Driving EV in snow

[hotcfdog]

Any tips?

Not sure how the go kart is going to cope. MG ZS EV MK1

 

[TheArcher]

When I get mine it will have all seasons tyres put on. Haven't used anything else for 20+ years.

 

[5teep]

Just posted this elsewhere today. I can't speak for the ZS but the MG5 is very light on the front end due to not having an engine anymore. This means it likes to slip and slide more than some other cars and care needs to be taken.
There's a golden rule for winter driving in all cars that says give yourself more time approaching junctions and take it easy approaching bends. This applies to EVs but with extra care needed.
Check your tyres properly, don't just assume they are good because the bit you can see easily is good.
I drive a lot and in winter I take a small bucket of salty grit, a small snow shovel and extra screen wash, all of which I had to use last year.

 

[TheArcher]

All seasons tyres are very good in snow (and mud). I've always put them on my cars for donkeys years now and can drive where other people slip and slide.

 

[BugEyed]

I agree with everything that @5teep says apart from

the MG5 is very light on the front end due to not having an engine anymore.

It may be in comparison to a similar FWD ICE but is actually very well balanced with almost exactly 50% at each end. But so do most BMW and we know what they are like in snow.

 

[Shrink Proof]

Here in the North of Scotland, snow in winter isn't exactly a rarity. My experience so far with the MG5 LR is that it copes pretty well in winter conditions (or, as the Daily Express calls it, Snowpocalypse). I posted this just over a year ago:-

Managed 3.1 miles/kWh early on Saturday morning. Inverness --> Aviemore --> Boat of Garten (37 miles). Pitch dark at first (days are short here) but wintry throughout, so lights on, heater on 25C, heated rear window at times, wipers on, demist at times, satnav on. Speed average 30mph - around 55mph leaving Inverness, down to 12mph by the time we reached Slochd summit. Mostly in falling snow, at Slochd a complete white-out blizzard, and not a particle of grit on the road. Very impressed with how the car coped.

View attachment 5881

 

[Deleted member 6309]

Any tips?

Not sure how the go kart is going to cope. MG ZS EV MK1

View attachment 13577

Nice & flat ?
I've been pleasantly surprised how well the traction control works in my mk1. Stock tyres (Michelin's iirc).
Pair of snowsocks in the boot currently for the get out of jail option ?

 

[m4rmite]

That's my street on Monday, still looks the same today.
My mg5 covers it flawlessly.

 

[Deleted member 6309]

View attachment 13684
That's my street on Monday, still looks the same today.
My mg5 covers it flawlessly.

Rather be driving than walking on that ?

All be gone on Sunday...

 

[m4rmite]

Rather be driving than walking on that ?

All be gone on Sunday...

-4 on Friday night and+12 on Monday.. can't make it up

 

[Nstric]

Resurrecting this thread as it seems winter has arrived this year, and I have learned the hard way that my 2021 MG5 EV is as much use as a potato when it comes to driving on ice and I’m now stuck in the Lake District.

So I have a question following on from the previous - on the topic of tyres, as the power goes to the front, is it advisable to put All Season or Winter tyres on the front, and leave the back as the existing summer tyres? Only because they’ve a new set on them and £150 a piece is a pretty penny to replace nearly new tyres all round. Or do you have to keep the same type consistent on all 4?

 

[siteguru]

As long as they're the same on the same axle then you should be OK. Just be wary of the comparatively reduced grip on the rears in case the back end lets go.

 

[Nstric]

Gotcha. Issue I‘ve faced tonight is because I can’t turn off the TCS, my front wheels just very slowly spin in place, even on flat areas and I can’t get that bit of spin that’s sometimes useful to clear the thin ice layer on the road to set off, so having that better grip on the front to be able to move off and stop with better traction will make a reasonable difference at the moment. (I’m up in Ulverston now.)

Also because of Sod’s law, if I buy expensive tyres, you’ll all get to enjoy a warm clear winter because I won’t end up needing them, so that’s a bonus for everyone else!

 

[siteguru]

In my previous cars (which were FWD) I always preferred the better tyres (i.e. with more tread) on the driving wheels. (Even though general wisdom is to have them on the rear as people can generally control a front slide - understeer - than they can a rear slide - oversteer).

I assume not being able to turn off TCS / ESC must be an MG5 thing, as I can certainly turn it off in my MG4.

Edit: it looks like you can turn it off; and in the same way we do in the MG4 (although this may depend on which version of MG5 you have):

Turning of the traction control

Turning off the traction control TCS. Can anyone help in how to turn this off. I got stuck in the snow yesterday and couldn’t turn it off. The manual says it is in the infotainment system but I can’t find it at all. Help appreciated. Thank you

www.mgevs.com

 

[5teep]

As per my earlier post, carry a bag of grit in the boot and a shovel.

 

[Roldorf]

And someone in the car to use the shovel. (Maybe the wife?)

 

[Nstric]

And someone in the car to use the shovel. (Maybe the wife?)

I’m definitely shovel-duty. My other half is from Washington State up in the mountains and she’s a far better driver on snow and ice than I am.

 

[Gomev]

My son-in-law who has a Tesla Model 3 was complaining the other morning that EVs are crap in snow. He had spun it twice.
I pointed out it was more probably his heavy right foot, and the fact that many younger people might have never driven a rear wheel drive car before.

 

[Roldorf]

My son-in-law who has a Tesla Model 3 was complaining the other morning that EVs are crap in snow. He had spun it twice.
I pointed out it was more probably his heavy right foot, and the fact that many younger people might have never driven a rear wheel drive car before.

All weather tyres? Probably not.

 

[Gomev]

All weather tyres? Probably not.

No, simply a heavy right foot. Also he has never driven a rear wheel drive car before, which as we know handles differently especially in corners.