MINI-E Dismantle, Battery Pack Replacement

It all started about a two months ago when I sent an email to Richard Steinberg, manager of electric vehicle operations and strategy for BMW North America. I asked him if BMW would replace the battery pack in MINI-E #250 because the original pack now has 53,000 miles and is beginning to degrade so my range is suffering. Richard gave me the usual company line about how the lithium ion batteries are expensive and if they did it for me then they'll have to do it for everybody and it will blow their whole bloody budget out the window.

First we disconnected the high voltage battery

Nonetheless, he said he would call Munich and see if it could be arraigned. A few weeks later Richard sent me an email and directed me to give him a call. I did just that and he prefaced the call by saying he wanted me to know he did all he could, but the BMW top brass wouldn't authorize it. He then told me all about a conference call he had with none other than BMW CEO Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Project i boss, Dr Ulrich Kranz as well as Hugo Vangeem and Marian Hawryluk who are electric vehicle project managers for BMW. Noticeably absent from the discussion was BMW North American president, Jim O'Donnell, but from what I'm told, they don't really let him make any decisions around there anymore anyway.  In any event after some discussion, the answer was "No new batteries for Tom".

I ordered 7 boxes, each with 5kWh

Those of you that know me, know that I don't particularly like being told no. In fact, I've been known to go to great lengths and at great expense to turn no's into yes. This wouldn't be any different. If BMW wouldn't give me a new pack, I'll just install one myself! So the quest began. 

We begin to take out the PEU

I quickly realized that it's not difficult to procure batteries for an EV as there are lot's of home conversion websites you can order anything you need from. It was a cinch to get the same exact cells used by BMW in the MINI-E. So last Saturday it was time to do the dirty work. Luckily, I have become friends with one of the area's leading EV mechanics and he offered his shop and services to do the swap. He really likes the MINI-E, so he looked forward to the opportunity to take one apart.  It didn't take us long to realize that much of the cars electronics had to be removed to replace the battery pack so we figured it would be better if we just did a complete dismantle. EV's are really simple and taking one apart and putting it back together is much easier than an internal combustion engine car, where only a experienced mechanic should even think about doing so.

Opening the PEU isn't allowed: oops!

Lot's of wires to reconnect!

  

EVERYTHING was removed!

Mind you, this isn't exactly allowed by BMW so there might be some splainin' to do once they realize I took part one of their precious prototypes. In the end, we did the swap, put everything back together and MINI-E #250 is running like new. If anyone want's some more photo's of the car when it was all taken apart, just ask!

PEU & motor assembly is all one piece

The suspension was in great shape

UPDATE: After a week of driving #250 with the new batteries, I can report the range is back to like it was when the car was brand new!
Mission accomplished!

UPDATE #2:  4/2/11: Just in case you didn't figure this out yet, it was an April Fools post and never actually happened. The car still has great range, although it may be starting to have slightly less now that it has been charged over 1,000 times and driven 53,000 miles. I plan on doing a range comparison post soon that will compare the cars range in different temperatures in the first year and second year I've had it.

If I had done what I said I did, BMW would probably be at my door today with a bus load of lawyers and repossess the car from me. Before getting the car, the trial lease participants all had to sign documents that we wouldn't alter the car in any way, we aren't even allowed to change a tire or put on window tint. Besides that, the battery pack is located behind the seats in the car so if we did change the pack, we wouldn't even have to open the hood, let alone dismantle the entire car!  I did take a photo of us removing a muffler, but figured if I posted that one, nobody would have been tricked! I hope you had fun with this!

Munich, We Have a Problem!

 

That icon you see of a plug with an exclamation mark is what the car is supposed to show if you have the car plugged in and charging and you try to start it up. The car will not start while it's plugged in so you cannot make the mistake of driving off while it's still tethered to the EVSE wall charger attached to your home. That would be like driving away from a gas station while the gas nozzle is still pumping gas into your tank, something that does happen every once in a while and is extraordinarily dangerous and at best only results in a destroyed gas pump and a huge insurance claim. At worst a spark ignites the spilled gasoline and the whole place blows up, along with you and the people working there!

The problem I have is that this icon is coming on and the car isn't plugged in. This means for some reason the electronics thinks the car is plugged in and won't allow me to start it. Plus, if I try to charge it the red protection light on the EVSE lights up which means it has gone into protection mode because there has been a problem detected. So basically I can neither start nor charge it, which leaves me with little choice than to have her towed in to Morristown MINI for the "flying doctors" to take a look at it. 

This is the first time I have had a problem and the car needed to be towed in about a year as the car has proven to be very reliable considering it is a prototype test car and even this time I believe I had a hand in on it's demise. On Sunday night I was charging outside at my restaurant in the rain. We had quite a storm and it was really pouring. When I unplugged the car, I quickly put the cap on the receptacle on the car as to not allow rain to get it wet. What I failed to realize was the the plastic cap had filled with rain water and when I slid it on the charge receptacle it flooded the area with water. 

I drove home without a problem, but when I arrived and went to charge the car, I noticed how wet the plug area was and that there was actually a lot of water inside the plug receptacle. I dried it off as best I could and left the cap off overnight to let it air out. I didn't need to charge the car to get to work the next day so that wasn't going to be a problem. In the morning when I tried to start the car all I would get was the icon pictured above, meaning the car believed that it was plugged in which it wasn't. By now the area looked dry, but I guess inside was still wet so I let the car sit all day and took my Toyota to work. 

This morning I got up and tried to turn it on again but I still get the plug icon. I figure that if it hasn't dried out in roughly 36 hours then the water probably did some damage that needs to be fixed so I called for a tow and it's now off to Morristown MINI. I figure this was 50% my fault and 50% the cars fault. I definitely shouldn't have poured water on the receptacle, but the car should be able to handle screw ups like this, there are plenty of idiots like me out there that make mistakes. I'm sure they could design the plug area better to prevent problems like this from happening and that is exactly what the MINI-E program is about; finding design flaws like this and correcting them so future EV's that actually make it to the showroom don't have them. The more I think about it, the MINI-E program was a brilliant idea. BMW is getting more real world data and information with this program than they could ever get with internal testing, and they are getting us to pay a lease payment to participate! Genius! So I sent Rob Healey, technical coordinator for the MINI-E and Vincent Immerso, MINI-E service adviser for the MINI-E at Morristown MINI an email that detailed the issue and a heads up that they should expect the car shortly.

Within an hour I got a call from Vincent and then an email from Rob to let me know they will get right on it today and get me that car back as soon as possible. Vincent asked me if I needed a loaner car, which I declined for the time being, and Rob informed me that Shaun Gillilan, one of the flying doctors was already en-route to check out #250. That is some great service!

So it looks like there is no need to call and complain to Richard Steinberg, manager of BMW's North American electric vehicle operations or Dr. Norbert Reithofer, BMW CEO to make them aware of this problem. The rank and file have this under control.

UPDATE: The car was fixed the same day and I already picked it up. As I thought, the problem was caused by excessive water infiltrating the plug recepticle. My bad!