The family and I just took a week off and went to Ocean City MD camping for a week. MINI E 249 spent the week unplugged ,but fully charged ,in the garage. Got in her this am and what do you know ? A full charge. Nice to know the charge doesn't fade too fast if the car is sitting for a while.
When Stu came by I took a few pictures with my wife's cell camera and finally loaded them into my computer . It is something to see two MINI Es together but,away from the dealership.

Finally,I received the welcome email from MINI inviting me to their MINI E website. I went and commented ,but the character limit was too short for my ramblings and I had to cut it short. The funny thing about it is that they were welcoming me as if I had just picked the car up when in fact ,I have been driving it for two months and have put over 2000 mile on it.
So ,Wednesday of this week (8/19/09) I got a surprise when I started the car....100% charge! This is something that I never see ,even though I plug her in every night. For example ,this morning when I got her going charge was at 89% after being plugged in all night. Still the range showing on the gauge was 88 miles ,it really is not a problem unless I plan on a longer trip.
When I got to work 13.2 miles the battery meter was at 50%,go figure,but I am sure it will bounce back up as it sits for the day.
I keep wondering if any pioneer has run out of charge and totally depleted their batteries....

I was driving the MINI E east on Sound Ave in the middle of no where yesterday morning and coming in the other direction was a Tesla Roadster! The whole thing lasted 2 seconds ,I wonder if the other driver realized the MINI was electric also?
249 turned 2000miles yesterday as well!

Well the weather has been nice,the MINI performing better all the time,yet I am torn because up to now ,I have felt an obligation to drive the car ,but I do have a motorcycle ,which is just begging to be ridden. Today I threw caution to the wind and let my knees in the breeze and rode my bike. Perhaps I can trade days with the car and bike ,maybe every other day,but then I will eventually have to buy gas for the bike,which since getting #249 hasn't seen an empty tank. On a regular year I put between 5000 to 8500 miles on the Harley. So far ,not even close thanks to the new member of the family (249) which has been getting much more attention,and miles.
Well ,I broke down and ordered custom plates for the car ,I got the registration yesterday which means the plates can't be to far behind. Oh, if your wondering they say "NOGASCAR" ,I hope it does give her the attention she deserves. I also ordered chrome letters to stick on the back "ELECTRIC " is what they spell ,we will have to be very careful installing them so they will really let folks know what they are behind.

Here I am left wondering again. This morning I went out tto the garage and unplugged #249 ,started her up and the battery meter went to 99% . Alright ,maybe if I plugged her in for a little longer it might make up that last 1% of charge. Plugged her in and the yellow light flashed ,the fan started to blow and it seemed to be charging more. Came out about half an hour later and everything had stopped. Fine I thought it got that last bit in and it will be at 100%. Wrong . The meter now went to 74% but as it sat the meter went up to 84% before starting to fall again. Now at work and with 13.2 mile driven the meter is at 74%. Maybe it will come back up while sitting.The car doesn't have too far to go so I'm not worried about range,just why is a full charge so elusive.

I was walking out of the garage and noticed something strange, so I took a picture of it . Can you see why I took the picture?

Well,I had a nice visit yesterday from Stu ,who has #277 . He came by my restaurant and we had a great time,he had one of our burgers with bacon and Swiss cheese,nuf said about that I am getting hungry..
My wife Christina took 249 to work yesterday.Christina made a few stops on the way to work at 11 am . The car was parked for almost 12 hours. She called me on her way home that power was lacking and both battery lights were on. She said the car wouldn't go more than 40 mph
and she had pulled over . When she got home the batteries were at 61%. Christina said she had people pull over and ask if she needed help. When she got home at 11:30 pm ,I took 249 out for a ride and failed to experience what she said happened. Battery temp was 97degrees . I drove to work this am and failed to repeat what she claimed to happen. Has anyone had the same experience ? She is pissed at me for not believing her story that this event happened.If it has happened to you ,please let me know,please.For one I have not had this ever happen , I really need to know what happened.