A Year Of Serenity

Quick Stats:
Delivered Feb 28, 2012
17,000 miles driven in a year
8 snow storms
1 Hurricane
$2,000 in fuel savings after paying for electricity when compared to gas

It has been just over a year with my BMW ActiveE that I've affectionately named 'Serenity', it just made sense, but my family still just calls her 'The ActiveE'.  I took delivery on February 28th 2012 and have enjoyed every mile, all 17,000 of them, in just a year.  This is the most I've driven any car in a year where I was not forced to.

I've got a lot of pictures throughout my blog so on this post I hope to post a few not seen before.  Here goes...

EVs are not for everyone but for the majority of us they make perfect sense.  They are perfect commuter cars and for weekend jaunts to do errands.  Most of us have a 2^nd car which fills in the gaps for long trips.  They are inexpensive to operate – about $5 to go 100 miles, cost of entry is amazingly low these days if you shop around.  The Mitsubishi i-MiEV has been as low as $75/month on a 2 year lease....amazing.  I saw a savings almost immediately when commuting, I was paying around $70 per week in my previous gas commuter but in the ActiveE is just $20 for for the same commute weekly.

Did I say they are amazingly fun cars to drive, quick, instant power and smooth as silk.  Driver fatigue is way down due to no vibration or engine and exhaust noises.  It is amazing how that makes one tired in traffic, an EV has none of those characteristics.

Other than EVs being amazing to drive you are also part of a vibrant community and this has got to be the best part.  EV drivers are passionate about their rides and the technology, they go out of their way to help other EV drivers have the best experience.  There is nothing else quite like it.  Many offer up their chargers if you are in need, they are standing by to help out....how many other car communities have members that offer up free gas (or energy)?  I've made many good friends with my EV.  I also get to join a lot of auto events and show off Serenity, I love cars so this works out great for me.  

Chilling with other EVers at Cars and Croissants - always fun

Juicing up at Nauna's.  One of the better places, I think only place, that offers chargers to EV customers. Montclair NJ

Always fun to come across another ActiveEr since their are just 700 of us around the US

A day out in Serenity is always a special event

Serenity looks good in green

One of our longer trips without a charging stop....all the way to Mitsuwa, nearly 100 miles and we made it with 9 to spare.

Many places will offer up some juice if you ask....it is a strong community

It is a family car.  I don’t mean it can haul a family, I mean it is part of the family.  Everyone feels good about it, it is fun and we feel we are doing our part to improve our environment.  My little girl tells everyone she meets all about the car, she loves it and she loves to plug it in.  By the way, being able to charge your car at home (refuel) is amazingly natural.

Having an EV is more than just a cool car….it is an entire experience.  It is a driving lifestyle but one we did not have to adapt to.  I plan on having an EV for as long as it is feasible for me, we have another car, a diesel SUV for the long trips, so we are covered.  

This past year has proven to me the technology is sound....read on and you will see why.  

  

I must have driven through 8 substantial snow storms with the ActiveE, a record year for me in just a year.  Only in one of them did I have to pull over and give up the fight, but in any rear drive car this would be a smart move, being an EV had nothing to do with it.  In fact, I've found traction to be that much better in my ActiveE because the throttle response in an EV is so accurate that I could prevent wheel spin much more easily.

I also had a 76 mile round trip commute on some of the worst roads in NJ all under construction.  Route 78 to Pulaski Skyway anyone?  Serenity never flinched.

This is what we found after returning from holding up in NYC during Sandy.  Serenity had a few dings and later our house was fixed...no one was hurt.  I like to say my house threw itself in front of Serenity to save her.  Tree-hugging to the extreme

I survived Sandy with an electric car….how ironic is that?  10 days with no power and I was still able to get to work, over 30 miles away, how is that possible?  I was able to plug in on the 110 at the homes of friends - which by the way I met some of them through having an EV.  One had power, one did not.  The one without power had a generator…and Serenity had no issues getting power that way.  There were also a couple of Commercial Level 2s available to me when I needed them.  It was surreal to be driving by long gas lines in an electric car during a power outage.   We had to drive our diesel SUV to Pennsylvania to get fuel which we parked as a backup emergency car….yes you read that correctly, I continued to use my EV as our main car during the black out because I felt more confident in finding a place to plug in than finding diesel.  I knew where I could get power and I knew there would be no car lines, it worked out just fine.

Through all of this the car has been very reliable.  My ActiveE sits outside in the elements and charging has never been an issue even with ice all over the car.  Yes, I've had my share of software glitches but this is a non-production car which has been way more reliable than my other production cars, I'm impressed.    Range anxiety comes back every now and then but still does not stop me from driving over 80 miles in one shot, I know I can make it as I've become much more confident in the abilities of EVs.

When Serenity goes back I will be looking for another EV, the i3 is on my list.  They are just that much fun to drive and make that much sense for me and my family.  Without one I'd feel a little weird.

Cars and Croissants - Dawn of the EV

I attended my 4th 'Cars and Croissants' this past weekend and so did a few more EVs.  We had some great weather today and other than the amazing cars that turned out - probably 75 cars- we had 3 ActiveEs including mine. They were joined by a Chevy Volt and a Prius plugin.  At this rate we will need our own EV section soon.

I arrived early and the ActiveE is already attracting attention 

Tom Moloughney joined us for the first time, passing 21,000 miles in the process.  Yes you read that correctly, Tom has 21,000 miles on his ActiveE already - not a drop of gas.  We were also joined by Michael and his ActiveE, his first time at Cars and Croissants too.  Mark brought his Chevy Volt and another newcomer drove up with his brand new Prius Plugin.  This was a fantastic EV turn out.

A 2nd ActiveE joined by a Chevy Volt 

As usual people came up to ask us questions.  Cars and Croissants is such a great event because the drivers and guests are all car people, they love them.  They are as interested in the exotics as they are in the EVs.  In fact, many are open to getting an EV and some were even on the list for the ActiveE.

The ActiveE is a 1 series and gets lots of compliments, stripes included, of course I show them pictures of the new i3 and more often than not at this event it gets a luke warm reaction.  I'm usually asked when will BMW build a 1 series EV they can buy....hear that BMW?

Anyway - it was great talking EV talk and cool car talk...check out the pics.

Prius Plugin -  interesting how the EVs all have their hoods up

That is a lotus in the middle - not a Tesla.  No Tesla today

Tom shows up and is immediately swamped with questions - having 3 ActiveEs surprised everyone

 A 1956 Ferrari 250 - the owner told me it took him 10 years to restore it - he did the restoration!

Another look down the row 

I'm a big muscle car fan - used to restore these back in the day 

 This is the 2nd set of cars

A real beauty and for sale

Interesting plates 

You don't see one of these everyday

Nor one of these Porsche GT3 RS 4.0 - only 600 made and 126 in the US

Looking up the line 

There was lots of American muscle today (new and old) - really great to see 

As a couple of EVs left I shifted over to bunch up

The event is winding down - it was so great to see everyone

If you are in the Northern NJ area and you drive an EV please come to the next event....you will be pleasantly surprised at how much interest there will be in your EV as well as the equally amazing cars that surround you.  Since dates and location change often, sometimes the day before, I'll post here and to the ActiveE facebook group when the next one is - but next tentative date is August 25th 8:30 to 11 at the Chatham NJ HS parking lot - they are usually every 2 weeks.

Enjoy the 'Glide'

After having the ActiveE a few days I gotta say I'm very impressed with the ride quality. I've had many cars over the years, mostly German luxury cars and some sports cars, but this ActiveE has got to be one of the best riding cars I've ever driven overall...even passengers are impressed.

This car does not just ride well, it glides. I think being an EV adds to this, after all there is no vibration or growl and whine from an engine and transmission...so what you have is a silent buttery smooth power train surrounded by a rock solid chassis that is bolted to a well tuned suspension with a cocoon like cabin sitting on top of it....you now have a vehicle that glides over the roads. Impressive to say the least.

Now when I refer to the motion of my ActiveE I say it 'glides'

Bricking an EV

Well if you have not seen or heard about the 'bricking' of Tesla roadsters I'm sure you will soon. Apparently 5 cars have had their batteries 'bricked' - as in dead, unable to charge again. This is because they were at zero and left at zero for a period of time. It seems to be affecting only Tesla and if you do your own research it may effect future Tesla's. Nissan says their LEAF will not suffer from this as they have better safeguards. But it does bring up the question as to what safeguards the ActiveE has, I never heard of a MiniE 'bricking' and I do not expect the ActiveE to either.

Tesla and Nissan have instructions on how long you can leave the battery at zero before a 'brick' incident...is there a page like this in the ActiveE manual?

I for one may park my car at the airport for an extended period of time and I would hate to have the image of a 'brick' floating around my head while I'm gone so I'll be eager to find out what BMW instructs me to do.

I do not find this a negative, just an adjustment as with any new technology. I went through similar experiences as being an early adopter of one of the new clean diesels...they could only use ULSD (ultra low sulfur diesel) and that was even more difficult to find than a free place to plug in your EV and you had the added worry of was it really ULSD or did the station owner just slap a sticker on the pump - I had my share of a 'bricked' diesel. Just need to be aware is all...I got another diesel just like I got another EV ;)

It's just a swap...right?

I've been waiting to see what being awarded a free charger from Coulomb Technologies really means...I think it means 'sit tight it's free and we are still working this out'.

After being awarded the charger emailed my contact at Coulomb a couple times asking questions about install and other details about their network...no reply. I did get an email from a home inspector, not an installer as best I can tell, and I asked him what other costs are there if any, since all I was doing was swapping out my old Clipper Creek box from my MiniE days. He did not know....I'm still waiting for the initial inspection.

The problem is my ActiveE is about to arrive and I need a charger...fortunately I have the upgrade kit for my Clipper Creek box, cost $400, and if if this free charger from Coulomb costs less with install than the Clipper Creek upgrade kit, and the Coulomb has a warranty plus free software updates it is the better deal....right...maybe. My fear is once they finally tell me there is indeed an install cost (I've read $500 or more) it will be higher than the Clipper Creek kit and I will have missed some quality drive time with my ActiveE sipping from the 110.

I'm beginning to wonder.

I've been VIN'd

Got my VIN today from my dealer which means the car if very close to being delivered. Soon I will be driving like the dude above. I can't wait to zip among nature again....the beauty of an EV is that you can actually hear nature while driving.

Just a little bit longer...

I'm hoping to receive my ActiveE near the end of February. The MiniE drivers that were in the 2nd year lease will get theirs first and that should almost be done. Then the rest of us get ours, those that signed up via the Friends and Family program and those that registered through the public reservation portal announced recently.

I'm counting the days

So how does it drive...

Amazingly actually. I was seriously impressed.

I was able to take a test drive at JMK BMW in Springfield NJ which happens to be the place I ordered my ActiveE from. Give them a call for a test drive of your own or choose them as your selected ActiveE dealer - ask for Manny

The car drove like it was cut from a single block of steel, it was solid with no flex or vibration. That is probably because the BMW engineers reinforced the front end with brackets between the shock towers which is just one of the many chassis enhancements. In addition the ActiveE, based on the BMW 1 series, has improved on its nearly 50/50 weight distribution. What you have is an improved 1 series with the bonus of being an EV...pinch me please.

It may not be as spunky as the MiniE was but it is not slow and you are in the 60s before you even know what happened. The car just glides...a real pleasure to drive and will be fantastic for longer trips where the MiniE became a bit tiresome, fun, but tiresome. The ActiveE is much more of a grand tourer (GT).

Range is supposed to be around 100 with the new EcoPro activated. Once I have the car I'll be able to see what I can get. I'm hopeful the range will be a bit more than my MiniE which gave me over 110 (when weather was good) as the ActiveE has better battery management and is more aerodynamic.

BTW - my old MiniE blog can be found here.

ActiveE brochure...eye candy

In anticipation of receiving an ActiveE I'm always on the lookout for more information and I came across this ActiveE brochure from BMWs corporate site.

It seems the brochure link has changed a few times so it may go down...I will do my best to keep pace with it...enjoy.  

Great eye candy and info...just be aware 17" rims will not be offered but everything else is pretty much there, this car is loaded with luxury goodies. I big step up from the MiniE

You could be one of the 700

The ActiveE is not just for test drivers or engineers, the public has a chance of driving one of these beauties. Only 700 will be offered.

Interested? Go to the official BMW ActiveE website and sign up...you could be driving electric...you never know.

A new EV beginning...

On 12/9/2011 I received the email I had been waiting for from BMW

My original MiniE EV blog can be found here