My First Mini SE Road Trip in SC, and Maybe my Last...for Now

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I have my next charging road trip lined up for this Thursday! I am traveling 143 miles to get my windows tinted and to stay with one of my best friends at the same time. He has a Tesla model Y and a Tesla charger in his garage. I purchased an adapter (and tested it locally) which should allow me to charge at his house before I return home.

Based on interstate travel being around 60% of the trip, I'm anticipating a total range of 130 miles or so. Meaning I will stop in Columbia, SC, at the Electrify America station to charge up on the way there and back. The last time I stopped there (when I created this thread), 50% of the terminals were not working. But I only need one working for a short charge! Wish me luck. I'll post back with my results this weekend.

My friend thinks we should video a drag race against his Model Y, but I believe we already know what that result will be...could be fun, anyway.
 
Puppethead said:
Here's a video of a roadtrip from Albuquerque to Denver in an SE (Electric Collection with moonroof), which is not a densely-populated route. The first half of the video focuses on the range capabilities of the SE, the second half is more about the ups and downs of charging.

Bottom line, the SE worked great along the mountainous route, exceeding the official range. I particularly liked this video since I drive that route and badly want to take my SE. Now I know it can be done.

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Hey, I sat in that car a couple times! I was really tempted to buy it, but the moon roof is a deal breaker for me.
 
GvilleGuy said:
I have my next charging road trip lined up for this Thursday! I am traveling 143 miles to get my windows tinted and to stay with one of my best friends at the same time. He has a Tesla model Y and a Tesla charger in his garage. I purchased an adapter (and tested it locally) which should allow me to charge at his house before I return home.

Based on interstate travel being around 60% of the trip, I'm anticipating a total range of 130 miles or so. Meaning I will stop in Columbia, SC, at the Electrify America station to charge up on the way there and back. The last time I stopped there (when I created this thread), 50% of the terminals were not working. But I only need one working for a short charge! Wish me luck. I'll post back with my results this weekend.

My friend thinks we should video a drag race against his Model Y, but I believe we already know what that result will be...could be fun, anyway.
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Safe travels, and good luck with that EA station!

None of my friends/family have EVs, must be nice to have destination charging! The best I get is an outlet. One of my friends does have an RV, and a well-placed 14-50 outlet, but last time I visited him, I didn't think to ask ahead of time and didn't bring my portable 14-50 EVSE. Oh well, live an learn - always be prepared!
 
My road trip is this afternoon. I added an additional station to my saved places in Columbia - a fast charge EVGO with one plug at a Spinx gas station. I created an EVGO account and downloaded the app. So I have the four dispensers at Electrify America, and one with EVGO. If I can't find a working dispenser among those FIVE, then I'll punt and look for level 2 chargers. :)

I'm looking forward to getting the windows tinted tomorrow - I'll be going with 30%.
 
Currently successfully charging at Electrify America! Planning to stop at 80%, which looks like it will take 21 minutes total to go from 32 to 80%.

87 mile trip and the GOM predicted 106 miles range. Actual result was 4.43 mi/kWh and 128 total range estimate.

It’s 93F in Columbia and I am very grateful to be able to run the A/C while I charge. 60 miles to go when I leave here.

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GvilleGuy said:
It took 3 1/2 hours to charge from 31% to 100%.
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Hmmm, that's actually a little slow assuming the maximum L2 rate.

Out of curiosity, what app were you using to deliver those range notifications?

Glad to hear the trip has been going well so far :)
 
So - my trip from Greenville to Sumter to get my windows tinted was very successful! I had two no-stress charge ups at the Electrify America station on Harbison Blvd in Columbia, SC, plus a charge in my friend's garage on his Tesla charger. Here are my summary stats:

  • Miles driven: 290 miles
  • Average calculated mi/kWh: 4.42
  • Average calculated range: 128 miles (mostly interstate, green mode, A/C always on)
  • Best calculated range segment: 138 miles (21% interstate)
  • Average GOM predicted range: 93 miles (logged after each charge session)
  • On average, my actual range exceeded GOM by 35 miles
I was the only vehicle at Electrify America on both of my visits, and all 4 dispensers appeared to be operational. I spent a total of $9.75 for two sessions.

Things I learned about my Mini on this trip:
  • @insightman asking how fast I was driving got me thinking on my trip home. I seem to remember posts on this forum stating that the speedometer is 2 mph slow. So on my return trip I pulled up Waze since it has a speed estimate. The Waze speed consistently read 2 mph higher than my Mini speed.
  • So I bumped up my set cruise speed by 2 mph and a little green 'mph' circle with a semi-circular down arrow displayed on my instrument cluster periodically when I would hit 5 mph over the posted speed limit. I assume that was a speed warning? I have not looked in the manual for it.
  • I had my car key in my duffel, opened the hatch without unlocking the car, threw the duffel in, and closed the hatch. The car beeped at me and the hatch unlatched on its own. I guess it is smart enough to keep you from locking yourself out of the car!
  • Forcing A/C to turn on is not as simple as it should be. I parked at Electrify America and opened my door before touching the screen to activate comfort climate. It was a slow motion "NOOOOOO" in my head as I opened the door and watched the "activate climate comfort" disappear from the screen. I started my charging session and got back in the car. I hit the start/stop button to activate radio-ready - but that only blows the fan and does not run A/C, even though the A/C buttons are lit up! I finally found the screen for activating comfort climate in the menus and cooled down before the Columbia heat could get me.
  • The tint guy said "no rolling down the windows for 72 hours". Luckily, my friend had just had his Tesla Model Y tinted a few weeks back, so before taking me to pick up the Mini, he handed me painters tape and a marker. I picked up the newly tinted Mini, taped over my window buttons, and wrote the date/time I could start using the windows again.

IMG_9414.webp
 
GvilleGuy said:
I seem to remember posts on this forum stating that the speedometer is 2 mph slow.
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I find that curious, since I regularly check my 2021 SE against radar speed signs and it's always right on. My ICE MINIs have all been 3 mph slow, though. Is the 2022 SE different?
 
Puppethead said:
I find that curious, since I regularly check my 2021 SE against radar speed signs and it's always right on. My ICE MINIs have all been 3 mph slow, though. Is the 2022 SE different?
Click to expand...

Not sure - we should have an additional test source than just Waze to get a better feel for it. When I've passed school zone signs that measure your speed, they also register me going slower than the Mini indicates.
 
I performed my first/baseline drive of my own "range test" course this weekend and set my speed according to GPS. At highway speeds, the instrument cluster was consistently optimistic by 2mph - an indicated 67mph was 65mph per the GPS and an indicated 72mph was 70mph per the GPS. (This is on the stock 17" wheels with 205/45 R17 tires.)

I think intentional speedometer inaccuracy like this is a percentage, rather than an absolute--so at slower speeds (like in a school zone), the delta may be small enough to not notice. If I get a chance, I may try comparing the speedometer reading versus GPS at slower speeds to confirm.
 
It always felt to me like BMW intentionally set the speed at 3 mph slower so people would feel they were going faster but really weren't. I know when I got my first MINI and discovered the discrepancy I thought it was a defect and called my dealer about it. Their reply was, "It's intentional". But as I said, my 2021 SE is right on. Maybe some sort of speed "tuning" was added to the new 2022 model.
 
Puppethead said:
It always felt to me like BMW intentionally set the speed at 3 mph slower so people would feel they were going faster but really weren't. I know when I got my first MINI and discovered the discrepancy I thought it was a defect and called my dealer about it. Their reply was, "It's intentional". But as I said, my 2021 SE is right on. Maybe some sort of speed "tuning" was added to the new 2022 model.
Click to expand...

"European law (ECE-R39) says speedometers cannot show speeds less than the actual speed, and they must never show more than the 110 per cent of actual speed plus 4 km/h"

At least for European cars, the reading is always biased too high because of this rule. The nominal (target) value has to be above the actual value by whatever the maximum tolerance stack-up is so that 0% of cars read below your actual speed.
 
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