Are dealer servicing charges over expensive?

[Gadget Geek]

What is the Tesla fix?

E

Thread 'MG ZS Mk II Tesla Charging Software update'

May 2, 2024

Much discussion about the Tesla software update. Interested to know if people had the software update free of charge when they have taken their car in for its last service this calendar year. Especially as I believe that MG have written to dealers to say the update is free. I took my MG ZS EV Trophy in at the end of March and told it would cost me £100. So I decline.

• EssexJim
• charging mg zs mg zs ev software software update tesla update
• Replies: 83
• Forum: MG ZS EV Forum

 

[Eclectic]

What is the Tesla fix?

It's a software patch that allows the ZS (facelift) to charge on the Tesla superchargers that Tesla have opened to other vehicle makes.

I went into the new Canterbury MG to inquire about this, and was told that it was £139 to apply the fix, and that they had done 4 at Maidstone, and three of them hadn't worked!

I'm not filled with confidence about Canterbury MG, they are a Motorparks place, and have just taken on the MG dealership. I wonder just how much MG experience the technicians there have.

 

[John Sauve Rodd]

Surely any Tesla software is in the app not the MG? Someone please tell me more as google even AI assisted does not say much.

 

[Eclectic]

Surely any Tesla software is in the app not the MG? Someone please tell me more as google even AI assisted does not say much.

It is apparently a disparity in the way the CCS standards are enabled, Tesla's implementation is slightly different to the way MG have it. The patch is to allow the MGs software to use Tesla's implementation of CCS as I understand it.

 

[John Sauve Rodd]

And that's for all MGs is it? Either way £100 or more is a rip off but then we're all overcharged: last time Invicta (Maidstone) serviced my ZS I watched it from my comfy seat - they took it well late and returned the paperwork to the service chap after 25 minutes which incudes putting it on the ramp and doing the obligatgory video.

 

[Eclectic]

And that's for all MGs is it? Either way £100 or more is a rip off but then we're all overcharged: last time Invicta (Maidstone) serviced my ZS I watched it from my comfy seat - they took it well late and returned the paperwork to the service chap after 25 minutes which incudes putting it on the ramp and doing the obligatgory video.

Not for all MGs, no. The later ZS’s and MG4s are OK, the pre-facelift MG ZS can’t be patched as I understand it. I think there was/is also a problem with MG5?

Apparently the charge is labour, they say the tech has to stay with the car while the update is done.

 

[Lovemyev]

And that's for all MGs is it? Either way £100 or more is a rip off but then we're all overcharged: last time Invicta (Maidstone) serviced my ZS I watched it from my comfy seat - they took it well late and returned the paperwork to the service chap after 25 minutes which incudes putting it on the ramp and doing the obligatgory video.

No - Not ALL MG's, mainly the ZS EV and MG5 models.
I would strongly suggest that when the software protocols where written for this model way back then, it was though that there was NO way, that Tesla would ever allow "non" Tesla cars access to their super charger network, so why bother writing it then ?.
Well we know how that ended, with a "trail" of super charging hubs opening up, running down the spine of the country.
Prior to this the government where coming under a LOT of criticism for not keeping pace with supporting the move to EV adoption, plus the lack of rapid charging units.
I clearly remember reading an article in the news paper that stated that the government had been in talks with Tesla and announcing that something was on its way !.
A short time latter it was rolled out, much to the huge displeasure of Tesla owners.
I suspect that Tesla had their arms placed firmly up their backs to get them to agree with this of course.
Especially if Tesla was expecting to receive help in receiving approval to install more hubs up and down the country. ( if you get my drift here - planning permission grants etc etc ).
So a LOT of serious back scratching going on here me thinks .
MG made the call that owners would be ( in some cases ) be asked to asked to pay for this upgraded, as it was viewed as an "enhancement".
The dealers where reluctant to carry out the work, as MG had said it would NOT be covered under warranty.
Some dealers did conduct the work FOC and normally at the time of annual service, but not all.

 

[hmadsen]

I had a bit of a talk with chatgpt because i could not really understand why the CCS chargers could display the cars SoC, when my charger at home was unable to. The reason i did not understand is, both the CCS and Type-2 chargers use the same data pins to communicate.

It seems there are 2 different protocols used for the AC and DC charging, and the one for CCS DC charging is apparantly quite a bit more complicated.

When AC charging the car will essentially just ask the charger, what its capabilities are and acknowledge that it will stay within those and ask the box to energize the relays to connect the AC voltage directly to the car and then the cars onboard charger does the rest.

With DC, there is apparantly a lot more communication since the charger is now "outside" of the car, so the car needs to be able to communicate to the external DC charger, how much current it wants.

So the problem here is apparantly that MG has either made a mistake og not fully implemented the standard used for DC Charging.

My guess is, there is some obskure part of the standard, that no other CCS charge provider that uses, but Tesla needs a "correct" response for that bit.

So the fix is to update the firmware in the Onboard Charger so that it fully complies with the standard in a way so that the Tesla chargers will also accept them.

I have charged at a CCS charger that was not Tesla once and when i started the charge with that app it said something along the lines of "We can add this car to your account and do auto-start charging next time"

I charged at that charger a few days later and it did really just start by itself like a tesla at tesla's chargers.

I would imagine, at some point Tesla (And others) will start adding specific car brands and models, so that they can be added to the tesla app and it will start charging just the same as if it was a tesla you connected.