Martin, I was under the impression that the EU solution for charging was that everyone carries their charging cord with them, as the chargers only have a Mennekes plug, no cord, so you need to use your own cord to go from Mennekes to whatever your car uses, for example J1772. So I would *expect* that what you call non-standard adaptor cable is actually the normal situation, no?
Cor van de Water Chief Scientist Proxim Wireless Corporation http://www.proxim.com Email: [email protected] Private: http://www.cvandewater.info Skype: cor_van_de_water Tel: +1 408 383 7626 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Martin WINLOW Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 3:44 AM To: EVDL Post Message Subject: [EVDL] UK Used Mitsubishi i-Miev (Peugeot 'Ion') Purchase,Review and Questions Hi, I thought EVDLers (particularly UK readers) might be interested in the following... I bought an Ion (Peugeot's incarnation of the i-Miev and much easier to type) last Friday from Howard's Peugeot in Taunton. I paid £9k5 (still too much) for a July 2011 one with 3k4 miles. They retail new over here for £28k. They have more apparently, if anyone is interested. I suspect they would take less than what I paid for the remaining cars. I am not a very good haggler. Contact is Martin Joseph - [email protected] - 01823 321321 - 1 Priorswood Rd, TA2 8DN. Nice chap and very efficient. I then drove it to my Brother's in Dorset Friday night (charged) then back home 240 miles up the M5, stayed overnight Saturday at my Sister's (charged again), then on Sunday, via M4, North Circular and A10. In the end I used 6 Ecotricity ChaDeMo chargers located at motorway service areas (MSAs) at Bridgewater, Sedgemoor, Aust (by the new Severn Bridge), Membury, Burghfield and Heston. The longest distance travelled was between Heston and home (47 miles) and I had about 3 miles on the range dial remaining - though I gather there's a good 5 miles in 'reserve' at reduced power. Had I done the return, direct, 225 mile trip in one go, it would have taken about 8 hours - 7 if all the chargers had worked. As it was, one at Bridgewater and another at Sedgemoor were not working. I nearly had to queue at Sedgemoor (Leaf). The UK government has made it pretty clear it intends to leave it to the private sector to come up with a national charging infrastructure. PM Cameron is going to have to do something to bolster Ecotricity's valiant fast-charge network efforts if he is serious about EVs. Ecotricity are about the only major player thus far in all this - and they don't charge for their EVSE use - yet. This state of affairs is utterly ludicrous. At a bare minimum EVERY ONE of the 110 existing MSAs plus another 90 or so (to service the non-motorway parts of the country), needs at least 2 ChaDeMo/Level 3 Mennekes/CCS chargers per direction - more as EVs become more common. This would cost barely £4m initially for the chargers - more, obviously, to install them. But not much considering the £500m pot the UK government has already provided for help in buying new EVs in the UK - up to £5k per new EV. Ecotricity have quite a good map of their chargers here... http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/for-the-road/our-electric-highway Meanwhile, in doing any sort of trip that is out of the ordinary, you have to plan, quite carefully, your route, checking up to 4 or more web sites for latest charger status, location etc. If we knew that all the motorway service areas had at least 2 fast chargers, you would not need to plan ahead other than to check the next MSA is within range. Being able to pre-book a charger is a possible angle too. That way, additional charger installations - and their associated costs - cold be minimised. EVers turning up at chargers to find a queue or no charger at all is simply NOT going to work. Of course, given that ChaDeMo chargers are supposed to be phased out of the EU in 2019, what is going to replace them? No sign of the EU version of the CCS yet. I don't think they have even decided a standard. As for the Ion, generally, I am very pleased with the car. It is nicely equipped for such an unprepossessing little thing, comfortable in a basic sort of way, quite nippy and wonderfully smooth to drive. The Ion (and C-Zero) version has only P, R, N and D, as opposed to more flexible regen-optimised 'gear' selector options on the i-Miev, but they have managed to get the Ion's regen to work very well, IMO, with the accelerator and brake pedal - almost seamless. Very easy to pop into N at the lights so you can take your foot off the brake, too. Good lights - the main beams appear to be projector halogens - with equally effective good front and rear fog lights, front running lights and an auto light switch position to bring on side and dipped main beams automatically according to ambient external light. Front (13W) running lights come on with the ignition and are under the same lens as the front fog lights. The rear side and brake lights are LED. It has a high level brake light, again LED. Max acceleration is really quite acceptable. I haven't done my own 0-60 test yet but I gather it can be done in just under 10 seconds with just the driver on board. Charging options are ChaDeMo one one side and J1772 1/2 on the other. So, having done 350 miles or so, some Q's for those who may know... Is there any way to get the US version's remote, cabin pre-conditioning facility on the European version? It must be a simple mod to the car's firmware and suitable radio transmitter/receiver? Likewise, why do we have to sit in the cold when fast-charging? Bearing in mind that the A/C comes on anyway when connected to the ChaDeMo, why can't we have some heat as well? Does anyone have any info on the built-in telematics? I have already bought a OVMS module but not yet fitted it. I gather the standard built-in Peugeot Assistance system has location info (GPS?) already and no doubt other information sent via a built in GSM system. Why can't we access that instead of having to install another system? Any information on installing an alternative entertainment system would be appreciated. There is already an aftermarket bluetooth connected Android app to access the car's CAN bus data - called caniOn... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=emobility.canion&hl=en Would be nice to be able to have it displayed in place of the stock bluetooth-equipped radio - tho it is quite a good one. Has anyone used a Mennekes to J1772 converter to charge their i-miev? When I got stuck on the M5 with a non-functioning Ecotricity ChaDeMo charger a I used a 'non-standard' adaptor cable with the Mennekes side of the 3 phase AC Ecotricity EVSE and, whilst it appeared to work fine, the engineer on their help line asked me to disconnect it saying 'it shouldn't work'... Hmmm. I have a British Gas POLAR EVSE at home which I ordered anticipating buying a Zoe. In the end the Zoe's battery rental was a deal-breaker for me and now that I have the Ion, the 2 are not compatible - tho I am using my 'adaptor' in the meantime to charge normally. It would be a lot easier using the proper 'thing'. Having all that charging info done for you on the POLAR web site (the POLAR EVSE has a GSM linked telematics facility for gathering EV use data for the government) is very helpful. Does anyone have any info on the possibility of timing a charge (ideally remotely) so I can use Eco7 power - short of using a mains timer? I gather, the American version gets this as standard, too. Has anyone wired up a 'dash' cam? Installing the power to the camera behind the rear-view mirror is quite a job.. Is there power any closer than under the dash? If not, any ideas on removing the necessary trim without causing any damage? Does anyone have a workshop manual on a CD? Lastly, is the built-in bluetooth mike located in the rear-view mirror base? 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