Can you push an MG5 EV or an MG ZS EV if you've broken down?

[Marlee]

A relative who has a Jan 2020 MG ZSEV broke down the other day on a busy trunk road, full of juggernauts etc. They braked at roadworks and a stop/go sign, then the car wouldn't start up again! Lots of warning lights came on. Car wouldn't start whatever they tried and they couldn't push it to the kerb. RAC took 2 3/4 hours to come.
Had it's first year service a few weeks ago, had lots of charge, and had only driven 15 min or so away from home. They had to call the police in the end to direct traffic around them as they were stuck in the middle of a lane around 4 ft from kerb.
We took delivery of our MG5 middle January and are concerned about not be able to push our car out of harm's way if we break down. Had a search online and only found some articles about electric cars and smart motorways which was not a comforting read!
Anyone got any advice? If you put it in neutral, clunk clicked the driver's seatbelt and shut the door, would this enable you to push it, or would the key have to actually be in the car?

 

[AbuG]

If you can get it in to neutral and the EPB released then should be ok. To do that would need to press start button at least once with key present. In Acc or ready mode.
However 12V battery faults (and other electrical faults) may prevent EPB release.
I know from experience a low 12V battery won't release the EPB (electronic parking brake).

Did they find out the problem in the above case?

 

[Cocijo]

If you are unfortunate enough to breakdown on a very busy and dangerous stretch you should not attempt to push your car. If they work, switch on your hazard warning lights - Get to a safe area and call emergency services. Only attempt to push your car if it is completely safe to do so. An EV is no different from an ICE car in that depending on the fault they can sometimes be pushed but sometimes not. I wouldn’t let this be a major deciding factor in purchasing your MG5.

 

[Marlee]

If you can get it in to neutral and the EPB released then should be ok. To do that would need to press start button at least once with key present. In Acc or ready mode.
However 12V battery faults (and other electrical faults) may prevent EPB release.
I know from experience a low 12V battery won't release the EPB (electronic parking brake).

Did they find out the problem in the above case?

Thanks. Must have been a random battery fault then as battery wasn't low. We're still waiting to hear what the garage said.

 

[Marlee]

If you are unfortunate enough to breakdown on a very busy and dangerous stretch you should not attempt to push your car. If they work, switch on your hazard warning lights - Get to a safe area and call emergency services. Only attempt to push your car if it is completely safe to do so. An EV is no different from an ICE car in that depending on the fault they can sometimes be pushed but sometimes not. I wouldn’t let this be a major deciding factor in purchasing your MG5.

Thanks. It would have been safe to push the car initially, but it just didn't want to be pushed. Will be interesting to see what garage says.
We have already purchased our MG5. Had it a couple of months.

 

[AbuG]

The recovery would probably give you priority if blocking traffic especially if traffic police involved

 

[Marlee]

The recovery would probably give you priority if blocking traffic especially if traffic police involved

Hope so, but a wait of over 2 hours is still quite a long wait when people are honking and you feel so in the way! Transport police did come though, so big thanks to them! RAC said they were planning on rolling out vans that could charge up EVs, but obviously not many at the mo.

 

[RossN]

remember the power steering and more importantly the assisted brakes wont work so dont try it down a hill as even the 'hand' brake may not work