My Brother Bought an I-Miev!

[ed5000]

My brother called me out of the blue last weekend saying he was buying an I-Miev and was naturally asking all sorts of questions. He found a black 2012 ES online with 7000 miles on it with steel wheels but no fog lights, basically a base model but he did say it has the remote. He's not even sure if it has quick charge. He said he'll find out when they deliver it next Saturday.

What happened is my brother came to California last summer for vacation at my parent's house from North Carolina and I drove over to visit a for a few days in my I-Miev, of course. We drove all over Marin County, to the top of Mount Tamalpais, Stinson Beach, restaurants, etc. and of course I told him it was my favorite car but I never tried to sell him on one. This is a great surprise to me but I'll find out more this Saturday.

 

[Don]

Congrats to him!! - 'Lead him' over here to the forum

All ES models came with steel wheels and none of them with fog lights. A few of them came with DCQC, but most of them did not. Yes, the ES was the base model

Sounds like a nice low mileage car! I'm sure he'll love it, since he already knows what to expect by running all over town in yours

Don

 

[ed5000]

Well, his car came! They called him and brought it out to him Friday afternoon at work. He said other that a few scuffs and scratches (as they pointed out online) it was in very good condition. He was very happy to see that the car came with a quick charge port. Something he wasn't sure it had. He was able to level one charge for about an hour at work then called me to ask if he could make it home (15 miles) on 4 bars remaining. I mentioned eco mode, freeway vs. city driving and the 4 miles per bar estimate and he gave it a try, arriving home with one bar blinking. Not bad for a new electric car driver. To help him out I shipped him my spare level 2 charger.

 

[jobrett7]

Congrats to him. If the scratches are not deep, they can be easily removed.

 

[ed5000]

Congrats to him. If the scratches are not deep, they can be easily removed.

I get the feeling the scratches were not too bad. I know he has been driving all over in it including in the snow last week where he said it drove just fine.

 

[blackheart]

sounds like the same options I got my 2012 ES last March. Mine had 1700 miles on it. Now it has nearly 13k. No issues - NONE. Quick charger is a life saver if you are going out of town, or trying to do to many miles in our damp/colder NW winters (keeping the windows defogged just seems to eat my battery).
I met a gal just the other month who bought another 2012 black ES, but with no QC option. She loved it b/c she NEVER left town and had a 3 mile commute to work.
Congrats to your brother!!!

 

[ed5000]

sounds like the same options I got my 2012 ES last March. Mine had 1700 miles on it. Now it has nearly 13k. No issues - NONE. Quick charger is a life saver if you are going out of town, or trying to do to many miles in our damp/colder NW winters (keeping the windows defogged just seems to eat my battery).
I met a gal just the other month who bought another 2012 black ES, but with no QC option. She loved it b/c she NEVER left town and had a 3 mile commute to work.
Congrats to your brother!!!

Thanks, Blackheart. That's right, you have a black i-miev too. My brother took his in to a regular Mitsu dealer for the airbag recall and the mechanic was "excited" to work on his. I guess they don't see I-mievs too often. :lol:

 

[blackheart]

My mitsu dealer is supposed to have a tech who 'recently when to training' and they were excited about working on local EV's. But when I started talking to him about battery health and balance charging - I got a 'deer in the headlight' look....
Still, I am coming up on 13k. At 15k I may bring it in for them to poke around, unless EvBatMon tells me different....

Good luck with your brother's step over the line away from gas!!

 

[jray3]

Isn't that just like a dealer, to deliver the car on a Friday afternoon with 1/4 charge..... :roll:
Glad your brother is not easily discouraged!

Blackheart, you mentioned what a battery killer the defrost is. I'm learning new techniques while driving the '83 lead-acid RX-7 conversion; JRAY's Golden Arrow, as commuting on 12 kWh of not-quite-dead lead is EVen more adventurous than an i-MiEV. By turning the defrost fan on low with outside air the moment I begin driving, I can prevent the windscreen from fogging, even on our cold and damp mornings. If the fogging begins, heat is required to clear it. So once again, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

[blackheart]

Isn't that just like a dealer, to deliver the car on a Friday afternoon with 1/4 charge..... :roll:
Glad your brother is not easily discouraged!

Blackheart, you mentioned what a battery killer the defrost is. I'm learning new techniques while driving the '83 lead-acid RX-7 conversion; JRAY's Golden Arrow, as commuting on 12 kWh of not-quite-dead lead is EVen more adventurous than an i-MiEV. By turning the defrost fan on low with outside air the moment I begin driving, I can prevent the windscreen from fogging, even on our cold and damp mornings. If the fogging begins, heat is required to clear it. So once again, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

yes, I am often discouraged at my 'need for heat' during this "mild" winter of ours. Not sure how I would handle it as our friends up back east and up around the lakes do daily. I either keep the fan on low with no heat most of the time. On exceptionally mild days, I shut the fan off and just let the natural air flow take it away. But I have been pampered by the excessive waste of my ICE for so long. Being able to use a thimble of the enormous amount of excess heat the dino-block would make, kept me always warm and toasty. I never knew how much energy my comfort cost until I tried to do a 36 mile round trip commute at 30°!!!!!

I have my additional battery holder for my 11aH 48v battery to give me approx 475-500 watts of additionally heated range. I still have to purchase a 48V element and a thermostat to control it... But that is another lively topic thread already underway.

ed5000, what is his infrastructure like where he is at?

 

[ed5000]

ed5000, what is his infrastructure like where he is at?

My brother is across the country from us in central North Carolina. Right now they're having pretty good weather so he's not dealing much in the way of snow. Last week they got hit by the big snow storm on the East coast so he got to test out his i-miev's snow driving abilities there.

As far as electric car amenities I checked Plug Share and there are only 4 public charge sites in his city. Two are at new car dealerships and the other two are in parking garages. There's even a quick charger at a Nissan dealer there. After that, there is one evse 30 miles away and the rest are beyond 60. Kind of land locks him there with a 63 mile car. He does have a Mitsubishi dealer in town but even though they're not set up for i-mievs, they seem to like working on his. Last week they took care of his airbag recall.

As far as his commute, he drives 15 easy miles each way on little 2 lane highways with few stop signs or traffic lights and terrain that is flat as a pancake. He said when he gets to work, he's only down one bar after a full charge. :shock: Me, on my mountainous California super freeways, I'm down 4 bars easy :lol: .

 

[blackheart]

On my 36 mile round trip commute, I have never hit more than 5 bars one way. That's using the heater and driving like I don't care. If I squeeze it in the warmer weather, it is about 3.8 bars (KW) to work and about 4.2 on the way home (home is higher than work).
Wished I had this little car when I was in KY. Of course there is NO infrastructure where I was (Central KY). But the most beautifully smooth, back country, winding roads ever!!