MG S5 Newbie

[ccarr32051]

Hi
I am in the UK and a newbie to the MG EV world and this forum and await my deliveryof my S5 trophy long range in picadilly blue in a few weeks. I have been a Hyundai owner for past 10 years and my car that I am trading in is a Hybrid so making the leap to EV world and looking forward to it. So I have some questions and looking for tips big or small for setting the car up and if anyone else has the blue S5, post a picture as when I saw it today it was dusk so didnt get true impression.

So what I would like to know is on your standard 7kW charger how long to charge to 80%?
Do most people charge to 80% or go to 100% I have read that 80% is the sweet spot as 80 - 100% takes longer and not good for battery in long run?
I will mainly commute 50 miles return journey for 4 days a week is it best to charge daily to keep topped up or let it drop to say 70 miles range then charge?
I sometimes do a UK holiday and drive from Glasgow to say the likes of Bournmouth, is it best to use public charger at motorway service station or likes of supermarket,hotel, chargers etc and can you subscribe to use for a month then cancel and what would people recommend?

I know theres a few questions and thanks in advance but any wee tips would be fabulous

cc

 

[Ian Key]

Welcome to the forum.

Charging time to 80% depends on what percentage you are starting from. I usually charge from 40% to 80% which is easily done in the 6 hours of cheap rate electricity I get on my tariff. The slowing down of the charging speed above 80% only applies to fast DC chargers not to domestic AC 7kW chargers.

In your example I think you'd only need to charge every other night and perhaps less in the summer. A lot depends on your driving style, heater usage and the speed you are travelling.

Chargers at supermarkets, hotels etc, are usually a lot slower than the ones on motorways, fuel stations or dedicated EV charging hubs.

Get yourself an Electroverse card from Octopus. You don't have to be a customer to use it.

Octopus Electroverse

One-tap access to 1,234,551 EV chargers across the UK & Europe

electroverse.com

 

[Ian Key]

Another couple of tips.

Get your dealer to help set up the iSmart app and bind it to the car when you pick it up and write down the login details. It will save a possible whole world of pain that comes with trying to reset passwords etc. if you forget them.

When you get it home sit in the car with a cuppa, or two, in its ready state (i.e. get in, sit on the driver's seat and press the brake pedal) and thoroughly explore all the settings.

 

[stevedee]

Piccadilly Blue (real name: Soul Blue) looks like this...

Charging to 100% takes disproportionately longer than charging to (say) 50% as illustrated in the charging curve/chart, which you will find in posts (somewhere) on this forum.

When charged to 100%, a car should be driven, not left parked doing nothing, because its the high State of Charge (SoC) that can be 'damaging'; but don't stress about it.

I keep my car topped up at 80% because it needs to be ready to be used (...its a car) and who knows when you might need to unexpectedly use it; e.g. some minor domestic issue.

I don't think 80% is 'the' sweet spot. 83% maybe just as sweat, but you can only (as far as I know) get the car to stop itself being charged in 10% steps; e.g. 70, 80, 90%.

On a 7kW home charger I think you are looking (very roughly) at about 12% per hour charge rate (but I've just woken up, so don't roast me if I'm wrong!

Very fast/rapid/ultra M-way charging can be very expensive. But its super convenient and you won't be doing it all the time. From what you said (like us) you will be charging mostly at home. So averaged over the year, its not a big deal. I like super market chargers, & they often do great coffee.

When travelling down to sunny Dorset, get away from the idea that you are 'stopping to fill the car up'. Its better to 'splash & dash'; connect the car to charger, find the loo, drink coffee, get back on the road. You can get a useful charge in 20-30mins, & you probably need a break every 2-3hrs anyway! (...especially with all that coffee inside you!).

I hope you enjoy your Soul Blue S5, we love ours (...at least as far as you can 'love' a money pit).

 

[TimothyN]

The only time I have charged away from home (and will be doing so again next month) was at a third category of charger which shouldn't be overlooked, called the "destination charger".

If you are staying at a hotel (in my case CenterParcs) for a night or two, they will often have relatively slow, relatively cheap, chargers you can use either overnight or for the duration of your stay.

They are roughly half the price of motorway chargers but a tenth the speed or less. 20% to 80% will cost £19.

Sometimes (apparently) they are not metered and they just charge £10 per night for you to occupy the space and use the charger, which can be very good value.

And finally, if you are going to stay with friends or family, you can take a so called Granny charger and plug into their 13A domestic supply. If they pay a standard tariff, and you go from 20% to 80%, you will owe them £10.

 

[Lovemyev]

As a rough guide, when charging from a 7 kW wall box, you will add about 25 miles of additional distance range to your battery, for every hour it is on charge.
Charging to 80% SOC then100% for longer trips, or 100% about every 6 weeks or so, just to help balance your pack,
Rapid charging can be more expensive than fossil fuel, so charge from home is definitely the best plan.
You may want to consider a cheap off peak rate ?.

 

[Alb]

My charging regime is driven mainly by my electricity tariff (Octopus Go). It gives a straight 5 hours at low cost and that will deliver around 35kWh so it's just convenient to let it run down to 20-30% and let a single charge bring it back to around 80%.
This isn't driven by ideology, just convenience.

 

[TimothyN]

My lifestyle/car usage has meant I have saved the £1200 a 7kW charger costs to install and just use a Granny charger.

That gives me 30% charge, at 7p per kWh, per night, most of which I don't use to drive but to feed back into the house, so I get cheap electricity during the day.

Essentially, I have paid an average of 2p per mile, and run a space heater, tumble dryer and electric oven at 15p/hour, for the last 7 months with no inconvenience whatsoever.

This only works if you use your car mostly for short local trips, as I do, and definitely doesn't work for a lot of people, but if it works for you, it is super economical.

 

[salty]

To the forum. And enjoy your new motor.

 

[ccarr32051]

Hi
Many thanks for all the info given some great advice. I did not know that it was the DC charging to 80% and not the AC domestic chargers.
I have ordered a hypervolt pro 3 from octopus and filled in my pre install survey and joined electroverse ( great tip)

Thanks for the pic btw
I am replying my phone hence short replies - big fingers wee keyboard lol
Cc

 

[Weeble]

I keep my car topped up at 80% because it needs to be ready to be used (...its a car) and who knows when you might need to unexpectedly use it; e.g. some minor domestic issue.

Same logic here Steve. Although I'm a low mileage user and manage to top up most days with free solar to cover the few locally miles I drive.

 

[Ian Key]

I keep my car topped up at 80% because it needs to be ready to be used (...its a car) and who knows when you might need to unexpectedly use it; e.g. some minor domestic issue.

I recharge mine when it gets down to 100 miles of range left which will cover any "emergency" that might crop up. If I need to travel further than that spending 20 minutes at the local fast charger won't make any difference to the emergency.

 

[TimothyN]

I used to keep the ICE car above half fuel too. I like reserves.