Do I have a charging problem?

[QLeo]

I think we have just experienced A Series of Unfortunate Events. but may I ask for the collective wisdom of the forum, please.

On Friday we slow charged the car (SE LR) to full, planning a journey yesterday. We drove about 100 miles, and, as charging closer to home is rather expensive, thought we would try the Pod Point at Tesco in Dingwall. We have used one of these before, though elsewhere, and it worked perfectly. This one would not start. But it appeared to be a fault with the credit card reader, and as we did not need a charge, we decided to continue our journey. We drove on, along a back road we've been meaning to take for years (for viewers in Scotland, the road above the A9 from Dingwall to Evanton, then towards the Struie, then dropping down to Edderton on the little single track and on to Tain). We were having a fine day out.

But as that failed charge was bothering us, we tried the Pod Point in Tain, which we have used before, this time using the app. Again, the car would not charge. Rather than get het up about it, we decided that, as we would want a charge before we got home, we would go to the one in Ardgay. Again, we have used this before. The lights on the port turned green and we went to find a drink nearby. I didn't bother to check the iSmart app, which I normally do, but when we got back to the car, I noticed that the state of charge was 50% on the dot. I could have sworn it was about 53% when we started but can't be sure. I checked the iSmart app, and it showed it was charging at 3.5kW rather than 10x that or more. I phoned Chargeplace Scotland, who thought there was a problem on the unit because a previous person had only got 10kW in 45 minutes.

We knew we'd have enough to get home, but that 50% SOC bothered me. We switched off the aircon (it was hot yesterday) and carried on. About 12-15 miles later, the SOC was STILL at 50% and I started wondering where we could find a mobile signal to call for help. But then it dropped to 49%, the only time I have been happy to see the SOC drop. After that it seemed to behave as I would expect, showing SOC and expected range within expectations.

One other oddity. I had it in ECO mode, and occasionally, when pulling away or accelerating, the power percentage shot up to 70-80%, even on what I thought was a gentle pullaway. I may have been over-sensitive to the power use, but there was something that felt wrong about these occasions.

We got to Lochinver with about 30%, so we went straight to the charger to see if we could finally get a charge. Again, we have used this before, and expected 38-45kW from it. Two things then happened. One was that it started the charge slowly and topped out at about 37kW. The other was that the iSmart app showed it was aiming for 60% rather than the 80% I have come to expect on a fast charger. We stopped it soon after that but once it reached 60%, the charge rate see-sawed between 15kW and 37kW when I would expect it to have been constant, as it had been up to that point.

I will go back tomorrow or during the week to see what the charger does, but there are a few things that I'm concerned about. One is the string of failures. That could be co-incidence, but given the rest of the day, I'm beginning to wonder. The other the fact that the SOC was stuck at 50%. That sounds problematic, but there could be a reason. And finally, why did it only "want" 60% and charge at a lower rate than expected?

Any advice or comment?

 

[Ian Key]

What was your target battery charge level set at?

 

[QLeo]

What was your target battery charge level set at?

I'm not sure. I just check the iSmart app, and if it's on a fast charger it seems to set it at 80%. That's why I was wondering why it was set at 60% when we finally got to a working charger. Is that user configurable?

 

[Ian Key]

The slider on the app can be moved by the user to tell the car what percentage to charge to.

 

[Rolfe]

The slider sometimes jumps about on its own. I think it's a bit better since they updated the app - have you downloaded the new app? Nevertheless I still sometimes see the slider in all sorts of places, although my car, being an SR, just ignores the whole performance and gorges to 100% regardless.

 

[QLeo]

The slider on the app can be moved by the user to tell the car what percentage to charge to.

Oh, thanks so much for that. So it is possibly or likely that I must have simply nerfed the slider inadvertently down to 60%. That would account for for all of the issues we had charging. The only concern that remains is that stuck 50% SOC.

Can't tell you how relieved I am. Very grateful.

 

[Rolfe]

I really admire what you're doing, given the charging situation you have. Keep us posted!

 

[QLeo]

The slider sometimes jumps about on its own. I think it's a bit better since they updated the app - have you downloaded the new app? Nevertheless I still sometimes see the slider in all sorts of places, although my car, being an SR, just ignores the whole performance and gorges to 100% regardless.

Very good of you to suggest that it's not me being a numpty. Experience suggests differently.

It didn't even occur to me that the target could be changed. Once again, this forum comes to the rescue. Thanks to both you and @Ian Key

I really admire what you're doing, given the charging situation you have. Keep us posted!

It's really not been hard, provided you make sure you don't take it down to the wire. I can honestly say I've had no range anxiety, despite occasionally wondering how on earth a car driven by battery can whizz along at 70mph, which seems a feat of electrical engineering that is mind boggling, and the fact that it does so for hours even more so. Herself has once been agitated by a battery in the 30%s, but that was when we were away, just before a large, new event for her business, and the fact that the first charger we went to was duff pushed her overall anxiety levels. We were never in danger, but it was an issue she could have done without just at that moment. Even that turned out well, as we found a charger at the car park for the event.

 

[QLeo]

May I just end this saga by saying that it's an example of the biggest change we faced since getting our MG4, the step from having a relatively unsophisticated ICE car to one that is, well, a software-defined car. It really is necessary to understand the software systems to a greater extent, so that when something occurs, one is able to grasp what the software has done or tried to do. I know some of this is true of modern, high NCAP-rated ICE cars too, so to some extent is an aspect of modernity rather than an EV.
It's perhaps also why there is sometimes a disconnect between younger folk, more likely to be accepting of things "because that's the way they are" than us older folk who perhaps have a greater need to think things through, and perhaps are less trusting.

It's also the reason that this forum is such a wonderful source of information. Thank you to all.

 

[Rolfe]

I think it's something a lot of us are coming to grips with, not just our first EV, but the first time we've encountered a lot of the bells and whistles that all modern cars are loaded with. I've never even had a cruise control before, let alone LKA or TJA! Maybe in some ways ignorance is bliss, as I read experienced EV drivers moaning about these systems on the MG4 compared to other cars they've driven, but I have no comparison. They are what they are. If I find them useful I'll use them, if they annoy me I'll turn them off. I'm not one of the "please MG make the LKA easier to live with" crowd. If there is ever an update that modifies it significantly I'll give it another shot, but an LKA facility is not something I require in a car in the first place.

I'm finding uses for the ACC now I've worked myself up to trying it. Playing follow-my leader on a single-carriageway road where I have no desire or opportunity to pass the car in front, and keeping me more or less legal on the motorway given that the car accelerates to over 90 so effortlessly that you can be going a lot faster than you think before you realise it.

I did drive close to the wire at the begining of last week, when I went down to 4%. I had gone to Moffat on the motorway to practise with the ACC, intending to have some of the 25p electicity from the ChargePlace Scotland charger in the car park there while I was at it. The charger was broken. I phoned to check and was told it had been out of order for several days, no chance. The man on the helpline was really good though, asking how much charge I had left and assuring me that the West Linton charger was working. He also said to phone him back if I thought I was really in trouble.

I had loads of options though. There were type 2 chargers on the other side of the car park if I'd been really desperate, but I wasn't. I realised I actually had enough to get home on and decided to do that, keeping an eye on the situation. I decided to go back by the motorway even though it's a bit further than the A701, because there are no other chargers on the A701 but the motorway exit I take is Abington which has both older Gridserve chargers and loads of new Applegreen chargers. At a price of course, but if I'd been worried, ten minutes on one of these would have sorted me.

However, when I got to Abington and checked the mileage I was still good to get home, also passing through Biggar which again has some type 2 chargers for the desperate. About 10% the car asked me if I wanted to turn on economy measures but I said no. It went on responding normally all the way home, indeed when I overtook someone on the Dolphinton straight (infamous for being the place a motorcyclist got caught doing 162 mph and jailed) I was up at 80 mph before I realised it. This was two miles from home and on 5% charge. I obviously had to option to hypermile, and to tell the car to do that, but I knew I was OK and the car believed me and didn't enforce unnecessary economy measures.

The dashboard was quite interesting by 4%, with the SoC indicator on the central screen changed to amber and all sorts of warning triangles and a drop-down exhortation to find a charger right now, but the car still behaved normally. I could practically hear the sigh of relief when I pulled up beside the West Linton charger and plugged in the CCS connector! But even if that had been kaput I would have been fine, because my own garage and the granny charger were only 400 yards further on.

I feel very lucky having so many options and being able to do that. It must be a lot harder to keep on top of it with relatively few options. But at least you have the LR, so there's that!

 

[QLeo]

Yes re LKA - I would not pay for it as an option, but I understand why it's there, even though it's a chocolate teapot, no matter how well it behaves, on our roads.

That experience is another good example of the value of this forum - someone else took their car down to 4% so that we didn't have to!

 

[Rolfe]

Bjorn Nyland took a Trophy down not just to 0% but to a standstill - which was 15 miles of circling the Ikea car park later! There's a thread on it.

 

[Tonych]

I think we have just experienced A Series of Unfortunate Events. but may I ask for the collective wisdom of the forum, please.

On Friday we slow charged the car (SE LR) to full, planning a journey yesterday. We drove about 100 miles, and, as charging closer to home is rather expensive, thought we would try the Pod Point at Tesco in Dingwall. We have used one of these before, though elsewhere, and it worked perfectly. This one would not start. But it appeared to be a fault with the credit card reader, and as we did not need a charge, we decided to continue our journey. We drove on, along a back road we've been meaning to take for years (for viewers in Scotland, the road above the A9 from Dingwall to Evanton, then towards the Struie, then dropping down to Edderton on the little single track and on to Tain). We were having a fine day out.

But as that failed charge was bothering us, we tried the Pod Point in Tain, which we have used before, this time using the app. Again, the car would not charge. Rather than get het up about it, we decided that, as we would want a charge before we got home, we would go to the one in Ardgay. Again, we have used this before. The lights on the port turned green and we went to find a drink nearby. I didn't bother to check the iSmart app, which I normally do, but when we got back to the car, I noticed that the state of charge was 50% on the dot. I could have sworn it was about 53% when we started but can't be sure. I checked the iSmart app, and it showed it was charging at 3.5kW rather than 10x that or more. I phoned Chargeplace Scotland, who thought there was a problem on the unit because a previous person had only got 10kW in 45 minutes.

We knew we'd have enough to get home, but that 50% SOC bothered me. We switched off the aircon (it was hot yesterday) and carried on. About 12-15 miles later, the SOC was STILL at 50% and I started wondering where we could find a mobile signal to call for help. But then it dropped to 49%, the only time I have been happy to see the SOC drop. After that it seemed to behave as I would expect, showing SOC and expected range within expectations.

One other oddity. I had it in ECO mode, and occasionally, when pulling away or accelerating, the power percentage shot up to 70-80%, even on what I thought was a gentle pullaway. I may have been over-sensitive to the power use, but there was something that felt wrong about these occasions.

We got to Lochinver with about 30%, so we went straight to the charger to see if we could finally get a charge. Again, we have used this before, and expected 38-45kW from it. Two things then happened. One was that it started the charge slowly and topped out at about 37kW. The other was that the iSmart app showed it was aiming for 60% rather than the 80% I have come to expect on a fast charger. We stopped it soon after that but once it reached 60%, the charge rate see-sawed between 15kW and 37kW when I would expect it to have been constant, as it had been up to that point.

I will go back tomorrow or during the week to see what the charger does, but there are a few things that I'm concerned about. One is the string of failures. That could be co-incidence, but given the rest of the day, I'm beginning to wonder. The other the fact that the SOC was stuck at 50%. That sounds problematic, but there could be a reason. And finally, why did it only "want" 60% and charge at a lower rate than expected?

Any advice or comment?

This may not address your exact point, but I tried to charge my ZS EV at a London Tesco mega store this morning. It was a surprise to see the one Pod Point rapid charger free - turns out that the card reader said it was working but it wasnt. I reset the post with the red button, waited and tried to connect using the Pod Point App - instant success! Over 3 years of charging while out and about I have learned that card readers can be really flaky

 

[QLeo]

This may not address your exact point, but I tried to charge my ZS EV at a London Tesco mega store this morning. It was a surprise to see the one Pod Point rapid charger free - turns out that the card reader said it was working but it wasnt. I reset the post with the red button, waited and tried to connect using the Pod Point App - instant success! Over 3 years of charging while out and about I have learned that card readers can be really flaky

Thanks for that. All experiences welcome.
We came across one charger in Melrose which we could not get to work, when someone came along and said "Oh, you have to reset that every time if you want to charge there." We tried, but it didn't seem to work. Later, chatting to someone at a different charger, they said "Oh, you have to reset that one in Melrose every time." Let's hope this doesn't become a trend.

 

[Rolfe]

ChargePlace Scotland say the opposite, that they recommend their card because dodgy mobile reception might prevent someone initiating a charge. Although you'd think the charger would also take a bank card. (Except the free one at Dawyck only puts out for members.)

Except, the card reader on our locak charger was out for quite a while, even though everyone was using it quite happily with the ChargePlace Scotland card. (Then the Type 2 connector malfunctioned. Then the CHAdeMO one malfunctioned too. Then they fixed the entire thing. Fingers crossed.)

Probably worth having all possibly means of payment to hand!