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Gear shifting in EV mode, Warning

Henri8

Established Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2021
Messages
143
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Location
Naarden The Netherlands
Driving
MG HS PHEV
My first impression with driving my brand new MG plug-in Hybrid in 100% EV mode:
The electric drive has a 4 gear transmission systeem which often shifts in a very slow way. The car halts for a moment like someone who cannot find the next gear!
In the hybrid mode with 6 extra gears available here is no problem at all, but in EV I find it troublesome, especially when overtaking traffic on dual roads. At a speed of around 80km/hr while accelerating, a total power cut occurs for about a full second causing decelleration! Anyone who can confirm this?
My hope is improvement in the near future for all owners in that case.
 
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So the HS has 2 gearboxes? 4 gear gearbox for electric and 6 gear gearbox for ICE? Is it an Automatic gearbox on the ICE and the Electric?
 
My first impression with driving my brand new MG plug-in Hybrid in 100% EV mode:
The electric drive has a 4 gear transmission systeem which often shifts in a very slow way. The car halts for a moment like someone who cannot find the next gear!
In the hybrid mode with 6 extra gears available here is no problem at all, but in EV I find it troublesome, especially when overtaking traffic on dual roads. At a speed of around 75km/hr while accelerating, a total power cut occurs for about a full second causing deceleration! Anyone who can confirm this?
I've not noticed that although I have only used EV mode in town or minor country roads. I'll check on a dual carrigeway if I can over the weekend.
 
I've not noticed that although I have only used EV mode in town or minor country roads. I'll check on a dual carrigeway if I can over the weekend.
Hi G 4th
Did you get a chance to try it out yet?
If your gear shifting is fine I will skip the warning and check this out at my garage.
Thanks in advance
Henri 8th😉
 
I've checked it and it does appear at times to hesitate slightly at certain speeds if I use kickdown to force it to change down a gear. I've not noticed any loss of power just a slight delay in the gear selection. I suspect it might be caused by asking the gearbox to change down a gear when it was expecting to have to change up. The MG is the first automatic car I have driven apart from a three speed Ford in the late 60's so I'm not really sure what to expect.
 
I've checked it and it does appear at times to hesitate slightly at certain speeds if I use kickdown to force it to change down a gear. I've not noticed any loss of power just a slight delay in the gear selection. I suspect it might be caused by asking the gearbox to change down a gear when it was expecting to have to change up. The MG is the first automatic car I have driven apart from a three speed Ford in the late 60's so I'm not really sure what to expect.
Well thanks for your observations which do not support my findings at all. Up til now I never used or experienced the kick down option. Actually I never used more power than 60%. Only once, because of this problem, I did give full pedal pressure from 0 to 100 km/hr in the EV mode on a deserted country road. (Yes, we still do have those in Holland! ) It turned out that the power indicator shows a maximum of only 80% which is understandable. (100% in hybrid mode) The first shifts are smooth and fast however between 75 and 80k/h this abrupt power loss occurs.
I hope to get some more feedback before I visit my garage and, not to blame MG for the time being, I will erase the BEWARE warning.
 
Well thanks for your observations which do not support my findings at all. Up til now I never used or experienced the kick down option. Actually I never used more power than 60%. Only once, because of this problem, I did give full pedal pressure from 0 to 100 km/hr in the EV mode on a deserted country road. (Yes, we still do have those in Holland! ) It turned out that the power indicator shows a maximum of only 80% which is understandable. (100% in hybrid mode) The first shifts are smooth and fast however between 75 and 80k/h this abrupt power loss occurs.
I hope to get some more feedback before I visit my garage and, not to blame MG for the time being, I will erase the BEWARE warning.
@Henri8 Sorry I misunderstood the problem you were having. I've been out today to try to replicate the problem you have between 75-80kph but have been unable to do so. When you experience the problem what happens to the motor rpm does it drop more than it does when it makes the first gear change? I was wondering if perhaps it's possibly a gear box problem and maybe it's going straight from second gear to forth missing out third.
 
@Henri8 Sorry I misunderstood the problem you were having. I've been out today to try to replicate the problem you have between 75-80kph but have been unable to do so. When you experience the problem what happens to the motor rpm does it drop more than it does when it makes the first gear change? I was wondering if perhaps it's possibly a gear box problem and maybe it's going straight from second gear to forth missing out third.

That could be the problem.. and yes a severe drop in rpm at that speed range.
I must make the conclusion to have it checked by maintenance.
Keep you posted after that
 
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Well thanks for your observations which do not support my findings at all. Up til now I never used or experienced the kick down option. Actually I never used more power than 60%. Only once, because of this problem, I did give full pedal pressure from 0 to 100 km/hr in the EV mode on a deserted country road. (Yes, we still do have those in Holland! ) It turned out that the power indicator shows a maximum of only 80% which is understandable. (100% in hybrid mode) The first shifts are smooth and fast however between 75 and 80k/h this abrupt power loss occurs.
I hope to get some more feedback before I visit my garage and, not to blame MG for the time being, I will erase the BEWARE warning.
After the above reactions I did contact MG Maintenance. They made a test drive in a demo car.
As you can see in the attached video they experienced the same drop in acceleration during gear shifting at around 80 km/hr. The driver announces (in Dutch) the speeddrop by saying "here he stalls" and around 1,5 seconds later "Here he goes"
When you look at the speed indicator, acceleration stops at 82 while the power indicator drops from 65 to 59 which in my experience not related to the power drop because I tried it again just now and i can keep the power indication constant while this presents itself.
The most likely conclusion is that this is a factory issue and might only be improved by software solutions.
I will change the "beware" warning into "Warning" until further notice ;-(
The attached Zip compression will be downloaded for decompression
 

Attachments

  • VID-20210323-WA0000.mp4.zip
    2.2 MB · Views: 430
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After the above reactions I did contact MG Maintenance. They made a test drive in a demo car.
As you can see in the attached video they experienced the same drop in acceleration during gear shifting at around 80 km/hr. The driver announces (in Dutch) the speeddrop by saying "here he stalls" and around 1,5 seconds later "Here he goes"
When you look at the speed indicator, acceleration stops at 82 while the power indicator drops from 65 to 59 which does not seem much however as I mentioned before, full power in the the EV mode is indicated as 80% only.
The most likely conclusion is that this is a factory issue and might only be improved by software solutions.
I will re-install the "beware" warning unfortunately until further notice ;-(
I have problems getting this MP4 video online, sorry, Zip also not working...
Anyone who can give me a break?
 
I can download, extract and watch the video (8 seconds), so whilst it's not embedded here, it's certainly watchable.
 
@Henri8.. Thanks for the interesting video. What is your software version?
Mine says Qt v5.8.0 I assume this is the main software. Other software appears to be for navigation and DAB.
 
20210324_100820.jpg
@Henri8.. Thanks for the interesting video. What is your software version?
Mine says Qt v5.8.0 I assume this is the main software. Other software appears to be for navigation and DAB.
This is my page..
 
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Hi Henri, I tried it also today, software qt v.5.8.0 is the same, I also have this issue but at 122 kmh, same behavior, only in ev mode, speed falls back to 120, after 2 seconds speed will raise again, a feeling like a turbo Diesel engine has an turbo problem, no power, nothing for almost 2 seconds ...
 
@Henri8 @weiro Sorry I believe I may have inadvertently created some confusion over software versions. I think that the software versions we can see are actually the software for the infotainment system not the engine management system. After some investigation I think the Qt v.5.8.0 is actually open source software used to develop the controls on the LCD screen which is also used by Mercedes.
 
Hi Henri, I tried it also today, software qt v.5.8.0 is the same, I also have this issue but at 122 kmh, same behavior, only in ev mode, speed falls back to 120, after 2 seconds speed will raise again, a feeling like a turbo Diesel engine has an turbo problem, no power, nothing for almost 2 seconds ...
That is interesting to read Wiero...
I do also have this interruption at around 120, but not as forceful I think.
I will observe it again.
So, in fact we have two cases at 80 and and 3 or 4 at 120 as well.
Please keep an eye on the 80 shift as well, thanks!
 
@Henri8 @weiro Sorry I believe I may have inadvertently created some confusion over software versions. I think that the software versions we can see are actually the software for the infotainment system not the engine management system. After some investigation I think the Qt v.5.8.0 is actually open source software used to develop the controls on the LCD screen which is also used by Mercedes.

Yes, confusion indeed..
Where do I find the Qt v.5.8.0 version?
 
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