YES! BMW announces the ACTIVE E!

I haven't written anything for a while as I've been just enjoying driving the MINI E!

I marvel at what a great thing it is every time I drive it, anywhere!

Between my son and I, we've averaged about 160 miles a day this last week, the only rest the car is getting is at the charger.

We are anxiously waiting more news about the new BMW 1 series Electric car which we have been informed is to be announced at Detroit in January. They've wrapped into the design of this car some of the information and data gathered during the Mini E test driving program.

How exciting it is to be a part of this process!

THERE'S MORE TO LIFE THAN GAS MILEAGE!

Some thoughts

that occurred to me today while driving my All Electric Mini E - 80 miles round trip to one of the Multitude of Meetings I endure as a Special effects Artist in the Southern California Movie industry.

The meeting was in Manhattan Beach, 40 miles from my Home Office in Newport Beach. While  driving the 405 freeway, I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) a Talk Show about Cars, then an interview with a Car Journalist from the LA Times who's talking about the LA Auto Show, an event I will attend this weekend.  He is being questioned, among other things, about the viability of the Electric car in Southern California, will people buy them? His answer:  "it will take a long time for people to adopt the idea of an All Electric Car" and "they will probably have to go through the Hybrid phase first to gain Security over the Fear of running out of electricity" he said "it will take many years for people to accept the Electric Car". This I hear as I am traveling faster than the other traffic while in the Car Pool lane of the 405 freeway by myself to a meeting with my briefcase and laptop computer (a daily occurrence) in my All Electric Mini E.

Finishing my meeting, Mini E and I head for the 405 and the return trip home when a Lifted 4X4 Chevy, 3/4 ton Pickup, pulls in front of me, carrying only the driver and stops at the red light. As we sit waiting for the light to turn, I am thinking about the FUEL he, and the other cars sitting there, are BURNING while IDLING and the 4 inch EXHAUST pipe I am looking down as I sit using NOTHING waiting for the light to turn.

My eye drifts while thinking of these things and rests on the license plate frame which announces in Bold Face:

"THERE'S MORE TO LIFE"

and below that on the lower frame:

"THAN GAS MILEAGE!"

I agree Totally, (though I don't think he meant it the way I'm taking it)!

On the Radio, the LA Times writer is asked about the various cars soon to be available in the Hybrid/Plug-in Electric universe. He itemizes most of them, the interviewer asks about the Mini E, he responds something like "Thats not really a viable car, no backseat, only a two seater, 'snickers' and glosses over its existence as not really PRACTICAL".

The Radio is telling me THIS car is not practical as I watch my ODOmeter turn over 7200 miles. This afternoon I will finish my singular ride (among thousands of other cars occupied by only one Single person), arrive at my destination, plug in, do some work and after an hour and a half the Mini E is ready with a full tank for another run, wherever I want to go in a 100 miles.

Such is my life with the so called "IMPRACTICAL" Electric car I love driving more than any other car I've ever driven!

Perhaps it WILL take a LONG time for the adoption of the Electric Car,

(I hope we don't run out of Fossil Fuels in the meantime)

More people need to actually DRIVE the Electric Car,

experience the THRILL of INSTANT TORQUE and SILENT SPEED!

DRIVE one and GET IT!

There IS more to life than Gas Mileage!

I easily get a HUNDRED miles on the COST of a single GALLON of gas!

That's Practical!

COOPER E 230 meets Ken Gibson of the LONDON SUN

One of the best parts of being involved with the MINI E road test is the really nice people I am meeting along the way! 

I received a call last week from Natalie at Mini, asking if I would be available to talk to someone named Ken Gibson who had been reading my blog about the Mini E driving experience. Sure! I said, always glad to talk about the Mini E!

Yesterday, I had one of the most fun afternoons I've had in a while.

I met Ken Gibson, Motoring Editor for the London Sun Newspaper, at his Hotel in downtown LA., Yvonne, from Mini PR in Detroit, was there with a shiny new Mini Convertible, a local photographer and a bunch of cameras.

Ken is doing a story on the Mini E driving experience, here in America, in preparation for the launch of the same program in the United Kingdom.

As the clock was now pushing 2:00 I hit 'Start', the 'ICE' Convertible 'fired up' and we headed out with an eye toward LA city backgrounds and icons that would be recognizable to his British readers.

Driving around LA/Hollywood being chased by a Mini Convertible and a strobe flashing photographer was a really fun experience for an old guy who has spent most of his career BEHIND the cameras, for a moment I felt what a celebrity must feel!

Speeding past Paramount Pictures front gate (where I spent most of the 70's), the Hollywood sign, my old Stage 29, shooting away, strobes flashing, was a lot of fun for me.

All too soon it was over, back to the Hotel, seared Ahi dinner on MIni PR, we said our goodbye's. 

Thank you to Ken Gibson, the LONDON SUN, Yvonne and Natalie from MINI PR, MINIUSA, BMW and all the good people involved with bringing the Electric Car to the rest of us!

I new when I signed up I would be meeting a lot of really nice people!

(128 miles today with a hour and a half charge during the morning meeting.)