They picked me!
MINI is field testing their new all-electric vehicle, the MINI E. They accepted applications in late 2008 looking for test subjects. On a lark, I applied. On March 16, 2009, I was notified that I was chosen as one of the 500 US drivers who will have one year to play with... er... test the MINI E. This is a record of my experiences.
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It Was Bound To Happen Sometime
Posted on August 26th, 2009 3 commentsI’ve heard about it so it wasn’t a total surprise but it still made me panic. I was stopped at a red light on a slight hill and when I went to go… Oops! All I could do was roll backward. NOPETROL shifted into neutral all by her lonesome. With a truck close on my tail I started working fast.
First, I hit the Off button. Then I tried to turn the car back on and realized I was still in Drive so I had to start all over again. The line behind me started getting impatient so I put on the four-ways. Then I shifted to Park, restarted and shifted to Drive. As the pissed off truck driver tried to maneuver around me, I finally got out of his way and made my left turn.
I hope the computer recorded the event and that this problem, which happened many times to other Pioneers, will be fixed with a software update at check-up time.
3 responses to “It Was Bound To Happen Sometime”
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Welcome to the club Stuart! I’ve had it happen three times now. The first time can be a bit unsettling, but as long as you know what to do, it’s no problem. I spoke to Marian at Mini about it and they are currently working on a fix. I’ve started a blog also and have linked your blog to mine. It’s at: http://minie250.blogspot.com/
Keep up the good work!
Tom -
Hey Stuart!
I’ve had the same “issue” with my Mini-E #339, too!
When that happens to me and Mini-E #339, I just fall back to my previously-learned procedures for “hill starting” in a manual transmission car.
If 339 starts rolling backwards after a stop, I immediately step on the foot brake again (with my left foot, if needed).
Then, I use my right hand to lift the HAND brake BUT with the button held down with my right thumb.
With the hand brake AND foot brake engaged, I then lift my foot off the FOOT brake. (The car should still hold on the hill….)
I then step on the accelerator… until I feel 339’s electric motor just start to build up torque… just as if she just “wants to go”… then slowly lower the hand brake.
Most times, she’ll move forward — without rolling backwards at all!
It takes practice. But you can do it. (And it’s a LOT easier to do on a MINI-E, since it doesn’t have a clutch, manual gear shift and the worry of an engine stall out!!!)
Hope that helps and hope everything else is going well with your Mini-E!
Happy motoring!
Paul
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Tom August 26th, 2009 at 23:56