us Mini-E drivers have to say on the new BMW Active E forum.

http://forum.bmwactivatethefuture.com/

1. We use our Mini-E for:

Costco runs, Ski trips, Camping trips, Multi-night hotel hopping with charging at the hotels, Evenings out on the town, Recreational driving (really fun) taking the dogs to dog beach,
weekend trips to wine country, shopping trips to south coast plaza
day tripping.

2. I use my MINI-E for just about all my driving needs. Very rerely do I need to go further than the car can or carry more cargo than I can squeeze in the cabin.
That being said, I do have the ability to charge the car at my work with my 50 amp EVSE so that is a big help in allowing me to drive the car further than a single charge can go on any particular day.

3. We use the Mini-E primarily for commuting, but like others - we will use the Mini-E over our other vehicles whenever practical. Our biggest limitation is having a 14 year old son. Since the Mini-E is a 2 person vehicle, and duct taping him to the roof of the car impacts range dramatically, when the 3 of us are going somewhere we use one of the ICE vehicles. The Active-E should change this.

4. I'm fortunate to have miles of twisty mountain roads nearby that I use for recreational driving on the weekends, and I've always had some sort of "sporty" car for this purpose. With the Mini E, I was able to commute on the weekdays and enjoy the mountain roads on the weekend mornings. It didn't always go as far as I would have liked, but it did allow a couple hours of "spirited" driving which was usually enough. Then home for a recharge and ready again for any afternoon chores!

5. Guilty Yes, also guilty of driving more, not less, due to the "Joy" factor.

6. I'm afraid I may also be responsible for the excess use of a few tires. The car is so darn fun to drive in the twistys. For me it's environmental to be sure, but not at the cost of enthusiastic driving and performance. The Mini-E is the right blend of the two.

7. The fun of the MiniE extends to the passenger as well. I use the car often to drop of my kids for their various activities. They always want to hop in and have at times squeezed together in the front seat for short trips rather than ride in the boring Prius. Hard for me not to take them along since I enjoy driving it so much.

8. My mini is my only car I use my car for commuting and use it all day for appointments for my job. It is used for short trips and pleasure driving. It is the only car my husband and I drive together in. I bring the car home charge it. My son takes it out at from 8pm - ? most nights. My husband takes it when he has the opportunity. Our mini is in the garage for charging only. It takes many trips in a 24 hour cycle. Most days it has a full charge in the morning when I take it, charge it around 5 or 6 when I get home. Two hours later my son takes it for the next 6 hours. Brings it home and it is charged for me in the morning. My husband drives it when he can. If it is in the garage charged, someone is usually finding an excuse to drive it.

There are rare occasions when we drive long distances or I need to carry large boxes. I switch cars with my son and can’t wait until I am driving my mini again. I hate driving anything else.

My everything car is my mini E.

Seems as that those who actually drive the all electric Mini-E are getting far more practicality and enjoyment than just being a commute car. It will be interesting to hear from the Nissan Leaf divers about their experience with their cars. City/commute or so much more?

For More insight to the Mini-E drivers and the upcoming ActiveE visit the ActiveE Forum at http://forum.bmwactivatethefuture.com/

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E #183, 24,000 miles of sunshine powered motoring

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Gas Prices Up, Solar Prices Down.

2010-12-29T20:25:00.001-08:00

Gas Prices Up, Solar Prices Down. This is a pattern you can expect to continue. In the words of a famous Men’s Warehouse Tailor:
“I guarantee it”

Gasoline prices will rise now that we have passed peak oil, pushed higher by 3 billion new consumers in China, India and the Middle East, pushed higher by increasing governmental regulations and the public’s desire for cleaner less polluted air. Billions of new consumers hunger for the same quality of life and quantity of consumption as 600 million Americans and Europeans. A quality of life fueled by the energy dense miracle of prehistoric composition, oil.

Decreasing supply, a five fold increase in consumption, a stricter regulatory environment… you can draw your own conclusion on what the price of gasoline will be in the future, say nothing about inflation.

Solar P.V. prices are dropping (have been dropping since their begining in the 50’s.) Currently in Southern California a residential installation will run about $3.75 to $4.25 per kw of Solar P.V. net cost. A 5kw P.V. system will net cost the owner between $18,000 and $22,000. Each kw of solar P.V. will produce 1600KWH of annual energy in Southern California, more on that later.

I have driven 24,000 miles in the past 19 months in Mini-E #183. An electric car driven by electrons produced 100% by solar energy. I consider it nothing short of amazing, incredibly fun to drive, it has transformed my life and my energy, transportation beliefs.

My Mini-E drives 3.5 miles per KWH. Using the national average of 12,000 mile a year, I need to generate 3500 KWH a year to “fuel” the Mini-E. This requires a 2.2 kw Solar P.V. system, (remember the 1600kwh per year?) however because of my TOU (time of use) rate structure, I get paid 29 cents a KWH during the peak hour when I am producing electricity and I get charged at night a cost of 14 cents per KWH. This is essentially 2 for the price of one. To make a long story short based on our SDG&E TOU rate structure and actual experience over two years, a system that is 1.65 KWH that generates 2640 peak hour KWH will provide 3500KWH of off peak electricity.

About the graphs:

The Solar P.V. chart is my actual cost, adding an additional inverter in year 15. I choose 25 years as that is the warranted period of the solar PV system. It will degrade slightly over that time this is true, but it will also provide electricity far past it’s 25 year warranty. All the charts depict 12,000 miles of driving. The gas charts use the U.S. fleet average for cars of 20mpg with the first year cost of fuel at $3.50 a gallon for 600 gallons. Your mileage or annual driving numbers may be much higher or lower but that is the fleet average. Electricity prices vary far more than gasoline so make sure to check out your own unique situation.

The gas charts are at 5% and 7.5% annual increase. The past 25 years gas has increased at 3.5% this would be about $84,000 in total cost. What do you think gas prices will do? 5% to 7.5% is my best guess.

I have driven for 32 years and up until the Mini-E, I purchased gas. It is my conclusion that the electric car is already cheaper than the gas car to own and operate for many areas of our country that are renewable energy based such as the Pacific Northwest, or for those such as I, that produce their own energy. I also believe that the electric car if adopted in mass quantities can clean our air and end our dependence on foreign oil.

Of special note is that the total cost of the solar P.V. system required to drive an electric car 12,000 miles a year for over 25 years, is less than the cost of buying gasoline for four years for a gasoline powered car.

Again, in the words of the Men’s Warehouse tailor, You will be buying fuel for your car for the next 25 years “I guarantee it”

The question is what type of fuel will you buy for what type of car?

Solar is $0.35 cents a gallon fixed in price forever.

It's a new world America!

Cheers
Peder

There is safety in the status quo.

2010-12-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

There is safety in the status quo.

As a driver of an electric vehicle, Mini-E #183 powered by renewable solar power for the past 18 months and 23,000 miles I enjoy greatly and many times find humorous, reading the many pundits writing and perspectives written about the electric car.

I divide the writings into three (general I admit) camps. The Preachers, the Practitioners and the Protesters.

The preachers are noble, hopeful, and imagine a more perfect world, a healthier planet, embracing an emerging technology that can lead us to the promise land of energy independence, renewable energy, and pollution free air. A more perfect world that can lead us away from war and dependence. The preachers at times, overlook practical roadblocks, real problems and market limitations in the message of a noble good. The preachers have very seldom produced a product in the marketplace meaningful to the real world.

The practitioners want to go beyond theory and the preacher, and put into practice the future. In this case the electric car.

They are the bleeding edge (there is a reason they call it the bleeding edge) early adopters willing and financially able to take part in the new electric mobility world. Similar to those who manufacture or purchase the first $3000 cell phone, the first $5000 computer, the first $15,000 plasma television, the first $200,000 ride into space and the first electric car.

The goal of the practitioner is to experience the new world and prove to themselves, either pass or fail, on the technology they embrace. They are inquisitive by nature, entrepreneurial by craft, they are motivated by many varied factors but united in the experience of discovery, of being pioneers, of imagining and creation of the future.

They are equally ably to reject technology that does not deliver on the promise, solution or intent as promised by the manufacture to the early adopter. Failure is not a final destination to the practitioner but rather a road traveled, a calculation on the path to the future.

The protesters are protectors of the status quo. They warn against perceived whimsical flights of fancy into the new world, they warn against the new and unproven, they decry changes to the structure to a society comfortable to them. They rail against government support of the new enterprise while ignoring the government support of companies of existing enterprise. They are assured by the performance of the current, they are rooted into today and what works for them.
They take comfort as shepherds of the docile.

The protesters have never advanced the cause of humanity through any endeavor in the history of mankind. They take pleasure in proving wrong the preachers and advocating to the malleable heard, the perils and dangers of the practitioners and the preachers.
There is safety in the status quo as the vast majority of the population lie here within.

Your interested in an electric car. So who's writing to believe?

I will let the reader answer that question themselves.

I end this writing by quoting in part “Security” written by Hunter S. Thompson (1955).

"A man is to be pitied who lacked the courage to accept the challenge of freedom and depart from the cushion of security and see life as it is instead of living it second-hand. Life has by-passed this man and he has watched from a secure place, afraid to seek anything better What has he done except to sit and wait for the tomorrow which never comes?

Turn back the pages of history and see the men who have shaped the destiny of the world. Security was never theirs, but they lived rather than existed. Where would the world be if all men had sought security and not taken risks or gambled with their lives on the chance that, if they won, life would be different and richer? It is from the bystanders (who are in the vast majority) that we receive the propaganda that life is not worth living, that life is drudgery, that the ambitions of youth must he laid aside for a life which is but a painful wait for death. These are the ones who squeeze what excitement they can from life out of the imaginations and experiences of others through books and movies.

These are the insignificant and forgotten men who preach conformity because it is all they know. These are the men who dream at night of what could have been, but who wake at dawn to take their places at the now-familiar rut and to merely exist through another day. For them, the romance of life is long dead and they are forced to go through the years on a treadmill, cursing their existence, yet afraid to die because of the unknown which faces them after death. They lacked the only true courage: the kind which enables men to face the unknown regardless of the consequences.

As an afterthought, it seems hardly proper to write of life without once mentioning happiness; so we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?”

Cheers

Peder
Mini-E #183

Mini-E California Cruising...

2010-11-30T09:08:00.000-08:00

Zipping around in the cold California sunshine.

Mini-E #183 now has 22,500 miles on the odo.

Status: Incredibly fun, extremely reliable, cheap to drive, and I still occasionally burst out in spontaneous laughter, I am literally driving on sunshine with no emissions from the power source or the car for less than 50 cents a gallon. Best car in 32 years of driving.

Anxieties: Lots of them.

Giving Mini-E# 183 back to BMW, waiting for the Active-E, waiting for the Megacity, waiting for a plug in hybrid SUV with the first 40 miles electric, (are you listening BMW?) watching the San Diego Chargers play football, dry turkey on Thanksgiving.

Hopey Changey: I "hope" the 2010 “Tea Party” realizes that the original Tea Party of 1773 was made up of American Patriots of all political beliefs unified in freedom and liberty, not just “repackaged right wing republicans.” That the “Al Gores” of the world stop preying on fear and stop playing the American public for political fools and realize the world is not going to end anytime soon. Nice "change" on Ethanol, Al,

That 2011 brings new cars, new motive power and cleaner air.

Cheers!
Peder

Electric Cars, A Stadium and A Declaration.

2010-11-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

click on the picture to go to the Eagles 100% sustainable stadium website.

Welcome NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles to the renewable energy sustainability party!

Rush Limbaugh , George Will, and others pundits made comfortable by the status quo, have attacked General Motors and the Chevy Volt, They now have a new target. They can focus their “quills and shrills” at another American icon, the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles.

They must be thinking how un-American that the Philadelphia Eagles seek energy independence and seek to provide clean renewable energy via wind/solar and cogeneration spurred on by U.S. policy.

Will and Rush the wealthy happy “Revisionist Tea Party” scribes, write wrongly about American companies, American cars, American people and no doubt in the near future, American Football.

I would suggest that EV Drivers, renewable energy providers, GM, and the NFL, who seek to end the taxing of Americans to pay for war cost on far away lands, who seek to end the enriching of foreign nations to protect our national weakness and dependency on oil, reflect the true values and intentions of the Boston Tea Party.

The parallels are remarkable.

The Tea party took place in Philadelphia, New York and Boston with American Patriots refusing to pay the illegitimate taxes imposed by the British, to pay for the costly price incurred by the British in the French and Indian wars concluding in 1763. The British miscalculated that American Colonists who loved their tea as a dependent staple of early American life, would choose to pay the tax as opposed to not having their tea.

In Boston the ships would not leave harbor without collecting their duty. On December 16th 1773, Tea from three ships was dumped into the harbor.

How wonderful that in the same Philadelphia, the NFL Eagles wrote their Declaration of Energy Independence on November 18th 2010.

As a conservation minded American, I would not suggest dumping the oil from three ships into the Boston harbor on December 16th 2010 in protest, as the environmental disaster would be unacceptable.

I would suggest however that both Rush Limbaugh and George Will, like the British, have miscalculated the American Patriots of 2010 who "need" their oil as a staple of American life, and would choose to “pay the tax” thus strengthen foreign countries economically, weaken and make more dependent the USA, and pollute our country as opposed to not having their oil.

We can, are, have and will become energy independent in this country. We will reclaim our Independence. We can do that by buying and producing clean domestic energy instead of importing oil and paying the “tea/oil tax” for wars afar.

Deep breath, “You can make your own fuel at home” cheaper and cleaner than buying it from the gas station.

Our cost to do that for our electric car a BMW Mini-E is $0.45 cents in solar electricity to drive the equivalent of a gallon of gas which is 25 miles. Said another way. Our cost to drive electric, 15,000 miles a year for 25 years will be $10,000. To drive a gasoline powered car the same distance and years would cost $85,000 for the gasoline.

We have been shouting from the rooftops to get America to open its ears to a path to energy independence and a cleaner environment. Now we can shout from the roof top of an NFL Stadium.

The Philadelphia Eagles have issued their Declaration of Energy Independence.

The Eagles soon to play in an energy independent stadium will give a National platform, on National TV, every football Sunday to renewable energy, and by extension (cord) the electric car.

That voice will be far more important and wide reaching than Will or Rush.

Like the Philadelphia Eagles, we have choices on how we power our buildings and how we power our cars. We can do both with clean renewable energy provided domestically. It's now our choice.

Throw the oil overboard

Welcome to the real “ Tea Party” and congratulations to the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles!

Peder Norby

Norby is a San Diego County planning commissioner. He and his wife, Julie, were awarded the 2007 SANDEE Award from the California Center for Sustainable Energy for the home they built in Carlsbad. They have driven 22,000 miles in an electric car powered by solar energy.

The “Noise” about the Mini-E

2010-11-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

We humans are sensory creatures, what we know of our world is collected via our sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing.

For the electric car, our Mini-E, most of the "noise" conversation has been centered on the fact that we are very tuned into car noise. If there is a lack of noise from the car, that constitutes a hazard that needs to be mitigated by the addition of ( hard to believe it ) noise. We rely on our hearing as much as we do our vision in collision avoidance.

Imagine a deer in the forest listening for danger.

We rely on our hearing as we do all five of our senses in all aspects of our life. A lack of noise can be a detriment as in the case of low speed pedestrian safety, or it can be an improvement.

What does the electric car bring us in terms of improving our quality of life? A whole bunch is the answer.

1. Managing the noise in a shopping district is huge. If you're a pedestrian, a bicyclist, or a café customer enjoying an alfresco dining experience on an outdoor patio, a lower decibel level will greatly improve that experience. The quieter our “mainstreets” the more enjoyable-thus profitable-thus valuable they are. At low speeds up to 70% of the noise is from the drivetrain. It’s one of the reasons walking streets and malls are so popular is that they eliminate the largest noisemaker, the automobile. Imagine your favorite "go to spot" with the quietness of electric cars around you.

2. A typical town development pattern in a residential neighborhood consist of less expensive apartments or attached housing near the prime arterial and largest intersections. The further away from the traffic you go the more into the more expensive custom home neighborhood you get ebven though it's less conveiniant.

Why?

One of the biggest reasons is noise. The lower priced homes have more noise associated with them and the higher price homes less noise. If you remove the noise penalty and share traffic loads equally in a grid pattern, town development patterns would revert to basic principles of neighborhood quality instead of design principles centered on mitigating car noise. Imagine your home or apartment and the quietness of a neighborhood filled with electric cars.

3. “They live next to the freeway” That is seldom a compliment for a location of a home. My guess would be a home adjacent to the freeway would have a 30% lower cost than the same home one mile away in the same town. The main reasons? Noise pollution and emissions pollution.

According to the American Lung associations 2010 State of our Air Quality Report, it is unhealthy to live near a freeway. (Like I needed to tell you that) At freeway speeds half of the noise is from the motor and half is from road noise and wind. But imagine reducing the noise by 50% what an improvement that would be for those living next to a freeway. Imagine reducing the tailpipe emissions by 100% what an improvement that would be. To the extent we make our transportation quieter and emission free will be the extent that we reduce the penalty for living next to a freeway, It might even be healthy to do so in a few short decades.

4. We seek solace in nature, Central Park in New York, or the Rocky Mountains in the west. In this escape to nature we seek all of her gifts to our senses including quiet. Nothing tops a camping trip to a remote desert or mountain campsite where we can listen to the sounds of nature. Our conversations with each other are more meaningful, our nerves are soothed, and our spirits lifted by the experience. To the extent that we reduce the noise in our day to day world, we will increase our enjoyment of living and working there. Imagine your urban jungle populated by the quietness of electric cars.

5. Generally, luxury cars are quieter and they are more expensive. Why? In part because they spend a lot of money on sound dampening strategies to keep the noise of their motor and transmission away from the passenger cabin, thus a more enjoyable driving experiance. Imagine your car interior having the same quietness of electric cars.

Driving the Mini-E for 17 months, being able to hear the birds around our lagoon as I drive by the water, hearing a conversation of a couple as I wait for a light, and having a chat with my wife in the passenger seat is pretty amazing. The silence as I drive around is a huge improvements in my life. I think this is one of the reasons I and others love driving the Mini-E so much. I had a neighbor approach me a few months ago and say “do you know how much better it would be if all cars were as quiet as yours”

There are lots more reasons why the quietness of our electric cars will improve our day to day lives, The past several months the focus has been on the problem of no sound with the electric car. The benefits are far greater.

I’m interested in hearing from you some of your experiences as EV drivers and what ways you think the quietness of the electric car can improve a persons sensory experience.

I look forward to “hearing” from you

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E #183, 21,000 miles

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A Zero Energy Home Overview

2010-10-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

Click on the chart to enlarge and as your reading the chart remember, if we had no electric car our savings would be about $700 a year greater.

Many folks have asked exactly what is a zero energy home?

It is not a home that uses no energy.

A zero energy home is simply one that use less energy than it produces. This is accomplished 75% by conservation and efficiencies and 25% by generation of electricity.

We prepared this chart including our utility bills for a recent tour of the home.

Living in a zero energy home and driving on sunshine need not be a great sacrifice.

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."
Frank Lloyd Wright

The not so fun, but very important part of being a field test driver for BMW.

2010-10-19T18:35:00.000-07:00

About 600 drivers in the Los Angeles, New York/New Jersey, a bit later, Berlin, London and now France and China are field testing the BMW Mini-E Electric Car.

This is phase one of a three phase roll out of the future BMW Megacity car scheduled to arrive in 2012-13. This is a methodical multi nation undertaking of both machine and driver behavior and habits, infrastructure challenges with many housing types, varying climates and differing cultural attitudes from around the world.

While I am sure that much data is being held as intellectual property by BMW, other data points and the experience in general is being shared with the world and other drivers and manufacturers.

It is worth remembering that the driving and experience is being done in real world conditions with individual drivers from all walks of life who are sharing their stories warts and all, and not by a closed group of employees or contractors with NDAs.

In short BMW is putting forth an amazing global effort , trusting their intentions with the grip of the steering wheel in our hands, producing extremely valuable information. Some results contradicting commonly and firmly held beliefs regarding the heretofore alleged poor performance, practicality and range anxiety involving electric propulsion.

It’s with great imagination, adventure, driving fun and now a growing pride and confidence of sorts, that I have been a ”lab rat” for this large scale field trial of the electric car. It continues to be an amazing journey that has profoundly changed my view of our transportation future.

I am the driver of Mini-E #183, and have driven the past 16 months and 21,000 miles in an aggressive, sporty and carefree manor on electrons provided by the rays of the sun. Literally driving on sunshine, laughing my way down the interstate in a state of utter disbelief of what I am actually doing, driving on sunshine. If I can hardly believe it and I am doing it, I can only imagine what the many skeptics never shy of opining are thinking!

Last Monday, October 11th, BMW called and said they wanted the car for a little poking and prodding, the past week or so they have had the car back at headquarters in Oxnard going through the systems, motor and battery of #183 collecting data on the car after 20,000 miles. No doubt analyzing the electric motor, control software and each battery cell to see how they are holding up at 21K.

That’s the not so fun, but very important part of being a field test driver for BMW. This is my 4th service (they look at the car every 5000 miles) but my first time away from the car for more than a day.

It is a field test and BMW needs to understand how the car progresses through its lifespan in detail, so they can asses and improve if needed minor and major systems on the future Megacity car. During this several day period of time I am driving a loaner Nissan Altima.

While a fun and capable car, I detest driving it! I hate watching the meter go down to empty, I have had to put $75 in gas in the car, it is nowhere near as fast or sporty to drive, it makes shifiting and engine rpm sounds that are foreign and for the first time in almost a year and a half I find myself once again at gas stations. My garage has that old gas/combustion smell back.

It just plain sucks. It just plain sucks big time.

Looking forward to getting the Mini-E back, look forward to the phase two BMW 1 series Active E, Look forward to driving electric the rest of my life, look forward to cleaner and healthier San Diego County in the near future.

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E #183, 21,000 miles.

Defining the True Value of Electric Mobility

2010-10-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

As consumers, we tend to make our car buying decisions looking through the lens of personal economics. How much does it cost, how much will it save, what will it cost to replace. A dollar to dollar comparison.

As a preface to the discussion of the value of electric mobility let me suggest to you three names, Donald Trump. John Muir, Martin Luther King.

Who’s the most successful? Who has more value? Answer quickly. Now read on.

Clearly, the heft, the longevity, and the enormousness of the accomplishments of John Muir and Martin Luther King, one with the National Park system as his legacy, one with a National Holiday in his honor, are of far greater value and successfulness as measured by our collective history. If we measure by a “snapshot” of life today, in individual terms, one perhaps could conclude that Donald Trump is the most successful due to his omni-presence and personal wealth.

This exercise brings to light two key points on balancing our choices at this critical juncture in the history of transportation.

1. We define value first on individual influences and secondarily on societal goals.
2. We define value first on “current snapshots” and secondarily on long term benefit.

We simply need to change.

The principles of balance must equally apply to our individual desires and our national desires. It must apply equally as a long term remedy and in our daily lives.

If we are to have a successful transportation revolution to electric mobility we must not prioritize the immediacy and the individuality of a decision over societal impacts and long term benefit. We must concern ourselves with the future, and future generations, we must plan with a long lens in balance with our personal desire and day to day living.

The True Value of Electric Mobility. Consider these facts:

From our Military,

Fossil fuel is the No. 1 thing we import to Afghanistan, Fossil fuel accounts for 30 percent to 80 percent of the load in convoys into Afghanistan, bringing costs as well as death. While the military buys gas for just over $1 a gallon, getting that gallon to some forward operating bases costs $400 a gallon.

“Studies are establishing a strong relationship between fuel consumption and casualty rates due to fuel convoy protection." Source: Army Environmental Policy Institute.

How do we put a value on the cost of a soldier’s life transporting or protecting a fuel convoy struck by an improvised explosive devise? Our military is leading the way in solar energy deployment and the purchase and research of electric mobility.

The value is not monetary, it is soldiers lives and a more mobile fighting force.

Our Nation,

In 2010. America is sad to say, a very dependent nation, importing nearly 70% of its transportation fuel to quench our super sized insatiable thirst for gasoline.

The United State of America is far afield from our founding fathers vision and declaration of Independence. Far afield from our founding fathers vision of an active and informed populace, self reliant, self governing, self aware and mutually involved for a greater union. We are today sadly a very apathetic and uninformed “Dependent Nation.”

We can shed this dependency without war. We can regain independence. We can wean ourselves of the imported drug, oil, that is slowly wounding the health of our nation and exporting the wealth of our nation. We observe the obscene wealth of oil producing nations fed by our consumption and purchase of their oil, while we willingly weaken our own country.

This is not a dependency forced on us by an oppressive nation or king. It is a dependency of our own choices and our consumption.

We can recover, we can prosper. We can do this if we can comprehend the value of Electric Mobility and domestic production of the battery, car, electricity, and yes, in the near term oil and natural gas required during the transition. If we can understand and participate in free trade not dependent trade.

The value is not monetary, it is our national independence and prosperity as a nation.

Our Health,

Burning oil in a combustion chamber and then exhausting that oil out of a tailpipe causes 60% of particulate pollution and almost 70% of the CO2 emmissions in our major urban cities. Our transportation fleet is our gross polluter.

According to the American Lung Association The State of the Air 2010 report shows that over 175 million people—roughly 58 percent of America suffer pollution levels that are too often dangerous to breathe. Unhealthy air remains a threat to the lives and health of millions of people in the United States, despite great progress. Even as the nation explores the complex challenges of global warming and energy, air pollution lingers as a widespread and dangerous reality.

In our County of San Diego 3,001,072 population. 70,082 suffer from Pediatric Asthma. 188,661 from Adult Asthma, 95,863 from Bronchitis, 34,760 from Emphysema, all at great risk due to and in part because of particulate pollution.

The American Lung association goes on to identify living next to a freeway as a health risk. Long term exposure to air pollution—especially from highway traffic—harms women, even while in their 50s. Exposure to particle pollution appears to increase women’s risk of lower lung function, developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and dying prematurely.

Busy highways are high risk zones. Pollution from heavy highway traffic contributes to higher risks for heart attack, allergies, premature births and the death of infants around the time they are born. New studies looking at the impact of traffic pollution, even in cities with generally “cleaner” air, expanded the concern over the health effects of chronic exposure to exhaust from heavy traffic.

Now if you don’t believe the American Lung Association, try porting the exhaust of your car to the inside of your cabin and then you can have direct first hand knowledge of the health risk of particulate and Co2 pollution. (please don’t try this as it may result in injury or death, I was just making a second hand pollution point)

The value is not monetary, it is our own health and health of our loved ones and our community.

As Americans, we love our automobiles and I am no different. I’m not suggesting that you forego personal economics or the desirability or attractiveness of a car that gets your blood racing, I am suggesting that you factor in the true cost and the true value of Electric Mobility. A transportation option that offers many values that go far beyond the cost and the basic economics of an auto purchase decision.

Electric mobility can be less expensive, cleaner, healthier, and provide independence for a person and a nation.

That certainly is the case for our family.

Cheers
Peder Norby
Mini-E # 183. 20,250 miles of sunshine powered electric driving

Solarbrating the Electric Car.

2010-09-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

This week two major milestones passed at our home and with our car.

We solarbrated with 100 friends the occasion with an Electric Car Solarbration. I believe that within a few short decades many if not most will be holding similar solarbrations across a much cleaner nation.

Mini-E # 183 clocked 20,000 on the ODO Monday on the way home from work, and our Solar PV system just passed the 25 million watts of energy produced threshold today.

For 2.5 years we have been powering our 3500 sq ft home, a 3br, 2bath 1200 sq ft guest house, a vineyard operation, a 450 sq ft temperature controlled wine cellar completely with solar power. 16 months ago we added the Mini-E to the mix and ordered an additional 2kw of solar to power that as well.

The savings in power for the house is $350 a month, the saving on gasoline for the car is $150 a month. The savings in total is $6,000 a year. This was replaced by a new annual utility bill of between -$300 to +300. This is the total bill for a house and guest house occupied by 6 people and a car driven 15,000 miles a year.

Click on bill to enlarge

Our two systems totaling 7.5KW cost $30,000 plus a few thousands for efficiency upgrades such as CCFL’s and LED lights. In just a little over 5 short years, the system is paid off using no new money, only the saving of not paying the utility and gasoline.

From then on we live and drive on free and emission free sunshine. That will save us over $120,000 (with inflation $200,000) in energy cost and gasoline for the next 25 years.

In our urban centers such as San Diego, 60% of manmade particulate pollution is from our transportation fleet, 11% from our homes. Nearly 70% of our Co2 is from our transportation fleet and again 11% from our homes. The PV+EV solution eliminates both sources of pollution and will clean our air if adopted broadly.

Cleaner air, saving money, regaining our self reliance and independence. This is a combo that works. I hope we are smart enough to manufacture in the US. My fear is that cheap oil will keep us hooked to the drug while other countries dominate the machines and jobs of the future.

20,000 miles of smiles :)

Mini-E #183 is the best car, most fun car, I have ever driven.
Cheers
Peder

Impromptu Mini-E meet up in Carlsbad on Saturday September 18th

2010-08-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

Greetings Mini-E Pioneers!

Julie and I invite you down (both 1 year pioneers and 2 year pioneers) south to Carlsbad for a great Saturday and potential long weekend for those of you with a free schedule.

Here is the plan.

Thursday the 16th is The Encinitas Classic Car Show, this is an epic event in downtown Encinitas and if you’re game you can display your Mini-E along with mine at the event. That night there will approx 500 cars with many of them woodies in downtown Encinitas.

http://www.encinitas101.com/events/rods-woodies-classic-car-show

Saturday the 18th is Wavecrest Woodies. This is the worlds largest collections of woodies, many traveling here from the east coast and some shipped from around the globe. It is a spectacular site and a free event.

http://www.sandiegowoodies.com

Saturday after The Wavecrest show at 4pm we will have a meet-up at our home in Carlsbad. Julie and I will be bar-b-Q-ing and we will be drinking our estate wine from our vineyard. We will also be explaining our zero energy home and what techniques and strategies we used to build it.

www.heronshouse.com

During the whole time from Thursday until Sunday you may use our charger at the home and we have a city charger in Encinitas by appointment. So you can have a long weekend in San Diego County with your Mini-E with access to charging.

Lodging is available very inexpensively ($65 a night at various motels) or expensively ($500 a night at Avaira or La Costa resorts )

We have a guest room at the house and Julie and I will open that up to one person or couple, free of charge who would like to stay the whole weekend beginning on Thursday night or just Saturday night.

First come first serve.

Hope you can join us, whether one or 20 we will have a great time.

Cheers
Peder & Julie

The Chargers, here they come!

2010-08-20T06:39:00.001-07:00

In my role as the Hwy 101 Coordinator for the city of Encinitas, I assisted Encinitas as they became part of the Field Trial with two Mini-E's. they had great success with the cars but unfortunately the fleet users had to return the cars.

It was instructional for our fleet guys and gals to have these for a year and determine that they really work great, especially in a city that is 7 miles by 10 miles with a fleet of a 100 vehicles that never leave the city. They were a bit impractical for the city with no storage in the back but next iterations of the electric car will deal with that shortcoming.

Encinitas continues its efforts in Solar PV and the electric car. Being in the San Diego Metro area, we are slated to receive many public chargers. The first series of meetings for commercial property owners interested in EV chargers has been scheduled with Encinitas as a host city.

Below is text from the brochure posted above.

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E #183 19,100 miles.

Come join us for one of the
following short meetings to
explain how your business
can get involved in the largest
Electric Vehicle Project in
U.S. history !!

The EV Project is made possible by a $115 million stimulus grant from the Department of Energy.
The project will deploy nearly 15,000 electric vehicle chargers around the country, including over 1,500 commercial units for public charging in the
San Diego Region. These charging stations will be
installed in conjunction with the release of the first
of many electric cars to hit the market...the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt.

Informational meetings for
Business and Property Owners

Meetings will be held in 6 convenient locations throughout the county: (light refreshments will be served)

How many light bulbs does it take to plug in an electric car?

2010-08-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

I’m having a blast driving Mini-E # 183 now in my 14th month with almost 19,000 miles on the odometer.

The car has been rock solid with no mechanical problems and the fun factor of driving the little electric pocket rocket continues every time I fasten the seatbelt. Overnight trips are becoming common to favorite hotels and destinations where charging infrastructure exist. Gas cars are starting to resemble the steam locomotives of the late 1800s.

So I got to thinking last night, how many light bulbs does it take to plug in an electric car?

Think for a moment of the power required to move a 3,000lbs car like the Mini-E, or Nissan Leaf through the urban and suburban jungles of the big city for 12,000 miles a year. Freeways, parkways city streets and parking lots, all traveled in the normal course of a year’s driving for most Americans.

If powered by traditional gasoline engines we could all do the math fairly easily. For a 20mpg car it would burn 600 gallons of gasoline weighing 4,800lbs costing $1,800 a year. For a 30mpg car it would burn 400 gallons of gas weighing 3,200lbs costing $1,200 a year.

For most typical drivers, that car in your garage ignites, explodes, burns and exhausts its way through 4,800lbs of refined gasoline (most of it imported) every year in order to power the car for 12,000 miles.

Simple (or incredibly complex) enough so far.

But how about the electric car?

Driving around Newport Beach the other night at 0- dark hour and seeing all the light bulbs on in storefronts, art galleries, light poles, signage, and parking lots and just about everywhere, I thought to myself, those light bulbs run on the same octane as my electric car. I wonder how many light bulbs does it take to plug in an electric car? Or more accurately stated, How many light bulbs will the electric power needed to drive my Mini-E for 12,000 miles illuminate?

The answer I came up with was shocking! Please double check my math and tell me I’m wrong because even I don’t believe it!

Drining Mini-E #183 for 12,000 miles requires the same energy to Illuminate exactly four standard 100 watt light bulbs for a year. Or stated another way, it takes four light bulbs to plug in an electric car.

Four light bulbs!

The math works like this,

Four 100 watt light bulbs illuminated for 24 hours would use 9.6 kwhs of electricity. This multiplied by 365 days a year equals 3,504kwhs a year to illuminate those four light bulbs.
The Mini-E gets 3.5 miles per kwh. 3.5 miles multiplied by the same 3,504kwh used by the four lightbulbs equals 12,264 miles. For the Nissan Leaf which gets 4 miles per KWH the miles climb to just over 14,000 miles.

If 100 watt light bulbs were just illuminated for 1hour a day the power needed to drive an electric car 12,000 miles a year would equal the electricity used by 96 light bulbs.
Four, 100 watt light bulbs illuminated for the year, or 96, 100 watt lightbulbs illuminated for one hour a day for a year.

Think how many billions of high wattage incandescent bulbs that we are shifting to CFL and LED lighting saving 70% to 80% in energy usage.

Lighting Four light bulbs uses the same power as driving an electric car for 12,000 miles.

The future is indeed getting brighter, and much cleaner.

Oh, and the answer is zero, Light bulbs don't plug in electric cars.

Ha Ha!

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E #183, 18,875 miles.

The “Snake” drives Mini-E #183

2010-07-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

If you don’t know who I’m talking about, stop reading.

I had the great honor of meeting a childhood hero of mine tonight a real automotive pioneer and four time NHRA championship winner. American and International Motorsports Hall of Famer, The “Snake” Don Prudhomme.

This is the way it went down.

I walked into our Rotary club meeting in Carlsbad, and three friends were around the “Snake” One of them introduces me and says to Don “Peder’s a pioneer car guy too, he drives an electric mini BMW.” Don’s eyes lights up and he says “No shit, is it here ?" (sorry for swearing) I say “yes it’s out in the parking lot.” “Don says “Can I drive it?” Peder’s eyes light up! I say “No shit! (sorry for swearing) Hell yes you can drive it.”

Don and I go for a 10 minute spin in Mini-E #183 with Don behind the wheel (sorry Mini-E overlords) I’m in the passenger seat with an automotive god driving my Mini-E! He has a little fun with it loves the torque and the instant acceleration, He talks about 100ths of a second and racing . He loves the regen and instant throttle response. He’s smiling ear to ear! He’s hugely impressed. We get back to the Rotary club and the prez is pissed because I drove away with the program.

I could care less. I am in car guy nirvana!

I used to race Hot Wheels with the Snake and Mongoose. I used to build Revelle models with Testers Glue and paints of the Snake and Mongoose. I used to watch drag racing with the Snake and Mongoose. I used to beg my dad to take me to the races to watch the Snake and Mongoose.

Two gear head car guys loving a drive in the Mini-E. Sweeeeeeeet!

We drive by the old location of the Carlsbad Drag Strip (now a business park) off of Palomar airport road where Don used to drag, He pulls a U turn, chirps the tires a bit steps on it until about 70 mph, and we drive back the one mile to the Rotary meeting place on Palomar Airport Road.

He tells me “I’m pushing the envelope of cars.” I know what he means. I tell him "BMW is pushing the envelope and I'm just a driver", he says "So was I "

Don’s top speed was 307 MPH. I’ll settle for 70.

Top question of the night was what was the biggest technical improvement in drag racing?

His answer was safety. He buried a lot of his fellow drivers in the 70s, some right here in Carlsbad. He credited Don "Big Daddy" Garlits with moving the engine from in front of the driver to the rear of the driver as the biggest technical change in drag racing that saved the most lives.

I’m in a dream, It just gets better and better being a Mini-E driver.

Cheers

Peder

Leviton is in the "EVSE" house, always has been.

2010-07-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Here’s a little secret for you that I as a Mini-E driver with 18,000 miles will gladly share.

Public charging stations and range anxiety are way over-rated and over-hyped. Not to say that we won’t need public charging stations, we will need them and they will primarily be along transportation corridors for longer distant travel. We also need them emotionally as sort of a security blanket to sooth our apprehensions and transition to a more limited range. A security blanket that is reassuring but serves little other purpose.

Pundits, analysts, government and the E-car media are all gushing stories and programs around public charging stations.

The Secret?

I have publicly charged my Mini-E exactly 4 times in 14 months, I have plugged it in 400 times with my home charging. Even imagining a world with abundant charging stations that were free to use, for the most part I would not use them as the range of the Mini-E gets the job done for all my trips returning home to it’s charging cocoon and with no effort or worry is ready for me when I wake up with 100% charge. Talk about a sweet dream! I could see myself maybe once every two months needing a public charger for a longer trip.

Public charging will at best represent a small 20% of the charging marketplace. Immediately from there, the percentages will begin to decline as battery prices go down and range goes up.
The big market and the one that is flying under the radar screen?

Home charging.

Home charging will represent 80% of the marketplace and will grow from a market size of a few hundred chargers today to eventually 100 million chargers in a few short decades representing 1/3 of our nations fleet that will have a plug to plug into a home charger.
Leviton , a quiet giant has been working hard the past few years and is now entering that home charging space.

You may or may not be familiar with Leviton, but its products are in over 90% of us households and it’s manufacturing, distribution, sales, and brand loyalty from the electricians that will be installing your home station, position the company perfectly in the home charging space.

As an EV driver I had the honor of a few friendly visits with Mini-E #183 to Leviton’s facility in Southern California during the development of the EVSE and I wish them great success with their EVSE rollout.

PR Releases below.

Cheers
Peder
Mini-E #183, 18,000 trouble free sunshine powered miles.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38346106

Press Release
PR Contact:
Pamela Winikoff
631 812-6155

Leviton Announces Residential Charging Stations for Electric Vehicle Market
Leviton introduces Evr-Green™ line of electric vehicle supply equipment

Melville, New York, July 20, 2010 – Leviton today announced its entry into the Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) market with a full portfolio of residential charging products. The Leviton Evr-Green™ line of EVSEs includes Level 1 and Level 2 residential charging stations. The product line will debut at the Plug-In 2010 Conference and Exposition in San Jose, California on July 26-29, 2010 in Leviton booth #310.

Leviton has developed an industry-first plug-in prewire system for the Level 2 EVSEs.
According to Mike Mattei, vice president and general manager for Leviton’s Commercial and Industrial Division, “As part of Leviton’s commitment to creating a sustainable future, we now offer a complete solution to EV charging. Leviton provides the charging stations as well as installation by certified contractors and extensive customer service. Evr-Green chargers comply with all industry standards, are backed by the industry’s only ten-year warranty, and are compatible with all the major EV manufacturers.”
The Evr-Green Level 1 portable cord set empowers consumers to charge their EV anywhere a standard outlet is available. Leviton also has developed a unique receptacle for EV owners to plug in their Level 1 cord set. In addition, Leviton’s Level 2 residential charging stations range from 16 Amp to 32 Amp charging levels. Both Level 1 and 2 EVSEs have SAE J1772™ connectors that are compatible with all North American plug in vehicles. Leviton will also provide a wide range of “smart” options and features for their residential products.

About Leviton
Leviton Manufacturing Company is the largest privately held global provider of electrical wiring devices, data center connectivity solutions and lighting energy management systems. Founded at the turn of the 20th century in America, Leviton has grown to become one of the preeminent leaders in the electrical industry. Today Leviton's product portfolio consists of over 25,000 devices and systems used in homes, businesses and industry. Proven to be a smart choice, nine out of ten homes throughout North America have Leviton products installed in them. Builders, electrical contractors and other industry professionals rank Leviton products #1 in brand preference. To request more information about Leviton’s Evr-Green portfolio, please visit http://www.evrgreeninfo.com. For more information, contact Leviton Manufacturing, 201 North Service Rd., Melville, NY, 11747, www.leviton.com

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

A simple 4th of July message.

Our forefathers founded a Union of States, a nation of independent, self reliant free people. On this Independence day we are reminded of that with patriotic gatherings and fireworks.

On this Independence day we are also sadly reminded that we are today, more so than ever, dependent on foreign lands and kings for oil, for energy. We continue to choose to bespoil our country's natural treasures and increasingly give away our independence and wealth to foreign lands and kings. It is not our Presidents or our Congresses that are to blame. It is "We the People" that choose to do that. We get angry at our President and at Corporations, but we blindly ignore our own use of oil. We the people.

Let us face honestly our great challenges with new opportunities, with imagination and creativity with independence, self reliance and better choices.

God bless those that have served this country and those that have sacrificed their life for our great nation. Their oath to this country's independence was eternal.
The least we can do is make better choices for our nations independence.

Happy Independence Day!

Peder Norby

The Currency And Civic Value of Electric Vehicle Public Charging

2010-06-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

Civic restoration, civic planning and environmental design have been my profession and my avocation for the past three decades. As a person engaged professionally in this arena, it is the most inspirational of times as America rediscovers its history in its older downtowns and older neighborhoods full of culture, uniqueness, identity and diversity, and looks to the future with changes in the way we power our homes and our cars. There is a strong connection between the two.

As a Mini-E driver for the past year racking up 17,000 miles and counting, The electric driving experience has been very rewarding both in terms of the performance and pleasures of the Mini-E, as well as experience and insights gained from the field trial, some posted on these pages in previous posts.

My views on the charging of electric cars in general are as follows: 75% of all charging will be done at the place of residence. 15% of charging will be at “Point B” commonly known as the workplace. The remaining 10% of charging will be done at public charging stations.
Focusing in on the 10% of public charging stations, I believe the most valuable of these will be along transportation corridors and destination locations.

A destination location is generally described as a place that pulls from a three hour drive time demographic. The least valuable of the public charging stations will be the local or regional destinations within a one hour drive time such as libraries, big box stores, neighborhood commercial centers etc.

It is my view that as the adoption rate of electric vehicles escalates the number if not the percentage of public charging stations along the transportation corridors and destination locations will grow exponentially and the “in city” charging stations will struggle and become less relevant in the future as the EV and PHEV range increases.

It is with certainty I can say two things.

1. That the role of the gas station today serving 100% of our gasoline car, will be greatly diminished by orders of magnitude with the adoption of electric cars
2. Americans will still travel by car and will still explore this great country in the family drive vacation.

This past weekend, my wife and I, celebrating our anniversary, took a trip in the Mini-E to Newport Beach. We selected this destination location because of the public Mini-E charging station at South Coast Plaza.

Here’s what that trip looked like.

We drove 65 miles on the freeway to South Coast Plaza (SCP), plugged in Mini-E #183 which was at 35% SOC at 11:30am and then went to a restaurant in the SCP to watch the U.S. play Ghana (we lost unfortunately.) After lunch we shopped at Nordstrom’s buying three shirts, Macy’s for home goods, and then the Bang and Olufsen store for our entertainment system.

We left SCP at 3pm fully charged and drove the short distance to the Newport Bay Marriot where we settled into our room and caught a few hours of sunshine by the pool. We dined at Mastro’s with a very special bottle of wine celebrating our Anniversary.

The next morning it was off to Laguna beach for lunch and art shopping at local galleries and the Sawdust Festival. We left Laguna at 4pm and arrived home at 5:30 pm, concluding our trip with about 20 miles of range left. The total miles driven on the overnight trip was 165 miles.

Here’s what that trip looks like in currency.

$55 for lunch, Bloody Mary’s, Beer, tips and taxes at the restaurant.
$150 at Macy’s
$130 at Nordstrom’s
$0 at the B&O store (widow shopping to add to our system one day.)
$220 for the hotel, parking and drinks by the pool.
$500 at Mastro’s for dinner and wine (an indulgence)
$100 in Laguna Beach for parking, lunch, Starbucks, Sawdust Festival and art pieces
$1450 for a painting (a gift to each other on our Anniversary)

Total: $2455 on merchants, restaurateurs, lodging, parking authorities and taxes.
All this economic stimulus because of an electric vehicle charging station and $2.00 worth of free electricity provided by SCP.

Our trip destination was determined by the availability of a public charging station and a great location. Multiply this currency experience by 700 others that will potentially use the same charging station in the near future (2 a day)

That is the currency and civic value of electric vehicle public charging.

Thank you South Coast Plaza, Newport Beach and Laguna, we had a blast! We hope you enjoy the money we left behind.
Cheers!
Peder
Mini-E #183

You can live and drive on sunshine :)

2010-06-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Sharing our most recent June 2010 utility bill.

Even with the worst "June Gloom" I can remember along the Carlsbad Coast, we were still under $28 and change for the month.

Our annual true up should be around $-100 due to the higher summer rates (6 months beginning on May 1st) that SDG@E pays for our solar energy.

That's for a home, guest home, and the Mini-E at 16,000 miles a year.

The Mini-E remains the single best car I have driven in 32 years, and the only one I can power by sunshine :)

We're "crusin" to Newport Beach this weekend for a long weekend vacation with the Mini-E and hope to charge at the South Coast Plaza Mall as well as a fellow Mini-E driver's home.

Cheers!

Peder

How sad is this?

2010-05-24T22:25:00.001-07:00

AP picture of a Heron dying in oil. 5/24/2010

There is a much better way and it's not that hard to do.

Our home is called Herons House so the picture above strikes close to the heart.

The ethos statement of our home was written in 2005.

"We are blessed and we are grateful. We live in America, in one of the most beautiful parts of earth. We are chasing a dream...we are flying...

Up and down the coast, searching, downward looking, in estuaries and lagoons for a high perch to nest. A home is found, an old nest of years perhaps decades, overlooking the lagoon. It will provide a good beginning…. perfect for the Herons.

Julie and I are building our home, reusing an old house on a large lot as a good beginning, perched above the lagoon and Pacific Ocean. Like the Herons, we will walk lightly on earth, using the resources provided to us by nature, in harmony and partnership with our environment, with each other.

The Herons' House. Our house. "

In the construction of our home and the choice to drive an electric BMW Mini-E powered by solar PV, we hope we have remained true to those words. We live in a very sensitive habitat with Herons and birds of all manor on our land and in our lagoon.

I have rescued a Pelican, wrapped up in fishing line while kayaking,

We have Herons visiting and flying by hourly

It is a paradise similar to the marsh lands of the gulf coast. I can't imagine the picture of the dying Heron being our lagoon.

Living and driving on electrons powered by renewable energy can end this madness of repetitive environmental disaster.

I will never buy a gasoline car as long as I live.

There is a much much better way to do this.

Peder

Peder wants to go racing!

2010-05-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

I'm Ready to Race!

Finally, some video of the Mini-E driving in a way that I like to drive. ( sometimes )

Below is a the entire video of the Mini-E race and their sub 10 minute run at Nürburgring.

Now I know the first driver was a pro but there was visible moisture and less than ideal conditions. Tomorrow a Prince of a driver, HRH Leopold, and well trained at that, will take Nürburgring on and see if he can beat the time. Of course he can!

I will humble submit that someone with 14,500 miles of seat time in the machine, that used to be a damn good go kart driver winning most of his races can do even better!

Just refer to my bloodline as Red, White and Blue blood!

Fly me to Germany BMW, I'm ready to race!

Man I love this car!

Cheers
Peder

Oil is not stupid, we are.

2010-05-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

A departure from blogging about Mini-E #183 to tell a related story. It is about my awakening to living with the earth and renewable energy.

For nearly 15 years I owned a summerhouse on the Danish island of Rømø. Rømø is on the west coast of Denmark, near the border with Germany.

"You can see Germany from my Kitchen window" to paraphrase a famous quote from a certain U.S. female politician.

The German island of Sylt lies a few hundred meters south of Rømø and yes you can see it from the island.

The summerhouse was constructed of rock from the island, had a thatched roof made from the wheat stalks that grow in the northern part on the island, and was situated on a few aces of beautiful natural lingberry fields on the leeward side of the island. The windward side is 8 miles of beach and wind.

Wind.

In the late 1980's, early 90's all of the island residents (about 8,000 of us) as well as others on the mainland and other Danish islands were polled to find out if they would support a 20% higher utility cost to build an offshore wind farm. To to be self reliant and ween Denmark, once 100% dependent on imported energy, off imported energy. The carrot was that once built the energy cost would be level with no or little increases in the future.

The poll was 80% in favor.

A few years later, the first off shore wind farm in the world was built just a few kilometers north of Rømø. A decade later and after much environmental analysis, Horns Reef two was built.

Here is a video of Horns Reef one.

Today the Horn's Reef project, about 15 miles offshore, provides power to over 300,000 Danish houses. Denmark is 100% energy independent, with renewable wind energy approaching 30% of it's total portfolio. The Danes found oil and wind in the North Sea. The Danes are seeking to have 50% of their total energy from wind, bio fuels and other renewable's by 2030. They lead the world in wind high tech with nearly 50% of the worlds windmills and have created 100,000+ jobs in the global wind energy biz.

If Horns Reef should ever suffer a catastrophic failure, with 100% certainty I can say that the pollution of the entire west coast of Denmark would not happen.

Shifting gears a bit, (which you don't do in the Mini-E) and bringing it back locally at the home owner level .

Remembering that vote on that Danish island over a decade ago, we decided to "vote" with our own home and pocket book by installing a solar P.V. system to use a renewable resource that is abundant in our part of the world, sunshine. Our home produces 100% of our energy requirements with renewable and non polluting solar energy for our home and cars.

It's not that hard to do America!

Frank Lloyd Wright said:

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."

Nature won't, government and big oil most certainly and repeatedly will.

Nothing could be more Republican, Democratic, Libertarian or Green, than a country or a citizen that produces their own energy, is self reliant, less expensive, and environmentally cleaner than we are today.

We are too smart to behave in this stupid way.

In the words of a Saudi oil minister, "the Stone Age did not end for lack of stones"

My thoughts and prayers to those in the gulf states and on the coastline as they deal with this unprecedented failure and violation of their lives, livelihood and will being.

It truly makes me ill as I know, I know and live, a better way forward.

With much sadness and anger,

Peder Norby

Happy Earth Day, living and driving on sunshine.

2010-04-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day, living and driving on sunshine.

You can live in a home and drive a car powered by sunshine. In our case we live in 3300 sq ft home with a 1000 sq ft guest house and drive a BMW Mini-E 16,000 miles a year.

All powered by sunshine via a 7.5 kw Sunpower solar PV system :)

We have a net metering agreement with SDG&E that allows us to pay once a year for the energy for our home. For the 2010 year we estimate our total energy use will be between 0 and $100. There is an outside chance we could be below zero but it's a rainy year so I think not.

In the early part of the year, January through March, we use more energy than we produce and we have a bill. In the mid part of the year from mid March to October we generate more energy than we use and we have a credit each month for 6 months. In November and December we again use more than we generate and we have a bill. At the end of the year we are essentially energy neutral or net zero.

In actuality the home produces far more energy than it consumes because it is also supplying 3500kwh, the equivalent of $2000 of gasoline annually to power the Mini-E.

This is our most current bill and you can see that we started at 70304 and ended at 70297. a -5 KWH usage for the month. The normal SDG&E bill does not give you credit for generation so the top lines of -270 and -75 show 0 when in reality you get paid for that at the higher peak rates.

This is the net metering bill that you keep track of the year with. It comes together with the normal bill above. You can see in January and February we had a bill of $102.42 and $65.49 and then in March we dipped below zero and have a credit of $-11.72 and a total KWH usage of -5

From now until October we will have a credit each month. In May the summer rate structure begins which is far better for us as far as getting paid for solar production and we will have credits around $40 to $60 per month. The below chart is an approximation of how our year looks.

The Solar PV system is now two years old with the new "gas station" addition 8 months ago. We have generated almost 20 megawatts of energy with a value of $8500 in electricity and gasoline. This represents around 35% of the total system cost ($26,000) and puts our break even point at around 6 years, less if electricity rates or gas rates spike. Less if you fiqure the HELOC loan interest is deductible off your taxes and the sdge bill is not.

Remember, this is 6 years of the same payments you are already making to SDG&E and you local gas station, it's not a new payment.

How can anyone afford not to do solar.
Cheers and Happy Earth Day!

Peder

All this has me thinking. What would I really like for my future car?

2010-04-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

Mini-E #183 is in the shop for a few days (3rd scheduled service at 14,000 miles) no real problems just a data download and I have them looking at a tweak here and there.

I’m driving a pearl white Cooper S for the next few days and it’s a pretty stark difference than #183. On the whole; the car stumbles, rumbles, roars and “paddles” as in shifting, its way up and down the 6 gears. I already miss the jet engine smooth and super quiet acceleration and regen-deceleration of the Mini-E, sans gears, oil, and transmission. I dread going to the gas station.

On the likes, I love the sunroof, it’s fun playing with the paddles, the car is a little lighter in the corners but not drastically so, and I really like being able to turn on the sport mode and turn off the DSC for a little fun on appropriate roads.

I am an enthusiast driver.

All this got me thinking. What would I really like for my future car? ... if I were king.

I’m in a two car family, have a 20 mile round trip commute, and my wife is perfectly happy in the Ford Escape, she prefers sitting up a bit as compared to a lower seating position. That pretty much gives me a wide playing field as to my desires and choices for a car.

I am an enthusiast driver, so here is the car for Peder.

I hope you're listening reading this BMW/Mini.

I love the Mini! Best, most fun car I have had in my 32 years of driving!

So it begins with a Mini. Strip every last thing from the car much like the Porsche Boxter Spyder. No air (the tops down), no heat (I’ll wear a sweater) no radio, (I will take an integrated I-Phone charging dock,) just a bikini top to keep most of the wetness out on the occasional rainy day. No power windows or door locks, the most basic and lightest materials used inside the car and if your can spare a little extra carbon fiber, on the body panels and seats as well. No rear seat, but a bigger cargo area than the Mini-E and a greatly reduced in size and weight dashboard.

I’ll keep all the airbags thank you.

Give me the same 205 horsepower electric motor as in the Mini-E, the new 2nd gen batteries like in the Active-E. I only want 25kwh, not 35khw of batteries but I want them spaced in the front and back like the Active E for optimum weight. I want to be able to select the DSC off or on, and I want the suspension to be able to handle the horsepower and torque so no need to detune the controller/motor at take-off. I’m fine with the top speed governed at 95. Lastly an integrated aero kit and a j1772 connector.

That’s my dream car, A Mini-E “Peder Spyder Special”

2250 pounds of open air driving.
A 0-60 time in the low to mid 5 second range,
Range of around 90-100 miles with less batts (thanks to the lightness and aero of the car)

That is something to dream about. That is my ultimate car. Until then, I’m looking forward to getting Mini-E #183 back from the shop to continue this most excellent adventure.

Cheers
Peder
#183 driving on sunshine

E-RV “HomeE” #183 An earth shaking camping experience!

2010-04-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

What an incredible 3 days camping with Mini-E #183. The Mini-E can hold all the needed gear as you can see in the picture. The Mini-E is far more than just an urban commuter car. With campgrounds and soon an electric charging infrastructure in place there will be no limits to what you can do or where you can go.

First a beautiful 90 mile drive out to Borrego Springs, The drive involved an elevation change of 4800 ft. (nearly a mile straight up) from sea level to the peak of the mountains back close to sea level at Borrego. Most of the drive was at around 50 to 60 mph on back twisty roads that the Mini E just loved. We arrived with 15 miles left on the range indicator. The next morning after a full charge the range indicator showed 107 miles.

Speaking of charging,

We thought we were going to recharge at 110 volt 12 amp which would take 28 hours to recharge. But we found a better way!

The first night we charged at our camp site, the electrical box had two twenty amp breakers tied to a 30 amp plug and a normal 110 receptacle. First we tried the supplied cable to the normal 110 outlet with the setting on the Mini-E at 12 amps. The meter turned slowly but this worked fine and we would have no problem charging to full over the next two days.

We then tried a 30 amp RV pigtail we purchased and used the 32 amp charger setting.
We were surprised that the 110 cable supplied with the Mini-E could handle the 32 amp setting without tripping but it did. The meter was flying and we were able to fully charge #183 in just over 8 hours. This is three times as fast as at the 12 amp setting and meant that we could drive like crazy the next day!

The next day it was out and about in the beautiful Anza Borrego Desert. The flower season is spectacular and we drove 93 miles around the desert and to the Salton Sea, we also hiked several miles all over the desert. We returned to the camp site in the early afternoon and we were sitting by the pool, when the big 7.2 earthquake centered about 80 miles away hit!

The shaking was intense and lasted for a solid minute, water lapped over the pool as the earth shifted under our feet. Buildings creaked and Julie leapt out of the way of the pool shade structure she was laying under as it swayed and creaked as well. Everyone was OK and Borrego had a few broken windows and water pipes along with boulder strewn roads but no major damage.

That evening we decided to try and charge #183 at the next site over, This only had a 30amp breaker and a 30amp receptacle. Even though the car was set to 32 amps this also worked just fine and the car was fully charged, charging from 1pm to 9pm.

This morning it began to sprinkle in the desert and Julie and I decided to pack up and head home. Same trip in reverse except this time we had rain, a very strong headwind and 40% temps but the Mini-E handled the 90 miles and grade changes no problem, we arrived home with 6 miles on the range indicator.

The Mini-E is a super fun camping vehicle and works great at RV sites with plug ins. Julie and I had so much fun we are planning a longer 10 day trip up the coast of California this summer using the same 32 amp 8 hour charging strategy as we hopscotch and recharge nightly.

We had a blast!

Cheers
Peder

Gear:
1 Six person tent
2 Sleeping bags
1 King size air mattress
2 Pillows
1 Two burner stove
2 Bottles of propane
2 Folding chairs
1 Duffle bag of cloths
1 Duffle bag of cooking gear and utensils
1 Lantern
1 Flashlight
1 First Aid Kit
1 Digital camera & bag
1 Air mattress pump
1 Bag of food products

For most of the food & beverage supply we shopped out in the desert after making camp.

BMW-Mini-E Offers Lease Extension. Are you in?

2010-03-10T12:41:00.000-08:00

After nine months, the initial excitement of being one of the first of the new breed of electric car drivers ( with appreciation to the EV1 and RAV4 drivers) is a near memory.
The lifestyle of living and driving on sunshine (literally driving on sunshine) has settled into the routine to the daily beat of normalcy fitting in perfectly with our family’s lifestyle and driving habits.

It really, really works.

The past nine months, 12,000 miles have been an absolute hoot driving the Mini-E, it is the single best, most fun car I have driven in my 32 years of driving.

BMW has been honest and fair to us and we have loved our car and our relationship with the Mini-E Field Trial program, BMW and the Mini-E have exceeded our expectations.

Today 3/10, All the Mini-E drivers were emailed a lease extension offer for 12 more months. The monthly lease payment is reduced from $850 to $600 a month and this includes the comprehensive and collision insurance, tires and snow tires, maintenance and service, no down payment, no limit on miles, no depreciation.

My prior car a 2005 Volvo S60R had a total cost of ownership at $775 a month including down payment. The Mini-E at $600 a month total cost of ownership, is now the same cost or less than a Volt or Leaf or a newer gas car.

As an example:

No down payment

$400 a month

$100 a month for fuel

$50 a month for insurance

$50 a month for tires and maintenance
$600 a month total cost.

I love the idea of another year with the Mini-E and then transitioning into the Active E if the priceing value is good, or a second model year of the Volt or Leaf having observed how they perform for 6 months.The possibiltity of another lease extension for the Mini-E exist and I am hopeful that they will let some of us drive the wheels off this car for 5 or 6 years and beyond to see where the real world battery range will be long term. That's my ideal path.

If I can share one thought with you, it is that you are going to love driving an electric car.

Am I in? are you kidding me?

I’m in. I’m loving every EV mile

Cheers
Peder

Equation for a better future

2010-02-28T09:51:00.002-08:00

This is an Op/Ed I wrote for the San Diego Unoin Tribune.

Its mostly about Solar but does include the Mini-E.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/18/equation-better-future/

Equation for a better future
EV + PV = SD>

By Peder Norby
Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.

San Diego is blessed with abundant, endless sunshine. We would be wise to use this resource accordingly.

The emerging application of the plug-in electric car coupled with new legislation that makes solar photovoltaic energy affordable and, in many cases, a net positive from day one will launch this county and state into a change in motive power and a change in the way we power our homes from consolidated sources of power (power plants, oil refineries) to distributed “in-basin” sources of power (home or business power plants) during the next few decades.

An electric vehicle in the garage charged from a solar photovoltaic system on the roof or car port equals a San Diego County that is far greater than it is today. Each, while beneficial alone, when paired together will change our county for the better.

EV (electric vehicle) + PV (photovoltaic energy) is a pairing as natural as hardware and software, as chocolate and wine, as sunshine and photosynthesis.

The county of San Diego and most cities within the county, have adopted the Property Assessed Clean Energy program (PACE). This makes solar photovoltaic systems, as well as other important energy and water saving improvements, affordable to all by allowing the financing of the improvements over many years via property taxes. With the PACE program, the savings on your utility and water bills after your improvements can equal or exceed your payment via your property tax assessment.

How does this make San Diego County greater than it is today?

Fifty-five percent of our total man-made emissions in the region come from our personal transportation. Twelve percent come from our homes. Imagine a county and state in which our autos and our homes are powered by affordable sunshine. No emissions, a fixed cost as opposed to ever increasing bills, cheaper than your current utility bill and much cheaper (50 cents a gallon of gas equivalent) than your current gasoline bill for your car.

Land use and planning in our county is largely centered on our transportation systems. These emerging clean energy systems and cars will “evolutionize” our planning efforts, resulting in a better San Diego County.

It you are a bit skeptical, who can blame you? I ask that you consider our experience.

We live and drive on sunshine. We generate 12,000 kilowatt hours of energy with our solar photovoltaic stem. Our experimental car uses 3,000 kilowatt hours and our home uses 9,000 kilowatt hours per year.

For the past 30 months, we have powered our home nearly completely with solar photovoltaic energy. In just a short three years more, our system will be fully paid off – paid off with the same money we used to pay San Diego Gas & Electric and our local OPEC-supplied gas station.

From then on, our energy use for our home and our cars is essentially free.

For the past 11,000 miles, we have been field trial drivers for BMW, driving a fully electric MINI E powered by local sunshine all over San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties.

In less than a year, General Motors and Nissan will be offering similar plug-in electric cars. The year after that, Ford and Toyota, and by 2012 most of the major manufactures will have some variety of electric plug-in vehicles including popular SUVs.

In this short time frame we will all have a choice on how we power our homes and our cars. No longer will we be chained to OPEC every few hundred miles. No longer will we be chained to a utility’s power plant to produce the energy we consume. We will have a choice to produce our own energy for our own homes, businesses and cars.

We will have a choice whether we continue being dependent on foreign governments and OPEC for gasoline, or realize and honor our forefathers’ wish for an independent country by generating our own electric energy from an endless local resource, sunshine.

We will have a choice weather to convey a cleaner, emission-free San Diego County to future generations who will inherit this earth from us, or give them a world more polluted as our parting gift.

In San Diego County we have 1.4 million homes and 3 million automobiles. We have a choice on how we power both.

San Diego is blessed with abundant, endless sunshine. We would be wise to use this resource accordingly.

Norby is a San Diego County planning commissioner. He and his wife, Julie, were awarded the 2007 SANDEE Award from the California Center for Sustainable Energy for the home they built in Carlsbad.

Mini-E #183, 10,000 miles on Sunshine, UC Davis Reports First EV Study Findings

2010-01-27T09:36:00.000-08:00

My marvelous journey into the future continues.

This past Sunday January 24th 2010, after 7 full months in Mini-E # 183, I passed 10,000 miles on the ODO.

Pause a second and think about this. 10,000 miles in a fun hot car powered only by sunshine.

Game changer? I think so!

The car is incredible and the best thing I can say about driving #183 is that it has settled into an entirely normal routine as a super fun and responsive daily driver accomplishing 100% of my driving task. The best attributes are the shear fun of driving the car, the times saved by not going to the gas station, the fact that its 100% charged and ready to go every time I hop in, and the $1800 a year I am saving on gas by powering the car with sunshine. The drawbacks, no rear seat which is a minor drawback and that’s about it.

Even the lease payment of around $800 a month while at first glance high, for me is pretty consistent with my other cars that I have had. A $450 car payment, $100 on maintenance (service tires, brakes) $130 a month on gas and $60 a month on collision and auto insurance, all of which are included in the lease of the Mini-E. I do look forward to the electric cars reducing in price and I acknowledge that I am paying a premium as an early adopter. Again for me its really not that much if any of a premium.

One of the joys of this journey is not only personally understanding and gaining knowledge as to if the electric car will work for myself and my family (passes on all fronts, you can really drive on sunshine!) but also to share this collective knowledge of 600 drivers with others interested in the electric car future.

No doubt that future will consist of many options in electric drive ranging from Hybrids to Plug in Hybrids to Range Extended Hybrids to Battery Electric cars to Fuel Cells.

BMW has reported on some of its findings to date in this 600 car field study. As a Mini-E driver I was one of 57 who also participated in an extensive study by UC Davis, the results of that study are ongoing but the first information on that study has been posted.

There are some pretty big surprises in the reports that counter commonly held beliefs such as range anxiety being a big issue, public charging being a major issue and the majority of drivers needing additional charging.

My personal experience is consistent with the majority of the report. I reported an average range under all conditions of 90 miles per charge and a daily drive of 40 miles.

You can read these reports at the following links.

BMW Presentation

BMW Field Trial Report

The County of San Diego and many of its 18 cities have also adopted a PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) program that will allow home owners to finance capital improvements that are energy and water related in their property tax bill over 20 years.

Below is link for information on that program, you will want to read the last page where I compare fueling cost in a graph format.

Norby Presentation on PACE Program.

Cheers!

Peder, #183

Charts for Cost of Solar Fuel

2010-01-05T21:03:00.001-08:00

I have received a good number of off line emails asking me how I arrived at the incredibly low cost per gallon equivalents for an electric car powered by solar. As a basis for comparison, I used the average miles traveled by a car in the U.S. and the average fuel economy for cars and SUV's in the U.S.

below are some charts which I hope will help explain. (Hint, if you click on the charts they enlarge)

The above graph is the cost of fuel paying cash for driving a 20 mpg gasoline car for 12,000 miles a year. Fuel cost is $3.00 a gallon increasing at 5% a year. This increase is historically the same increase as the last 25 years from 1985 to 2010.

This next chart is the cost of solar fuel if you were to pay cash. Of note is that the total cost of the system is equal to 4.25 years of paying fuel cost in the 20mpg gasoline car.

The Mini-E gets 3.50 miles per KWH. To drive 12,000 miles a year on solar energy I need to generate 3500kwh. In Southern California that is a 2kw Solar PV. System. My install that I did 4 months ago came out to a net cost after fed tax credit of $4,000 per kw or $8000 for a 2kw system. This is roughly the system cost estimate from b.p. solar as well.
Assumed is a $2200 inverter replacement at year 12.

This next chart is the cost of solar fuel if you were to finance the purchase on a PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) program.

The Mini-E gets 3.50 miles per KWH. To drive 12,000 miles a year on solar energy I need to generate 3500kwh. In Southern California that is a 2kw Solar PV. System. My install that I did 4 months ago came out to a net cost after fed tax credit of $4,000 per kw or $8000 for a 2kw system. This is roughly the system cost estimate from b.p. solar as well.

Conclusion:

I am only comparing the cost of fuel vs. the cost of solar energy. No attempt is made to account for the cost of batteries whether they are life of vehicle or need to be replaced every 7 years. Nor is an attempt made to calculate the cost of replacement engines, transmissions, brake jobs, tune ups and other cost associated with a gas car.

Your results will vary depending on your sunshine profile and where you are located as system cost can vary by location. But if you're in the sunshine belt the above graphs should come very close for most people.

On a KWH generation basis Solar is essential 1/8th the cost of gas for me to drive for the next 25 years+. This equals $0.38 cents a gallon of gas equivalent. It is also a fixed price and protects me against spikes and inflation.

On a cost basis solar is $0.20 cents a gallon of gas equivalent as I only need to generate 1750kwh at peak time (30 cents per KHW) to pay for the usage of 3500kwh of off peak charging (14 cents per KWH)

That's my world, that's my real world experience.

Cheers
Peder

Solar fuel for electric cars, does it work?

2010-01-03T08:31:00.001-08:00

January 3rd, 2010.

8:00 am, our breakfast outside.

If you're an east coast Mini-E driver, try not to look at the picture.

Solar fuel for electric cars, does it work?
As long as the sun rises the answer is you betcha!

This writing departs from my driving experiences with Mini-E #183 and focuses in on my fueling experiences with my electric cars.

In 2009, I drove 12,500 miles in electric cars powered only by sunshine. 9500 miles in Mini-E #183 in just 7 months, and 3000 miles in the Gem E4. My New Years Reso was that I am done with gas period.

It has been a no compromise alternative to the gas cars of my past and has helped motivate me to create a more efficient non polluting source of renewable fuel in the form of a solar P.V. station on our roof for both our cars and our home. It has also been a far more enjoyable driving experience behind the wheel of the electric cars.

Try putting an oil well and refinery on your roof , if you get that far, try making them non polluting.

I believe that the emerging application of the plug in electric car coupled with new legislation in California that makes solar a net positive from day one for most people, as compared to purchasing electricity from utilities, will launch this county, then the state, then the country into a change in motive power and a change in the way we power our homes from consolidated sources of power (power plants, oil refineries) to distributed grid connected "in basin" sources of power (home or business power plants) during the next decade.

A power plant and a gas station in every home and commercial property. Fuel from the sun, captured and conveyed the 30 feet from the roof to your panel to the 220 volt 40 amp outlet, to the electron port (Or do we still call it a gas cap?) on your Leaf, Volt, BMW Active E, Plug in Prius, Ford Focus EV, Karma, Tesla, Think and the many other electric cars.

Solar PV works in California. System payoffs range from 6 to 12 years for house use and 3 to 6 years for auto use ( vs. gas at $3.00 a gal.) using the same money you pay to your utility company or gas station now.

The barriers are that it has high upfront cost and people move every few years thus are not willing to make the long term investment..

San Diego County last month voted to join other counties and cities through the League of California City’s and the League of Counties to enact a PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) program.

Prior to this PACE Program you had to use a second home loan, a line of credit, credit cards or cash to pay for a Solar P.V. system. This relegated solar to the affluent few that can afford to pay for this. Good for the weathy 5% but unattainable for the other 95% of the population

What we needed to do was to make this work for every homeowner or commercial property owner. The major issue is that people tend to move every five years, don’t want to make the big investment as it is not their final home and the upfront cost.

People move every five years on average but buildings don’t. Financing Solar PV on the building rather than the person is the key.

The San Diego County program enables individual property owners both commercial and residential to finance renewable energy projects on their property tax bill over 20 years as opposed to their own personal credit. In most cases the increase in a property tax bill will be offset by an equal or greater savings on their electric bill. This saving grows over the years as the cost remains fixed for the solar PV homeowner but energy cost from the utilities rise every year for the non solar PV home owner.

Other benefits are that the system installs require no out of pocket expenses, and that property taxes are tax deductible, your utility bills and gas station purchase are not.

In my real world experience, owning solar PV systems on my home and driving electric cars over 12000 mile in 2009, solar fuel from a home PV System powering an electric car will range from 25 to 75cents a gallon equivalent to gasoline fixed for the lifetime of your PV System. For me its 40 cents a gallon of solar fuel equivilent.

It begins in California, and will spread to other sunshine states and eventually the entire country. Solar PV is most cost effective in the sunshine belt to be sure, but technology advances.

That’s disruptive and it will change our EVWorld.

Cheers!

Peder
Mini-E # 183

Our live solar production graph

Mini-E #183, Proud parent of the next generation.

2009-12-16T22:12:00.000-08:00

There is a feeling driving Mini-E #183 of absolute responsive performance.

Responsive performance that I have yet to find in any car I have driven in the past 32 years . Instantaneous inputs for acceleration and deceleration and of course, the Mini cornering and fun factor.

I’m 8000 miles and six months into this field test of Mini-E #183 and without trying to be over dramatic, I am living and driving in the future, today.

A future so bright, powered by that big yellow ball in the sky.

Never in my life have I felt so passionate, so optimistic about the change in front of our world. Environmentally, economically and socially, a change so large it dwarfs the Wright bothers at Kitty Hawk, Henry Ford and the Model T and the communications revolution of the past 30 years.

Mini-E has a new progeny on the way. I'm a proud Papa of sorts!

I can only hope that my experience as a pioneer will have a chapter two in this vehicle.

Paraphrasing (or plagiarizing) a popular song ;

Please don’t take my sunshine car away.

Bravo BMW!

Cheers
Peder #183

The BMW Concept ActiveE

The next chapter in BMW's project i Megacity Vehicle research initiative.Woodcliff Lake, NJ – December 16, 2009, 6pm EST...

Introducing the BMW Concept ActiveE, the latest electric vehicle project under BMW Group's initiative to produce vehicles that explore solutions to minimize environmental impacts while preserving the kinetic driving experience for which BMW has long been known.

The BMW Concept ActiveE follows the all-electric MINI E as the second large-scale electric vehicle test program to be conducted in the hands of interested customers.The BMW Group presents yet another milestone along the way to achieving CO2-free mobility. The BMW Concept ActiveE provides a taste of a purely electrically powered BMW. Focused on the requirements of practical use, the study is based on the BMW 1 Series Coupe and embodies the outstanding agility and characteristic driving pleasure of the 1 Series for the first time as part of an emissions-free drive concept.With the world premiere of the BMW Concept ActiveE at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) 2010 in Detroit, the BMW Group is highlighting the continuation of its research and development activities in the field of electro-mobility.

The field tests with the MINI E as part of project i in the US and Europe have already provided important insights into the demands required of future production electric vehicles. As a second step, project i has begun development of a second trial fleet of electric vehicles based on the BMW Concept ActiveE. These vehicles are likewise intended for everyday use by private and select fleet customers as part of a large-scale field test. The insights gathered in the process will be fed into the development of an electrically powered serial production vehicle which the BMW Group will put on the market under a sub-brand of BMW in the first half of the next decade.

The BMW Concept ActiveE has allowed BMW to explore new vehicle packaging solutions and components which will be crucial to the success of the Megacity Vehicle. The intelligent integration of drive components within the existing vehicle package of the BMW 1 Series Coupe offers the opportunity to provide four full-size seats and a luggage compartment with a capacity of 200 litres / 7 cu ft. The motor, specially developed for the model and located in the rear axle, delivers 125 kW/170 hp and provides maximum torque of 250 Nm / 184 lb-ft. It accelerates the vehicle in less than 9 seconds from zero to 100 km/h (0-60 mph in approx. 8.5 seconds).The electric drive system draws its energy from new, advanced lithium-ion battery pack developed jointly by BMW and the co-operation partner SB LiMotive especially for the BMW Concept ActiveE. They enable a range of approx. 160 kilometres (100 miles) in everyday use. An intelligent battery management system helps achieve this range largely independently of external climatic conditions.

Additionally, the charging period required for the lithium-ion batteries is very short. On the European power grid, the battery pack can be fully charged in just 3 hours at a wall box with a current of 50 ampere at 230/240 volts. In North America, using a high-current (32 ampere continuous) residential wall box, the charge time is about 4.5 hours.Innovative technology for sheer driving pleasure without CO2 emissions.The BMW Concept ActiveE embodies a whole new dimension of purely electrically powered mobility. The dynamic potential and high torque of the drive system, along with the rear-wheel drive which is a hallmark of the brand, guarantees the characteristic sheer driving pleasure which is typical of BMW – but without any CO2 emissions. An impressive range of functions and a high level of suitability for everyday use are additional features of this concept, which defines electro-mobility in true BMW style.

The BMW Group attaches key importance to electro-mobility in the development of future-oriented vehicle concepts and drive systems as part of its EfficientDynamics strategy. In the medium term, BMW Group is developing innovative vehicle concepts for emissions-free mobility in urban areas. This so-called Megacity Vehicle will also be offered with an electrical drivetrain. The BMW Concept ActiveE represents a further step towards the realization of this concept. Components of the vehicle may be developed further for later integration into the Megacity Vehicle.Electric drive: emissions-free, powerful and compact.

The BMW Concept ActiveE offers the prospect of characteristic BMW driving pleasure without exhaust emissions. The requirements for electro-mobility with characteristic BMW properties are being created based on ongoing development in the powertrain. The latest outcome is a new synchronous electric motor tailored to the BMW Concept ActiveE. It offers a high level of efficiency, power delivery, and compact construction.The maximum output of the new electric drive is 125 kW/170 hp.

The maximum torque of 250 Nm / 184 lb-ft is available from a standstill as is typical for electric motors. The torque remains available over an unusually broad load range. Unlike asynchronous electric motors, the new power unit provides a relatively high level of torque even at higher engine speeds and road speeds; at increased load the torque is not reduced abruptly but decreases gradually. The torque curve at higher engine speeds is therefore much more similar to the pattern familiar from combustion engines.The vehicle concept and drive system provide the agility and dynamic acceleration performance which are characteristic of the BMW 1 Series Coupe. Based on realistic simulations, a figure of less than 9 seconds was measured for the sprint from zero to 100 km/h (0-60 miles in 8.5 seconds), with the 60 km/h mark being reached after less than 4.5 seconds. The maximum speed of the vehicle is electronically limited at around 145 km/h or 90 mph.The innovative character of the electric drive is also reflected in the optimized ratio between engine output and space requirements: the compact power package is fully integrated in the rear axle of the BMW Concept ActiveE.

Here the drive system occupies the space required in conventional vehicles by the differential, whose function is integrated in the drive system.Recuperation of energy increases range.In the purely electric powered BMW, the driver may control deceleration as well as acceleration through the movement of the accelerator pedal. As soon as the driver's foot is removed from the accelerator, the electric motor performs the function of a generator, converting the vehicle's kinetic energy into electric power and storing it in the battery pack.

Intensive use of this so-called energy recuperation process by the motor increases the range by up to 20%.At the same time, a brake torque is created which results in effective deceleration of the vehicle. This response enables a very comfortable driving style, especially at medium and constantly varying speeds. In urban traffic, some 75 percent of all deceleration manoeuvres are initiated without the need for the brake pedal. During Brake Energy Regeneration function, the vehicle's brake lights are illuminated.This brake effect acts on the rear wheels only.

When the driver requires a higher level of deceleration, stepping on the brake pedal engages the conventional hydraulic braking system. If an emergency braking maneuver is required during braking, the Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system applies selective braking and motor management measures to ensure that safe braking is always guaranteed.The brake system is fitted with an electric vacuum pump which is activated on demand.

Along with the Electric Power Steering (EPS) familiar from the production models of the BMW 1 Series, these features contribute to an increase in the overall efficiency of the vehicle.Innovative lithium-ion battery pack with its own liquid cooling.The lithium-ion battery pack specially developed for this vehicle supplies energy to the motor and all other functions of the BMW Concept ActiveE. The high-voltage battery units offer a particularly high storage capacity and durability. For the first time, storage cells are used which were developed especially for use in automobiles by the BMW Group in collaboration with the co-operation partner SB LiMotive. Powerful battery cells are key when it comes to designing production vehicles with electric drive. Through the collaboration of the BMW Group with a joint venture of the companies Bosch and Samsung SDI [SB LiMotive], leading expertise in the area of battery technology and electro-mobility has been brought together. The aim is to use the best available technology in the area of energy storage as part of the development of the Megacity Vehicle.

For some time now, lithium-ion technology has demonstrated its particularly high storage capacity and deep-cycle resistance - for example in mobile phones and laptops. The technological expertise of SB LiMotive ensures that these properties are retained even under the special conditions of use in an automobile and the relevant demands in terms of durability, endurance and safety.The lithium-ion batteries of the BMW Concept ActiveE have their own liquid cooling system and intelligent battery management system, which are key elements in increasing both the storage capacity and the durability of the battery cells.

These systems also ensure that the long range can be maintained largely independent of external climatic conditions. The high storage capacity is the decisive factor in achieving as long a range as possible. The storage system developed for the BMW Concept ActiveE enables a real-world range of about 160 km / 100 miles on a single charge, depending on conditions (FTP72 cycle range is calculated to be 240 km / 150 miles in simulation).Modular structure, compact construction, space-saving integration.Another special feature of the battery pack is its outstanding compactness, despite its output and capacity.

The arrangement of battery cells, grouped into several modules, is ideal in terms of packaging, functionality and vehicle balance. The battery pack is located where a combustion engine and fuel tank would normally be located. The largest portion of the battery pack in the BMW Concept ActiveE is located where the conventional propshaft and fuel tank would be in the lower section of the vehicle. In addition, a portion of the battery pack is located where the combustion engine would normally reside. Using intelligent lightweight design and the highly-efficient lithium-ion battery cells, vehicle curb weight is limited to about 1800 kg / 3900 lbs.Characteristic BMW driving experience, space of a BMW 1 Series Coupe.

The positioning of the battery pack shifts the vehicle's center of gravity downwards. Also, the battery cell layout within the vehicle preserves the near 50-50 weight distribution characteristic of BMW vehicles. In this respect, the BMW Concept ActiveE offers ideal conditions for driving experience characterized by a high level of agility.In terms of the space available in the interior, the BMW Concept ActiveE has no disadvantage compared to the BMW 1 Series Coupe with conventional combustion engine.

It offers four full-size seats with the same measures of head, leg and shoulder space.The optimum positioning of the power electronics above the motor integrated in the rear axle, for reasons of safety and functionality, results in a reduction of trunk capacity. Nonetheless, the BMW Concept ActiveE still has a luggage compartment which provides considerable versatility in everyday use. With a volume of approx. 200 litres / 7 cu ft, it even exceeds the trunk capacity of the BMW 1 Series Convertible with an open top and can hold two 46-inch golf bags, for example.Reliable and safe: power electronics control and monitor vehicle functions.

The power electronics of the BMW Concept ActiveE regulate the supply of electrical current to the motor at the required amperage and voltage. It also controls the supply of energy to the vehicle power network. By means of a voltage transformer and an intelligent battery management system, a reliable supply of power to all vehicle functions is ensured, including the comfort and entertainment features familiar from the production model of the BMW 1 Series. Drive components, energy supply, and battery pack comply with the integral safety standards for electric vehicles as defined by the BMW Group.Central monitoring functions integrated both in the power electronics and the battery pack ensure the continuous monitoring of all components.

The driver is immediately informed of malfunctions and if necessary there is an automatic system discharge and shutdown. Modern charging technology: fresh energy both swiftly and flexibly.The consistent development of serial production vehicles with electric drive also includes innovative solutions for flexible, user-friendly charging of the energy storage systems in the vehicle in a way which is appropriate to everyday use. The lithium-ion battery pack of the BMW Concept ActiveE can be recharged using a range of different power sources. This means that the vehicle is not dependent on a specific charging station and energy of varying power levels can be fed into the battery pack according to availability. Any conversion required is taken care of by the high-performance battery control system.

This gives the driver considerably greater flexibility in using the vehicle. In addition to using a high amperage wall box – a supply system installed in the user's home optimized to reduce charging times– it is also possible to use conventional power outlets or publicly accessible charging stations made available in co-operation with energy suppliers. In this way, stopovers can be used to extend the travel range of the vehicle when needed.The lithium-ion batteries of the BMW Concept ActiveE set a new benchmark for energy storage systems in electric vehicles. Regardless of the voltage and amperage available, they build up a remarkably high energy capacity within a very short time.

On the European power grid, the battery pack can be fully charged in just 3 hours at a wall box with a current of 50 ampere at 230/240 volts. In North America, using a high-current (32 ampere continuous), 220 volts residential wall box, the charge time is about 4.5 hours.Innovative comfort features: auxiliary heating and auxiliary air conditioning complete with remote control.In conjunction with the powerful battery technology, the concept of a purely electrically powered vehicle presents additional opportunities for the integration of innovative comfort features. For the BMW Concept ActiveE, a special heating and air conditioning system was developed which is supplied with energy from the high-voltage battery via the vehicle power network.

The fact that the heating system and air conditioning compressor are electrically powered means that the desired temperature can be provided inside the vehicle even when it is stationary.The driver can heat or cool the interior before a trip using the auxiliary heating or air conditioning system – an option which is available when the vehicle is connected to a charging station and the battery is fully charged. This ensures that the range is not reduced by the comfort function, but in fact increased.

The reason for this is that the energy required for heating or cooling the vehicle with an existing connection to the power supply does not need to be drawn from the battery during travel.The climate control systems developed for the BMW Concept ActiveE can also be activated via mobile phone. This option also includes a timer function so the driver can ensure that the vehicle is conveniently pre-cooled or pre-heated before getting into it in the morning, for example. Climatic pre-conditioning optimizes not only ride comfort but also the operating status of the energy storage system in the sense that it maximises the range of the vehicle. The control of the heating and air conditioning system by mobile phone is made available through BMW ConnectedDrive.

The BMW Concept ActiveE demonstrates the extensive range of options for using these services with the full integration of a smartphone connection into the vehicle infotainment system.Specific remote control functions via BMW ConnectedDrive.In addition to the intelligent remote controlled operation of the auxiliary heating and air conditioning, BMW ConnectedDrive offers additional services specially developed for the BMW Concept ActiveE. The main focus here is on the user-friendly and practically oriented relay of precise information on the condition of the vehicle. No matter how far he is from the vehicle, the driver can obtain details of the charge status of the lithium-ion battery and the range of travel this permits. The remote control functions also provide support in searching for a nearby public charging station.The configuration of the remote control functions is specifically oriented to use scenarios arising in everyday traffic.

For example, the driver can go shopping or eat at a restaurant while the vehicle is supplied with electrical current at a charging station. Within a very short time the driver can obtain information on the current charge status of the batteries by mobile phone. The driver can also determine how much charging time is required for the batteries to achieve sufficient energy capacity for the trip home, thus allowing other activities to be planned. Providing sufficient charge is available, the driver can also activate the heating and air conditioning during an excursion when the battery is fully charged and the vehicle is connected to the power supply. In this way a pleasant temperature can be generated inside the car within just a few minutes and in good time before setting off.Additional trips can also be conveniently prepared using the innovative remote control functions.

For example, the driver can check the charge status of the vehicle batteries and the currently available travel range while at his workplace or sitting in a café. This makes it quick and convenient to find out whether an additional trip can be made before driving home before the energy supply runs out. The driver gains additional flexibility in being able to search for public charging stations in the vicinity of any given location. Based on the information relayed to the mobile phone, he can quickly determine whether a spontaneously planned stopover can be used to charge the vehicle batteries.Design: unmistakably a BMW 1 Series Coupe.The technology of the BMW Concept ActiveE is highlighted through unique design features. The BMW Concept ActiveE is unmistakably based on the BMW 1 Series Coupe, well-known for its outstanding agility and efficiency. With its powerful proportions, the BMW Concept ActiveE also embodies an especially sporty form.

Its side view is dominated by the striking shoulder line and the short overhangs. In addition, the BMW Concept ActiveE boasts striking light alloy wheels which are aerodynamically optimized. The distinctive appearance is partly created by the concept-specific rear apron which is completely closed, demonstrating that the vehicle is entirely emissions-free due to the lack of an exhaust system. There is a recognisable differentiation from the production model of the BMW 1 Series Coupe with the body finish in Liquid White metallic, as well as graphic elements derived from printed circuits in Electric Blue on the hood, doors, roof and trunk lid, as well as the lettering "ActiveE", "eDrive" and "Efficient Dynamics" on the doors and side panels.

The following elements also reflect the special character of this electrically powered vehicle: a blue illuminated charging connection behind a translucent filler cap, a glowing blue roof fin and kidney rods finished in blue. Blue rings on the tyres also make for a visual enlargement of the 18-inch wheels.In the interior, individual details highlight the distinctive style of the study and are functionally associated with the electric drive. Among other things, the interior of the BMW Concept ActiveE has special leather seats with embossed graphic elements and blue contrasting stitching.

The instrument panel and door trim panels have strips in Liquid White. The decor strip in the instrument panel is finished with a three-dimensional rear-lit ActiveE graphic. The blue illuminated start/stop button and the selector lever knob emblem in White/Blue round off the overall graphic concept. What is more, the instrument panel and the central display have been enhanced to monitor the electric drive.Instead of the tachometer there is a battery capacity display in the instrument panel. The current charge status of the battery pack is shown in percent. There is also a second instrument which shows how much current is being drawn from the battery as well as the amount of energy being fed back into the battery from Brake Energy Regeneration.In addition to the familiar features, the central information display also has a battery level indicator, an active system status display function and the positions of the nearest electric charging stations.

Inside the trunk, an illuminated plexiglass screen provides a view of the power electronics of the electrical drivetrain. The charge cable is housed conveniently in an additional storage compartment between the left-hand wheel arch and the power electronics.A future-oriented technology which runs across all brands: electro-mobility as a mainstay of EfficientDynamics.With the BMW Concept ActiveE, the BMW Group demonstrates the continuation of its project i research and development activities geared towards achieving emissions-free mobility independent of fossil fuels.

For the first time, the concept of a purely electrically powered vehicle is combined with the characteristics of a BMW 1 Series Coupe.The BMW Group is developing electro-mobility as an additional central mainstay of its EfficientDynamics strategy. Electric drive provides an additional option for individual mobility, alongside the ongoing optimization of the pure combustion engine, the market launch of BMW ActiveHybrid technology in production vehicles and the BMW Hydrogen 7 as evidence of the suitability of hydrogen drive for everyday use.Project i brings together the BMW Group's activities relating to the development of production vehicles with electric drive.

The focus is on the conception of a productionMegacity Vehicle which fulfils the requirements of a sustainable mobility solution for urban areas, with one option being electric drive.With project i, the BMW Group is carrying out a unique worldwide field test in the use of electrically-powered vehicles in everyday traffic. The MINI E, of which some 600 were produced, is currently being used by private customers in the states of California, New York and New Jersey as well as at several European locations. This pilot project aims to gather important insights into user behaviour, the requirements of the vehicle concept, its specifically electric components and the energy supply infrastructure.The BMW Concept ActiveE creates a basis for the expansion and intensification of this field testing on electro-mobility, oriented towards enabling large-scale production in the future.

The aim is to produce a fleet to a scale which will exceed that of the MINI E.With its extended range of functions, including four seats, an intelligent arrangement of the ActiveE technology and dynamic qualities provided not least by the rear-wheel drive which is so characteristic of BMW, the concept vehicle reflects a new approach while remaining loyal to BMW brand values. The components of the electric drive system have been designed bearing in mind the requirements of a future Megacity Vehicle so as to advance the development of a production vehicle. The BMW Concept ActiveE moves a little closer towards the future of an individual mobility which will combine driving pleasure with CO2-free travel.BMW Group In AmericaBMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.

The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group's global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car centers, 335 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 142 BMW motorcycle retailers, 89 MINI passenger car dealers, and 31 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group's sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet

at:www.bmwgroupna.com
http://www.bmwusanews.com/
www.press.bmw-motorsport.com

Mini-E #183, Driving with 390 Volts in a Rainstorm!

2009-12-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

Don’t use your hair dryer while in the shower seems to be a wise suggestion for someone who wishes to live a long life, DUH!

How about riding in a machine with 390 volts running through its arteries in a driving rainstorm, splashing waves of water driving through giant pool size puddles with 35kw of hi voltage batteries 6 inches behind your butt?

It requires a bit of trust of those who engineered the Mini-E, I question my sanity!

Actually, I did not even think about it until a friend asked if I left my electric car home today because of the rain. He mentioned the terrible news story it would be if someone is electrocuted in their hi voltage electric car.

Mini-E #183 is approaching 8000 miles in just over 5 months of everyday driving. This is the first really big wet weather test for me and the car passed with flying colors.

Shocking, it was not.

In pouring rain, 50mph winds, huge puddles on Hwy 101 in Leucadia, and about 40 miles of driving, no problems.

I little jolt of electricity now and then through the steering wheel but I liken it to a cup of coffee, Electricity like caffeine keeps you awake. Just kidding!

I remember stalling in gas cars in the rain or driving through puddles as the distributor got wet, but It looks like they have the electric cars, at least the Mini-E’s pretty well dialed in.

Mini-E #183, Still the best and most fun car I have driven in 32 years.

The future is sunny and electric, today was really wet.

Cheers
Peder

A Kernel of Dried Corn

2009-12-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

A kernel of dried corn…

Unexpected power, speed, surprise…

A simple kernel…

Boom!!!

Thumb and finger, snap, snap ,snap

Our rhythm, our beat, is 24time, a rotational cycle of what is new, yet the same.

24time, instantaneous in our information, 24time, bombarded by differ-sameness…

snap, snap ,snap

24time, a pastiche representing reality, An exciting mirage of repetitive sameness.

An old needle in a worn out groove.

skip… skip… skip…

What about the next song, the horizon of the next generation?

Not to worry about for those dancing to the beat of 24time.

snap, snap ,snap

Change happens rapidly, to a world revolving slowly.

A long lens in a world beating to 24time is a most useful tool

snap, snap ,snap

Lift the needle.

It was but a few decades ago that this communication to you, (thanks for reading this on your computer,) was not possible. It was but a few decades ago when a calculator was thought to be the tool of a cheat. It was but a few decades ago that skies above Los Angeles were so grossly polluted, the days of blue skies equaled the days of rain in southern California, about six.

It was but a few years ago that a 42 inch plasma TV was $10,000.

Change happens rapidly, to a world revolving slowly.

Like a kernel of corn wanting to explode….Unexpected power, speed, surprise…

The electrification of our transportation fleet of 300 million vehicles is upon us.

A continuum beginning with the Toyota Prius and ending somewhere over the horizon of the next generation with an 18 wheeler cross country on a fuel cell.

The last gas station closing as a special report on CNN.

Boom!!

I am alive. What a great time to live. The future is as bright as the blue skies of sunny southern California except for 6 days of rain!

What we have witnessed as the communications revolution of the past 30 years will be dwarfed in significance when compared to the motive power revolution of the next few decades.

I cannot even begin to guess what that future looks like. The best I can do is only imagine, the same way as a land line user marvels at an IPhone user who pulls up a stock quote, an email, and Yelps for dinner recommendations, then listens to music or watches a video on YouTube…right before they call you on the phone…or texts you.

A ten year old who looks at a jukebox and asked you what that black circle thing is?

Oh my, the new words we are going to need to invent!

All of this great news on EV’s the Volt, the Leaf, the the Audi Etron, the Fisker Karma, The BMW Efficiency Dynamics M1, and all the other plug ins, and last but not least my own experience, 8000 miles of electric driving powered by sunshine in Mini-E#183.

I can only imagine…

In the words of a kindred spirit and fellow visionary, Forrest Gump:

“…and that’s all I have to say about that.”

Cheers
Peder #183

Not Again!

2009-11-18T20:02:00.001-08:00

A few posts down you will see the first "I forgot to plug in" post.

Well, here is the second one.

Now this might not be a problem for most, and BMW might not want to worry too much about this, but it sure is a problem for me! I 'm a pretty smart guy with a decent memory or at least I thought so. The story:

Last night we had a city of Encinitas, Climate Action Plan workshop, I got home around 9:30pm and went inside our home. This morning I had an 9am meeting down at the County with a few department heads and the Director of planning to review the SD county General Plan update which is before the Planning Commission.

I showered, got ready to go, went out to the garage around 8am got in #183 pressed the magic "on" button and had 33 miles of range.

The horror!

I forgot to plug in and I had a 60 mile round trip and a very important meeting! Frantic phone calls to friends, no avail; a call to my wife Julie, "sure honey I'll swap cars" the problem with that is it would have made me 45 minutes late; then, swallowing all my pride a call to my brother Niels who lives on the way. "Bro, can you bail me out and let me drive your car to the county building while you take my car the mile or so to your shop?

That one will cost me in mockery and family dissing for decades! "What is this? Mr. electric cars are better, calling lowly Mr. gas guzzler V8 sports car driver to bail him out? Sure. "

OK, I'm all set, I'm even going to make my meeting on time! If not but for terrible traffic I would have, but all things considered 10 minutes late is a pretty good result.

A few hours later I return Niels's car to his Trophy store http://www.sdtrophy.com/ Niels tells me he has emailed the whole family and my wife about how Mr. Electric smarty pants had to come groveling to him the younger brother to bail his ass out!

Niels said that he emailed BMW/Mini-E to suggest that they may want to reconsider leasing this prized automobile to a person such as I, over 45 with the onset of Pre-Senior Moments.

Then Niels presented my with my own plaque (pictured above) to affix to the door from the garage into the house, at eye level, sort of like a string tied around a finger, to remind me, to turn around and make sure that I have plugged in #183 for the night.

There needs to be "an app for that" for my I-phone so I can check to see if I'm plugged in or not!

The really sad part is... I think the plaque is actually going to help me and prevent future problems and Niels did it as a gag! It's already installed on the garage door.

This one will cost me for years :)

Priceless!

Don't turn your back on your freedom America.

2009-11-11T21:43:00.001-08:00

Our forefathers founded a Union of States, a nation of independent free people. On this Veterans day we are reminded that our freedom is not free.

On this Veterans day we are also sadly reminded that we are today, more so than ever, dependent on foreign lands and kings for oil, for energy.

It’s time America, Le us face our great challenges with new opportunities.

God bless those that have served this country and those that have sacrificed their life for our great nation.

Thank You. You are our heroes and heroines
Peder Norby

Mini-E…7000 miles of fun, sun, and… normalcy.
It’s only missing one thing…my 5 times monthly trip to the local gas station.

That’s gone!

Mini-E #183 sips high voltage sunshine from the rooftop of our home.
100% SOC ready to go anytime I need the car. I am really going to be sad when I have to give this incredible car back to BMW.

5 months into the Mini-E program and #183 continues to deliver strong fun factor and normal every day driving powered 100% by sunshine.

I put about 12,000 miles a year on cars as an average and I’m on track for that or slightly more for #183. I’ve been commuting to the same office for the past 14 years. It’s about a 12 mile drive each way along Historic Hwy 101 in Southern California. About 5 times a month I make a 90 mile round trip to my folks house and 6 to 8 times a month, a 75 mile roundtrip to my County Planning Commission meetings. This plus the usual odds and ends of a daily life filled with the normal routine of trips.

I’ve owned a 1978 Volkswagon Pickup truck, 1980 Subaru, 84 Jeep Cherokee, 88 Mazda Rx7, 92 Volvo 850, 97 Volvo S70, 2002, Volvo S60, 2006 Volvo S60R. and my latest leased drive, the Mini-E. As you can tell I love Volvo’s. My last Volvo, the 2006 S60R with 300 horses was my second favorite car behind the Mini-E.

All the cars were good, some better than others, but the Mini-E with the ability to charge via sunshine, accelerate and corner like a slot car and do everything I need it to do is my favorite by a an EV smile and a country mile. I still pull out of my driveway every morning, silently gliding down to the road and then shift into drive and silently drive away with this feeling inside of “I can’t believe I am literally driving on sunshine” Then its heavy into the accelerator for a vigorous trip on the twisty road around the lagoon before I enter on to I-5 for points south.

I’d like to live with this car for 50k-100k miles and see how it holds up for the long haul (are you listening BMW?) I imagine it would do just fine but as they say talk is cheap, you have to walk the walk, or in this case drive the drive to really know how the car will hold up.

The Mini-E is not for everyone, lets get that clear. A single car family with long commutes, a carpenter that needs a sheetrock or lumber rack, Soccer mom with several kids, ect. The Mini-E like all BEV’s, EREV’s, PHEV’s and ICE cars will work for a percentage of the population based on their lifestyle and circumstance and that is just fine. It’s America we have choices!

The Mini-E is just a normal car for me, doing everything I asked of the other cars mentioned above, it’s just doing it better with more fun and independence.

Cheers,
Peder

Doing Great on the Range,

2009-10-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

As you can see Mini-E #183 is about to tip over 5000 miles. Thought I would grab an iphone shot of the instrument cluster this morning.

This is about the norm for me, a 10 mile each direction commute, and then some running around to meetings, site visits, side trips on the way home. Yesterday 10/1, I drove 36.2 miles and had almost 70% charge left at the end of the day.

Plug the car in and then in the morning the range indicator is usually near the century mark. On this morning it was 103. It can fluxuate day to day from the low 90s to 110 miles depending on my driving habits :)

Half of my commute is freeway at 65mph-70mph and the rest is city.

Also of note, In the past 30 days after installing our 3kw addition to our solar system (now totaling 7.5kw grid tied system) we have generated 1120kwhs and our total energy usage for the home+ guest house, the 2007 Gem-E4 and the Mini-E was 1060kwhs. More generation than usage for a home and two cars in the garage.

Living and driving on sunshine.

It's possible, it's easy, it's incredibly fun, and its liberating to have the feeling of energy independence. My hope and efforts as a planner, is that as a country we can fiqure out a way to do this on a mass adoption scale.

Cheers
Peder

Damn! No Juice On Monday Morning.

2009-09-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

I’ll leave it up to the reader to determine if I’m stupid or if the car is stupid. Or if the Mini-E is smarter than me or if I am smarter than the Mini-E. Or if I……forget it, I already have a throbbing headache this morning.

To be honest, I’m feeling a bit stupid.

You might have already guessed what happened, and it was one heck of a party!

I got home around 11pm, a few drinks throughout the evening but not too much, mostly just dog tired from a really busy Sunday beginning at 6am and ending at 11pm with a Charger win and bad food in the middle. I got home, closed the garage door, and went to bed.

This morning at 7:30 am I discovered I had forgotten to plug in #183. Now I’m lucky because I have no early meetings today and can afford to wait an hour or so until I get enough juice for my commute (this hour gives me the time to post this) If I had had an early meeting I would have been really screwed.

So flying doctors and electric car gods,
I know you can’t do anything for my headache, but it would be really nice if you could make an ipod app that allows us drivers to check our SOC and if we are plugged in or not anytime anywhere, especially right before we go to bed! I can't imagine that I am the only stupid tired and forgetful driver out there that would love an app like this.

I have an app for my solar P.V. System that allows me to check out my systems performance and I love that app. I check it out a few times a day.

picture of app here

If I had an app for my Mini-E, life would be grand, the car would be smart, I would still be stupid, and I could double check to make sure I plugged in, or what my current SOC is.

An app for the Mini-E and an aspirin for me, time to go to work.

I want two things for Christmas, one is an ipod app for the Mini-E , The other, well, if your smart you will have no problem guessing the other.

Yours forgetfully,
#183
Peder