Charging issues

[Flivoless]

I have a Dec 75 HS Phev with circ 1500 miles on the clock. Earlier this week I made my first long trip of 305 miles. Consumption on the outward trip, with a full battery, registered 67.8 pretty good I thought. However, I had problems finding a type 2 charger - our hotel had nothing - and when I did, the first one was, supposedly 17Kw but registered just 0.5 Kw. I moved on to one that looked pretty new, at a decent hotel. This was, again supposedly, rated at 22 kw but I didn't more than 6.2. I didn't stay very long, as a blizzard of sleety snow started, so had just 12% in the battery. The next day I went to another charger this time rated 16Kw but all I could get was a maximum of 4 kw. We were were shopping for quite some time the charge had got to 80%. Every type 2 I could find were all untethered so I had to the cable that came with the car, and I'm left wondering whether this could be the cause of the reduced charging or whether there is a fault withing the car. I use a granny charger at home that gives me 2 Kw and until this week it was all I needed to use EV for the vast majority of my driving. The trip home was rather more expensive; showing 48.9 mpg starting with 60% battery and ending with 12%. We were travelling perhaps a little faster at times than we did on the outward trip and there was substantial "Friday" traffic on the A1. I would be grateful for peoples thoughts.

 

[Totti1001]

To cut a long story short: the HS can only charge at a maximum of 7 kW, regardless of the charging point’s capacity. 11 kW wallboxes charge the HS at a maximum of 3.6 kW, whilst at 22 kW charging points it charges at a maximum of 7 kW. Unfortunately, the HS is single-phase only.

 

[Flivoless]

Thanks for you reply. It would seem that when away we have to stay in hotels with a chargers, but it seem type 2s are few and far between.

 

[Totti1001]

Don’t you lot in the UK get a charger included in the box? Here in Germany, it only comes with a standard Type 2 cable, but I think I read that a charger is included in the box over there. In that case, a standard socket would be enough.

 

[Flivoless]

Sadly not, only a connecting cable (which does seem a trifle skinny) , had to buy a granny charger that only has a very short cable.

 

[BarrieG]

Not to forget that if you were charging in sleety snow conditions the battery is likely to be quite cold.
The first thing the charging system would do is warm the battery before allowing the full charge rate.
Looking at my charger's analytics, the maximum input in the first hour is around 6.2 kW, due to low draw during the battery warm up period. It was around 5kW during the very cold weather in January. The next hour delivers the full 7.6kW allowed (under 6kW in January), the third hour will drop back slightly as the battery becomes full and the fourth hour will vary depending on how many miles were in the battery to start with.

 

[Flivoless]

Thanks for your post. The Sleet/snow was a freak storm that lasted just 15 minutes and was ver localised. It really wasn't that cold at all. circa 10degs. I only gave up the charging in case it did get worse and the the roads became treacherous. The other times I "tried" to charge all I got was between 2 and 4KW (bizarrely perhaps, I did get up to 5.9 briefly and that was during the snow storm. I really don't think that MG have got the charging control system right; Unlock the doors and it might turn charging off, l like wise just opening a door may do likewise. The iSmart app is very week as it will only connect when it feels like it, needing an unlock/lock to get it to do so. During my public charging debacle I did witness that the car said it was charging but the app said it wasn't (it was).