I had our 2009 Mini E for the night and was getting ready to leave the garage. Long day, thinking about going to the gym, meeting friends later. Threw my stuff in the passenger seat and then yanked the charging cable from the car. D'oh! Half a second after that happened I realized I was supposed to press the stop button on the charging box first. Ooops.
Fortunately no alarms went off and the car still started.
But I wondered if this could somehow damage the Mini E. There was nothing about it in the owner's manual or online. However, one of the editors seemed to think it was OK since the Mini was already at 100 percent charge. Now, if it were in the middle of a charge, that might have been a different matter.
Any Mini E leasers out there know the deal?
Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor @ 4,911 miles
nealibob says:
08:45 AM, 03/ 3/10
Maybe they should put the stop button on the end of the charging cable. I guess this is the equivalent of holding open the fuel valve while pulling it out of the car's receptacle. :)
txmatt1 says:
09:23 AM, 03/ 3/10
There will definitely be a need for all sorts of foolproof safeguards in the plugging-in of plug-in vehicles.
The charging while raining/wet has been covered.
Unplugging while charging needs to be addressed.
Can the vehicle be started while plugged in? Rolled down a driveway while plugged in? Is the plug a design that will pull free cleanly?
Someone will drive away with it plugged in, or back out another vehicle parked next to the EV and yank the plug out, or a kid will pull it out by the cord.
Lots of opportunities to circumvent the ideal process.
On a related note, it seems that in a garage, ceiling-mounted coiled or retractable cords would work well for keeping cords and plugs out of the way to avoid from being stepped on, tripped over, driven on, etc.
rick8365 says:
09:31 AM, 03/ 3/10
I can also think of a few ways to vandalize this setup - even of someone just yanks the plug on you. Imagine coming out of the house or work thinking it has been charging for hours and finding someone jerked you over?
hybris says:
10:47 AM, 03/ 3/10
@rick8365
You bring up a good point. The best solution I can think of is have a keyed quick disconnect that is locked so its not easily unhooked but it would still disconnect if a great enough force was put on the plug but still be outside of the realm of what a man can pull with.
It sounds better in my head then on a post but hopefully I have gotten my idea across.
wayno_san says:
10:57 AM, 03/ 3/10
How many pins are there on the connector? I'm sure that there is an interlock signal that opens the main contactors if the circuit is broken cutting off current to the mains before they come apart. I wouldn't worry about it.
soareyes says:
11:00 AM, 03/ 3/10
Caroline - When you push the button on the box you are just cutting the juice to the cord, which makes it safer when handling the cord. It doesn't hurt the car at all to unplug in the middle of a charge whether you have pushed the button or not. As mentioned before, the "box" is not really a charge box, it is more of a controller. All the actual charging equipment is onboard the Mini E.
soareyes says:
11:28 AM, 03/ 3/10
@txmatt1 - The Mini E can't be started while it is still plugged in. And, it has to be in park to charge so rolling away while plugged in won't be a problem. There would probably be some damage if you somehow managed to yank the plug out sideways. And I agree, a ceiling mounted retractable cord would be nice.
For those interested, a standard design for EV plugs has recently been agreed upon with the details here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1772
The Mini E does not have this style plug as it was designed before the standard was available. It is nice to know that in the future all EV's should be able to us the same charger plugs.
Stan
Mini E #059
http://web.me.com/soareyes/Stans_Mini_E/Mini_E_Blog/Mini_E_Blog.html
ptcdawg says:
01:31 PM, 03/ 3/10
I don't see a way to get around folks being idiots as far as fool proofing...cars today will start while being fueled, they can roll off, they can be driven away....
You can't fool proof a vehicle if a fools are still around.
ibthesnd says:
02:42 PM, 03/ 3/10
I would second soareyes, it is just safer to unplug after hitting the stop button. You could get shocked if certain unlikely events were to happen while unplugging without hitting stop (ie being barefoot with a crack in the cord while the internal surge protector in the box failed {or so I was told about our electric forklifts at work}).
tomm250 says:
05:30 AM, 03/ 4/10
Stan is right on about not being able to start the car if it's plugged in. Even if the car is 100% charged and has stopped charging you still cannot start it and drive away. In fact, we can't even turn on the heater with it plugged in and that was an oversight in my opinion. It would be nice to be able to pre-heat the vehicle while it's still charging off the grid. You would then have a warm cabin (and battery) when you start out on a cold day. The LEAF and other future EV will have the ability to do this which will increase cold weather range. Just another example of how this car was pushed out rather quickly to get BMW's ProjectI rolling(and to get the CARB credits). Still, for all it's shortcomings, it's a competent commuter car that's fun to drive.
Tom M #250 @ 21,800 miles
http://minie250.blogspot.com/