Vehicle Control System Fault - caused by charger ?

[Lovemyev]

Pictures of the issue

Make name of charger was you using ?.
Did it refuse to collect a charge, or was the cable locked into the car ?.
If so, how did the AA guy release it and did they try disconnecting the 12 volt battery ?.

 

[ryanoneill1970]

Oh. So the new one has issues too. I got the runaround from MG when I tried to get them to listen. They know something is up but just fob you off. They're going to have to take it serious with the numbers they are selling.

Keep us updated.

 

[Filipr]

Make name of charger was you using ?.
Did it refuse to collect a charge, or was the cable locked into the car ?.
If so, how did the AA guy release it and did they try disconnecting the 12 volt battery ?.

I did use a Genie point. The car refused any charge. The battery wasn't released as I wasn't aware of that resolution at a time. The dealership told me they do not upgrade software, done on Monday and the same thing happened yesterday.

 

[Filipr]

Oh. So the new one has issues too. I got the runaround from MG when I tried to get them to listen. They know something is up but just fob you off. They're going to have to take it serious with the numbers they are selling.

Keep us updated.

Got a message from dealership:

it’s a software problem linked to rapid charging, which MG are aware of. I am waiting on a reply from MG on how to sort this issue out, I’ll let you know this afternoon on how we are getting on.

 

[Lovemyev]

Got a message from dealership:

it’s a software problem linked to rapid charging, which MG are aware of. I am waiting on a reply from MG on how to sort this issue out, I’ll let you know this afternoon on how we are getting on.

I am not a big user of rapid chargers myself, but I seem to remember that other users have experienced issues when using the Genie point rapids ?.
Pretty common at Morrisons super markets I think ?.
I am sure somebody will confirm / deny my understanding with issues on this type of unit.
Daft question I know, but have you tried the car on one of the more reliable rapids like Instavolt one’s ?.
Please keep us informed on your progress !.

 

[Bazzer44]

Used both Engie/Genie and Delta with no problems to date , fingers crossed , so think it could be the specific located machines

 

[Filipr]

Update from garage:

"So far so good, we have reset the VCU and we briefly put the car on a rapid charger at our local 60 kw charge source with no issues. We are currently draining the HV battery system to try the car from a lower charge point setting to establish that the rapid charge point causes no issues with your car."

Spoke to genie as well and they said they had some issues with some new cars, they pushed a new software which should resolve past problems. Always advise to call them if any issue as they can collect a data.

 

[Lovemyev]

Update from garage:

"So far so good, we have reset the VCU and we briefly put the car on a rapid charger at our local 60 kw charge source with no issues. We are currently draining the HV battery system to try the car from a lower charge point setting to establish that the rapid charge point causes no issues with your car."

Spoke to genie as well and they said they had some issues with some new cars, they pushed a new software which should resolve past problems. Always advise to call them if any issue as they can collect a data.

Thanks for providing the feedback !.

 

[Filipr]

Another message from dealership:


"This afternoon has been a bit hit and miss. We have used two 60kw rapid charging sources at different locations and the car has proceeded to charge, however on one occasion when we plugged the car in while it was in ‘engine running mode’ it did fault with the VCU message displayed and stopped charging and wouldn’t re-start and we had to reset the car with the MG diagnostics laptop. We have relayed this info back to MG in the last few minutes to understand this issue. I will get a reply in the morning

In my mind it’s either a software issue (still) or there may be a fault that needs to be understood and found, no doubt the info and downloaded data. "

 

[Lovemyev]

Another message from dealership:


"This afternoon has been a bit hit and miss. We have used two 60kw rapid charging sources at different locations and the car has proceeded to charge, however on one occasion when we plugged the car in while it was in ‘engine running mode’ it did fault with the VCU message displayed and stopped charging and wouldn’t re-start and we had to reset the car with the MG diagnostics laptop. We have relayed this info back to MG in the last few minutes to understand this issue. I will get a reply in the morning

In my mind it’s either a software issue (still) or there may be a fault that needs to be understood and found, no doubt the info and downloaded data. "

Their is still a small problem ( which they accept ) with the car.
Please keep us informed !.

 

[Deleted member 7171]

It's a pity you did't know about the disconnecting the 12 volt battery before @Filipr .... Sorry if I'm going over old ground but have you seen this? Fwd to about 4mins 20s to bypass the preamble or not if you want to watch the rest.

 

[rbpasapera]

Another message from dealership:

however on one occasion when we plugged the car in while it was in ‘engine running mode’ it did fault with the VCU message displayed and stopped charging

But you shouldn't plug the car in whilst it's running or in ready mode, IMO.

 

[Filipr]

It's a pity you did't know about the disconnecting the 12 volt battery before @Filipr .... Sorry if I'm going over old ground but have you seen this? Fwd to about 4mins 20s to bypass the preamble or not if you want to watch the rest.

I did watch a video but why I should have a 10mm spanner considering the car is less than a week and cost over 31k. One day that option might do not work but more people raise issues quicker MG will investigate and resolve a problem. Nothing pity, if anything could connect obd device to clear a error message but that is not a point.

 

[Deleted member 7171]

I agree it shouldn't happen to a brand new car.

However, this type of fault is not exclusively an MG issue. There are plenty of examples of very similar issues with other EV makes, including my current make (Peugeot) where the 10mm spanner resolves the problem and gets you on the road immediately.

As the issue is not just affecting MGs, and affects cars costing well above £31k, perhaps it is - as mentioned in the video - the rapid charger being used when the fault occurs that needs further investigation. I have a sneaky feeling your garage will not give you a definitive answer that indicates the car was at fault.

EVs and the expertise of those maintaining them is, compared to ICE vehicles, in it's infancy. I suspect the vast majority of technicians maintaining ICE vehicles will be driving ICE vehicles, and it's very, very likely EV technicians will be driving an ICE vehicle also. So it follows that it will will take time for expertise to grow and we, as experienced EV drivers, will be front and centre when it comes to enhancing our and to some extent their knowledge base too.

Maybe it might help the knowledge base if dealerships gave a company EV to their master technician to let him gain hands on day to day experience of driving the EV platform?

 

[Gadget Geek]

EV's need a Ctrl-Alt-Delete button on the infotainment screen.

 

[Filipr]

I agree it shouldn't happen to a brand new car.

However, this type of fault is not exclusively an MG issue. There are plenty of examples of very similar issues with other EV makes, including my current make (Peugeot) where the 10mm spanner resolves the problem and gets you on the road immediately.

As the issue is not just affecting MGs, and affects cars costing well above £31k, perhaps it is - as mentioned in the video - the rapid charger being used when the fault occurs that needs further investigation. I have a sneaky feeling your garage will not give you a definitive answer that indicates the car was at fault.

EVs and the expertise of those maintaining them is, compared to ICE vehicles, in it's infancy. I suspect the vast majority of technicians maintaining ICE vehicles will be driving ICE vehicles, and it's very, very likely EV technicians will be driving an ICE vehicle also. So it follows that it will will take time for expertise to grow and we, as experienced EV drivers, will be front and centre when it comes to enhancing our and to some extent their knowledge base too.

Maybe it might help the knowledge base if dealerships gave a company EV to their master technician to let him gain hands on day to day experience of driving the EV platform?

My argument is charger might be faulty but the car shouldn't become a brick. I honestly think tesla got a huge advantage as their superchargers network is years ahead of everyone else.

 

[Deleted member 7171]

My argument is charger might be faulty but the car shouldn't become a brick. I honestly think tesla got a huge advantage as their superchargers network is years ahead of everyone else.

I suppose it's like my USB C Samsung charger that came with my tablet, it fast charges my tablet but only slow charges my Nokia phone. Horses for courses.

 

[Filipr]

Mg message:

Good news so far, your car worked with no issues on the rapid charger, and it charged from 60-90% in around 30 mins or so (I wasn’t timing it sorry)



I am pestering MG for clarification on the VCU issue and the only time your car has faulted with us was yesterday, when we put the car on the 60kw rapid charger whilst it was ‘running’ the car failed with us.



To clarify, the car must be turned off and you must wait at least 10 seconds before connecting a rapid charger and depending on the charger you are using you may have to go back in the car, switch the ignition on to activate the media screen and tell the car to ‘start charging’ using the button on the display. We found that it was the same for the identical vehicle we took to charge on the 60kw charger. If you put the car on a 7kw charger it will start charging straight away with no issues.

 

[JCFlippen]

Mg message:

Good news so far, your car worked with no issues on the rapid charger, and it charged from 60-90% in around 30 mins or so (I wasn’t timing it sorry)



I am pestering MG for clarification on the VCU issue and the only time your car has faulted with us was yesterday, when we put the car on the 60kw rapid charger whilst it was ‘running’ the car failed with us.



To clarify, the car must be turned off and you must wait at least 10 seconds before connecting a rapid charger and depending on the charger you are using you may have to go back in the car, switch the ignition on to activate the media screen and tell the car to ‘start charging’ using the button on the display. We found that it was the same for the identical vehicle we took to charge on the 60kw charger. If you put the car on a 7kw charger it will start charging straight away with no issues.

Impressive contact with your dealer - who do you use?

 

[Filipr]

Hopefully car due to be returned to me shortly