MG ZS EV - Cold weather power drop off

[SRMiller07]

Sorry, thought your thread said 6 years

The MG is a 70 plate but our Zoe is a 16 plate so had that a bit over 6 years now

 

[AK OK]

I can see why if they are going to sit in the car anyway, not like they have left it for ages after the free bit. We do our main shop in Lidl now (unfortunately ours don't have any chargers) and then nip into Tesco to get any odds and ends that we couldn't get so only in there for 10-15min so don't see the point in confirming the charge in the app.

Saves paying for it ...

 

[SRMiller07]

I am a retired electronics engineer and I was very surprised by the owners surprise at having reduced range in very cold weather. It has always been my understanding that this was a characteristic of Lithium based batteries. Luckily I live in NZ where frosts are uncommon. But some way of warming the battery while in the garage would seem to be a good idea. I remember that Swedish IC engines used to have a little immersion heater to keep the oil and water from getting too cold.
Unfortunately electric cars are not the best yet in very cold climates. My ZSEV is still going very well after a year.

Hi, the range isn't the concern. Had an EV for a while now so know what to expect in that regards. My concern is the sudden power drop off I'm getting, in the cold, as the battery depletes during a trip.
It's an odd one to explain accurately and wish I had a GoPro or something to mount to the dash to record the behaviour as it's only in certain situations/conditions. But to me it seems like a software issue given the drop off is gradual and goes down in 10% stages. Also wish the ZS displayed the battery % and not just the 8 bars but that's a different topic
Other than this, I have enjoyed the car very much

Saves paying for it ...

Everyone loves a freebie
I still can't get my head around BP Pulse pricing. Unless you pay for the membership you now pay 57p per kW (44p if a member). With PodPoint still at 28p it just doesn't make sense to me. If I only had the option to charge at public ones I'd probably be doing the same, i.e. plug/unplug. If I've got to wait anyway it gives you something to do.
Only way to stop these stupid prices is to change how they price electric on the wholesale side as it's all based on the most expensive rate (currently gas?) but I can't see that happening anytime soon.

 

[Lovemyev]

I still can't get my head around BP Pulse pricing. Unless you pay for the membership you now pay 57p per kW (44p if a member).

Received an e.mail yesterday from BP Pulse to say they had readjusted there pricing structure.

 

[AK OK]

Everyone loves a freebie
I still can't get my head around BP Pulse pricing. Unless you pay for the membership you now pay 57p per kW (44p if a member). With PodPoint still at 28p it just doesn't make sense to me. If I only had the option to charge at public ones I'd probably be doing the same, i.e. plug/unplug. If I've got to wait anyway it gives you something to do.
Only way to stop these stupid prices is to change how they price electric on the wholesale side as it's all based on the most expensive rate (currently gas?) but I can't see that happening anytime soon.

Presumably BP is 50kw+? & Cheapo podpoint rate is 7kw (or 22kw that ZS can't take advantage of)?

Apples & pears?

 

[Kithmo]

I can see why if they are going to sit in the car anyway, not like they have left it for ages after the free bit. We do our main shop in Lidl now (unfortunately ours don't have any chargers) and then nip into Tesco to get any odds and ends that we couldn't get so only in there for 10-15min so don't see the point in confirming the charge in the app. Granted it's only 1-2% but cancels out the trip.

She walked off after plugging in the second time.

 

[Matt M]

Hi, I'm just trying to work out if it's just me having some drop off in power availability with the gen 1 zs ev with this cold weather.
This morning (-5c) I set off on the school run with 50+ miles on the range and 4 bar showing on the battery. All seemed ok. Then I noticed after a mile or 2 that when accelerating it only peaked at 70% power. After dropping the first kid off I went on to drop the next off and the battery dropped to 3 bar and then I only had 60% power. After dropping the last kid off I cam home (around a 6 mile round trip) I noticed that the car would peak at 60% power and then drop to 50%. I got home and put the car on charge and it had 36% of the battery available!
I had this a week or so ago and found that if the first state of charge warning light came on I then had 40% peak power and would then drop off to 30% and the car could barely get to 50-55mph.
This time when I put it on charge I had 21% on the battery).
All this is happening on one trip and the car isn't being switched off in between. Just as the the charge drops off so does the power.
A bit worrying when I live in MK and need to pull out on to roads which are either 60/70mph in rush hour.
I get that cold weather can affect the battery but this seems more "pre-programmed" to happen at set states of charge and is linked to the external temp, rather than the actual temp of the battery, as I assume the battery would be a bit warmer towards the end of the journey?
My biggest grip is that there is now on screen warning to state that the power is being limited which would be very handy to know!
I do have the car booked in on 7th March to have this looked at and also to repair the drivers wing mirror which won't go back in when locked.
Just wanted to know if anyone else had something similar?
I believe the latest BMS is on the car from the last service (voltage dropped to 449 rather than the old 455?) and I can now charge on an AC without having to lock the car. Not sure if this has anything to do with it?
Thanks for any comments!

Happens with ours too. If I know it’s going to be cold I just keep it fully charged. Once below half battery power it’s not a happy bunny

 

[SRMiller07]

Presumably BP is 50kw+? & Cheapo podpoint rate is 7kw (or 22kw that ZS can't take advantage of)?

Apples & pears?

7kw BP are 44p or 57p. Lovemyev shared the screen shot above from their latest email. Local tesco podpoint for me are 28p for the 7kw and 40p for the 22kw. Which is a bit annoying as not many cars can charge at 22kw so you end up paying for something you can't really use. Granted that would be the same for the 150kw and 350kw ones as well.

Happens with ours too. If I know it’s going to be cold I just keep it fully charged. Once below half battery power it’s not a happy bunny

Thanks for this, at least I know ow it's not just me then. I still can't believe this is how they have programed the car to work. As I've mentioned, my biggest gripe with it is that there is no on screen warning to notify of the limited power.
Car is in next month so going to see what MG say.

She walked off after plugging in the second time.

Now that is an arse. Fair enough if you are waiting in the car but that just clogs up a charger.

 

[AK OK]

7kw BP are 44p or 57p. Lovemyev shared the screen shot above from their latest email.

After our posts - yerss....

Local tesco podpoint for me are 28p for the 7kw and 40p for the 22kw. Which is a bit annoying as not many cars can charge at 22kw so you end up paying for something you can't really use. Granted that would be the same for the 150kw and 350kw ones as well.

On the BP pulse app many 7kw chargers show up as £0.0 per kwh, others at 40p/ kwh even though it's after 1st Feb.. also those are "guest prices" glad I don't use em

 

[SRMiller07]

Minor update. The car is in with MG in Milton Keynes. Had a call today to say they have gone through everything they can their end as there are no fault codes coming up. They are now in contact direct with MG China and going back and forth with checks as they say the car shouldn't be doing this. Fingers crossed they will have got to the bottom of it tomorrow and will update again.

 

[Lovemyev]

Minor update. The car is in with MG in Milton Keynes. Had a call today to say they have gone through everything they can their end as there are no fault codes coming up. They are now in contact direct with MG China and going back and forth with checks as they say the car shouldn't be doing this. Fingers crossed they will have got to the bottom of it tomorrow and will update again.

Thanks for the update !.
Keep us informed on progress please .

 

[SRMiller07]

Car is still with MG. They have done a few updates and they have asked for a technician to take it home over night to give it a longer test drive. If the update has worked I should get the car back tomorrow. Will update once I get it back.

Minor update. The car is in with MG in Milton Keynes. Had a call today to say they have gone through everything they can their end as there are no fault codes coming up. They are now in contact direct with MG China and going back and forth with checks as they say the car shouldn't be doing this. Fingers crossed they will have got to the bottom of it tomorrow and will update

UPDATE After 3 days of back and forth with MG head office I have the car back, which has had a few software updates applied (unfortunately I didn't get to speak with the technician so not sure what exactly was changed).
I took the car out on Saturday morning with around 45-50% charge and air temp around 2c and had no loss of power as I would have had before.
I did drive it fairly hard (down to 2mls per kwh) and got it down to 12% when I got home at which point there was some drop off but I'm assuming this was down to there being no range showing. I would usually be driving it fairly economically by that point anyway so I wouldn't really know if this happened anyway.
So it looks like the issue HAS been fixed. As the weather is picking up I'm not sure if I'll know 100% until next winter but fingers crossed it's all good so far!
I am popping back as the wing mirror (which is now working again ) so I'll see if I can find out what it was they actually did. If I do find out I'll post another update.
It could be me having driven the Zoe for nearly a week but it feels a little bit more responsive. But that could just be in my head.

Happens with ours too. If I know it’s going to be cold I just keep it fully charged. Once below half battery power it’s not a happy bunny

Not sure if the notification will pop up on my post above but looks like there is a fix via a software update so I'd have a chat with MG at its next service. They can contact Glyn Hopkins MK as that's where I took mine if it helps. As the engineer I took out to demo the issue said "it shouldn't be doing that". So it is an issue with the car.

 

[Ruislip Resident]

Just did my every now and again charge to 100% for battery balancing. Currently showing (on Mar 18th) 266 miles. I never reset GOM and this is having it since beginning of Sept 22. Driving has been mixed so, especially as that's been over winter, the WLTF is almost spot on. I tend to drive in Eco (even on that it still has way more power than any car I have had before) whilst the missus uses Normal. Always have regen 3 on except on motorways where I use MG Pilot (therefore ACC) which turns it off, or when there has been ice on the road when I put it at setting 1 ( hardly ever occurred).

 

[SRMiller07]

Another Update..... Well I took the car out the other morning as it was 0c and ice on the car. Had a low charge (2 bar but no low battery warning). Around 35 miles on the range. Again, no warnings but power was capped at 60% when accelerating. Did a few tests from 30mph and foot flat to the floor it caps at 60% power. Got home and put it on charge to see what the battery percentage was and it was 32%.
I can't believe that this is how the car should behave in the cold! We have a Zoe from new, 16 plate 22kw one, and that has never had a similar issue. Only the range/charging speed that gets affected in the cold which I do expect.
I did manage to get a video (bit naughty I know but was early in the morning on a clear road at the weekend) but can't seem to upload here.
I live in MK and a lot of the main roads are 60 or 70mph limit and given there is NO notification that the car is limiting power, it's a gamble pulling out in the mornings when it's busy as I can't exactly floor it down the road in the estate to find out if I have power or not. Yes I could just keep the car on charge all the time when it's cold but that's not exactly he point of owning an EV.
Still waiting on MG to get the replacement mirror so will bring this up again with them but this is pissing me off now.