First time fully charged since picking up our new MG

[Rabtmac]

Slightly off topic. But interested to know how you managed to fit a home charger without off-road parking?

Simple really we knew we wouldn't qualify for any grants based on what we saw watching others go through the process on YouTube.
The biggest point being we live in a terraced house that was built in 1846
So zero off road parking and the car parked outside the front of the house
These houses tend to have a rear Street between the rows to allow access to the rear yards and these days bin collections etc.
We picked up a secondhand rolec unit from eBay that was replaced by an "intelligent" unit (lol good luck with that)
Lots will tell you the rolec is a bit iffy but it's not at all i spent many many years in electrical wholesale and seeing what had problems over the years and what simply worked as it should helped I guess, I replaced the RCBO with a Garo unit and had a mate install it properly (he's a good industrial sparky not a house basher)
No offence to house bashers.
Fitted near our gate in the yard and when I need a quick boost I drive upto the gate behind the house and plug it in
No problems so far and I've charged the leaf for a year sometimes an hour or two or if I need it I'll take it to 100% and then park it on the front.
Obviously I can't (well I could but I won't just in case) leave it plugged in overnight so don't get to use the reduced rates for electric during the night.
But checking the smart meter before we plug in and after bearing in mind while it's charging away we're watching TV and running the washing machine at the same time and I think we're paying around £1.50/£2 ish whenever we charge the leaf.
Picked up out brand new ZS EV 10 days ago and fully charged it without any issue whatsoever on the back, parked it up and going to and from most of the week and walking the odd day as the weather has been great my wife is looking at 160ish mile range pottering around.
Hopefully when I take it to Scotland and back I'll get the same or maybe a little more (the speed I drive maybe a little less )
So fitting the 7kw charger without the grant and not having any off road parking was child's play total cost was around £300 and that included my mate sticking a waterproof socket outside so I can play with drills and things without trailing wires through open windows.

 

[Sbhu]

Simple really we knew we wouldn't qualify for any grants based on what we saw watching others go through the process on YouTube.
The biggest point being we live in a terraced house that was built in 1846
So zero off road parking and the car parked outside the front of the house
These houses tend to have a rear Street between the rows to allow access to the rear yards and these days bin collections etc.
We picked up a secondhand rolec unit from eBay that was replaced by an "intelligent" unit (lol good luck with that)
Lots will tell you the rolec is a bit iffy but it's not at all i spent many many years in electrical wholesale and seeing what had problems over the years and what simply worked as it should helped I guess, I replaced the RCBO with a Garo unit and had a mate install it properly (he's a good industrial sparky not a house basher)
No offence to house bashers.
Fitted near our gate in the yard and when I need a quick boost I drive upto the gate behind the house and plug it in
No problems so far and I've charged the leaf for a year sometimes an hour or two or if I need it I'll take it to 100% and then park it on the front.
Obviously I can't (well I could but I won't just in case) leave it plugged in overnight so don't get to use the reduced rates for electric during the night.
But checking the smart meter before we plug in and after bearing in mind while it's charging away we're watching TV and running the washing machine at the same time and I think we're paying around £1.50/£2 ish whenever we charge the leaf.
Picked up out brand new ZS EV 10 days ago and fully charged it without any issue whatsoever on the back, parked it up and going to and from most of the week and walking the odd day as the weather has been great my wife is looking at 160ish mile range pottering around.
Hopefully when I take it to Scotland and back I'll get the same or maybe a little more (the speed I drive maybe a little less )
So fitting the 7kw charger without the grant and not having any off road parking was child's play total cost was around £300 and that included my mate sticking a waterproof socket outside so I can play with drills and things without trailing wires through open windows.

Thanks for the info very helpful. It has given me some ideas to ponder re fitting a home charger.

 

[Rabtmac]

Thanks for the info very helpful. It has given me some ideas to ponder re fitting a home charger.

Your welcome,
Most nights when I needed an extra boost I'd plug in for an hour after work (can charge at work so that helps).
The leaf only has the smallest battery plus nissan told porkies, advertising the total battery size and not the actual usable size and on a 24kw that turns out at around 19ish
Not great and after a little loss of power and sub zero temperatures we get round here it has a terrible range.
But an hour or so gave me enough to collect my daughter from her work after her shift ended and still get to work in the morning.
Now with the ZS EV I can stop the extra charge and use the MG after work and leave the leaf alone, so far one good charge is all we've had but a couple of quick boosts before so we know the charger works fine with the new MG

 

[Mike SOS]

What you expect to see as a “Predicted” range after a full charge / balance will be affected by a number of factors.
This includes which BMS software version you are running on as well.
After the latest BMS update released 15th Jan 2021, I can tell you what I am witnessing since this update.
This is similar to what other owners also, unless they have been heavily affected by the “Buggy” software and are still in the process of recovering their packs.
So, after a full charge I am seeing figures between 159 and 161 miles of predicted miles of range on the GOM.
This is in default mode of “Normal & Regen Level 3” on start up.
Also, you will need to boot up the car WITHOUT your foot on the brake pedal and ensure that accumulative mileage trip is then set back to ZERO and make sure ALL electrical items in the car are turned OFF.
Scroll through your settings with the up and down buttons on the right hand side of the steering wheel to do this.
When scrolling through, you should see a screen that displays the voltage on the HV pack.
IF - You are running on the latest BMS update, you should be seeing a voltage of around the 448 - 450 miles when fully charged.
If you are running on the OEM factory software ( dependant on when the car was produced etc ) then you should be seeing a voltage on the pack of around 454 - 456 ish volts.
Worth nothing, that when you check your predicted range after a full charge, double check you have the HVAC turned off !.
Otherwise if your HVAC has been left turned ON from your previous trip, then when you boot up the car, the GOM will automatically reduce your predicted range instantly.
Just for your reference, my car has covered around 11,000 miles and was collected on the 3rd Jan 2020 so is about 15 months old ish.

Thanks for the information. Seeing you have covered 11,000 miles. Have you any problems yet?

 

[Lovemyev]

Thanks for the information. Seeing you have covered 11,000 miles. Have you any problems yet?

Hi @Mike SOS .
No major stuff really.
The car performed brilliantly until it went it for it's first service and recall for the drivers door wiring loom replacement.
The car was stuck at the dealership for two days after it refused to boot up after the wiring loom had been replacement.
Long story short, they had to send the data pack to the MG Tech's to find a fix.
Once this had been done, the car responded to the spare key that I had back home.
The car also received the latest BMS update ( 15th JAN 2021 ) under the MG Tech's instruction.
It has performed well from day one and the only issues I encountered is the rattles from the "A" pillar panels and the creaking that comes from the front windscreen / dash panel area.
Both of these issues have been covered at length on the forum.
I now have some other creaks from other areas of the trim when the ambient temp is low.
These are reduced in volume when the cabin temp rises.
My last 6 previous cars have all been VW's - with the odd sprinkle of BMW's thrown into the mix for good measure.
Question :- "Do I think the build quality is good as both of them ?."
Simple answer to this question is - NO.
But I don't think anybody would be TOO shocked by this comment really.
I badly wanted to move from my previous car that was a VW Golf PHEV which was brilliant, but I REALLY wanted to go full electric and the MG ZS EV just popped up at the right time.
I badly wanted my next car to be full electric after owning a PHEV for over four years and also needed a car with a higher ride height, after struggling getting in and out of a lower ride height five door hatchback after a total knee replacement.
Had VW offered a TROC in full electric at the time, I would have headed in this direction I think !.
But considering we have been through two lock downs in Wales - we have still managed to cover more miles in our electric car than we did in our previous PHEV.
That must tell you something about how I feel about switching to a full EV !.
I feel the MG ZS EV still offers good value for money in this segment.
It's a good value EV given the size Vs the cost of the car.
I don't think anybody will question this fact, but as we know it does suffer from it's issues.
You get what you pay for I guess !.
I would love an ID4 but they are WAY outside of my budget.
I could not fault the build quality on my last 6 VW's to be fair, when I sold my previous Golf after four years of ownership, it had no rattles or creaks from the internal trim at all !.
Would I return to a ICE car now ?.
Absolutely NO CHANCE.
Why would you ??????.

 

[Tim Green]

I get the same on mine in those conditions - everything turned off and charged overnight on the granny and in eco mode gives about 210 miles on GOM.
In actual use it soon falls back to the usual 170 odd.
To go anywhere and get back without charging I work on about 60 miles each way max.
With a high speed boost at midway point I work on about 100 miles each way max.
But I use the car in a normal way using heater/cooling but using Econ on long trips.

 

[Tim Green]

To pick up on Lovemyev's points, I have had a couple of warranty issues with my ZSEV but it has no rattles or creaks, even after 6000 miles. My Mercedes E320 cdi estate has many more rattles from inside. And I would not purchase a car from VW because of their (allegedly) fraudulent use of 'defeat' devices. However one does need to bite one's lip on the chinese background to modern MG!

 

[shawncullen]

Up to 213 miles this morning!

 

[Lovemyev]

And I would not purchase a car from VW because of their (allegedly) fraudulent use of 'defeat' devices. However one does need to bite one's lip on the chinese background to modern MG!

Although this very true, it is important to say that VW are NOT the only maker that has been caught with their hands in the till, so to speak !.

 

[EV AL]

I have the car for a year now and never seen a full charge at 163 miles ever come up yet?
I am use the free Pod- Points charges. Is there any way I can a 160 miles plus charge?

I have a Pod Point charger and was not getting full charge, sometimes it could charge in excess of 10hrs. I contacted Pod Point and apparently I was not getting the full 7kw charge.They fixed it remotely and within 10 min it was charging correctly

 

[Mike SOS]

I have a Pod Point charger and was not getting full charge, sometimes it could charge in excess of 10hrs. I contacted Pod Point and apparently I was not getting the full 7kw charge.They fixed it remotely and within 10 min it was charging correctly

I have done a recheck between the Economy Normally and Sport only to learn there are differences in the miles range. Economy 165 miles. normally 147 miles and sport 139 miles. Learn something new every day!

 

[mj224]

Not sure if it is the good weather but yesterday after fully charging the car over night, my GOM on start up in eco mode and nothing switched on gave me 211 miles. Most I have seen. An increase from my previous 208.

All good here thus far!

Mine did the same last charge...But a few seconds later reverted to the 163 miles...

My ZS EV thinks it's an MG5..........

After a charge last night on y home OE charger, a bit of a surprise. I thought I had won the lottery. But after a few seconds it reverted to a proper ZS...:D

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