considering a imiev

[mentaluproar]

I live in northeast Ohio and commute about 40 miles a day, mostly freeway. I was planning on getting a Volt or a Leaf this fall, but considering my partner's car is in even worse shape than mine, I am considering getting a cheaper car and replacing his at the same time.

Enter the imiev. I drive a Toyota Echo, and the imiev is barebones even by that standard. Still, it is adorable, fun, and feels right to me. The landlord is allowing us to put in a 240v EVSE in and reserve a space, but this is still going to be outdoors all year round, exposed to the cold.

So we are considering getting a pair of mievs from a local dealer that has plenty of them for very cheap. But they will be parked outside in the cold each winter, subject to 40 miles of freeway travel, with the only compromise willing to be made being following the speed limit.

Can a pair of miev's handle 40 miles of ohio winter comfortably without modifying the heater or freezing?

 

[fjpod]

I'll say, probably not. If you need to use a lot of heat, de-icing, 40 miles is your upper limit. How about getting stuck in a traffic jam with the heart runninng? You would need to charge at work.

Also, with no ice vehicle, you would be limited to short trips. I would strongly suggest having at least one vehicle with an ice.

 

[mentaluproar]

That's what I was worried about. Thanks.

 

[PV1]

Is the 40 miles roundtrip or one way?

I live south of Pittsburgh, PA, and the absolute worst range I've had was 40 miles. It was -10 F with the heat on max. What speeds would you most likely be traveling on the highway? If you can keep it at 55-60 mph and preferably staying behind a pickup truck, that still sounds doable. When moving at 60 mph with a group of cars on the highway, I've gotten better range than on my own at 45 mph. Drafting has a huge impact in this car.

I would say if these are your only two cars, make sure that they have the quick charge port (look for a black lever on the floor by the drivers seat). If either of you have the need to travel further, then I would say to get both an i-MiEV and a Volt. I'm pretty sure I know which dealer you're talking about, and thy have quite a collection of both vehicles.

 

[tigger19687]

You should probably keep one of the ice cars and just one i. charge at work would be your best bet.
Also you might want to take some time to read all of the posts on this site (there really are a bunch on your subject).

most of your answers will be in other posts.

 

[jray3]

Happy to see another driver wanting to to all-electric, and a 40 mile winter round trip should be no problem, but two EVs sharing one EVSE in a space that you do not own could become a hassle. Making the second car a plug-in hybrid is a good compromise, and it cuts down on how often your partner will steal your MiEV!
Future-proofing the charging stall(s) with a 50 amp 240V circuit would allow one to use a smart two-headed 40 amp EVSE or use two plug-connected 16 amp EVSE.

 

[mentaluproar]

The 40 miles would be the round trip. While the shared charger would not be ideal, it would be financially practical. Additionally, with so many Mievs on this lot, and not a single one moving, I'd imagine if I offered to take two, they would give me a good deal.

I am still liking the volt more (mostly. damn visibility) but if this worked, we could kill two birds with one stone.

 

[JoeS]

mentaluproar, have you done an analysis of your non-commute driving needs? In our case, CHAdeMO has filled the need for the occasional medium-range vehicle here in the San Francisco Bay Area. What is left are the really long-distance drives - could a rental vehicle or borrowing an ICE vehicle (in exchange for the use of the i-MiEV) satisfy that need? Sharing your charging station works well IF you remember to do it in a timely fashion. Also, if you are looking at bargain i-MiEVs, be sure that the Remote is included in addition to the portable EVSE.

 

[mentaluproar]

DC fast charging is difficult to find up here, and I'm going to operate under the assumption it will never arrive. 50 miles will likely be the round-trip extent of non-commuting. The miev is looking less and less practical for me.

 

[PV1]

From Akron, up through Cuyahoga Falls to Cleveland and along the Lake Erie shore, there are a lot of level 2 charging stations, and it is nice and flat up that way. There are only two (1 coming soon and 1 online) quick chargers anywhere in the area. One is in Boardman, Ohio and the other is coming to a Nissan dealer in Medina.

I felt the same way you did about quick charging. I was really surprised to open Plugshare one day and find almost a dozen orange pins. Now, I can travel to Cuyahoga Falls in a couple of hours in the i-MiEV. Before, it'd take 12 hours or more.

 

[JoeS]

...50 miles will likely be the round-trip extent of non-commuting. The miev is looking less and less practical for me.

It's a pity we don't live closer, as I would loan you an i-MiEV for a week so you could see for yourself how well this car would meet both your commuting and non-commuting needs. May I suggest that you at least buy one used i-MiEV, as not only will the initial purchase price be low but the recurring cost will be significantly lower than your Toyota. If you're like many of us, you and your partner would soon be negotiating as to who gets to drive it.

It's nice that your landlord is accommodating with respect to the EVSE, and you do realize that in winter with the Remote about 20-minutes before you leave the house you turn on the car's heater and defroster so that by the time you're ready to go the car is wonderfully pre-heated, all while drawing power from the EVSE and not the battery. Same goes for pre-cooling the car in summer.

 

[mentaluproar]

From Akron, up through Cuyahoga Falls to Cleveland and along the Lake Erie shore, there are a lot of level 2 charging stations, and it is nice and flat up that way. There are only two (1 coming soon and 1 online) quick chargers anywhere in the area. One is in Boardman, Ohio and the other is coming to a Nissan dealer in Medina.

I felt the same way you did about quick charging. I was really surprised to open Plugshare one day and find almost a dozen orange pins. Now, I can travel to Cuyahoga Falls in a couple of hours in the i-MiEV. Before, it'd take 12 hours or more.

I'm in Akron, looking to commute to canton and kent, mostly via freeway. He's heading to canton too. How would that journey work for you?

 

[mentaluproar]

Tomorrow I'm heading to Lambert to test drive a Miev on the highway to and from my college campus, my typical commute. I'm reasonably sure it will make it, but I want to see how much power is remaining and how well it handles. I'll post the before and after readings on here to get an estimate from you guys on how well winter will treat it.

Have any of you seen this range estimator? Is it accurate?
http://www.jurassictest.ch/GR/

 

[sandange]

If you want the best of both worlds - you might consider the i Miev and adding a Diesel heater for those few times you need the heat or to extend your range in extreme cold weather . several members her have gone this route with great response.

 

[kiev]

The biggest factor in range is speed--try to keep up with traffic and you will burn alot of energy; slow down and your range goes up.

The other day i drove 66 miles on a full charge and still had 3 bars and 12 miles RR left, so i could likely have gone 78 miles. How? easy starts, stayed off the brakes, drove 5 mph under posted, tried to keep the red needle at or below the 'c' in eco, etc. 2012 with 20k miles.

The 'c' in Eco is at about the 25 Amp current level, which for these 50 A-Hr cells means you could go about 2 hours at that level. If you are going 40 at the c, then ~80 miles in two hours.

i'll speed up to posted (e.g. 45) if someone comes up behind, but they usually still ride my tail. To most folks the speed limit is posted +10 or more it seems...

 

[tigger19687]

, drove 5 mph under posted.

Sure hope that was on a 4 lane road.
On a 2 lane road here, that would not be wise unless you wanted people to honk at you and drive up your butt
:lol:

 

[mentaluproar]

Remember how I said I was happy with Lambert? They changed that today. Basically, I was not allowed to test drive the car.

First, I set an appointment to drive an electric car to and from Canton, to verify its range will work for me. I arrive and the battery is dead, because in spite of my appointment, they let another customer drive it out and drain it. I set another appointment for Monday morning.

Second, I arrive today, and the salesman never shows up. Another salesman searches for the car, eventually finds it, charged and ready to go. That took a half hour. Then they cannot access my ID and insurance information in their system because another salesman has it. That's fine. We go scan my information in again.

Third, I was not permitted to drive the car. This isn't because I didn't have the right insurance or I had points on my license or anything, nor was I rude about any of this. I was actually quite patient and civil. I was told my test drive "was contingent on me buying the car." I took it out for a test drive before, once around the block, but I cannot do it again unless I will buy the car.

Why? I drove it around the block, not the freeway. And how is it a test drive if I own the car? Did you really think I was going to buy it the same day? That's insane! I am not making a car purchase that quickly.

Forth, they don't know **** about their cars. I'm told it will charge with a regular outlet and quickly. 110 volts at 8 amps charges a dead battery in 22 hours. 220 at 16 amps charges overnight, but it doesn't even come with that. I was ready for this. The car is also NOT rated for 70 miles. It's 65 under ideal conditions. Speeds above 50, using air conditioning or heat will eat that up. This is acceptable if it will still get what I need, which it should. It has the worst aerodynamic profile of any modern electric, regardless of what you think. Just telling me "It will get 70" does not replace a driving test.

I know car dealers are shady, but I will not be treated like ****. The entire time, I was getting scowls and glares, but I hadn't raised my voice or anything. I felt like they were scolding me.

I'm really rethinking buying another car. Almost all dealers treat me like crap, and I think it's because I look so young, but this was by far the worst experience.

 

[PV1]

Wow. Mind if I ask which salesmen you dealt with? They seemed friendly and (somewhat) knowledgeable when I was looking at a black i-MiEV they had last fall.

I had a similar experience at a Nissan dealer. I requested a test drive and got it, then went back several months later to ask about info on the newer model LEAF (this was before buying the i-MiEV 2 years ago). On the second visit, I had a different salesman, who offered me a test drive. I said sure. The first salesmen I talked to started freaking out because I "can't keep coming in and driving the car without buying it." We went on a test drive anyway .

The first dealer I went to for the i-MiEV let me take a short drive, then a few months later when I was ready to buy (kind of back and forth between the LEAF and i-MiEV), I asked about taking a longer drive to verify its capabilities. They wanted me to fill out a credit app just to do a longer test drive. Well, less than a year out of high school, I didn't have any credit. After that is when I found Bear at a different dealer in Morgantown. That was an excellent salesman there. Too bad he isn't at that dealer anymore.

Excuse us young folks for doing our homework :roll: . My parents test drove nearly a dozen cars from the Chevy dealer before buying a car, same salesman all the way through. Patience (and courtesy) pays off.

 

[mentaluproar]

Even if I traded in my Echo, in its current condition, at a loss compared to personal sale, I would easily get the car. They basically said "your money is no good here."

I was working with the impatient but otherwise very pleasant Mike Casto before. I liked the guy. He wasn't thrilled I was doing all my homework, and wouldn't let him do a credit run on me until I had my bank preapprove first, nor that I was not making the purchase until August, but he was still very pleasant. He wasn't in today.

Instead, I got some guy with "I served in Iraq" stickers on his laptop. Crotchety and cranky from the get go, he and some guy at the center desk, where they do the scanning in of the IDs and stuff, were actually mocking me. "He doesn't even have an outlet put in! It only takes a regular outlet." etc. I don't have their names, but it was clear they didn't want me there.

They were in a good position to do a test drive. They had the inventory, were near where I live, and I could get a good range test driving under identical circumstances to how I normally drive. The other mievs were too far away for such a test. Vandevere is close-ish, but in the middle of my route, and they put in big bold print that GOD is part of their corporate values. Yes, there is a Jesus brand car lot.

Marhoffer is close and sells Leafs, but the used one in no longer listed. My Echo came from them anyways and they lied about every damn thing on that car. Still, that was several years ago.

I'm running out of options here. I can't find a dealer that won't treat me like crap (Lambert), put me in a car that feels like it will kill me on the freeway (I'm looking at you, Sunnyside, and your severely damaged Volt), neglects their cars (North Coast), or uses God as a brand (Vandevere, that really cheapens a faith system that is very important to some people.) This has become a horrid experience.

 

[tigger19687]

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/2012/Mitsubishi/i/Cuyahoga+Falls+OH-44221?endYear=2012&makeCode1=MIT&mmt=[MIT[MITI[]][]]&modelCode1=MITI&numRecords=100&searchRadius=0&showcaseListingId=0&showcaseOwnerId=68702865&sortBy=distanceASC&startYear=2012&Log=0

Check this out for 'i' around that area. Lamberts price is starting to come down. But there are others in that area.