IM6 Rapid Charging

[tonyrome]

I have had far more than 80kW delivered from a 350kW Ionity charger.

 

[NikLiverpool]

I am not sure what went wrong there. I was all alone so no load sharing and the car was warmed up battery wise since I was out and about for a couple of hours at least.
I will try them again at some point or will look for alternative options around the area.

 

[MikeJS]

I am not sure what went wrong there. I was all alone so no load sharing and the car was warmed up battery wise since I was out and about for a couple of hours at least.
I will try them again at some point or will look for alternative options around the area.

Did you navigate to the charger with the in car nav? Asking as it is supposed to have a battery heater and it may be triggered by that?? Driving around, from empirical evidence does not seem to do a lot for battery charging.

 

[NikLiverpool]

No, to be fair I did not do that. I was out all morning driving and was passing that spot and went on a whim. Was driving around for a while though, around 2 hours at least with short stops.
I will try this option next time I am given the chance.

 

[MikeJS]

No, to be fair I did not do that. I was out all morning driving and was passing that spot and went on a whim. Was driving around for a while though, around 2 hours at least with short stops.
I will try this option next time I am given the chance.

It could be interesting as although the IM6 appears to have a battery heater we have no info on how to use it!
P.S. I have asked MG customer services…...

 

[tonyrome]

If the weather was cold and the battery not pre-heated, that would explain the low charging speed.

 

[MSvirus]

I heard from the dealer too, that IM6 has a battery heater. But no way to control it. In the display of my MG4 I get the question if I want to turn on intelligent battery heating, when the car detects it is -12C or lower, but did not get that q in the IM6 even if I drove in -16 the other day. Are the battery heater on and drives up my consumption drastically? And with both motors active still in eco mode, is there potential for lower consumption also here? Updates to these two things might do wonders for the winter range.

 

[tsedge]

Perhaps it is much more intelligent than in the MG4 and so needs no manual controls?

I am sure we will find out. It would explain the particularly poor consumption some people have experienced in cold weather.

 

[NickC]

I don't think the battery heater actually works. i plugged a dongle into my OBD port and have read the battery temperatures. Driving increases them slightly, navigating to a charger via the sat nav has no effect. This morning i tried pre hearting my car via the app, schedule a trip with the charger. connected. The app states it will activate battery insulation whatever that is. It certainly doesn't heat the battery

 

[MSvirus]

I don't think the battery heater actually works. i plugged a dongle into my OBD port and have read the battery temperatures. Driving increases them slightly, navigating to a charger via the sat nav has no effect. This morning i tried pre hearting my car via the app, schedule a trip with the charger. connected. The app states it will activate battery insulation whatever that is. It certainly doesn't heat the battery

Interesting. Which PIDs do you read out?

 

[MikeJS]

I don't think the battery heater actually works. i plugged a dongle into my OBD port and have read the battery temperatures. Driving increases them slightly, navigating to a charger via the sat nav has no effect. This morning i tried pre hearting my car via the app, schedule a trip with the charger. connected. The app states it will activate battery insulation whatever that is. It certainly doesn't heat the battery

Interesting. I sent this to customer support a couple of days ago -

The handbook shows a battery heater as being fitted (to enable rapid charging) but there is no info in the manual about how to use it. Do you have any information?

Unfortunately, the first response was - Regarding your query, to book a test drive, please use the link below to find your nearest dealership to book in:!!

I have asked them to try again….

 

[LenEV2016]

What you are experiencing with customer services is what we got with issues with our 4, I sincerely hope they up their game for you all, especially with where they are pitching the IMs

 

[MikeJS]

What you are experiencing with customer services is what we got with issues with our 4, I sincerely hope they up their game for you all, especially with where they are pitching the IMs

In fairness the other queries I have sent got sensible responses.

 

[LenEV2016]

In fairness the other queries I have sent got sensible responses.

Yeah but they can be very non committal and ambiguous, as I said i hope they have upped their game

 

[NickC]

Interesting. Whick PIDs do you read out?

It comes up as Battery Highest Temperature, Battery Temperature Average and Battery Lowest Temperature. Currently reading a max of 2 degrees after driving at 15 minutes, ambient temp -1. Not sure I trust the readings though.

The lack of a working battery heater is really poor.

 

[MikeJS]

Interesting. I sent this to customer support a couple of days ago -

The handbook shows a battery heater as being fitted (to enable rapid charging) but there is no info in the manual about how to use it. Do you have any information?

Unfortunately, the first response was - Regarding your query, to book a test drive, please use the link below to find your nearest dealership to book in:!!

I have asked them to try again….

Now had a follow up reply:

The battery heater shown in the MG handbook is designed to operate automatically to help the high-voltage battery reach an optimal temperature for rapid DC charging, especially in cold conditions. There is no manual control or setting for this feature, which is why the handbook does not provide usage instructions. We recommend keeping your vehicle’s software up to date and contacting your local MG dealership for any updates that may include battery preconditioning enhancements.

I replied:

Thank you.

You said that ‘battery heater ... is designed to operate automatically to help the high-voltage battery reach an optimal temperature for rapid DC charging, especially in cold conditions”

Please tell me what the criteria is for it the operate. I ask as no owners at the moment can see any evidence of it working.

There reply was:
Thank you for contacting MG Customer Care.

The battery heater operates automatically when the high voltage battery temperature falls below a specific threshold, mainly to support DC rapid charging in very cold conditions. There is no manual control, and activation is based on internal battery temperature rather than ambient conditions, which is why it may not be noticeable during normal use.

For exact criteria or to confirm functionality, we recommend contacting your local MG dealer for the latest technical guidance! I will…...

and I asked them - what is the tempo threshold? I am asking as many owners have the ability to monitor the battery temp…..

 

[NikLiverpool]

Now had a follow up reply:

The battery heater shown in the MG handbook is designed to operate automatically to help the high-voltage battery reach an optimal temperature for rapid DC charging, especially in cold conditions. There is no manual control or setting for this feature, which is why the handbook does not provide usage instructions. We recommend keeping your vehicle’s software up to date and contacting your local MG dealership for any updates that may include battery preconditioning enhancements.

I replied:

Thank you.

You said that ‘battery heater ... is designed to operate automatically to help the high-voltage battery reach an optimal temperature for rapid DC charging, especially in cold conditions”

Please tell me what the criteria is for it the operate. I ask as no owners at the moment can see any evidence of it working.

There reply was:
Thank you for contacting MG Customer Care.

The battery heater operates automatically when the high voltage battery temperature falls below a specific threshold, mainly to support DC rapid charging in very cold conditions. There is no manual control, and activation is based on internal battery temperature rather than ambient conditions, which is why it may not be noticeable during normal use.

For exact criteria or to confirm functionality, we recommend contacting your local MG dealer for the latest technical guidance! I will…...

and I asked them - what is the tempo threshold? I am asking as many owners have the ability to monitor the battery temp…..

Hi Mike. Thanks for pursuing this. I may have missed this but did MG clarify that this would activate if you select a rapid charger on the navigation or it will just warm/cool the batteries to maintain temp within specific thresholds?

 

[tsedge]

So it sounds like:

- To speed up rapid charging they took away the option to turn off Intelligent Battery heating, possibly because charge speed is such a hyped feature.

- At some (as yet unknown) low temperature Intelligent Battery heating will turn itself on.

- This could well explain some of the low efficiencies seen in cold conditions.

This is a silly change as if I am not going to Rapid DC charge, because I am charging at home (a very common case), then I should be able to turn this off.

 

[NikLiverpool]

So it sounds like:

- To speed up rapid charging they took away the option to turn off Intelligent Battery heating, possibly because charge speed is such a hyped feature.

- At some (as yet unknown) low temperature Intelligent Battery heating will turn itself on.

- This could well explain some of the low efficiencies seen in cold conditions.

This is a silly change as if I am not going to Rapid DC charge, because I am charging at home (a very common case), then I should be able to turn this off.

I wonder if the increased consumption that I am noticing recently with the weather being cold is due to the 'intelligent' battery heating firing up in the morning.
Guess I will have to wait till spring time and compare...

 

[tsedge]

Yes although hopefully we can clarify this before then. It may be that it works with the satnav rather than all the time. Hopefully the meeting Miles is having this week will clarify.