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MG4 Range

Interesting. Was convinced the LFP pack in my SR was particularly wasteful at low temps but maybe it ain't so different.
Having said that, I get a marked difference in efficiency even with no cabin or battery heater running when comparing the first few miles to the rest of a journey.
Even say on an 8 mile round trip - 3.5 m kWh there, reset trip, 4.5 on return being typical.
 
Interesting. Was convinced the LFP pack in my SR was particularly wasteful at low temps but maybe it ain't so different.
Having said that, I get a marked difference in efficiency even with no cabin or battery heater running when comparing the first few miles to the rest of a journey.
Even say on an 8 mile round trip - 3.5 m kWh there, reset trip, 4.5 on return being typical.
Battery usage regardless of the underlying chemistry produces heat, so it would invariably improve cold weather performance the more you use a decent amount of power.
 
That is interesting. I charged the car yesterday to 96% and the app said it would give 211 miles range. And the outside temperature was about 11C.
This morning it is -4C and the app gives the range as 198 miles with the battery at 96. Didn't realise that the app factored in the temperature when calculating the range. Quite clever.
 
I am doing a lot of longer journeys of late. These are mainly motorway journeys, and around 350-to-450-mile round trips. I am getting a solid 200 miles indicated on the night-time leg (colder) and 220 miles indicated on the day-time leg. Quite happy with this, especially given the charging speeds on ultra-rapid chargers. I also managed to pull 9.6kw on a three-phase AC public charger recently, which surprised me (see attached photo).

My journey and strategy for the long trips is as follows:
  • Leave home on 100% SoC from home charging
  • A 'splash and dash' charge when I take a comfort break or stop for a bite to eat after around 2 hours (up to 15 mins or so elapsed time)
  • A rapid charge to 60 - 70% on arrival at my destination (up to 15 mins or so elapsed time) followed by a fast charge whilst the car is parked. If I were staying at my destination overnight, the rapid charge would not be necessary
  • Leave destination with 100% SoC
  • A 'splash and dash' charge when I take a comfort break or stop for a bit to eat (10-15 mins or so elapsed time)

Yesterday's journey was 448 miles and I used the following (ignoring diff between total and usable battery capacity i.e. 64 kWh and 61.7kWh):

Home charging to 100% - 64 kWh
Rapid Charging - 53kWh
AC charging - 29 kWh
SoC on return 19% - 12 kWh

kWh's used 134 (64+53+29-12)
Distance covered 448 miles (according to Google Maps not the cars trip computer)
Calculated miles per kWh 3.34

As a final scenario, based on the data above, even if you assume I arrived home with zero SoC, which I didn't of course, the miles per kWh would still be just over 3.0. And, if you multiply usable battery capacity of 61.7 by the calculated miles kWh from above, the total range is 206 miles.

The above strategy comfortably gets me too and from my destination with lots of 'buffer' miles in the battery. I have been using Bonnet charging exclusively for my rapid charging and at my destination I use a Be.EV AC charger. I am hopeful in the warmer months I will need a little less public charging.

I can also comment on the comfort of the car on longer journeys, given I am spending up to 10 hours driving in a 24-hour window. From my personal perspective I can say the seats and general comfort are as good as my previous cars (EV and ICE). The infotainment system glitches are irritating and hopefully they get sorted soon but if someone asked me to mark the car out of 10, I would award it a solid 9, all things considered.

UPDATE: I've just reworked the maths since I had omitted one of the small rapid charges in error. I also totalled up the cost of the journey and it was £52.20 for public charging and £4.80 for home charging, making a total of £57. This equates to 12.7 pence per mile.
Don't know if others have found this but having now done over 3,000 miles in my MG4 Trophy the efficiency of the car is definitely improving. I have been driving the same journey multiple times of late with similar traffic and weather conditions so although not a scientific test its certainly close enough.

I managed 3.9 miles per kWh on Saturday for a journey only a week or so ago was averaging 3.34. The journey is largely motorway with an average speed for the entire journey showing 49MPH. The return leg averaged 3.4 miles per kWh as its much colder in the evening. I'm wondering what is improving the efficiency. Same with a shorter journey today at minus 3 Celsius, I managed to achieve 3.4 mpkWh on a 40-mile roundtrip that in mild weather was averaging similar efficiency. Does the battery need to go through a number of charge/discharge cycles to reach its optimum capacity? I thought not with Lithium EV batteries cells. Maybe there is some intelligence in the BMS that improves range over time as it 'learns' how the car is used? Strange but welcome phenomenon.
 
Most domestic items ive bought with lithium cells in it have stated that 3 or so charge cycles are needed to bring up capacity from new.
 
Just got back to Bristol from a trip to the lovely Burnham on Sea. Round trip of about 72 miles in freezing temperatures. Overall 4.1 miles/kW which was pretty good. I drove along the A38 and not M5 in Normal Mode Regeneration Setting 3. HVAC on temperature 24C, blower on 2/3 and sometimes needed the rear screen heater on.

The only downside is that the car is now filthy from the dirty roads.
Such a lovely car to drive.
 
Don't know if others have found this but having now done over 3,000 miles in my MG4 Trophy the efficiency of the car is definitely improving. I have been driving the same journey multiple times of late with similar traffic and weather conditions so although not a scientific test its certainly close enough.

I managed 3.9 miles per kWh on Saturday for a journey only a week or so ago was averaging 3.34. The journey is largely motorway with an average speed for the entire journey showing 49MPH. The return leg averaged 3.4 miles per kWh as its much colder in the evening. I'm wondering what is improving the efficiency. Same with a shorter journey today at minus 3 Celsius, I managed to achieve 3.4 mpkWh on a 40-mile roundtrip that in mild weather was averaging similar efficiency. Does the battery need to go through a number of charge/discharge cycles to reach its optimum capacity? I thought not with Lithium EV batteries cells. Maybe there is some intelligence in the BMS that improves range over time as it 'learns' how the car is used? Strange but welcome phenomenon.
I have noticed with new laptops, phones and whatnot, batteries seem to have a 'break in' period where run time does tend to improve for a bit before ageing and cycling start to reverse this.
If this is happening on your car however, it wouldn't change your miles / kWh, but might lengthen your predicted and actual range a tad.
Wind speed and temp will likely be having by far the biggest influence though IMO
 
I have noticed with new laptops, phones and whatnot, batteries seem to have a 'break in' period where run time does tend to improve for a bit before ageing and cycling start to reverse this.
If this is happening on your car however, it wouldn't change your miles / kWh, but might lengthen your predicted and actual range a tad.
Wind speed and temp will likely be having by far the biggest influence though IMO
Plus weight of right foot. ;)
 
Here is a range comparison of a Norwegian automobile club, testing the real life range in the winter - at temperatures between 0°C and -19°C. Quite surprisingly MG vehicles do very well. VAG products and the Germans in general are rather mediocre to say the least.

Article in German from an Austrian paper. Not much text anyway.

 
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Having broken* the car (Trophy) in with 800 miles under its belt, this is what I'm getting now, with it being 10 degrees outside.

What are other's like?

* have also stopped 'testing' the acceleration and drive smoothly for the last few hundred miles.
 
I've posted something that may be of interest in a new thread on Exceeding Potential Range.

 

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