2009 Mini E: Charging on the Fly

Nice generator... have the exact same model at home.

Looks like that awning in the background has metal supports. Wonder if a wire to an exposed bolt or patch of exposed metal would have worked?

How many DAYS would it have taken that generator to charge the Mini-E?

Now you just have to find a way to ground the generator while you're driving, leave it in the passenger's seat, and you've almost got a Chevy Volt.

It hardly defeats the purpose more than burning coal to make the electricity.

Ya this is like a home made Volt, but fail.

Wait, what? Too much plastic? Or does it actually have to grounded to the dirt? (All the houses I've seen are grounded through the water main.) Why wouldn't Honda just have exposed metal skids on the bottom to ground the thing? Is there a ground stake or something that would have to be hooked up? Just mark me as confused as heck on this one...

@thegrocer
I think you mean BMW (I think thats right) but I think the reason they don't have anything like that is it would cut into sales the of 220v chargers at home.

@hybris
I'm pretty sure you were just making a joke but it seems you are under the impression that the MINI-E participants had to pay for the home chargers, which they don't. MINI paid for the unit and the installation completely. They even offered 2nd wall chargers for anyone that was able and wanted to install on at another location like where they work. I took them up on it and now I have one at home and one at work. This allows me to drive up to 200 miles per day which is more than sufficient. I drive a lot so this was a big bonus when the offered the second charger option. I have over 16,000 miles on my MINI-E and I've only had it for 5 1/2 months so as you can see the car is more than capable of being used as a high mileage-daily driven commuter car.
Tom
MINI-E #250
http://minie250.blogspot.com/

@tomm250

No I wasn't making a joke.

I was thinking beyond the test period when they sell this car you may have to buy separately the wall charger.
Now I can maybe see them possibly just giving you one to sweeten the deal but the useful 2nd charger will still cost an extra $1000+.

@hybris, Ok, I see your point. The thing about the home charging stations is that they really aren't even necessary. All the electronics are built into today's electric cars; whereas in the past the chargers themselves had the necessary electronics to communicate with the battery pack and charge them. The MINI-E can charge from any 220v, 40 amp plug. There are some in the program that have made their own cable/plugs so they can charge up on the road wherever there is a plug that they can use. The only thing the charging wall box does is shut off the charging if a fault is detected and it also allows you to unplug the connector with the power off so you are now unplugging "hot". That's all the wall box does. Once electric cars and plug in hybrids are more common and the demand for wall chargers increases, I'll bet you'll be able to buy one for $200.00. Tom
MINI-E #250
http://minie250.blogspot.com/

I don't understand the need for a GROUND......the generator will run anything else you plug into it. Obviously, someone smarter than me will answer this question.

@ptcdawg: Safety. The generator might output 110 V between its live and neutral lines, but the live line may not be 110 V relative to the earth. Ground ensures that the difference between the live line and the earth is 110 V--without ground, if someone were to be shocked, it could be a much nastier shock than at 110 V. To a certain extent, it's also to protect the electronics (for the same reason).

@Scott: Seen this season's episode of Top Gear where they out-G-Wiz the G-Wiz? I think you have some modding to do now. :)

To expand on mjp16. The Because the neutral may not match the earth, you could be shock by simply touching the vehicle, depending on how it's grounded. You could be come the path between what the generator thinks is "ground" and what the earth thinks is ground.

quite informative!