Refused to start on cold morning

[TXCharlie]

Hi,

My wife told me (3 days later) that our new MiEV refused to start on one of our rare sub-freezing mornings. She said the key fob said the main battery was fully charged (we always leave the charger plugged in).

I've read here and in the manual that a low 12V battery would cause that, but she said the dome light seemed normal brightness. It appears to be fine now, even though this morning is sub-freezing too.

Has anyone else experienced a mystery no-start situation like that? It looks like the headlights turn off automatically when you turn the car off, so I wonder if perhaps she left the heater on the night before? I wonder if it keeps running after the car is off, but I doubt it. She didn't pre-heat the car with the key fob, either.

Hmmmm.....

 

[sandange]

Did she by chance try to start it while it was plugged in?

 

[TXCharlie]

Ha! - you might have something there!
I'll ask her tonight!.

 

[MLucas]

Did she by chance try to start it while it was plugged in?

Been there, done that.

It would have to be really, really cold for the car to shut down and not start.

 

[FiddlerJohn]

Did she by chance try to start it while it was plugged in?

When I turn the key to START and quickly put the transmission in DRIVE, the READY will not come on. Going back to PARK and turn in the key again is not enough. I need to PARK, key OFF, START wait one second for READY before DRIVE.

This is one clear advantage of the iMiEV. It takes only a second to READY and drive away.

 

[TXCharlie]

Thanks for both of your pointers - I'm sure both will happen to me eventually!

I emailed her, and she said it was so cold, she thinks she just jumped in the car to turn the heat on, and doesn't remember unplugging it first!

That's much better than driving away and destroying a $600 charger, for sure!

Which reminds me... Quite a few years ago before they had break-away valves on hoses at the local gas station, some lady drove away before her car was filled up, and burned the whole station down - so gas cars should probably have a safety device like that too!