Battery heater

Mike

Mike

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MG appear to have released another update, this time to warm the battery.

The attached is from a Norwegian car, but I have been informed it’s now available in the UK. This might alleviate #coldgate.


It's available (needs 3x ECU updates plus a usb update to the nav unit). It is not reversible.

After the update, you can manually select whether you want to use the battery heater or not. It will not activate automatically if you haven't selected it, even if the temperature is very low. Apparently before the update, it works automatically (but I don't know at what temperature it actually comes in!)
 

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Mark Holmes said:
Will this improve the distance you can travel when the temperatures drop, or only to assist with charging speeds in cold weather?
Click to expand...
We don’t know yet, however what we do know is it will use the HV battery to heat the battery, so while it will be more efficient, it may have used more energy to heat it up in the first place.
 
Just looking at the photo again and closer it does indicate charging speed, Tesla have a similar function from what I’m lead to believe.
 
This is going to need some Bjorn testing to find the optimum time to turn it on to get faster charge speeds v range / battery loss.

Not that I’m doing the range to need to rapid at the moment
 
shikoku14 said:
This is going to need some Bjorn testing to find the optimum time to turn it on to get faster charge speeds v range / battery loss.

Not that I’m doing the range to need to rapid at the moment
Click to expand...
I got this update on Friday, note that it resets everything. Total mileage and associated stats. are returned to zero. If you have set up your own equalizer its back to factory settings. Last one is the "*" button on the steering wheel it has to be set up for your previous choice. As for whether the new option works, if I have time will try and test next week. Currently quite cold in the Oslo area -3C where I live. Great that MG have actually added this option, so all credit to them for doing it. However, one gripe I have is that It would have been really helpful to have added an indication in the screen for this option that displayed a graphical representation of battery temp. For example traffic lights: red, orange or green that gave you an idea of whether you would expect to get good charging speed or not. Even better would have been displaying the actual temp. beside the traffic light. Finally would be great if MG would give us more info as to how this option works. For example, does it draw power all the time if the option is on? If not how long do you have to drive before the optimum battery temp is achieved? What is the optimum battery temp, to get the fastest charging speed and the range of SOC you will see max. charging speed? I did see a picture on the MG Owners Facebook site here in Norway where 22C appeared to give the highest charging speed but there was no reference to SOC%.
 
As the battery is water cooled, once up to temperature I’m sure it will just keep it at that temperature. I think the heater will also be a PTC heater like the interior heating and reduce power used once up to temperature.
 
Mike said:
After the update, you can manually select whether you want to use the battery heater or not. It will not activate automatically if you haven't selected it, even if the temperature is very low. Apparently before the update, it works automatically (but I don't know at what temperature it actually comes in!)
Click to expand...

I'm obviously missing something, I can't see a benefit of adding an option to the car that it had prior to the update, albeit being invisible to the user. :unsure:

Also - do you have to make a specific visit to the dealer to have this done, or is it part of normal servicing?
 
ARealHuman said:
I'm obviously missing something, I can't see a benefit of adding an option to the car that it had prior to the update, albeit being invisible to the user. :unsure:

Also - do you have to make a specific visit to the dealer to have this done, or is it part of normal servicing?
Click to expand...
You can’t have suffererd from #coldgate where you get slow rapid charging rates then! Plus it hopefully will improve efficiency in cold weather.

You can visit the dealer whenever you want. At service time or before.
 
DonG said:
I got this update on Friday, note that it resets everything. Total mileage and associated stats. are returned to zero. If you have set up your own equalizer its back to factory settings. Last one is the "*" button on the steering wheel it has to be set up for your previous choice. As for whether the new option works, if I have time will try and test next week. Currently quite cold in the Oslo area -3C where I live. Great that MG have actually added this option, so all credit to them for doing it. However, one gripe I have is that It would have been really helpful to have added an indication in the screen for this option that displayed a graphical representation of battery temp. For example traffic lights: red, orange or green that gave you an idea of whether you would expect to get good charging speed or not. Even better would have been displaying the actual temp. beside the traffic light. Finally would be great if MG would give us more info as to how this option works. For example, does it draw power all the time if the option is on? If not how long do you have to drive before the optimum battery temp is achieved? What is the optimum battery temp, to get the fastest charging speed and the range of SOC you will see max. charging speed? I did see a picture on the MG Owners Facebook site here in Norway where 22C appeared to give the highest charging speed but there was no reference to SOC%.
Click to expand...
It resets the total mileage? So the car goes back to being “0” miles? Surely not - that’s like winding back the taco on an ICE car which is illegal
 
I have also now got the update as per: DonG. Will update all as to how it works. I also live in Norway...however its a bit warmer here in Bergen than Oslo. :)
 
If this is just about heating to enable rapid charging, I appreciate MG could provide a solution for this (ie battery warmer), however as this effects all EV’s would a better solution not be to have heated pads installed in front of charge points?

These could could be temperature triggered (ie ambient temp drops below 5 degrees turn heater on), would be much more energy efficient (after all we’ve gone electric to be green), it would be a much cheaper retrofit to add pad to chargers than to add heaters to cars, and lastly it would benefit all EV car drivers.

If on the other hand a heated battery gives longer distance as well as allowing better rapid charge then I’m all for it 🤣
 
AussiePete said:
If this is just about heating to enable rapid charging, I appreciate MG could provide a solution for this (ie battery warmer), however as this effects all EV’s would a better solution not be to have heated pads installed in front of charge points?

These could could be temperature triggered (ie ambient temp drops below 5 degrees turn heater on), would be much more energy efficient (after all we’ve gone electric to be green), it would be a much cheaper retrofit to add pad to chargers than to add heaters to cars, and lastly it would benefit all EV car drivers.

If on the other hand a heated battery gives longer distance as well as allowing better rapid charge then I’m all for it 🤣
Click to expand...
Interesting idea. Not sure that it would work as the battery should be insulated so you would have to heat up the insulation first before you get through to the battery cells.

Yes I do think it might help with economy in cooler weather, but the power to warm the battery maybe more than you gain by having a warm battery!
 
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