Right or Left Pedal? Where Do You Want Your Regen?

One of the great features of electric cars is the regenerative braking. It really enhances the driving experience as well as extending your driving range as it captures the energy that would normally be wasted when you need to slow down. With conventional braking, the energy produced simply turns into heat and is wasted, whereas the regenerative braking systems in electric cars turns the energy into electricity and puts it back into your battery.

This is something that most people would never even think of and really have no use for when driving an internal combustion engine vehicle. You've got all the energy you need squishing around in your gas tank waiting to be set on fire so it can release that energy and propel the vehicle. However electric cars need to be as energy efficient as possible since they can only store a limited amount of electricity without becoming prohibitively expensive and heavy, since the more batteries you carry the more the car will cost and the more it will weigh, and decrease the vehicles efficiency.

Most people I know are a bit apprehensive when they first drive a car with regen. If the regen is activated by the left(or normal brake) pedal then you probably won't too notice much of a difference. However if you drive an EV with right (accelerator) pedal regen than your initial impression is probably that it definitely feels wrong, especially if it has strong regen like the MINI-E does. After driving your whole life in a car that doesn't have it, it really seems unnatural.

However after driving with it for only a short while, I came to really love it. Now, when I drive a car that doesn't have regen, I feel like somethings missing. I have driven cars with both right and left pedal regen and I definitely prefer to have it actuated by the right pedal. I can really do about 90% of my driving with one foot and it makes the driving experience a bit more sporty in my opinion. Slowing down for a curve in the road or to keep a safe distance from the car in front of you only requires you to gradually back off the accelerator. If you need to slow down more quickly, then just back off the accelerator completely and the regen fully engages and slows you down pretty quickly while sending some juice back to the battery pack. Of course if it's a situation that requires you to stop really abruptly, you always have the mechanical brakes to step on and quickly come to a halt.

Most people I know that have EV's say they prefer right pedal regen, and BMW believes that having it on the right pedal is the way to go also, as the MINI-E and the soon to be released ActiveE both have their regen on the right pedal. There are some people out there that have stated their opinions to the contrary though and say they want EV's to be as much like their gas powered cars as possible, and want all the braking, regenerative included, on the left pedal.

I believe that most people, if given the opportunity to drive an EV with right pedal regen would choose it over left and most of the people calling for it on the left pedal simply haven't driven a car for any period of time with right pedal regen, because if they did, they would prefer it that way.  Anyone care to chime in on this debate?

Thermal Conditioning for the Battery AND the Passengers!

The Cog & Temp icon you see it telling me the battery is too cold and the car will not have regenerative braking. I see this when the battery temperature gets in the low 40's. If the battery temperature gets any lower and the car will not accept a charge.

There's a lot of talk about thermal conditioning in electric cars, and for good reason. Maintaining proper battery temperature will not only help the vehicle to offer a more stable, predictable driving range, but will most likely be a big factor in determining how long the battery will acceptably perform before a replacement is needed.

The MINI-E is a wonderful vehicle. Those that have followed this blog know how I feel about it. I think the electric propulsion system pairs so well with the small, fun to drive MINI Cooper, that it's an outright shame BMW isn't going to offer it for sale in the near future, yes it's THAT good. All that said, the MINI-E is a prototype test vehicle and it does have it's faults. The most glaring shortcoming, is a lack of a proper thermal management system. The passive, cabin-air based system is insufficient to warm the pack in the winter or cool it off in the summer months. If the ambient temperature is below 95 degrees or above 50 degrees, everything is just fine and you can almost always squeeze out 100 miles of range if you drive conservatively, even 120-130 if you stay off the highways. However once the temperature extremes occur, the car lets you know it's not a happy camper. I'm going to focus here on the cold weather effects, since I did a post last summer about my hot weather experiences and difficulties.

The most obvious problem is the reduced range. I'm not really 100% sure if the battery simply cannot store the same amount of energy, or if it cannot efficiently use it when it gets cold, but the reduced range that the MINI-E has in the cold Northeast is something that you have to accept and manage. I know that it's not only the batteries storage/usage of the energy, but also the fact that the cabin heater uses a good amount of juice so it's really a double hit that conspires to cut into how far the car will go. This winter has been very cold and there are days when the temperature doesn't even approach 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-7C). On these days I'm lucky to push the car to 75 miles per charge. That's about a 30% reduction from optimal conditions, and in my opinion, it's just too much for the average retail consumer to accept.

That's -2 degrees!

Luckily, there is a better way to manage the battery temperature and thus the range, and that's by implementing an active thermal management system to heat and cool the battery as needed. These systems will obviously add to the cost to the vehicle, but in my opinion, it's money well spent. BMW seems to agree with me because their next EV offering, the 2011 BMW ActiveE will have active thermal management. I expect to be one of the few people driving an ActiveE this summer when the MINI-E program ends so I'll be able to report on how well the system does or doesn't work. This to me is the most important improvement that BMW can make from lessons learned in the MINI-E program.

MINI-E winter driving apparel !

There is one more thermal conditioning issue I need to bring to light. That's the MINI-E's inability to thermally condition it's passengers! There's no problem in the summer as the A/C works fine. However when it's cold outside, the MINI-E drivers here on the East Coast are cold also! The heater in the car is woefully insufficient to really warm the cabin or it's passengers. Those of us that have a MINI-E in NY & NJ have learned to deal with it, but it's not fun. Most all of us have learned to keep gloves, a hat and a blanket in the car at all times. Others have even used a hot water bottle(Now I know why BMW calls us pioneers!) I haven't done the hot water bottle thing, but I do keep a hooded sweatshirt, gloves and yes, a small blanket in the car especially when I drive home from work late at night when it's bitter cold outside and the car has been sitting outside for 12 hours.

My Garage Heater

Last year I did a post about installing a heater in my garage to keep the car warm overnight. It's works really well and even keeps my family room warmer because that room is adjacent to the garage. I set it at about 45-50 degrees so no matter how cold it gets outside the garage is around 45 degrees.  Recently I have also been pre-heating the cabin in the mornings. I have a small ceramic heater that I put in the cabin about 30 minutes before I leave for work. When I leave the cabin is very warm and I don't need to turn the heater on for a while and that helps to extend the range a bit. This is similar, but not as good as preconditioning, something all production EV's have the ability to do.

It's going to be really interesting to see how much better the BMW ActiveE manages the weather extremes. I trust the engineers over in Munich know what they are doing. I'm sure I'll be writing a lot on this issue once I've had the time to drive the ActiveE in the extreme weather and analyze my range data. It will be nice to use the MINI-E as a comparison vehicle as I write about the ActiveE. Hopefully I'll be using the word "improvement" a lot, but you never know...

Regenerative Braking: How Much is Enough?

For the most part, electric cars like the MINI-E drive the same as their pollution spewing  ICE counterparts. Sure they are much quieter and the instant torque of their electric motors cannot be matched by traditional gasoline powered motors. However overall they are still cars, much the same as others just with a different energy source. The biggest difference in driving an EV as compared to a traditional car is the brakes.

While traditional cars use regular mechanical brakes, who's function is solely to slow the vehicle down, electric cars employ regenerative brakes which have two functions; slow the car down, and capture energy.
When you use your traditional brakes, you are creating energy, you just have no way to capture and use it so it is simply converted into heat by way of friction and wasted. Regenerative brakes are a mechanism which slows a vehicle by converting its kinetic energy into electricity which is then put into the cars battery to increase it's range.

The MINI-E has become notorious for it's extremely aggressive regenerative brakes. When people drive the car for the first time it can be startling how strong the regen is. Journalists have written that the MINI-E's regenerative brakes are like deploying a parachute at highway speeds. I think that's a bit over the top, but I have to admit, they are very strong and you need to drive the car for a day or two before you get fully comfortable with them.

However once you do get used to them, everybody that I have spoken with absolutely loves it and missed it terribly when they drive other cars that do not have regenerative brakes. A friend of mine, Michael Thwaite drives a MINI-E in New Jersey as I do. Michael also owns a Tesla Roadster(lucky bastard!) and he and I were talking about the two cars recently and he told me that he likes the regenerative braking of the MINI-E better than that of the Tesla because it's stronger in the MINI-E. He even told me that after getting his MINI-E he wrote Tesla and asked them why they didn't make the regenerative braking stronger on the Tesla like it is on the MINI-E!

I have come to realize that although it may be disconcerting when you first drive a car with regenerative braking, once you have a little time with it you love it. This is true for all the MINI-E drivers that I know. You learn to drive with only your right foot and use the traditional brakes only in emergency situations. I'm certain I could drive the MINI-E more than 100,000 miles before I needed brake pad replacements for how little I use them.

However recently when I took #250 in for the regular 5000 mile service, I was told that they were making a "software tweak" and to see if I notice any differences. I do and I'm not really happy with it. The regenerative braking is definitely dialed back a bit, requiring me to ease up on the accelerator earlier than previously needed to slow down in time for a turn or a complete stop. During the eighteen months I have had the car, BMW has done these software tweaks a few times and almost always it seems the regen is dialed back a bit. I guess they are trying to get the most efficient balance between performance, range and regen. I just want BMW and the other auto manufacturers working on EV's to know this one thing: The stronger the regen the better! If you are afraid that some people won't like it so strong (believe me, don't worry about that) then allow the regen to be set by the driver and make it adjustable. Just don't take away my aggressive regenerative braking, the stronger the better!

MINI-E software "Upgrade": I'm Not Sure That's What I'd Call It

During the sixteen months that I've had the MINI-E now, there has been a few software "upgrades" that have been performed when I have taken the car in for the scheduled service every 5,000 miles. The reason for these are to correct any known "bugs" the software might have, like early on when some of the cars would jump from drive into neutral when you were stopped at a traffic light, and also to tweek the cars power output and regenerative braking to refine the driving experience and make it as smooth and pleasurable as possible.

When I brought the car in for service last week, Rob Healey, technical coordinator for the MINI-E, told me that they were doing a software upgrade and to let him know how I felt about the changes they made. Well it's only been about a week now so I'm going to give it a little more time before I email him to let him know how I feel about it, but so far I'm not really lovin' it. They did seem to make the transition from acceleration to regenerative braking and vise-versa more subtle and smoother, but the regenerative braking has definitely been dialed back a bit and I need to adjust to it. I have found myself using the actual brakes much more than I have needed before and I don't really like that. Perhaps once I get used to it I will adjust my driving to once again use the regen for most all of my slowing down and stopping, but for now I find myself having to use the brakes to prevent myself from running into the rear of the car in front of me or overshooting a stop sign or intersection. It may just be me needing to get used to the new program. After driving the car for so long I got used to exactly when I needed to let off the accelerator to slow down for a turn or stop at a light and I need to re-learn that again.

You might ask why BMW does this and that is a legitimate question. I'm not 100% sure but I assume they want to test different levels of regenerative braking for efficiency as well as customer comfort. I recently spoke to a Tesla owner who also drives a MINI-E here in New Jersey and he said the MINI-E's regenerative braking is much stronger than Tesla's. He needs to adjust every time he drives one car and then the other. Some people like very aggressive regen and others don't want it to feel like they released a parachute to slow the car down every time they let off the accelerator. After driving the MINI-E I have learned to love the aggressive regenerative braking and for me, the stronger the better. Personally I think all EV makers just allow the driver to adjust the regen to the level they feel most comfortable with. I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to have that as an option that the driver can set to the position they like.

EV Range Isn't set in Stone

Electric cars like the MINI-E are often gauged by how far they can go on a single charge. It seems that most of the auto manufacturers are focusing on 100 miles per charge as the minimum acceptable single charge range. The MINI-E has been tested to get 156 miles on a single charge using the EPA LA-4 cycle, but this doesn't mean much to those of us driving these cars because we have come to realize the real-world driving range is around 100 miles. Some get more, some less, it all depends on your driving habits.

The slower you drive, the further you can go. That is the simplest way to explain the how your range can vary. This isn't much different from a gasoline powered car. The slower you drive, the better your mpg.  My range varies from day to day, depending on how aggressive I drive. The MINI-E is a lot of fun to drive. The instant torque of the electric drive and great handling that all MINI Coopers have make it easy to want to drive the car spiritedly. Since I record all the data from my daily driving I can clearly see the difference when I drive normally, aggressively and economically. The other day I forgot that I was going to need to drive about 115 miles before I could plug in and was driving pretty fast on the highway, around 75 mph for a while. When I was halfway through my day I realized that I was already down to about 40% SOC and now needed to be very efficient for the rest of my journey.

When I was about 85 miles into the day, my estimated range was at only 10 miles and I still was 32 miles from plugging in. I now needed to be very efficient. I had two choices, get off the highway and drive a route that I knew. This was all secondary roads and I could drive 35mph or so and I would be able to squeeze out the 32 miles for sure. The other choice was much more risky: Stay on the route 80, find a tractor trailer and hypermile by drafting behind the 18 wheeler. Being the risk taker that I am, I decided to go the dangerous route. It didn't take me long to hook up with a tractor trailer, pull up right behind him and begin draft.

This is very dangerous and I don't advocate doing this. You need to be very alert and ready to brake immediately if the truck does. This hyper-miling technique is commonly used by people in gasoline powered cars and hybrids that try to get the highest mpg that they can. They even have competitions on who can go the furthest using the lease amount of gas, so this isn't an "electric car thing". It works because by drafting behind the large truck, your car doesn't have to use much energy to push the air away from its path. This air resistance is the main reason why going faster reduces efficiency because the faster you go, the wind resistance increases exponentially. As I started moving along behind the truck I could see the range indicator actually go up for a while. A few miles and I now had 15 miles of range remaining, up from 10. I followed the truck the entire time I was on route 80 which was about 28 miles. When I got off the highway I still had 6 miles of estimated range. Therefore, I drove 28 miles and only lost 4 miles of range!

When I arrived at work I had driven 117 total miles and had 0 miles of estimated range left. Had I driven the whole day more efficiently, I'm sure I could have done the 117 miles and had 5 -10 miles of range remaining without having the need to dangerously draft behind a truck. I want you to know I do not regularly do this, I don't find it necessary and I really wouldn't want to take the risk of an accident. This was as much a test for the car as it was a product of me having the inexplicable need to live dangerously every now and then. I don't want anyone getting the impression that this would be necessary if you had an electric car because it in no way is. In fact most of the people that do this drive gasoline powered cars. If you look around while your driving on a major highway it won't take you too long to see a car following a big rig a little closer than you would normally do, they are probably doing it consciously to increase their fuel efficiency. 

I've talked to a lot of electric car drivers and many of them have their own way to extend the range. Some hyper-mile, some put the car in neutral and coast downhill, others have ways to use the regenerative braking more than others, and some practice all kinds of hyper-miling techniques. However we all agree the simplest way to go as far as possible whatever EV you own is to just drive a little slower.

Hot in the city tonight

I have often written here and on other blogs that the biggest flaw of the MINI-E isn't the lack of a back seat as others complain about, it's the lack of a thermal management system to keep the batteries at optimal operating temperature.

The cold weather seems to have a worse short term effect than hot temperatures do, since the range is dramatically reduced when temperatures drop below 30 degrees. However, I think the long term effects of overheating the batteries would be a concern if I actually owned the car and planned to keep it for 10 years of so. Supposedly, the life of these lithium ion batteries will be shortened if they were exposed to high temperatures (over 100 degrees) frequently.

Yesterday it was about 95 degrees outside with high humidity. I had a 50 mile drive that was mostly  at highway speeds. I had the A/C on and wasn't paying much attention to the temperature gauge until I got the warning icon that has a cog with a temperature symbol in the middle(see above). I think it showed 112 degrees at the time. When this icon comes on it means that the battery temperature is getting too high and the car in going to reduce the amount of regenerative braking that the car uses. I saw this icon last summer a few times and noticed the regen was less aggressive. As the temperature continued to climb the regen was less and less apparent until the temperature climbed up to 116 degrees and then the regenerative braking completely disengaged. It was the first time that has ever happened to me and it was really strange driving the car without regenerative braking at all. Having the car coast like a regular car does when you lift off the accelerator was strange after driving it for almost 13 months now with the aggressive regen that the car usually has. The reason the regen lessens and then completely disengages when the battery temperature get too hot is because charging the batteries causes them to get even hotter. This is good in the winter when I'm trying to keep the batteries as warm as possible, but when they are overheating like they were yesterday you don't want to do anything to make them even hotter.

The good news is that BMW realizes that the thermal manage system is necessary and the ActiveE and the Megacity EV's that they are making will both have sophisticated thermal management systems like Tesla has to keep the batteries within a certain range of temperatures (something like 80 to 95 degrees). This will help keep the car's performance nearly the same in the cold as they are in the hot weather, while also prolonging the life span of the batteries.

Nice trip to the Delaware Water Gap

Yesterday morning my wife and I got up early and headed up to the Delaware Water Gap. It's a beautiful area with lots of scenic views of the Delaware River plus places to picnic and hike. It was about 45 miles from our home so I knew we could make it with the MINI-E, I just didn't know how much driving around we could do once we got there since I wanted to head back home with 45-50% charge.

We made it there with about 55% charge left so we took advantage of the extra juice and drove around for a while. The roads were empty and the MINI-E was at it's best in my opinion. Driving along country roads with the windows down and all you could hear was birds and the occasional sound of the tires rolling over gravel in the road. We didn't even want to turn the radio on it was so peaceful.

After a while we stopped at an Appalachian trail and went for a short hike. We didn't have the time to go too far but it's definitely a place that we'll return to when we have more time for a longer exploration.

We headed back home and finished the trip of 100.7 miles with 7% charge left which would be good for at least 10 more miles before I would have needed to use the 15 or so miles of "reserve" that the car has. The MINI-E is good for most driving environments but in my opinion, there is nothing better than driving it on winding country roads with the windows down and listening to the tires on the road, the slight whine of the regenerative braking and the sounds of the environment outside the car that you normally don't hear over the engine of an internal combustion engine car. I can't explain it, you have to experience it to know how much more enjoyable it is.

MINI-E Lease Extension Details Arrive

To renew or not to renew, that is the question....

When I first applied for the MINI-E trial lease program the terms were simple; $850 per month for 12 months, everything included, even collision and comprehensive insurance. All maintenance and even wear and tear items were covered and a loaner car would be provided if and when the vehicle was in for service. Total cost: $10,200 plus license and registration fees. It looks pretty steep on the surface since you can lease a new MINI Cooper S for about half that amount, get two back seats and still have money left over for the gasoline you burn.

I've been reminded of the high lease price dozens of times this year when I promote the MINI-E's virtues on various blogs, message boards and in face to face conversations. What I try to remind everyone is that for many of the Trial Lease participants or "pioneers" as MINI calls us it wasn't about the money. It was about helping to promote the proliferation of zero emission vehicles. We knew the MINI-E was not going to make it to the showrooms, so it wasn't about helping to "fine tune" the car for production. This program, whether or not anyone admits it or not, was purely about gauging public interest and acceptance of electric cars (that and getting some CARB credits but that was no secret or never disputed) and gathering data on average daily driving and responses to things like range anxiety and regenerative braking characteristics. The majority of the people in the program feel strongly as I do that the automotive industry should move in the direction of electric vehicles and offer their customers a choice of what kind of fuel that they want to power their cars with.

When we first got word that we would be offered the option of a second year with the car initially everyone was generally very happy because I believe most in the program love their cars and would like to keep them as long as possible. We were not given any details, just that we would have the option to renew for another year so shortly after the announcement was made we all started guessing what the terms of the lease would be. Whenever you lease a car, the longer the term, the lower the monthly payments so we knew the second year would be less, but how much was a mystery. Over on the MINI-E Facebook page, where many of us converse, the guesses were generally around $500/month. Anything under $500 and I think just about everyone would choose to stay in. Perhaps BMW knew that and wanted to "thin the field" some to send the returned cars to other markets as we have been told would be the case with the returning cars. In any event, I think some that wanted to keep the cars just can't at $600/month and that's unfortunate.

For me the decision was easy. I drive the car so much (about 30,000 miles a year) that the fuel savings alone will be enough to make the difference. Driving 30,000 miles in my Toyota Tacoma I'll need to purchase about 1,700 gallons of gasoline. If prices stay at the level they are today($2.65/gal), I'll spend $4,500 on gasoline. The MINI-E will cost me about $1,000 for electric so the $3,500 in fuel savings cuts the lease payment in half.(Actually it will cost me nothing in electric because I'll be generating all the electric with my new solar electric system at my home but it's still "costing me" $1,000 because I could have sold that electric to the power company) I also won't need to do about 7 oil changes, there's another $350.00. I won't need to put a set of brake pads on the truck either, or be halfway to a major tune up. Plus, I'm not losing the depreciation that 30,000 miles on the odometer will have on the Tacoma's value. All in all, while $600 per month sounds like a lot of money for a two seat commuter car, it really isn't at all.

All the financial reasons aside, I'm keeping the car because I love it. I enjoy the electric driving experience, I like that I don't have to stop and buy gasoline and that I'm not polluting as I drive. I like meeting new people all the time that stop me on the street and ask about the car and I like knowing that I'm doing a small part in helping to advance the movement to electrics.

To renew or not to renew? To me there is no question.

It's Snow Problem For The MINI-E

It's been exceptionally cold this winter here in Northern New Jersey with temperatures regularly in the low twenties and even the teens. We haven't had too much snow but I have had the opportunity to get the MINI-E out on snow covered roads a few times to test the effects of the regenerative braking and the traction control in extreme conditions.

One concern I have had from the beginning is how will the car behave on slick and icy roads when you use full regenerative braking. If the regen was too strong I was worried that the car would start to skid without the driver even touching the brakes and would really have no way to control the car other than to steer out of the skid. Full regen really holds the car back, enough to produce a skid on snow covered roads if there were no secondary safety controls in place. Luckily there are with the traction control system in the car. If the car senses the front tire slipping, the regenerative braking will be momentarily disengaged to allow the front tires to gain traction.

I live in a rural area with lots of roads that have steep inclines so I was able to do extensive testing the other day. I drove up and down a very steep street going as fast as 40 mph and engaging full regenerative braking to observe the results. Overall the car handled pretty well. I slid around a lot and even ended up in a snow bank once, but that was to be expected with how I was driving. The roads had 5 inches of snow on them and I was driving like a teenager the first time he drove in the snow, doing doughnuts in a mall parking lot! When I was driving normally, I had no problem keeping the car under control and preventing it from skidding or sliding. With any car, even four wheel drive vehicles, you need to drive slowly and with extra caution when the streets are covered with snow.

Final thoughts: The car behaved about the same as any small, front wheel car does and I put to rest my concerns that the regenerative braking would be hazardous on icy and snow covered roads.

MINI-E passes the icy road test!

On Sunday, December 13th, as I was driving to work at 9:45am, I drove through a rare occurrence where the conditions were perfect and the roads iced up almost instantly without any warning. During my 31 mile drive, I witnessed about 10 accidents but drove by at least 40 cars that had skidded off the road before I got there. Shortly after I made it through the troubled area, the NJ State Police closed the roads that I was on for a short period until the ice melted. Let me explain:

Every once in a while the conditions are just right for this to happen and when it does, all hell breaks loose and there are literally hundreds of accidents within minutes. It happens when the temperature is right around 32 degrees and it starts raining. The temperature up in the air must be warm enough so the rain doesn't freeze but then a quick temperature drop at ground level freezes the water on the roadways without warning and the roads become treacherous. My journey began from my home in Chester. I drove 10 miles on route 24 through Mendham and Morristown without incident as it was raining and the roads were just wet. When I got to the exit ramp for route 287 I eased off the accelerator and allowed the regenerative braking to slow me down as I always do but the car sensed the wheels slipping and quickly disengaged the regenerative braking. This probably saved me from sliding off the road and into a tree. I instantly realized what was happening and just steered the car through the turn since I wasn't going fast. Anyone that has the displeasure of driving on icy roads knows the worst thing to do is panic and hit the brakes.

My first thought is wow, these new snow tires aren't as good as I thought they would be, I almost lost it there. But it didn't take me long to see I was in the middle of something big, not just a typical patch of ice. As I drove down route 287 the instrument light that tells you the tires are slipping kept coming on so I slowed down to about 40 mph. A big black Chevy Tahoe came up behind me and since I wasn't going fast enough for him he started to pass me. As he passed on the left, I slowed down even more to let him get by and as he got in front of me, the Tahoe slid sideways right in front of my path, off the road and into the trees. As I looked at his car, I heard a horn beeping and I looked up just in time to see a car sliding quickly behind me and about to hit me from the rear. I quickly turned into the fast lane without even looking and the car slid right by me and also off the road. Now I knew exactly what I was in the middle of so I slowed down to about 20mph, put on my flashers and continued along. I was afraid that if I tried to stop someone would just slide into me.

People were sliding of the road and into each other the whole way. I counted 8 cars on their roofs off the side of the road and at least 40 damaged cars along the way. After a while I figured I should take some pictures or nobody will believe just how bad it really was. I felt like I was John Cusack in the movie 2012 as I was driving and avoiding accidents all around and watching car after car slide off the road or into another car, some sliding off the road and rolling multiple times. The next day I was talking to a customer that was on route 280 about 10 minutes after I was and he was in the middle of a 15 car pileup as the cars just kept sliding and crashing into each other.

I made it through unscathed but I'm sure that it was just as much luck as it was the fact that I quickly realized what was happening and acted appropriately. I must say I was really impressed with how the car handled this extreme event. When the entire road surface suddenly ices up it is much worse that when it's snowing because most people don't realize what's happening until it's too late. I haven't seen that kind of road conditions for a few years and I hope I don't have to drive in it ever again.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Looks like I had the free snow tires that MINI offered put on just in time. Less than a week later I'm getting to test them out. There isn't much accumulation, but the roads are slippery and so far the car is doing just fine. I haven't noticed any difference from a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle at all. The regenerative braking hasn't presented any problems as it disengages when the car senses the front wheels slipping. As with any vehicle regardless of the propulsion system, when the weather conditions are less than optimal, you need to drive with caution and be extra alert.