Complete newbie seeking advice

I’m completely new to driving an electric car (just 48 hrs in) and am finding it a little overwhelming. Can anybody share their experience in terms of the best mode and regen settings please, I had it in eco mode earlier and setting 2 but the windows were fogging up and I was freezing, not sure if it’s related or not but any words of wisdom appreciated as today was fairly mild so what I’ll do first thing in the morning when it’s cold is a bit worrying.

Normal mode to enable the heater/ aircon to work properly and configure to airflow for the windscreen and feet works well for me and regen 3 , you get used to the one pedal driving very quickly

Hi pam24 and welcome to the forum, and the world of EV driving. You might find this thread useful;


Also, if you type a subject into the search function top right, you can find lots of help.

pam24 said:

I’m completely new to driving an electric car (just 48 hrs in) and am finding it a little overwhelming. Can anybody share their experience in terms of the best mode and regen settings please, I had it in eco mode earlier and setting 2 but the windows were fogging up and I was freezing, not sure if it’s related or not but any words of wisdom appreciated as today was fairly mild so what I’ll do first thing in the morning when it’s cold is a bit worrying.

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Hi and welcome to the forum.
Your avatar says you are driving a MG4 but you have posted in the ZS part of the forum.
People use all sorts of various driving modesxand regeneration levels, just try out different settings based on your driving style and road conditions. One size does not fit all.

Add 4 degrees to whatever temperature you think you want.

Hi Pam. Welcome. I'm also from Nottingham so I may see you around. You might like to try my Guide.

Grriff said:

Hi Pam. Welcome. I'm also from Nottingham so I may see you around. You might like to try my Guide.

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Thanks, I’ll certainly take a look I’ll be the one in silver looking confused!!!

SimonS said:

Add 4 degrees to whatever temperature you think you want.

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Turn it down one degree and it feels like it’s gone off!

I prefer normal mode with a good temperature setting for enjoying comfort. I just used all the default settings.

For achieving higher efficiency in winter, I started to use ECO mode 4 months ago. What I achieved? I used less energy in freezing cold. My ZSEVLR efficiency is 3.9miles/kWh for 3900miles @ cost of 1000kWh £200 in first 12 months.

I bought my ZS trophy for luxury and safety. I will enjoy my car with more comfort next year instead of achieving higher efficiency.

I heat or cool on normal setting until the temp is comfortable then switch to Eco and turn down heating or switch off a/c. That way I travel in the comfort I want but with the highest efficiency I can get for that comfort. I also select clothing that assists in being the right level of comfort. That costs nothing.

pam24 said:

I’m completely new to driving an electric car (just 48 hrs in) and am finding it a little overwhelming. Can anybody share their experience in terms of the best mode and regen settings please, I had it in eco mode earlier and setting 2 but the windows were fogging up and I was freezing, not sure if it’s related or not but any words of wisdom appreciated as today was fairly mild so what I’ll do first thing in the morning when it’s cold is a bit worrying.

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Hi and welcome. The main thing is to enjoy the car and not worry. I keep my car in normal, adjust the temperature to whatever, have the air circulation coming from outside. If the windscreen fogs use the demister button and it soon goes. I do not worry about the mileage and charge when I need to. The best advice anyone can give is ENJOY the car and stop worrying about range anxiety.

Well, you do have the LR which helps. My gen1 with 160 miles is fine locally, no problems at all.
Going to Cornwall say, or Norfolk, both of which I do regularly, can be awkward, especially in winter.
But with a bit of determination and planning, it is ok.

Nicko said:

Hi and welcome. The main thing is to enjoy the car and not worry. I keep my car in normal, adjust the temperature to whatever, have the air circulation coming from outside. If the windscreen fogs use the demister button and it soon goes. I do not worry about the mileage and charge when I need to. The best advice anyone can give is ENJOY the car and stop worrying about range anxiety.

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Thanks, I think I will feel better once I have my charger fitted at home, until then I’m going to do granny charger from 6pm to 7am with a faster charge at a charge point at the weekends hopefully that should keep me going.

pam24 said:

Thanks, I think I will feel better once I have my charger fitted at home, until then I’m going to do granny charger from 6pm to 7am with a faster charge at a charge point at the weekends hopefully that should keep me going.

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Be very very careful with granny chargers, as 10 AMP (2.3 kW) isn't enough to blow the fuse, but can get the plug very hot (due to the UK 13 A fuse). This is what happened to mine in recent times (after only 1/2 hr of charging - luckily I was working in the same area and located the burning smell within 5 mins ) - yes it wasn't the MG charger as such, but an extension lead rated at 3.0 kW, which the MG charger was plugged into.

Tig170 said:

Be very very careful with granny chargers, as 10 AMP (2.3Kw) isnt enough to blow the fuse, but can get the plug very hot (due to the UK 13A fuse). This is what happened to mine in recent times (after only 1/2 hr of charging - luckly I was working in the same area and located the burning smell within 5 mins ) - yes it wasn't the MG charger as such, but an extension lead rated at 3.0kW, which the MG charger was plugged into.

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That does look scary, thank goodness you were around to spot it. I’ve just spent £60 on a heavy duty extension with RCD protection so I’m hoping it will be up to the task but I will make sure the first few times I use it are during daytime hours so that I can keep checking, somebody also suggested using the socket that your cooker uses as this is likely to be more able to cope with it.

pam24 said:

That does look scary, thank goodness you were around to spot it. I’ve just spent £60 on a heavy duty extension with RCD protection so I’m hoping it will be up to the task but I will make sure the first few times I use it are during daytime hours so that I can keep checking, somebody also suggested using the socket that your cooker uses as this is likely to be more able to cope with it.

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Make sure the extension cable is fully reeled out as a coiled one can cause a fire!

Cooker sockets are usually fed via a thicker cable and a bigger fuse in the consumer unit. So better than a socket on a ring circuit. Plus you never know (without dismantling things you can't tell) if you are plugging into a spur which could be fed with a single 2.5mm twin and earth rated at 16amps (in open air, not embedded into plaster) which is fused at 30 amps!!!

RCD only protects if the Residual current leaks to earth. It won't stop what happened above! My guess is that the above fuse melting was due to either an oxidised fuse (poor connection - high resistance) or a lose fuse holder causing a high resistance connection which then heats up and melts which makes a worse connection and creates more heat and so on.

Personally I would either have a dedicated socket installed by a suitably qualified electrician or a home charger professionally installed. If you need to use a granny charger check all connection points for heat and ideally don't leave it unattended and check your smoke alarm batteries are working.

pam24 said:

I’m completely new to driving an electric car (just 48 hrs in) and am finding it a little overwhelming. Can anybody share their experience in terms of the best mode and regen settings please, I had it in eco mode earlier and setting 2 but the windows were fogging up and I was freezing, not sure if it’s related or not but any words of wisdom appreciated as today was fairly mild so what I’ll do first thing in the morning when it’s cold is a bit worrying.

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I think overwhelming part of it isn't it being electric.

I think everything you mention are MG issues with unclear regen settings and pants HVAC default settings.

pam24 said:

I’m completely new to driving an electric car (just 48 hrs in) and am finding it a little overwhelming. Can anybody share their experience in terms of the best mode and regen settings please, I had it in eco mode earlier and setting 2 but the windows were fogging up and I was freezing, not sure if it’s related or not but any words of wisdom appreciated as today was fairly mild so what I’ll do first thing in the morning when it’s cold is a bit worrying.

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I pretty much leave mode normal, regen at 3 and use ac, heating in exactly the same way as an ICE car. Make use of preheat on cold mornings and just enjoy the car.

jusher said:

I pretty much leave mode normal, regen at 3 and use ac, heating in exactly the same way as an ICE car. Make use of preheat on cold mornings and just enjoy the car.

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This is what I’ve been doing and it’s been much better so thanks for the advice.

pam24 said:

I’m completely new to driving an electric car (just 48 hrs in) and am finding it a little overwhelming. Can anybody share their experience in terms of the best mode and regen settings please, I had it in eco mode earlier and setting 2 but the windows were fogging up and I was freezing, not sure if it’s related or not but any words of wisdom appreciated as today was fairly mild so what I’ll do first thing in the morning when it’s cold is a bit worrying.

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We have the Mk1 ZS Exclusive and the MK2 ZS Trophy LR. They both mist up and it is easy to clear them using the demist but it is really noisy using the fan at high speed when the cars are normally so quiet plus the fan uses a lot of power. I now treat the inside of the windows with Rainex Anti Fog a couple of times a year and the glass stays relatively clear. When it is cold we use the heated seats and set the fan speed to the lowest setting with the temperature set at a comfortable level. We find that it does not affect the range as much that way. We always use eco and KERS 3 and it works well for us. I have seen people saying that the heating etc does not work very well in eco but it does for us and the wife sets the heating a lot higher than I do so when we are travelling together I lower my window for a few seconds to cool down. I have also read that it is best to use KERS 3 town driving and KERS 1 on the motorway but when we tried it we seemed to get less range so we never tried it again. It all depends on how you drive and you tend to get your own feel after a while. If we are doing a long trip we tend to stop when we need the toilet etc. We plug in go to the toilet grab a coffee and back to the car and we are usually over the 80% and drive off and carry on until we need another stop. If all the chargers are full or there is a queue then we just check zapmap for the next charger on our trip. This method works great for us and we have only once had to wait to connect. I must add that we are both retired so we have no need to get from a to b as fast as possible. This method did not work when we got the Mk1 as the range was shorter and not as many chargers but with an almost 50% increase in charge points added around the UK in the last 12 months it is now quite easy. It is always best to plan your route and adapt as you go along until you get past the range anxiety issues. Hope this helps, I forgot to mention that you can start the car and turn the heating on using the app if you have the MK2 and if you do it while it is on charge then your car is nice and warm and you are still at the charge you set it for. We have never used this function so we cannot say my info is 100% correct starting it with the app. Enjoy the car.