Can I fast-charge my MG ZS EV to 100% (263km) at a public charge point?

[drtimcooper]

We bought a MG ZS in Dec 2021. We've driven it from Sydney to Jindabyne. However, we noticed that the public charge points only allowed us to charge to 80%. This gives us a range of only 222km, rather than 263km. This makes it quite difficult to plan long distance journeys, e.g. from Sydney to Armidale we need to charge 3 times. If we could get the full 263km when needed, then it would greatly help us. Is there any way to get more than 222km from public charge points?

 

[hmadsen]

I dont think it is the chargepoint that is limiting you here.

In the battery menu, you can set how "full" you want the battery, unless you set it to "Long Distance mode" it will be set to 80% so my guess is, that it is in fact your car that stops the charge at 80%, not the chargepoint.

One thing to remember though...When the car reaches 80% the car will throttle the charger, because the battery will be damaged if you charge at "full speed" when the battery is almost full.

If it takes 30 minutes from 20-80% expect it to take another 30 minutes from 80-100

So unless you have to stop for longer, for a reason, most of the time it is faster to charge to 80%, and then drive until you reach about 10-20% and then recharge at that time.

This will offcourse also depend on the availability of chargers on the planned route, i know that distances are quite large in Australia.

 

[Jomarkh]

Hi, yes if you mean fast as in AC Type2 and not rapid CCS as in DC.

 

[ChrisR]

We bought a MG ZS in Dec 2021. We've driven it from Sydney to Jindabyne. However, we noticed that the public charge points only allowed us to charge to 80%. This gives us a range of only 222km, rather than 263km. This makes it quite difficult to plan long distance journeys, e.g. from Sydney to Armidale we need to charge 3 times. If we could get the full 263km when needed, then it would greatly help us. Is there any way to get more than 222km from public charge points?

As far as I know most of the chargers in NSW, including the NRMA 50kW CCS 'fast chargers' (they brand them fast but 50kw is more usually classed as 'rapid') allow you to charge to 100%. There's a button where you can choose 'max' or 80%.

Be aware though that the charger goes very slowly after 80% so it's not good etiquette if there is another driver waiting. Sometimes the extra waiting for full charge may be more than if you made another stop later to top up. Unfortunately, at the moment in regional NSW you may need that full range to get to the next charger. The Plugshare app is very helpful and ABRP app is great for planning your trip with least stops.

When the new upgraded ZS arrives in Australia after July it will have a better range of 318km (unfortunately the real long range model with 440km won't be coming to Australia), so that will be better until there are more chargers in the regions.

 

[Kithmo]

Charge to 80% on the rapid charger then spend another hour on a 7kW charger, if there's one nearby, that should get you to around 100%.

I dont think it is the chargepoint that is limiting you here.

In the battery menu, you can set how "full" you want the battery, unless you set it to "Long Distance mode" it will be set to 80% so my guess is, that it is in fact your car that stops the charge at 80%, not the chargepoint.

One thing to remember though...When the car reaches 80% the car will throttle the charger, because the battery will be damaged if you charge at "full speed" when the battery is almost full.

If it takes 30 minutes from 20-80% expect it to take another 30 minutes from 80-100

So unless you have to stop for longer, for a reason, most of the time it is faster to charge to 80%, and then drive until you reach about 10-20% and then recharge at that time.

This will offcourse also depend on the availability of chargers on the planned route, i know that distances are quite large in Australia.

N/A, going on the 263km(163 mile) range he must have a Gen 1.
I don't know for sure but I don't think the car limits the charge.
I've only ever charged to 85% then stopped it manually, so I know it will go over 80% for sure.
My guess is that it's the charger if it's stopping at 80%, maybe some sort of "fair use" policy.

 

[hmadsen]

As far as I know most of the chargers in NSW, including the NRMA 50kW CCS 'fast chargers' (they brand them fast but 50kw is more usually classed as 'rapid') allow you to charge to 100%. There's a button where you can choose 'max' or 80%.

Be aware though that the charger goes very slowly after 80% so it's not good etiquette if there is another driver waiting. Sometimes the extra waiting for full charge may be more than if you made another stop later to top up. Unfortunately, at the moment in regional NSW you may need that full range to get to the next charger. The Plugshare app is very helpful and ABRP app is great for planning your trip with least stops.

When the new upgraded ZS arrives in Australia after July it will have a better range of 318km (unfortunately the real long range model with 440km won't be coming to Australia), so that will be better until there are more chargers in the regions.

But at motorway speeds (110/130) dont expect even the long range to do anywhere near 440 km on a "tank of electrons"

When i drove ours on the motorway at 110, it would have done about 300 if i went from 100 to almost 0, so realistically i would say, you will need to stop and recharge somewhere before the 300 km mark.

The only time i have ever seen a range of 400+ was when i took delivery, and when i drove it onto the motorway, the range dropped FAST.

In normal daily use, i drive it about 15 kilometers to work and 15 kilometers back, so about 30 kilometers on normal city and country roads, at 50 and 80 respectively, and such a round trip takes away about 8-9% of charge. (This is approximately 5C in the morning and 10C in the afternoon right now).

I hope when it gets a bit warmer, the range will improve, i am not impressed with, what looks to be a real world motorway range that is below 300 kilometers at 110 km/h (And even worse if i only charge to 80% and then charge again at maybe 10%)

 

[AbuG]

On the gen1 ZS you can rapid charge past 80% and get to near full. But it slows down to about 16kW after about 80% so it's not very rapid but still faster than AC. It is often quicker to charge to 80% then drive to the next rapid closer to destination and charge up to 80% again

 

[ChrisR]

But at motorway speeds (110/130) dont expect even the long range to do anywhere near 440 km on a "tank of electrons"

When i drove ours on the motorway at 110, it would have done about 300 if i went from 100 to almost 0, so realistically i would say, you will need to stop and recharge somewhere before the 300 km mark.

The only time i have ever seen a range of 400+ was when i took delivery, and when i drove it onto the motorway, the range dropped FAST.

In normal daily use, i drive it about 15 kilometers to work and 15 kilometers back, so about 30 kilometers on normal city and country roads, at 50 and 80 respectively, and such a round trip takes away about 8-9% of charge. (This is approximately 5C in the morning and 10C in the afternoon right now).

I hope when it gets a bit warmer, the range will improve, i am not impressed with, what looks to be a real world motorway range that is below 300 kilometers at 110 km/h (And even worse if i only charge to 80% and then charge again at maybe 10%)

Good points @hmadsen, though here in Australia it's much warmer and we can usually rely on about 18-20 kWhr/100km on the motorway at 110km/h which would work out to 360-400km for the new LR.

 

[hmadsen]

Good points @hmadsen, though here in Australia it's much warmer and we can usually rely on about 18-20 kWhr/100km on the motorway at 110km/h which would work out to 360-400km for the new LR.

This is what i am hoping for, when it get's warmer.

But even at 18-20 kWhr/100 km you would be limited to about 250-280 range, if you charge to 80% to get going faster, and do not run it below 10% which is also recommended.

The battery is happier if it stay's between 10-80% but offcourse, if you stop for a charge, and choose to dine at the same time or dont mind waiting 1 hour (instead of 30 minutes if you only charge to 80%), you might as well run it up to 100%

 

[drtimcooper]

I dont think it is the chargepoint that is limiting you here.

In the battery menu, you can set how "full" you want the battery, unless you set it to "Long Distance mode" it will be set to 80% so my guess is, that it is in fact your car that stops the charge at 80%, not the chargepoint.

One thing to remember though...When the car reaches 80% the car will throttle the charger, because the battery will be damaged if you charge at "full speed" when the battery is almost full.

If it takes 30 minutes from 20-80% expect it to take another 30 minutes from 80-100

So unless you have to stop for longer, for a reason, most of the time it is faster to charge to 80%, and then drive until you reach about 10-20% and then recharge at that time.

This will offcourse also depend on the availability of chargers on the planned route, i know that distances are quite large in Australia.

I don't have a "Battery menu"!! Where do I find the battery menu? I have the "Driving" menu with multiple tabs but none of the tabs deal with the battery. (The "Setup" tab deals with the info console itself). I've hunted around the whole console and can't find a battery menu. Where is it supposed to be?

 

[drtimcooper]

Whe

As far as I know most of the chargers in NSW, including the NRMA 50kW CCS 'fast chargers' (they brand them fast but 50kw is more usually classed as 'rapid') allow you to charge to 100%. There's a button where you can choose 'max' or 80%.

Be aware though that the charger goes very slowly after 80% so it's not good etiquette if there is another driver waiting. Sometimes the extra waiting for full charge may be more than if you made another stop later to top up. Unfortunately, at the moment in regional NSW you may need that full range to get to the next charger. The Plugshare app is very helpful and ABRP app is great for planning your trip with least stops.

When the new upgraded ZS arrives in Australia after July it will have a better range of 318km (unfortunately the real long range model with 440km won't be coming to Australia), so that will be better until there are more chargers in the regions.

Where is that button where you select "max" or "80%"

As far as I know most of the chargers in NSW, including the NRMA 50kW CCS 'fast chargers' (they brand them fast but 50kw is more usually classed as 'rapid') allow you to charge to 100%. There's a button where you can choose 'max' or 80%.

Be aware though that the charger goes very slowly after 80% so it's not good etiquette if there is another driver waiting. Sometimes the extra waiting for full charge may be more than if you made another stop later to top up. Unfortunately, at the moment in regional NSW you may need that full range to get to the next charger. The Plugshare app is very helpful and ABRP app is great for planning your trip with least stops.

When the new upgraded ZS arrives in Australia after July it will have a better range of 318km (unfortunately the real long range model with 440km won't be coming to Australia), so that will be better until there are more chargers in the regions.

Where is that button where you select "max" or 80%? I can't find any battery menu, or "long distance" mode selection or "max/80%" selector. I've hunted all thru the console.

 

[N2STY]

I don't have a "Battery menu"!! Where do I find the battery menu? I have the "Driving" menu with multiple tabs but none of the tabs deal with the battery. (The "Setup" tab deals with the info console itself). I've hunted around the whole console and can't find a battery menu. Where is it supposed to be?

I think you will find there talking about the MK2 long range I take it yours is the MK1 and I don't think down under gets the long range anyway

 

[ChrisR]

Whe

Where is that button where you select "max" or "80%"

Where is that button where you select "max" or 80%? I can't find any battery menu, or "long distance" mode selection or "max/80%" selector. I've hunted all thru the console.

The max/80% button is on the charger, not the car menu. The version of the ZS EV we have in Australia (until the new models arrive after July, hopefully) doesn't have a battery menu.

Some chargers may be different but the NRMA or other Tritium chargers should have that choice between 80% or full.