Interesting piece on SE & Trophy battery comparison: Views welcome on 100% charge tolerance

[barrym01]

Very interesting read from 'Which EV' on the different types of batteries MG are using on the two models. Food for though on going for the SE over the trophy. Please do share comments as this may help me make my final decision:

https://***********/2cetjuyt

The base Standard Range model with its 51kWh (50.8kWh usable) battery offers a 218-mile WLTP range, which beats Stellantis cars such as the Vauxhall Corsa-e and Peugeot e-208. It’s also worth mentioning that this battery pack uses a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) chemistry, which is more tolerant of charging to 100%. So you can happily use the entire capacity more of the time without worrying about damage.

The Long Range battery has a Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NMC) chemistry, however, so will be best kept between 50% and 80% during everyday usage, with 100% just for longer trips. This 64kWh pack (61.7kWh usable) enables a very healthy 281 miles with the SE Long Range, and 270 miles for the Trophy Long Range, since the latter is a little heavier and its spoiler causes drag.

All these figures are great, with the Long Range cars challenging the excellent larger battery versions of the Kia e-Niro / Niro EV and Hyundai Kona. They beat the non-Tour VW ID.3 and trounce Stellantis’s offerings.

You only get 7kW AC charging, with no 11kW option. A regular 7.4kW home wall box will charge the Standard Range battery in 7.5 hours and the Long Range in 9 hours. DC charging is excellent, however. The Long Range can charge at up to 135kW, so takes just 35 minutes to go from 10 to 80% – exactly what you need for a pit stop during a long journey. This drops to a still decent 117kW for the Standard Range, so this car takes a lightly longer 39 minutes to go from 10 to 80%. This will mean longer journeys remain possible, particularly as the LFP battery can handle 100% rapid charging more regularly

 

[Ian Key]

If you want the bells and whistles on the Trophy you have no option but to have the LR battery.
Charging the LR battery up to 80% still gives you a range of 225 miles compared to the SR's 218 miles, so very similar.

The decision is how often are you going to do long journeys and need the extra range?
Are you going to get anxious because the battery isn't showing 100% at the start of your journey even if it's only a few miles?

In my case I ordered the Trophy instead of the Standard Edition because I didn't want to think after I had got it I wish I'd spent the extra, but even if I'd had a choice of batteries on the Trophy, I'd still have gone for the LR.

 

[Thorpey]

That's an accurate write up which is good to see from which EV. We couldn't decide between the standard range and long range as they both have their strengths. Almost went for the standard range because of the price, more robust battery and the gearing of the lower powered motor means it's more nippy around town. We have a larger battery EV as well for longer trips, but we still went for the trophy because it gets all the toys. Once you have had heated seats and steering wheel you can't go back especially on an EV when heating the cabin up on cold days impacts the efficiency significantly on short trips.

 

[barrym01]

That's a point pre heating does prevent banging the heating on, will see how I get in in test drives.

 

[barrym01]

Doesn't the SE short range have pre-heating when charging then?

 

[siteguru]

It doesn't schedule pre-heating (the battery) ... it's not like a Tesla which can time pre-heating based on your satnav journey for a schedule recharge stop. But you can select the option in settings to manually turn on battery heating when you're, say, 10 minutes away from your destination charge point. (There's a video posted in one of the threads here showing someone doing exactly that in their MG4 SE).

 

[barrym01]

I understand, my Hyundai Ioniq lets me set the charging schedule to pre-heat condition towards the end if the charge so you get into a warm car, just wondering if the MG4 Trophy or SE has this?

 

[siteguru]

Ah - you're talking about vehicle pre-heating rather than battery pre-heating. I know people in other threads have had variable success with vehicle pre-heating after the car has been charging ... I'm not sure it can be scheduled though, just activated manually via the app. (Happy to be corrected).

 

[hequals4]

the gearing of the lower powered motor

Is that a thing ? First time I've read that there's a difference.

 

[Thorpey]

That's a point pre heating does prevent banging the heating on, will see how I get in in test drives.

Preheating also uses a substantial amount of electricity from the grid warming the cabin and battery. It seems unnecessary if I'm only driving 6 miles to drop the kids off at school. Although when it's icy it always makes me smile opening the door to a warm and defrosted car!

 

[Thorpey]

Is that a thing ? First time I've read that there's a difference.

It's the reason the standard range with a lower powered motor has a faster 0 to 60

 

[Fogey]

Am I correct in thinking that you need to allow for cell balancing from time to time, and that involves slow charging to 100% anyway?

 

[Thorpey]

Am I correct in thinking that you need to allow for cell balancing from time to time, and that involves slow charging to 100% anyway?

You don't need to do that but it will affect total capacity if you don't. What happens is during charging all cells are charged equally, over time slight differences arise and some cells will have lower voltage but the proportion is defined on the overall pack voltage. Once a car is charged above 90% (exact point dependant on model) the car starts to focus charging towards specific cells bringing them all to the same maximum voltage.
So in summary if you don't you may see a loss of range and capacity but it will resolve after balancing.

 

[Fogey]

You don't need to do that but it will affect total capacity if you don't. What happens is during charging all cells are charged equally, over time slight differences arise and some cells will have lower voltage but the proportion is defined on the overall pack voltage. Once a car is charged above 90% (exact point dependant on model) the car starts to focus charging towards specific cells bringing them all to the same maximum voltage.
So in summary if you don't you may see a loss of range and capacity but it will resolve after balancing.

OK - thanks for that. Also, is it correct to say that the car will remind you when it needs such a charge?

 

[BugEyed]

the standard range because of the price, more robust battery and the gearing of the lower powered motor means it's more nippy around town.

The SR is slightly less economical than the LR SE (I'll ignore the Trophy and its barn doors at the back ) presumably due to the lower gearing and/or the lack of active grille on the SR. I do also wonder whether there's any difference in the efficiency of the battery itself at the power levels involved with higher but legal speed motorway cruising but have never seen any comparative figures.

 

[bear1]

It's the reason the standard range with a lower powered motor has a faster 0 to 60

I'm not sure that's true. The 0-60 time is surely much more to do with the heavier battery.

Why have they gone to the bother of changing the gearing?

 

[siteguru]

I'm not sure that's true. The 0-60 time is surely much more to do with the heavier battery.

Why have they gone to the other of changing the gearing?

Well it is a different motor (125kW vs 150kW from memory) so why not different gearing?

For clarity - I don't know that it has different gearing, I'm merely posing the question.

 

[NickHeynes]

You don't need to do that but it will affect total capacity if you don't. What happens is during charging all cells are charged equally, over time slight differences arise and some cells will have lower voltage but the proportion is defined on the overall pack voltage. Once a car is charged above 90% (exact point dependant on model) the car starts to focus charging towards specific cells bringing them all to the same maximum voltage.
So in summary if you don't you may see a loss of range and capacity but it will resolve after balancing.

Do you have to do it in one hit?

 

[lfc958]

Personally once EV range started to get very close to what a petrol car gets, was the deciding factor for our decision to swap. so 270 for the MG4 was acceptable.
With the article above and Look at how battery tech has moved on the Nissan Leaf - 2015 - 84 miles, to Kia EV6 - 2022-330 miles , how far will we be in another 7 years, Mercedes and a Chinese battery company already have a 960 KM range battery.

 

[hequals4]

I'm not sure that's true. The 0-60 time is surely much more to do with the heavier battery.

Why have they gone to the bother of changing the gearing?

Yeah, I'd be interested to learn what the source of this info was if anyone can remember? I've had a quick search but can't spot anything.