Charging Query (apologies new owner) ***** Now sorted thanks****

[fuglyfish]

Good morning all

I have taken delivery of an MG4 XPower this morning, lol delivered with 30% Charge

Currently awaiting installation of a home charger, however in the mean time i've plugged the granny charger in (this is plugged into an external wall socket that was checked by a qualified electrician yesterday to make sure it was appropriate in the short term)

Whilst charging I notice the display in the car was not constant ? What i mean is that it will show charging 0kw rise to 2.1 kw then fall back down to 0 then back up again. Is this due to it being AC current? Sorry probably a funny question to the "hard core" ive never owned an EV and so this is my first experience

thanks in advance

 

[fnegroni]

Do you have a smart meter to monitor your granny charger demand?
Are you charging while the car is started and with the air con switched on?

 

[Grriff]

I don't believe it's related to alternating current. The fluctuations may result from the car door being opened and closed, or because there is an 'r' in the name of the month. You can never be sure with an MG. Although we're very satisfied with our MG4 Trophy it takes a bit of trial and error to get to know it.
I've written a guide to the Trophy which may be useful MG4 Trophy - a Guide

 

[Coulomb]

Is this due to it being AC current?

No, alternating current is 50 cycles per second, so 100 pulses of power per second. Humans can't perceive that short a period of time, nor will normal gauges.

 

[fuglyfish]

Hi there air con off though yes i was sat in it... it seems to have settled down now, i guess i need to sit back a bit ...chill and get used to it. You know what its like when you first get something you are a little unsure of the "oddities" etc ..ill get used to it

Seems to now be sat at 1.78KW and no longer fluctuating..

appreciate people having a look at this post and chipping in ..thanks

 

[jpk]

Erring on the side of caution I'd maybe dial your AC charging option in the car to 8amps unless you know for certain it's a good socket, maybe even on its own loop like an outdoor one. I'm not gonna bowl in trying to scare you with horror stories that are rare about your house going up in flames but if it's old wiring to a regular socket on your ring main there is potential to prematurely fatigue the cable and socket

 

[fnegroni]

Hi there air con off though yes i was sat in it... it seems to have settled down now, i guess i need to sit back a bit ...chill and get used to it. You know what its like when you first get something you are a little unsure of the "oddities" etc ..ill get used to it

Seems to now be sat at 1.78KW and no longer fluctuating..

appreciate people having a look at this post and chipping in ..thanks

Tbh you were probably seeing the HVAC using power. Its consumption fluctuates between 0.5 and 2kW for me. So you end up charging the HV battery at between a few hundred watts and the full 1.87kW (your supply probably shows 2.2kW being used and it’s an 85% efficient process)

 

[Rolfe]

My SR seems to charge at a fairly constant 1.87 Kw on the granny charger, but I admit I haven't sat over it to watch. The first time I brought the car home I was so clueless I wouldn't even have known where to look on the app for that, or what it meant!

 

[fnegroni]

The thing that I now understand is that charging at home is a bit more expensive than I thought: for each kW supplied, the car only gets 850W
So the actual cost per kWh is 27.51 pence * 1.15 = 31.63 pence
If you can get a Tesla supercharger to charge at 40pence per kWh, which is 95% efficient, you would pay 42pence per kWh

 

[Grriff]

The thing that I now understand is that charging at home is a bit more expensive than I thought: for each kW supplied, the car only gets 850W
So the actual cost per kWh is 27.51 pence * 1.15 = 31.63 pence
If you can get a Tesla supercharger to charge at 40pence per kWh, which is 95% efficient, you would pay 42pence per kWh

But this is charging at full rate. You should be able to get an off-peak rate of around 14 p/kWh or cheaper.

 

[fnegroni]

But this is charging at full rate. You should be able to get an off-peak rate of around 14 p/kWh or cheaper.

I get your point.
I have a rebate for not using electricity at peak time, but I charge so little at home I don’t really want to have cheaper electricity at night when most of my usage is during the day.
I also have access to free EV charging for two weeks out of four at a parking lot, so it is not worth the tariff.