Hello from northern New Mexico: i on order for May delivery

Hello All

We live in Taos, New Mexico, and have confirmed with our Mitsubishi dealer in Albuquerque that our i should be delivered mid-May. We're excited! Just had the Eaton Level 2 charger installed in the garage this week.

My partner and I are old hands with EVs, with over 50,000 miles driven on three different cars. While living in California, in 1995 I was a marketing research test subject for GM and drove the "Impact" for two weeks (it later was introduced as the EV1). From 1998 to 2003, I leased a Honda EV+ and sold my gasoline car. It might have been my green one that was shredded in that scene in "Who Killed The Electric Car?" We moved to a small community in northern Michigan and in 2007 we purchased a Zenn LSV which we sold in 2011. Now we're in Taos, and the i will be a perfect car for our around town errands and local outings with our big dog.

The small community where we lived in Michigan had 13 LSVs zipping around. We built a free local public charging network there that had nine locations for free EV charging. We're hoping our new Taos community will embrace public charging too.

Looking forward to reading what other i owners have to say about their experiences here!

Hi TaosEV - welcome to the Forum! Wow - you got to drive the Impact and I'm sure it hurt to give back the Honda EV+.

I think you'll find the iMiEV eminently suitable for your everyday needs and its range and speed and peppiness and interior space will be quite a contrast with the Zenn, without the opulence of a Leaf. Methinks you'll like it!

Hello TaosEV, I live in Placitas NM (just north of Albuquerque) and have also ordered a iMiev. Mine from Marks Mitsubishi. I'm am scheduled for a home inspection next week and was just wondering who you had do your installation of the eaton charger and what the cost was. I still haven't confirmed with the Dealer as they don't seem to have a firm understanding of the entire process. I still have know idea when mine will be built or delivered. So sorry about your green EV1. I bet you wish that you had never returned it. Who knew?

Hey Bradley!

Our dealer is Marks too; the confusion over the confirmed/not confirmed thing was explained to me by a Mitsubishi Motor Sales rep ... Marks just completed its "i" certification last week. So now your order (and ours) should show up on the website as confirmed, and then in process. I confirmed with the MMSA rep that our car has been shipped from Japan already.

We tried to get a home inspection done by AeroVironment (no one trained in New Mexico to do the work), and Geek Squad ("I'll have my supervisor call you back." ... 3 times). Worthless! The main panel for our home is in our garage, so I knew from past EV experience that it would be a no-brainer to hook up a 240v line to a charger. I ordered the Eaton charger direct from Eaton's website, and enlisted a local electrician (All Current Electric) to do the hookup. It took around two hours and cost less than $200. The actual electrical work is really trivial; the Eaton installation manual is really thorough.

If your main panel, or a 100 amp sub-panel is in your garage, you likely don't need the free site survey. If you have to run a line a long distance, through walls, overhead, have an overcrowded panel, only 100 amp service to your home, etc, the site survey may be worth it.

If you haven't bought your Eaton 'charger' yet, be advised that you do have other options

Charger in quotes above because the charger is actually in the car - Whatever cord you use to plug in the car is just a 'smart cable' which tells the onboard charger what to do

The supplied 120 volt cord that comes with the car is factory preset to charge at only 8 amps. That same cord can be modified to charge on 120 volts at 13 amps and on 240 volts at 13 amps by having it modified for less than $400

Details here http://evseupgrade.com/

Then all you need is two plugs in your garage - One for 120 volts and a second one for 240 volts. That way, you can choose which method you want/need for each charge. Keep in mind that the slower you recharge the battery pack, the better . . . . it will last longer if you use the 120 volt setup whenever you're not in a hurry

Another advantage to modifying your existing charger vs buying the expensive Eaton unit is the ability to be able to opportunity charge at either 120 or 240 where available . . . . you can carry your modified factory cable with you vs the Eaton which is stuck hanging on the wall in your garage

Don

Yes, I know the charger is in the vehicle. What's mounted on the wall (or what you carry in your trunk) is just a regulated power supply.

I do like the idea of being able to carry a modified EVSE with me on the chance I'd find 240 somewhere near where I can park.

Progress report on our car: it's at the dealer and waiting for me to sign all the paperwork on Tuesday. We'll have the car loaded on a flatbed and trucked up to Taos on Wednesday morning.

I just returned from a trip to Detroit where I finally got to drive the i at Art Moran Mitsubishi in Southfield. I'm impressed ... it'll fit our needs to a T. According to the Detroit dealer, the car's not attracting much interest in Voltland.