Charging Speeds

jwaldock

jwaldock

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MG ZS EV
Hello to you all. According to the brochure at the time we purchased as well as the most recent version, the reported max charging speed of the car is 94kW and between 0 and 80% the average is 82kW however we've never seen speeds of this despite using 150kW and 300kW chargers both in the UK and in Europe.

I know that weather, temperature etc have an impact on this but today was the first time I've ever had a speed of over 70kW (at around 20-30%), and it dropped off to 60kW by 50%. We've used all brands of charger, when busy and when not and based on having a look around, other cars are reaching the speeds that I had expected based on the data given in the brochure but we appear to not be.

Even with a 300kW charger on a nice day when the battery is already warm we average 50-60kW up to 80%. I wondered if there was something that needed looking at, or if this was something others were seeing too.
 
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Whenever I've used a rapid charger, which isn't that often, I've always been having something to eat or drink, so never noticed the charging speed.

All EVs have a charging curve determined by the Battery Management System to protect the battery as it is charged. You may get maximum speed at the lowest state of charge, and then it will step down as the state of charge increases.
 
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Gadget Geek said:
Whenever I've used a rapid charger, which isn't that often, I've always been having something to eat or drink, so never noticed the charging speed.

All EV's have a charging curve determined by the Battery Management System to protect the battery as it is charged. You may get maximum speed at the lowest state of charge, and then it will step down as the state of charge increases.
Click to expand...
charging.png

This is the charge curve that ev-database has for the car, and you can see the steps down that you talk about, I just wondered if this was accurate to what others are seeing because based on this you should get around 80-90kW until 60%. Clearly all of this is best conditions etc.
 
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Yesterday i was pretty happy with the charging speed on my standard range 👍
Soc was 18% when i start charging .
 

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Mgzs ev said:
Yesterday i was pretty happy with the charging speed on my standard range 👍
Soc was 18% when i start charging .
Click to expand...
I just bought my ZS and use domestic socket cable (3-pin/2-pin wall socket) - decided to play it safe until I know at what point sockets get 🔥 hot so charging at 7A, 1.7kW for the past 13 hours 😂
 
We've been using a granny charger with our ZS since we got her a few months ago. We had an outside socket wired straight to our consumer unit as we'd heard scary stories (friends badly affected their house electrics leaving their charger plugged in for extended periods). We use rapid chargers when on longer trips. Only time we've missed having a 7kW charger at home was when we needed to go on a long trip unexpectedly - had to use peak rate leccy to get to 100% instead of cheap overnight rate.
I'm pretty sure I'll get a charger fitted before too much longer.
 
BeardedZs said:
We've been using a granny charger with our ZS since we got her a few months ago. We had an outside socket wired straight to our consumer unit as we'd heard scary stories (friends badly affected their house electrics leaving their charger plugged in for extended periods). We use rapid chargers when on longer trips. Only time we've missed having a 7kW charger at home was when we needed to go on a long trip unexpectedly - had to use peak rate leccy to get to 100% instead of cheap overnight rate.
I'm pretty sure I'll get a charger fitted before too much longer.
Click to expand...
The 3-pin charging cable I got from Amazon (yes, the dealer nicked the original MG cable and provided "generic" street cable instead) is remote controlled via phone app and can be set from 6A to 13A, I'm using it on 6A until I figure out what to do next...

Looks like I'm paying 40p per hour of charge on 6A and standard electricity rate ... (but that also covers the fridge and freezer working in the background 😁). Need to figure out what next in terms of EV tariff and 7kW charger... early days...

At the end of charge, at 100% it shows 190 miles range...🤔
 

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I did a journey from Denmark back to the UK. I always preconditioned the battery 30 mins before charging. The lower the state of charge, the better. Usually around 10% or lower you can see over 85kW, I saw 93kW on an Ionity charger in Germany.

You may think the battery is warm due to outside temperature, but it can always be warmer. Best temperature for the battery for fast charging is 25°C. I used my OBD dongle with Carscanner to see the battery temp which always helps.
 
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I use a granny charger at 10 amps (the official MG one) and have no problems keeping the car charged for daily use. 7 hours cheap rate puts just over 15kWh for £1.52 in the battery and I do that about 3 times a week. The best tariff for a slow granny charger is E.On Next Drive as it gives you 7 hours at 9p/kWh rather than the 4 or 5 at slightly cheaper from other suppliers.

Here’s £50 off if it helps

Sharing energy is rewarding.
 
Marc said:
I did a journey from Denmark back to the UK. I always preconditioned the battery 30 mins before charging. The lower the state of charge, the better. Usually around 10% or lower you can see over 85kW, I saw 93kW on an Ionity charger in Germany.

You may think the battery is warm due to outside temperature, but it can always be warmer. Best temperature for the battery for fast charging is 25°C. I used my OBD dongle with Carscanner to see the battery temp which always helps.
Click to expand...
Which make of OBD dongle did you use? I've tried two on my 2023 gen 2 MG ZS EV with no luck, I never had a problem with them on my 2020 gen 1 ZS EV. Plugging the Nexus dongle in using car scanner got me an email from SAIC on my phone saying The airbag on your vehicle has triggered an alarm. :unsure:

PmZ0PZMl.jpg
 
chowbenter said:
Which make of OBD dongle did you use? I've tried two on my 2023 gen 2 MG ZS EV with no luck, I never had a problem with them on my 2020 gen 1 ZS EV. Plugging the Nexus dongle in using car scanner got me an email from SAIC on my phone saying The airbag on your vehicle has triggered an alarm. :unsure:

PmZ0PZMl.jpg
Click to expand...
Presumably you have iSmart app connected to your car and that's how they got your email? Impressed that they are on top of it ... and less inclined to try those dongles myself...
 
chowbenter said:
Which make of OBD dongle did you use? I've tried two on my 2023 gen 2 MG ZS EV with no luck, I never had a problem with them on my 2020 gen 1 ZS EV. Plugging the Nexus dongle in using car scanner got me an email from SAIC on my phone saying The airbag on your vehicle has triggered an alarm. :unsure:

PmZ0PZMl.jpg
Click to expand...

This is the one I use. I must admit, only used it with the car on. I never left it in just incase it drains the 12V too much.
 
DBedford said:
I've left a dongle plugged in to our MG ZS TLR since June last (23) [9 months]. Works great with Car Scanner and with auto off, no sign of battery drain.

Click to expand...
Any incidence of it triggering the alarm. I stooped using the NEXAS NexLink Bluetooth 5.0 OBDII Scanner I bought as it kept doing this. I don't know if was the scanner that caused it or some setting on the car that did it. It would not make the alarm go off when switched on, but about 20 minutes after switching the car off and locking the doors the alarm would go off, if it was left plugged in. Also I couldn't really fathom how to get any info easily shown on the car scanner app. I've looked for you tube vids specifically for how to set it up for the ZS EV but couldn't find any. All I really wanted to see was overall battery health and each battery unit/cell to see if I needed to do a balance.
 
Ruislip Resident said:
Any incidence of it triggering the alarm. I stooped using the NEXAS NexLink Bluetooth 5.0 OBDII Scanner I bought as it kept doing this. I don't know if was the scanner that caused it or some setting on the car that did it. It would not make the alarm go off when switched on, but about 20 minutes after switching the car off and locking the doors the alarm would go off, if it was left plugged in. Also I couldn't really fathom how to get any info easily shown on the car scanner app. I've looked for you tube vids specifically for how to set it up for the ZS EV but couldn't find any. All I really wanted to see was overall battery health and each battery unit/cell to see if I needed to do a balance.
Click to expand...
I forgot to mention in my other comment that I also got a security alarm triggering email from SAIC too saying Security alarm released, you can now drive the vehicle :unsure: as well as the airbag warning. It happened every time I connected the Nexus 5.0 bluetooth device, It never picked up any electric vehicle parameters at all except for the 12V battery.


GCauQhvl.png
 
jwaldock said:
Hello to you all. According to the brochure at the time we purchased as well as the most recent version, the reported max charging speed of the car is 94kW and between 0 and 80% the average is 82kW however we've never seen speeds of this despite using 150kW and 300kW chargers both in the UK and in Europe.

I know that weather, temperature etc have an impact on this but today was the first time I've ever had a speed of over 70kW (at around 20-30%), and it dropped off to 60kW by 50%. We've used all brands of charger, when busy and when not and based on having a look around, other cars are reaching the speeds that I had expected based on the data given in the brochure but we appear to not be.

Even with a 300kW charger on a nice day when the battery is already warm we average 50-60kW up to 80%. I wondered if there was something that needed looking at, or if this was something other
Click to expand...
jwaldock said:
Hello to you all. According to the brochure at the time we purchased as well as the most recent version, the reported max charging speed of the car is 94kW and between 0 and 80% the average is 82kW however we've never seen speeds of this despite using 150kW and 300kW chargers both in the UK and in Europe.

I know that weather, temperature etc have an impact on this but today was the first time I've ever had a speed of over 70kW (at around 20-30%), and it dropped off to 60kW by 50%. We've used all brands of charger, when busy and when not and based on having a look around, other cars are reaching the speeds that I had expected based on the data given in the brochure but we appear to not be.

Even with a 300kW charger on a nice day when the battery is already warm we average 50-60kW up to 80%. I wondered if there was something that needed looking at, or if this was something others were seeing too.
Click to expand...
See attached. 87Kw speed achieved. Anecdotally, I have seen the below (from the old version of ISmart app screenshot) on a few occasions and would consider reasonably normal. Obviously making allowances for charger/temp etc. But would say this wasn't exceptional.
 

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Marc said:
I did a journey from Denmark back to the UK. I always preconditioned the battery 30 mins before charging. The lower the state of charge, the better. Usually around 10% or lower you can see over 85kW, I saw 93kW on an Ionity charger in Germany.

You may think the battery is warm due to outside temperature, but it can always be warmer. Best temperature for the battery for fast charging is 25°C. I used my OBD dongle with Carscanner to see the battery temp which always helps.
Click to expand...
Thank you, this is helpful to know. How do you pre condition the battery? We’ve not had anywhere near 85 across any chargers.

frb123 said:
See attached. 87Kw speed achieved. Anecdotally, I have seen the below (from the old version of ISmart app screenshot) on a few occasions and would consider reasonably normal. Obviously making allowances for charger/temp etc. But would say this wasn't exceptional.
Click to expand...
That’s useful, thank you.
 
jwaldock said:
Thank you, this is helpful to know. How do you pre condition the battery? We’ve not had anywhere near 85 across any chargers.
Click to expand...
Go to battery, then there should be "battery heater always on". Just tap that and it will turn on the battery heater to get it to optimal temperature.
 
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