MG ZS EV Wiki - useful Information

Jomarkh said:

Hi, if you use a lot of rapid chargers then it can put the battery cell voltages at slightly different levels so by doing a balance once a month it levels all the battery cells the same voltage.
You can do it on a 7kwh EVSE or the 'granny' as it takes the same times as it only draws 300-500w.

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Thank you that makes sense

Stuart Wright said:

Please reply here if you have any essential information you think should be added to this resource.

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Hi Stuart, on the podcast on Monday evening, can you ask Miles if he can shed any light on how MG allocate cars, every dealer has a different story, I’m being told by the salesman that I haven’t got a build date Assign to my name or order, I ordered on the 8th of November 2021, now I do know of people who ordered after me and they’re getting their cars before me, so I’m just wondering how this might happen and why no build allocated to my order?
Thanks I’m advance. Ady.

ady said:

Hi Stuart, on the podcast on Monday evening, can you ask Miles if he can shed any light on how MG allocate cars, every dealer has a different story, I’m being told by the salesman that I haven’t got a build date Assign to my name or order, I ordered on the 8th of November 2021, now I do know of people who ordered after me and they’re getting their cars before me, so I’m just wondering how this might happen and why no build allocated to my order?
Thanks I’m advance. Ady.

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Maybe add this to the podcast thread too

mahmoud said:

Hi there, waiting to get my first ZS EX ( 2020 plates), I was told a software is being upgraded. Didn’t know what they’re talking about but after reading the comments here, I have some idea. Thank you.
Mahmoud, Solihull

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Hi everybody,
At last I got my 2020 MG ZS EV Exclusive last week from the MG Balsall Common (West Midlands) dealer and I love it. It’s my first electric car and my first SUV, a quantum leap from my Mercedes C Class .
Do I need to get the software update mentioned before by some members? ( can do without the pong ! )
And if yes, how do I do it?
Is it free from the dealer ?
And I also saw in a YouTube somebody mentioned changing the Headlamps bulbs to LED type.
Is that a good idea? And is it something I can do myself ? I’m not too bad on DIY .
Thanks.
Mahmoud

Test Drive booked for ZS EV tomorrow, hoping to order on company salary sacrifice scheme On Monday. Might get car at end of Feb 2023.

Jomarkh said:

Hi, if you use a lot of rapid chargers then it can put the battery cell voltages at slightly different levels so by doing a balance once a month it levels all the battery cells the same voltage.
You can do it on a 7kwh EVSE or the 'granny' as it takes the same times as it only draws 300-500w.

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Hi Andy, As with all cars, regular maintenance is important. In this case the battery. What have you or anyone else found that promotes good charging habits and extends the length of the battery life.

Tmap said:

Hi
Just ordered a long range ZS yesterday, as our Nissan Leaf has been such a success that we're going fully electric, and needed one that can carry a canoe.
Good experience at the dealer and test drive, with the one grumble about why most cars make such a meal of speed limiters; they're such a precious and simple thing. Oh well.
Your forum has been helpful so far and am sure we will have plenty more questions.
Cheers

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Hi Tmap, have you been given a delivery date yet?

I've locked this for the moment because people seem to have lost track of what the thread is about

Andy S said:

Thank you that makes sense

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I thought the granny was 3Kw? I use an eco setting for my 4Kw solar panel system that drops to a minimum of 1.4Kw when the sun stops shining. Is this a good charge level for balancing? I feel that it isn’t the most efficient charging power as not all the KWHr going in is converted to range at low power.

albrehti said:

I wonder if this forum is mostly UK's or is it worldwide.
I'm very close to go for new "facelift" MG ZS EV and would like to get as much as possible relevant info.
And there are some differences between "island" and "land" cars. Here in Slovenia we only could get comfort or luxury equipped car (for both, standard and long range). As I did see in UK you have several equipment options to choose.
Anyway, it looks good car to me for the price.

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Hi there, l've had mine for 2yrs and 20,000 Kms and I still get a bit exited every time I drive her.
Consumption during colder months is 14kw/hr per 100 Kms and I charge overnight at home using a standard quality domestic socket.
Works like a dream...

Found the MG assist a great piece of mind. Mine was just renewed and it's free of charge if you get your car serviced by the MG dealer.

Hi everyone, looking at getting an MG ZS exclusive 2019. So as stated on the dealership you get 163 miles, is this correct? As I’ve been told I’d only get 130. Also when at traffic lights does the car regenerate electric? As I’ve been told otherwise. A lot of conflicting advice. With regards to home charging where is the best place to get a home charger? And does it only take 7hrs to charge overnight? How long would a rapid charge take from 0-80% battery? Thank you

Loopyloulou36 said:

Hi everyone, looking at getting an MG ZS exclusive 2019. So as stated on the dealership you get 163 miles, is this correct? As I’ve been told I’d only get 130. Also when at traffic lights does the car regenerate electric? As I’ve been told otherwise. A lot of conflicting advice. With regards to home charging where is the best place to get a home charger? And does it only take 7hrs to charge overnight? How long would a rapid charge take from 0-80% battery? Thank you

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As I understand it, the 2019 version is the ‘Mark 1’ version with a standard size battery.
The life of the battery depends on how many miles it’s done, how many times it’s been recharged etc. All batteries deteriorate over time. I have a similar version from 2020 and in cold weather, I can get 145 miles on the ‘guess-O-meter (GOM)’ mileage indicator, using a 7kW home charger. In Summer, this goes up to 165 or so as the state of charge - how much charge your battery holds - is very temperature dependent.

I got my home charger, a Zappi 2, from my energy supplier, Octopus energy, as at the time they were the cheapest.

To fully charge and equalise the battery takes about 6 hours, but you could stop the charge after about 3 hours and find you have nearly fully charged it. The excess time is spent trickling a very low voltage to the battery to equalise the charge across each of the battery cells. It’s a general recommendation to do this once a month but on the Zappi, you need to charge to 100% before this kicks in.

The GOM mileage is just that - an estimate - which can change depending on how you drive your car, so again it’s generally thought that resetting the car running mileage counters before charging should get your mileage guess to it’s optimal value.

Regen/KERS is braking regenerative - if you slow down using the brakes, the energy generated from that goes to the battery. Regen does not occur when you’re driving forwards and not braking or when your stopped. You can see this happen on the right hand dial next to the speed indicator meter, on the right in the dashboard. The needle goes from the 9 o’clock position down towards the 8 o’clock and further, depending on the harshness of the brake application & length of time spent braking.

I hope this helps - there might be some small inaccuracies but I defer to the experts here to correct my ‘ordinary driver’ understanding.
Happy EV motoring!

Spinynorman said:

As I understand it, the 2019 version is the ‘Mark 1’ version with a standard size battery...

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Just one correction, KERS can be set to 0,1,2,or 3 and regen braking happens when you lift off the throttle. On 3 it is strong enough to slow the car almost to a stop. If you use the brake pedal it is lost energy that isn’t recovered. I have a ZS Trophy Long range and the battery discharge display shows %power drain on the battery which goes negative when the KERS is charging the battery as you lift off the throttle. This is a great feature of driving an electric car as you hardly ever need to use the actual brake pedal.
On range I get 4 miles per kWh in summer. This drops to approximately 3.5 in winter which is approximately 12% less.
Hope this helps.

thanks for that - think I need to read the manual again!

paulIoW said:

This is a great feature of driving an electric car as you hardly ever need to use the actual brake pedal.

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This is very true, but there has to be some negative side of using the strong regen setting exclusively of course.
Due to the lack of use required by the foot brake, then brake services and even premature disc replacements are NOT unusual unfortunately.

Lovemyev said:

This is very true, but there has to be some negative side of using the strong regen setting exclusively of course.
Due to the lack of use required by the foot brake, then brake services and even premature disc replacements are NOT unusual unfortunately.

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Good point but we have lots of hills and the brake is often needed on the steeper ones, and you always need it to stop.

paulIoW said:

Just one correction, KERS can be set to 0,1,2,or 3 and regen braking happens when you lift off the throttle. On 3 it is strong enough to slow the car almost to a stop. If you use the brake pedal it is lost energy that isn’t recovered. I have a ZS Trophy Long range and the battery discharge display shows %power drain on the battery which goes negative when the KERS is charging the battery as you lift off the throttle. This is a great feature of driving an electric car as you hardly ever need to use the actual brake pedal.
On range I get 4 miles per kWh in summer. This drops to approximately 3.5 in winter which is approximately 12% less.
Hope this helps.

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Hi, how do you set kers 0? I think it is only 1-2-3 but i can have missed something..

LaS said:

Hi, how do you set kers 0? I think it is only 1-2-3 but i can have missed something..

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0 is off (no KERS). Just cycle through to the setting you want but it is a waste of energy to set 0. There is a dedicated switch above the drive selector on the trophy and the setting is displayed on the dash although it is quite small and easy to miss.

paulIoW said:

0 is off (no KERS). Just cycle through to the setting you want but it is a waste of energy to set 0. There is a dedicated switch above the drive selector on the trophy and the setting is displayed on the dash although it is quite small and easy to miss.

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Apologies, drove my ZS the other day and 1 is the lowest setting with only a small braking effect. I don’t know why anyone would use less than 3 for maximum recharging. When cruise is on I think the brakes are used to slow for hills or spacing to the car in front so no regen.