Content by EVsince2016 in December, 2025

You can charge via the infotainment connector which is slow or the second / rear chargers which should be better. A cigar lighter USB could be faster but only if a good quality one designed for a mobile, not some cheap one.

I have an MG4 and a MG5 plus Zappi. I usually charge the 5 on solar and the 4 at night, unless there's very strong solar in the summer. Reason being whilst the MG5 is happy to go on/off all day the MG4 just won't. It will do 2 or 3 cycles then shown as charge complete. That's fine if I'm home...

Well as this is the joke thread, I thought I'd tell you something that is a joke but maybe not a "joke" My son's room was stinking of sewage, really bad. We cleaned his bathroom, checked his clothes, washed his bedding but it still stunk like a sewer. I sat on the sofa wondering, did I install...

I've been an EV driver for 10 years and travel abroad, as in the list below. Public charging should be easy, just avoid British motorways during holiday / summer weekends!

I would do that on a granny lead once about 98% is reached.

I have solar, Zappi & IO + 2x EVs for over 3 years. You do have to plan a bit sometimes when long trips are required or both cars need a same day charge, especially in winter on a weekday. Otherwise, no issues 7kW x 6 hours a night x 7 nights = 294 kWh or 7350 miles plus solar added

We need to be very serious here. Thumbs up increase my monthly contributions score but laughing apparently doesn't seem to. Very serious . . . .

which one is you?

I have a myenergi setup for solar, EV charging & hot water, but of course that doesn't speak to my EVs, solar thermal or pellet stove and doesn't know what the weather forecast is. It also can't link to Hive for my heating or my weather station or know my HWT temperatures. Just a link to mt 3...

If you have solar, sometimes you use 100% of spare solar to charge, sometimes you use that solar elsewhere, say on hot water, sometimes you blend grid & solar, sometimes you use IO grid & solar all in one day. It all depends on your needs. I don't yet have a home battery but do have 2 EVs and...

It just doesn't work like that!

That's a tad ruthless! So, me with solar who has to switch IO off to use solar because they don't have an integration solution yet. What do I do? When IO loses comms, what do I do? Internet down, then what? I have a granny charger, could add a second charger. If you do not use smart charge...

This is the charging map for Morocco. It does show where you could realistically get. They're also on Electromaps but not Electroverse. Furthest south charger is almost within reach of Western Sahara!

There are already 2, a dumb (Go) and smart (IO Go). It's just that IO Go is cheaper!

I was thinking, how far could I reasonably and safely drive my MG5. North is easy, Nordkapp in Norway. Plenty of chargers, super easy. What about West? Well, it's Latrabjarg in Iceland, accessible by ferry from Denmark. OK if you are up for 3 nights on a ferry in the North Atlantic Then...

Thise payments are somewhat higher than for my 0% interest MG5 PCP ending its 4 years and the balloon is similar.

I just adapt / adjust for my EVs having different temperaments & battery sizes. All timers / controls are off, except when I switch off smart charge then Zappis gets a night timer option turned on for the hours I need each night.

I did the maths, and the value of my car is higher than the final payment (just) with all the extras, mileage penalty, etc so I'm keeping it. Anyways, I want it to become my most travelled car of all time!

I've driven my MG5 when it's so dark, it's hard to see going under bridges and dense trees. Still those damn light don't come on; it has to be very dark. Where do I need to stick some tinting to help it along?

I can tell you the Alps, Pyrenees and Spanish mountains do keep you on your toes for range. I did manage over 100kms for zero energy coming down from the Stelvio (2760m) to Lake Como.

Oops, I've changed the headlights, tinted the windows, added a frunk, couple of dents and exceeded the miles by over 10%. The PCP expires this month . . . . .

Sure, China is happy. Daft European manufacturers trying to hang onto ICEs, giving them a bigger lead in the long term. I wonder who makes all those critical components needed for ICE manufacturing . . . . .

Just watched the boss speech. Hope all gets sorted

It used to pretty much give fixed night slots, minus the old popular 00:30-01:30 slot. It has changed over time, probably the most about a year ago.

My MG5 copes with all the on/off sessions OK. The MG4 needed single slots, but since the software update in its last service it can cope with 2 or 3 sessions but no more.

Roof rack works best, ideally without cross rails and a couple of wooden battens each end to keep it flat. Works for me.

Cleevely is just up the road too, you don't have to use their mobile service. Unit 41b Lansdown Industrial Estate, Cheltenham GL51 8PS Gives you a day or a few hours in Cheltenham which is nice

I am on my third EV charger. On each occasion new regs made the installation more expensive, a lot more expensive. Your current setup most likely will need a lot of additional electrical works to meet the new regs. Extra earthing, grid supply switch / fuse upgrade, metal switch box with surge...

I emailed them over a year ago about abuse loopholes in IO Go and got an equally silly answer! Fortunately, I have access to those who know. Unfortunately, the quality of recruits today is dire. We are overrun with armchair experts on social media criticizing those who do whilst doing nowt...

I contacted Octopus regarding the solar conflict with charging time and got their respose "Hi there, I would advise to manually set the charging on the solar to the guaranteed off peak time of 11:30pm-5:30am. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to get in touch with...

quoted as midday to midday by Phil Steele on X, not been on that for months! Just chatting with Phil Steele now and solar / battery set ups are an issue. Maybe allowing an add 0% by time would work instead of switching off smart charging. Quote: - "Obviously don't want to bill the car...

my latest ready by time remains at 11am

If you plug in at 7am and requested 4 hours you can get the 4 hours then, applied to the previous night slot, usually on a windy / sunny Sunday morning. Usually though, you get the following night. I know because I do plugin early for solar, and turn smart off when it allocates an early slot.

Except that is a breach of the terms & conditions!

But back to my issue, charging off solar when slots allocated.

I'm on deemed 50% export but use nearly all of it, so profit

My problem with this, is not the 6 hours of time limit but how it works with solar. Currently when charging on solar, Octopus often choose to allocate charging slots when I'm on solar. The indication is that if I charge on solar all day, I will no longer get the cheap rate at night on Go. Any...

I just received an email stating Octopus Go Intelligent will now be limited to 6 hours a day at cheap rates " Thanks for choosing Intelligent Octopus Go to power your home and charge your car. Since we launched Octopus Go over 7 years ago, we’ve invested millions in unlocking the power of...

That does depend very much on how many tipping points are triggered. Climate change (as in weakened Atlantic currents) has just triggered an unprecedented polar vortex collapse & extreme SSW (sudden stratospheric warming) event, on 26/11/2025 to be precise. North America will experience the...

It takes more energy to manufacture synthetic snake oil or H2 than it does to power an EV. Cars have a shelf life of 10-15 years and we are going slower than that.