Is this SoH OK?

[AnaloguePete]

I bought a 71/2022 Mk2 ZS EV about a year ago. I have just installed the eZS app (great app!) and it tells me that the battery SoH is 85.4%. Is this normal for a 4-year-old car?

 

[Everest]

What is mileage? How has it been charged in the past?

 

[MG Clive]

Welcome to the forum @AnaloguePete, on the face of it, 85% seems low, but if it's been abused and had 4 years of rapid charging, it's probably about right. The answer to @Everest 's question will help.

 

[Jomarkh]

I bought a 71/2022 Mk2 ZS EV about a year ago. I have just installed the eZS app (great app!) and it tells me that the battery SoH is 85.4%. Is this normal for a 4-year-old car?

Welcome to the forum.
If the car has been charged using DC Rapid chargers and not been put on an AC EVSE (type2 charger) and had the batteries cells balanced monthly this can reduce the SOH.
How many miles has it covered?

 

[Data]

I know a couple of guys with the Mk2 ZS LR EV with just under & just over 100,000 miles on the clock. Both of their cars have been Taxis & have SOH figures of 91 & 93%. Mileage often isn't quite so important. I've seen cars with half that mileage on the clock that have more degradation to the battery.

 

[AnaloguePete]

What is mileage? How has it been charged in the past?

It was 17684 miles when I bought it a year ago. I fon't know how it was charged in the past.

 

[Susanna]

@AnaloguePete - can I ask which app tells you your battery SOH? I thought you needed an OBD thingy.

 

[Data]

Susanna, you do need an OBD2 Bluetooth scanner. I use the VGate iCar Pro ble4. Available from Amazon for around £20. I tried cheaper scanners but found most of them didn't work. Dead on arrival. VGate are premium & work with several different apps including Car Scanner.

Here's a link for the Bluetooth '3' version but get the '4' version if I were you. It's even better.

Vgate iCar Pro Bluetooth 3.0 OBD2 Code Reader OBDII Scanner Scan Tool Car Fault Check Engine Light for Torque Android（not iOS) : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

Diagnose check engine light issues quickly and accurately with this Bluetooth OBD2 scanner that works with most Android apps. Easy to use and compact design.

amzn.eu

NOTE: it works with Android, not sure about IOS

I bought a 71/2022 Mk2 ZS EV about a year ago. I have just installed the eZS app (great app!) and it tells me that the battery SoH is 85.4%. Is this normal for a 4-year-old car?

Pete, you may find a couple of complete battery balance (equalisation) charges will improve your SOH figures. Have you carried this function out already? It can take two or three attempts to show improvement if it's not been done for a long time. According to your owners manual a balance should be carried out every month. I was doing it every 2 months but found that was not enough. I follow the manual on this now & I do get slightly better range even in winter.

 

[AnaloguePete]

@AnaloguePete - can I ask which app tells you your battery SOH? I thought you needed an OBD thingy.

I've got the vGate iCar Pro 2S dongle, which connects to my Android phone via Bluetooth. I used the eZS ANdroid app. Strangely, none of the other apps would connect (Car Scanner, OBD Fusion).

Pete, you may find a couple of complete battery balance (equalisation) charges will improve your SOH figures. Have you carried this function out already? It can take two or three attempts to show improvement if it's not been done for a long time. According to your owners manual a balance should be carried out every month. I was doing it every 2 months but found that was not enough. I follow the manual on this now & I do get slightly better range even in winter.

I did a couple of 100% charges after I got it, but out of ignorance rather than planning. I'll do a couple more.

 

[Lovemyev]

I bought a 71/2022 Mk2 ZS EV about a year ago. I have just installed the eZS app (great app!) and it tells me that the battery SoH is 85.4%. Is this normal for a 4-year-old car?

That SOH does sound a little low.
Do you have the standard range or the long range version ?.
What is your predicted range after a charge to 80% and both trips reset, if you don’t mind sharing ?.
I am just curious that’s all .

 

[decrep]

It's important to leave car connected after it gets to 100%, don't unplug it until the green charging light at the plug goes out. It can take anything from a few minutes to almost an hour.

 

[AnaloguePete]

It's important to leave car connected after it gets to 100%, don't unplug it until the green charging light at the plug goes out. It can take anything from a few minutes to almost an hour.

Thanks for that. I was about to ask when do I know that the balance charge has finished, and you've answered my question.

 

[Lovemyev]

Pete - If you charge from home and have a home energy monitor, you can witness the activity on the screen.
When the car starts charging, it will display about 7 kw’s.
As the car reaches around 95% charged, this will drop back to 3.5 kws and then at around 98-98% it will drop again to 900 ish watts and then reducing to 500 Watts.
Then quickly down to 300 and finally 175 and shortly after this it will complete and unlatch from the wall box.
Of course these figures are approx because you have to remember you could have other items running as well ( washing machine etc ).
But it gives you a general idea of what is going on.
The balance time scale will vary depending on the level of imbalance in the pack.
If there if very little, it will finish quickly and longer if it detects a larger imbalance in the cells.
Just don’t unplug the car at 100% or it will not perform a balance.
Just leave it do it’s own thing.
You maybe be able to see the voltage of each bank of cells in the App ?.

 

[AnaloguePete]

Pete - If you charge from home and have a home energy monitor, you can witness the activity on the screen.
When the car starts charging, it will display about 7 kw’s.
As the car reaches around 95% charged, this will drop back to 3.5 kws and then at around 98-98% it will drop again to 900 ish watts and then reducing to 500 Watts.
Then quickly down to 300 and finally 175 and shortly after this it will complete and unlatch from the wall box.
Of course these figures are approx because you have to remember you could have other items running as well ( washing machine etc ).
But it gives you a general idea of what is going on.
The balance time scale will vary depending on the level of imbalance in the pack.
If there if very little, it will finish quickly and longer if it detects a larger imbalance in the cells.
Just don’t unplug the car at 100% or it will not perform a balance.
Just leave it do it’s own thing.
You maybe be able to see the voltage of each bank of cells in the App ?.

Thanks, that's useful. So yes, I do have a home automation system (Vera Plus), so I do monitor the charge current through a Z-Wave wall sockert. I use a granny charger, so the power levels are less. I've noticed i the past, when I have charged to 100%, the power drain is about 2.3kW while it charges then drops in stages to under 100W. I didn't notice the drain when the green light goes out though.
I'm going to do a balance charge today, so that I can check it.

 

[Data]

Pete, the best way to balance the battery in your circumstances is to make sure you take the state of charge down to below the "low battery" warning. On my long range ZS this occurs at around 20% soc. But then just go down a bit more with the soc to make sure all of the battery cells drop below the low battery warning threshold. This will make sure that the cars BMS (battery management system) takes full control of the charge & balance of the battery. MG & Octopus Energy instructed me to turn off Smart Charging so that the charge will not be interrupted. A full & proper balance must be slow & uninterrupted otherwise the BMS won't control the balance part of the charge. Smart charging will usually stop the charge as soon as your supplier detects your car is at 100%. Obviously you don't want that, the charge must continue untill the BMS cuts it off, not your charger.

I've found very conflicting advice on this site concerning doing a balance charge. I've tried it all as have some others & many of us have found the only way to do it properly is doing it the way it's outlined above. Anyway, good luck with however you do it & let us all know how you get on.

 

[Susanna]

@Data - thanks! I thought it couldn’t be as simple as just needing a particular app on its own. I have doubts as to my ability to ‘read’ data from an OBD dongle, but perhaps I should do some research……

 

[Data]

@Data - thanks! I thought it couldn’t be as simple as just needing a particular app on its own. I have doubts as to my ability to ‘read’ data from an OBD dongle, but perhaps I should do some research……

Susanna, you seem to be a pretty smart cookie from some of your posts that I've read. I don't think you will have any difficulty on that front. Not trying to sound condescending.

 

[Data]

Thanks, that's useful. So yes, I do have a home automation system (Vera Plus), so I do monitor the charge current through a Z-Wave wall sockert. I use a granny charger, so the power levels are less. I've noticed i the past, when I have charged to 100%, the power drain is about 2.3kW while it charges then drops in stages to under 100W. I didn't notice the drain when the green light goes out though.
I'm going to do a balance charge today, so that I can check it.

If you are granny charging then you won't be using any form of smart charging so that's good for a balance charge, if not somewhat lengthy. Good luck!

 

[bruce7]

MG & Octopus Energy instructed me to turn off Smart Charging so that the charge will not be interrupted.

@Data

Can I ask the steps you take to do this.

I have Intelligent octopus go and a hypervolt charger. I tried turning off the smart charging in the octopus app and do a boost charge but it doesn't do anything. It just said it wasn't able to charge the vehicle. Is there anything specific I need to do?

Thanks

 

[Data]

Hi bruce, in my case I switch off smart charging in the Octopus app. My wall box is a MyEnergy Zappy charger. In the MyEnergy Zappy app I switch to 'fast charging' mode which starts the charge process. It then just starts going non stop at 7.2kw until 100% then over a period of time gradually drops the charge rate down to 3.5kw, 2kw, 500w, 300w, 200w then 100w then nothing. It can take a while if the battery is quite unbalanced (30-60 mins or more) mine has taken 30 mins on one occasion but mostly it's 10 or 12 mins. This is the period where the charge rate is continuously dropping to eventually nothing. At that point the balancing is complete. Sometimes more than one balance charge might be needed if the car battery is very unbalanced. So you just do it again after the charge drops down again. It definitely works & can give quite a bit of extra range.

Points to note. If your car failed to charge when you tried this it might be you had some sort of charging schedule already active in the car? Or, it might be your car is listed as the primary device in your Hypervolt account or is it the charger itself? My car is of course listed in my account so Octopus knows how big my battery is but my primary device is listed as the MyEnergy wall box charger. That can make a difference. Some on here claim they don't need to switch off smart charging to do a balance charge. I have to, as do all of my friends who have electric cars because you don't want your wall box charger to be in control, just your cars BMS. Our cars simply won't balance charge with smart charging switched on because as soon as the battery gets to 100% Octopus shuts down the charge. Dunno if that helps.