Disappointing range indication

I bought my MG4 EV SR in January and have been very happy with it other than for the range. I went for the SR as the stated range was 350km. Not that cold here in Dublin at the moment hovering between 7-9C each day. My car is charged to 100% each night on the LFP and is reading 100% charged with an indicated range of 230/240km every time. Thats over 100km down or only 67% of the stated 350km . Thats seems to be a massive way off when the weather is not particulalry cold. Is this normal for the SR or have I a battery issue. The car has never been on a forecourt fast charger since I bought it, charged on the home wall box only.

The range displayed maybe inaccurate. Have you run it down to under 5% to see how many kms it has covered at that percentage?

It's an estimate. Not really a real world figure. That said 7-9 centigrades are considered cold'ish.
I highly doubt you have a faulty battery

Sherodub said:

I bought my MG4 EV SR in January and have been very happy with it other than for the range. I went for the SR as the stated range was 350km. Not that cold here in Dublin at the moment hovering between 7-9C each day. My car is charged to 100% each night on the LFP and is reading 100% charged with an indicated range of 230/240km every time. Thats over 100km down or only 67% of the stated 350km . Thats seems to be a massive way off when the weather is not particulalry cold. Is this normal for the SR or have I a battery issue. The car has never been on a forecourt fast charger since I bought it, charged on the home wall box only.

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Also try resetting your total trip counter. If you see a big step forward in range, it's down to your driving style (and temperature)

WLTP range is determined at 20+ Celsius ... 7-9C is way colder.

Tuareg said:

The range displayed maybe inaccurate. Have you run it down to under 5% to see how many kms it has covered at that percentage?

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Haven't been brave enough to run it that low yet

webhiker said:

Also try resetting your total trip counter. If you see a big step forward in range, it's down to your driving style (and temperature)

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Good shout, could be lead foot syndrome from learned driving style. Ill try reset.

Reset your accumulated total as suggested first.
Then make sure you leave the car to equalise after charging to 100%
Then drive it until it reaches 8% at which point you will come back here and tell us what range you got and all the stats from the accumulated total once again

Seriously, just read this. It will be fine when the weather gets warmer.


I was seeing 100% range estimates of around 200 miles in summer. I'm down to around 150 at the moment. Having said that, the worst I have seen has been 145 miles (232 km). That's without any heating on.

Sherodub said:

I bought my MG4 EV SR in January and have been very happy with it other than for the range. I went for the SR as the stated range was 350km. Not that cold here in Dublin at the moment hovering between 7-9C each day. My car is charged to 100% each night on the LFP and is reading 100% charged with an indicated range of 230/240km every time. Thats over 100km down or only 67% of the stated 350km . Thats seems to be a massive way off when the weather is not particulalry cold. Is this normal for the SR or have I a battery issue. The car has never been on a forecourt fast charger since I bought it, charged on the home wall box only.

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Few vehicles achieve their stated economy/range, petrol and diesel cars can be 15-20% below the claims:

This is due to unrealistic official testing cycles. EVs are no different, but you notice it much more because EVs have a significantly shorter range.

My Trophy LR gets about 240 miles in summer, which is 85% of its claimed range.
Winter is typically 20-30% less. I achieve around 200 miles in winter, although I can stretch this a bit by how I drive.

Biggest factor to increase range is reduce top speed, drive at 60-65 on the motorway, for example and use ECO mode.

You’re far from the first person to be confused by this and it’s not your fault either. WLTP range figures are nonsense on all car.

WLTP x 0.8 in summer and 0.7 in winter is probably a more realistic estimate of range.

The thing is, if you know about this and buy a car with enough range to cover your daily needs in winter, comfortably, you'll be fine. The problem is when they don't explain this to people until they've bought the car. I did 120 miles yesterday, which is still quite comfortable for the SR in winter, it was fine. But if I hadn't known in advance I might have been quite cross.

Another trick is to try to leave the car on a type 2 charger while you're at your destination. That was my plan B for yesterday, and I could have been at 100% when I set off for home, but I realised it wasn't necessary. (Then as I climbed higher and higher into the multi-storey looking for a parking space I started to wonder if bagging one of the charger spots on the ground floor might not have been a good idea after all...)

Today I’ve seen the best Miles per KWh since I’ve had the car.

It’s a regular trip I do in various weather conditions. Yesterday it was colder than today ( don’t know exact temperature ) & it was driven with light rain, when I got back I averaged 3.8 miles per kWh

Today is definitely milder, turned the heater off & actually had window open on return journey & it wasn’t raining but roads were damp in places

Journey going out, 4.7 miles per kWh

When I got back, 4.8 miles per kWh

Both days the car was in Normal Mode, Regen 3,

This I was happy with

Temperature today was 12°

Sherodub said:

I bought my MG4 EV SR in January and have been very happy with it other than for the range. I went for the SR as the stated range was 350km. Not that cold here in Dublin at the moment hovering between 7-9C each day. My car is charged to 100% each night on the LFP and is reading 100% charged with an indicated range of 230/240km every time. Thats over 100km down or only 67% of the stated 350km . Thats seems to be a massive way off when the weather is not particulalry cold. Is this normal for the SR or have I a battery issue. The car has never been on a forecourt fast charger since I bought it, charged on the home wall box only.

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We've probably all been thought the OMFG what have I done buying this car moment, can I have my old car back please. Learning to drive is a learning process, living with an EV is quite a learning process as well - but worth it and you only have to do it once.

I think a big question is not driving style but what are your typical journeys each day? Are you driving it to or beyond range each day up and down motorways at 120kph or doing 40km in stop start traffic up a 1 in 4 hill several times over?

I'm in a very undulating part of the SW UK and if we use the car for little stop starts all day up and down hill, heating the car on a short journey and getting out just as its warmed up and leaving it for an hour then doing the same again and again - we'd be lucky to see 160km range. But I'm confident even at this time of year of driving 240km and arriving with 20% battery remaining. I know EVs are far better than ICE in slow traffic, but certain journey cycles kill the range of both ICE and EV.

Does poor economy matter because you won't have enough range between overnight charges or because of the cost? I know that if I do lots of killer uneconomic cycles I'm possibly paying 0.04euro per mile but if I go on a longer outing I'll be back at the sweetie spot of 0.02 pound/euro per mile

You only charge at home, do you have cheap overnight tariffs for EVs in the RoI?

I suppose I'm saying short journey killer cycles are not necessarily indicative of range on long cruises.

Rolfe said:

I was seeing 100% range estimates of around 200 miles in summer. I'm down to around 150 at the moment. Having said that, the worst I have seen has been 145 miles (232 km). That's without any heating on.

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Thats what I'm seeing also (same 50Kw battery), between summer & winter on ours, its also (just like an ICE car) dependant on speed you are going, as the basic laws of physics apply in that drag Force is a function of Velocity ^ 2 (velocity squared), if you go on the 2 extremes (of a cold winter & warm summer) in that (at 2miles / Kwh) at a min = you'll get your battery percentage in miles left, and at a max (at 4miles/ Kwh) = you'll get twice your percentage in miles left.

Adam C said:

Today I’ve seen the best Miles per KWh since I’ve had the car.

It’s a regular trip I do in various weather conditions. Yesterday it was colder than today ( don’t know exact temperature ) & it was driven with light rain, when I got back I averaged 3.8 miles per kWh

Today is definitely milder, turned the heater off & actually had window open on return journey & it wasn’t raining but roads were damp in places

Journey going out, 4.7 miles per kWh

When I got back, 4.8 miles per kWh

Both days the car was in Normal Mode, Regen 3,

This I was happy with

Temperature today was 12°

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Sorry Adam.
We are going to have to curb your smugness right here right now.

200 miles is the default 'boasting' mileage on this forum.

@tsedge or @siteguru said so. (I think?)

Chaps?

Anyone? () can knock out over 4 mi/kWh over a short distance, but over 200 miles??

That's where legends are made!

(And Leg Ends)

Bricktop X PWR said:

Sorry Adam.
We are going to have to curb your smugness right here right now.

200 miles is the default 'boasting' mileage on this forum.

@tsedge or @siteguru said so. (I think?)

Chaps?

Anyone? () can knock out over 4mpkWh over a short distance, but over 200 miles??

That's where ledgends are made!

(And Leg Ends)

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.... as long as you stay under 50mph, & drive like my 90yr old mother - down hill / with wind / in summer / then you'll be fine, maybe?

Bricktop X PWR said:

Sorry Adam.
We are going to have to curb your smugness right here right now.

200 miles is the default 'boasting' mileage on this forum.

@tsedge or @siteguru said so. (I think?)

Chaps?

Anyone? () can knock out over 4 mi/kWh over a short distance, but over 200 miles??

That's where legends are made!

(And Leg Ends)

Click to expand...

Oh well, at least I felt smug until I read this

Adam C said:

Oh well, at least I felt smug until I read this

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Well done m8.
Taken in the spirit I was intending.

It does take a bit of effort in our cars sadly, my M3SR, would happily give me 4.5 mi/kWh, regardless of how I was driving it and 6, if I was making an effort.

I'm going to make you feel a bit better m8, my average 10 mile trip is 2.5 mi/kWh.

Next time I drive to St Clears, I will put a bit of effort in, and weather conditions allowing leave off the AC to see what I can achieve when 'trying'

Bricktop X PWR said:

Well done m8.
Taken in the spirit I was intending.

It does take a bit of effort in our cars sadly, my M3SR, would happily give me 4.5 mi/kWh, regardless of how I was driving it and 6, if I was making an effort.

I'm going to make you feel a bit better m8, my average 10 mile trip is 2.5 mi/kWh.

Next time I drive to St Clears, I will put a bit of effort in, and weather conditions allowing leave off the AC to see what I can achieve when 'trying'

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When I first got the car buddy I was in ECO mode, driving as light footed as possible. Now I’m use to it, Normal mode & I don’t even think about range, battery %

As I said in my post, it was a trip I do regularly & usually I average anywhere between 3.5-3.7 so to see them figures yesterday kind of surprised me but just shows you how much your range can improve with no heater on, dryer roads & milder weather overall

Your average figures are spot on IMO.
And if you can do that all the time without trying then I would be very happy.

As you may know I didn't buy the X Power with delusions of a regular 4 mi/kWh but it will do it.
I just have to try really hard.

Bricktop X PWR said:

Your average figures are spot on IMO.
And if you can do that all the time without trying then I would be very happy.

As you may know I didn't buy the X Power with delusions of a regular 4 mi/kWh but it will do it.
I just have to try really hard.

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Tbh buddy I don’t imagine many X Power owners got their cars worrying about range

Having said that, if you doing a longer trip it’s good to know it can get decent miles