Battery degradation and software updates - Australia

[McLaren EV]

Hi folks. Just a question to the forum about whether I should expect the range in my ZS EV to improve when I go in for my 40k service in a couple of weeks. We struggle in this part of Australia (south-eastern tip) to get much more than about 240-50 kilometres of range out of our car. It makes for pretty tricky drives at times because the charging infrastructure in these parts is all but non-existent still. I've heard that the software upgrade (which I assume should be free with the service) might improve the range. I guess I'm just not sure if there's an issue with the battery or something else. Thanks for any responses forthcoming.

 

[BOB353]

I can't see anything in any service that is likely to change the battery range.

My ZS LR ranges from 440-450km on a full charge and I normally recharge once I get down to 10-20%.

One of the main things I had spec'ed on my wish list was a decent range hence I went for the LR version.

 

[McLaren EV]

Yeah, I agree that our version does not have enough range, regardless of how healthy the battery is... but my family was insistent we buy it, unfortunately. The dealership down here inferred that the range/battery health issue might be related to the software, but like all service agents, they can be full of BS and untrustworthy. When I spoke to them today they also had no idea what I was talking about when I raised the topic of unbinding the car from the previous owner's phone.

 

[BOB353]

Just wait till you try to update the maps in the infotainment unit, I have been trying for 9 months and they just don't have a clue how to do it, keep referring me back to the older 9" unit, they are yet to understand that the 10.1" unit is different.

 

[Pete G]

The range issue is definitely not a software issue. The dealer was as you suggest just using BS to sell the car.
We have a 2021 gen1 ZS EV gets around 250 kilometres range in summer and 239 kilometres in winter.
We only ever use the heater to clear the windscreen as turning the heater on drops the range considerably.
We live in Tasmania and there is a shortage of chargers here too. It is a regular occurence here to find a charger you want to use is in use.
Fortunately we are retired and really only use the car to go shopping ( 78kilometre round trip)
We really like the car, for us it is perfect as we are off grid and charge it at home off our solar system.
Pete

 

[McLaren EV]

Thanks for that info Pete G. We too have solar power here – 11.5kW in total, and a similar sized Tesla Powerwall. In the summer especially, we have plenty of power to feed into the car, and we're installing a 7kW charger net week to speed up the home charging capacity. But we can't take all that on the road of course, and I'm just trying to determine whether I should be pressing MG Australia to look at our battery's health given that the car is still under warranty.

 

[Pete G]

Our car being a gen 1 has a 44kWh battery, from memory the sales person quoted one of the optimistic range figures when they were selling the car too us. I went by what the dash showed.
There are some very optimistic ways to measure range, I think I have seen somewhere figures for the standard gen1 that claim something like 320 kilometres range.
That would only be if one were only to drive downhill I think.
We live on a mountain and our trip to Launceston is mostly downhill, we use about 8 to 10 kilometres of range going into town ( 38 kilometres) but on the way home we use about 68 kilometres of range.
I keep joking that we need Escher to design our roads, so they are downhill both ways.
It is probably worth getting the service people to check the battery health. It is available on the dash if you push enough buttons, and scroll through all the screens. To me the ways to access all the data don't make much sense, so I just say if you push enough buttons stuff appears.
good luck with the charger.
I have a few chargers,
The granny 8 amp charger that came with the car, a 15 amp charger to take on trips too and a 7kW Zappi on the wall of the carport.
Our system is a 24 volt off grid system so the Zappi is fed from two Grid inverters. The battery inverter pretends to be the grid and the two Grid inverters are connected to around 7kW of panels.
So far the best I have seen going into the car is 5.5 kW.
I set the zappi to use only 20% max of battery power, the rest comes directly from the panels.

 

[McLaren EV]

Interesting. We have a lot in common by the sounds of it Pete. I too live on a hill... I could probably see your place from ours in I squint hard enough. Our ZS is 2nd Gen, although whether there's any difference at all under the skin, I doubt. I think the changes were merely cosmetic, were they not? Anyway, we're grid connected too, so we have a little less credibility on the self-power generation here. I have a large recording studio too that takes quite a bit of power to run so we can't afford to be entirely self-sufficient, unfortunately.

 

[Susanna]

@BOB353
In the UK at least, it’s not the dealership who update the navigation. It’s downloaded from the MG website onto a USB, and therefore fairly straightforward. However, it would be time consuming for the garage to do, and would therefore be costly. The car needs to be ‘on’ all the time for the installation to succeed.

 

[wattmatters]

Just a question to the forum about whether I should expect the range in my ZS EV to improve when I go in for my 40k service in a couple of weeks.

Which model and battery?

I can't see how a service software update can affect range. It's not like they can change the laws of physics.

 

[BOB353]

Susanna, I tried those map updates and it killed the NAV app.

Like I say, MG Australia have not got a clue on how to do the updates.

It now seems that the maps come from Telenav, not NaviExtra.

@BOB353
In the UK at least, it’s not the dealership who update the navigation. It’s downloaded from the MG website onto a USB, and therefore fairly straightforward. However, it would be time consuming for the garage to do, and would therefore be costly. The car needs to be ‘on’ all the time for the installation to succeed.