TWO i MiEV's in One Family!

[NeilBlanchard]

My father bought an i MiEV yesterday! My brother has been driving his for several months already - so that is two i MiEV's in our family! My dad (who is 82 years old) has been riding his e-bike, but not he will be a lot safer and warmer driving his i.

And my brother's wife has been driving her Leaf since the beginning of the year; so that is three EV's (so far!) in our family. They are getting 26 solar PV panels (6kW+) installed on their roof, so they will be *cutting* their electric bill by $25-120 per month; so they will be driving for "free"! Pretty cool, huh?

Just in case you were wondering, I am currently building a 5 seat electric car from scratch, that I'm calling CarBEN EV5. I hope that it will have a range of at least 300-400 miles - by having very low aerodynamic drag, and a battery pack that will be about 50-55kWh. My wife's next car will likely be an EV, or at least plugin hybrid.

 

[MLucas]

I was wondering how your EV project was going. I would have loved to build one, too. I just have too much going on to make that happen. Driving the i is just as good though.

Be sure to post pictures as you progress.

I'm still waiting for my solar panels, ugh - what a process.

 

[psyflyjohn]

Going electric can be addictive. I even surprised myself when I got our Miev this Spring. Now, as we approach the time to replace our remaining gasser, I'm looking forward to a plug-in hybrid.

 

[danpatgal]

Nice Neil ... I think the i is perfect for a lot of seasoned (as my 75 year old father called himself yesterday) people because of how simple the driving interface is. I can't imagine very many people of that generation, and many others who find it distracting, getting along with the computer interfaces in the LEAF, Volt, or Tesla.

I've thought about (if I were independently wealthy) getting a 2nd i Miev for me, since our first is my wife's primary car. But, I have an older EV conversion (Lectric Leopard) that runs quite fine, when I'm not riding my bicycle. So, maybe when I get tired or prices come down a bit, we'll trade it in.

Good luck on the CarBEN EV5!

Dan

 

[jray3]

Good news Neil! I hadn't looked at CarBen before- it's in intriguing concept. I'd probably prefer to ease into it with a conventional door on each side in addition to the rear entry. That would make carrying cargo more feasible. I like the look though, sort of Dymaxion Car meets the MicroBus! :mrgreen:

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Can someone tell me how to change the clock from 24 hour to 12 hour mode, please?

Second question is, does the preheat option from the remote work while using Level 1 (120V) charging? Is there a "trick" to getting the remote to working reliably?

Thanks in advance.

 

[fjpod]

We've been told the clock cannot be changed.

I too can't seem to get my remote to turn the climate control on reliably, even with 120 volts. What are we doing wrong?

 

[JoeS]

Love the way threads drift... :lol: First off, Neil, congratulations to your family for the second iMiEV, and I'm looking forward to more progress on CarBEN EV5.

Yep, we have only a 24-hour clock, which some of us love and some of us don't.

Regarding the Remote, be sure the doors to the car are shut when you activate it.

Whereas I originally badmouthed the Remote when I was randomly using either my L1 or L2 EVSEs, I've since found it to work perfectly with the Mitsu L1 EVSE, every time. On the other hand, the Remote and my SPX L2 EVSE have a love-hate relationship, with a seemingly-unpredictable outcome generating the dreaded Error message not only when trying to use the Timers but also the Climate Controls. I'm still trying to detect a pattern, because it does sometimes work properly when repeating the button-pushing right after an Error. Hopefully the upcoming Mitsu upgrade will fix this.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Thanks - I was asking for my Dad, so that's why I tacked it on to this thread.

Another question: in the manual it apparently mentions 2 weeks in relation to charging - is this the maximum (or minimum?) time between plugging it in if you are not driving it; or what is the context for this 2 week time period?

My father and his wife are loving their i MiEV so far, but they are having a tough time adapting to the new aspects of driving an electric car. Which is particularly odd, since my Dad has ridden an e-bike for years.

 

[danpatgal]

I too can't seem to get my remote to turn the climate control on reliably, even with 120 volts. What are we doing wrong?

Oddly, despite an ongoing issue with our Schneider EVSE cutting out sometimes, if the car is fully charged and still plugged in the pre-heat has worked fine for me. I just turn on the remote (press power and hold for 2 seconds), use the mode button until one of the climate words is displayed, chose with the left-right arrows until "heat" (or "AC", as you desire) is displayed and press the power button again once. After a couple seconds delay, the remote makes a happy tone and I hear in the garage the contactors on the EVSE click. It gets quite toasty (too toasty sometimes) in about 10 minutes.

Dan

 

[JoeS]

Another question: in the manual it apparently mentions 2 weeks in relation to charging - is this the maximum (or minimum?) time between plugging it in if you are not driving it; or what is the context for this 2 week time period?

After owning the iMiEV for a few months, it probably behooves all of us to read the manual again. Your question intrigued me as I didn't recall the 'two-week' statement, but I dug it up in our Owner's Manual on Page 1-5:

To help maintain the capacity of the main drive lithium-ion battery, the following are recommended:
• Fully charge the vehicle by regular charging every 2 weeks
• Do not repeat charging when the main drive lithium-ion battery is at or near full charge

This has been complemented by a letter sent out from Mitsubishi in February 2012 relating to SOC calibration. whereby they ask us in the first year to draw down the battery to two bars and fully charge the car and then repeat this process every two years. Here's the full letter, posted by Wee John: http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1031#p1031

As a practical matter, our own charging regimen is to bring the iMiEV up to around 12-13 bars every night using L1 and then, if we have a longer trip, bring her up to full charge just before leaving. Since this happens every few weeks, we're complying with the Manual's Note.

More importantly for the traction battery health, if the vehicle is to be left unattended for a few weeks, the current wisdom is that it should be left at around 35% SOC (5-6 bars) and should never be left at 100% charge (16 bars), especially in hot weather. Like I said before, I wish Mitsubishi would put out a white paper on the care and feeding of our batteries.

My father and his wife are loving their i MiEV so far, but they are having a tough time adapting to the new aspects of driving an electric car. Which is particularly odd, since my Dad has ridden an e-bike for years.

Presumably this deals with range - they will very soon get comfortable with the RR and how it relates to their own driving habits. If they don't have a GPS already you might give them an inexpensive one for Christmas (e.g., an older refurbished Garmin Nuvi with Instrument display for <$100 http://www.katiekat.net/Vehicles/Mitsi/MitsiGPSHorn.jpg) so they can easily see their typical trip mileages as well as program in their destination distances. Just make sure their EVSE is located close to the aft starboard inlet so they have a very short charging cord - saves time and makes charging super-effortless.

 

[MLucas]

The L1 that comes with the car should work reliably with the remote.

Step 1: Turn on the remote by pressing the top button on the right hand side. Hold until the 'success' charm sounds.

Step 2: Press the mode button to the desired setting. The mode button is the second button on the right hand side. The first page shown is the Charge Start page, set the time that you want the charge to start. Pressing the mode button a will take you to the Charge End page. Pressing the mode button a second time will take you to the PreHeat/PreCool page.

Step 3. Use the left right buttons on the front of the remote located below the display. OFF, DeFrost, Heat, AC are the options you see as you rotate through the display. When you find the desired setting, press/release the top right button. Do not hold this button, just press and release.

That is all there is to it. I made this video showing me running through the steps. I was having a friend help me with their iPhone, its not great quality but you can see what I'm doing and the display changing. My car is in the parking structure located behind my building on the same floor as my office. Its quite the stretch but it does work, yet I need to hold the remote sideways to line up the antennas.

http://www.facebook.com/v/519670024710482

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Thanks folks - I got the remote to work with only a little head scratching and reading the manual on this.

The charge got up to 15/16ths and then my Dad and I went for a drive, so both he and I could get a better feel for the range when the heat and fan etc. We drove 15 miles; half each. We started with the range estimate reading 41 miles, it dropped to 37 fairly quickly, but then by the time we got home - it was still 37 miles. We drove mostly in Eco mode (with a couple of coasts in neutral by me) and the fan on medium-high and the heat on low-medium. It was raining just above freezing, so the side windows were slow to clear.

My Dad plugged it in when we got back, though that session was very short-lived. He and his wife drove it to a friends house - another ~16 mile trip, and the battery dropped to about 5 bars. So, they probably turned up the heat and/or used it in D. And it was plugged in again and charging when I checked back there this afternoon.

We'll get them a Level 2 charger, soon!

Edit: I think that during the winter (in cold climes, anyway) that charging it full is probably very necessary since the range is 35-45 miles if you have to use the heat very much at all. I also will price an electric vest (or two) with thermostats, for my Dad and his wife, maybe for Christmas?

I loved driving it, by the way. I'm a major EV booster who has very limited time behind the wheel of one - I've driven the Leaf a couple of times and an i MiEV a couple of times.

 

[Don]

Neil,

Unless they regularly drive it more than 50 or 60 miles in any given day, they may not really need a Level 2 EVSE. I would advise logging usage/charge times for a period of time before running out and spending big bucks to shorten charging times

If and when they should decide the 8 amp OEM EVSE isn't up to the task, a $325 upgrade to it may be all they would ever need. Using it at 12 amps on L1 would shorten charge times by 1/3rd and plugging it into 240 would reduce them to just 1/3rd of normal - 7 hours for a full charge as opposed to the 21 hours they have now

After almost 8 months of use, we find we use L1 (but at 12 amps) at least 90% of the time and we only resort to our L2 charger when we have two long trips to make in the same day

Don

 

[BillThompsonMIEV]

Neil:

I second Don's comments. Keep a log of daily miles driven. When I bought my i-MiEV in July 2012, I thought I would need a Level 2. The reality is the the Level 1 OEM with the car works for me. I do my charging at night when I am sleeping. Why spend the $ if it is not needed?

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Thanks again folks - I did not know about the 12A EVSE. And my brother will probably be installing the Level 2 unit - their electrical panel is right in the garage and they have space for 2 breakers. The cost is ~$750-900 for either 15A or 30A units, so the costs are not that different.

 

[MLucas]

Neil - here's another tip on the heating controls. Leave the middle dial, the fan speed on AUTO and the bottom one, the vent direction on AUTO unless you need to defrost or want more heat in the cabin. The bottom one will generally pour heat out of the floor vents when left on AUTO. The middle one on AUTO I found is most important. Watch your RR meter as you place both controls into the AUTO position while the temperature knob (the top one) is in the red. You will see the RR gauge will give you some mileage back.

To adjust the system with both knobs on AUTO, just use the top knob. The more heat you demand, the faster the fan will spin. I generally use only one or two notches on the top knob and get pretty good mileage out of that and stay very comfortable at around 0C/32F.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Thanks - I'll pass this along! Question: how does it "know" to put heat on the windshield? Do the Auto settings ever bring on the A/C, or does the Defroster use the A/C?

 

[MLucas]

There is a sensor on the right side of the climate control stack, parallel to the second knob. But, it doesn't know when to defrost or heat the cabin or your feet - that part is up to you. The heat function puts the air flow at your feet and the cooling or blue zone puts it at the center (cabin) vents. That is why I say the bottom knob you have to change it from AUTO to your desired setting based on the current situation in the cabin. Just leave the middle knob on AUTO and you'll be fine.

 

[Don]

Thanks again folks - I did not know about the 12A EVSE. And my brother will probably be installing the Level 2 unit - their electrical panel is right in the garage and they have space for 2 breakers. The cost is ~$750-900 for either 15A or 30A units, so the costs are not that different.

The car will never draw more than about 14 amps. A dedicated 240 outlet powering an upgraded OEM EVSE would be about half of your $750 and it will get you about 90% of what either of your other options would get you

Don