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MG ZS EV ordered - are the reviews fair? Any info on the app for the UK?

Mark Holmes

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Hi all,
Ordered my MG ZS EV about 6 weeks ago and just waiting delivery; can’t wait to get my hands on it in April as far as I’ve been told.
There have been some unfair reviews from what I can see; no it’s not a Audi, BMW or Mercedes, but your not paying those prices and I see this as a massive opportunity to get in to the EV world. In addition to this I previously drove a Volvo XC90 for a number of years and was very happy with the drive etc....so what if there are a couple of scratchy surfaces, who cares it great value.
I also understand there are some minor software glitches, but I’m sure these will be resolved.
I’ve heard the app will be coming to the UK does anyone have more details on this?
Would be interested in further feedback from the wider MG ZS EV community...
Regards
 
Hi, Personally I would say yes. First of all there is badge snobbery about MG and I think most reviewers forget the price of the MG and compare it unfavourable against more expensive mainstream EVs.

I will be the first to admit that the MG is best suited to urban work and that's not because it can't do long journeys it's just that exponential possible problems having to charge 4 times on a long journey against for example a e-niro only needing, say two charges, can be a pain in the arse. If I go to Dumfries to Glasgow I have to charge at least once to do a return trip, e- niro can do it in one charge, no problem.

As an experiment I took an e-niro for a text drive yesterday and both cars are very similar to drive, both have brilliant acceleration on and off the motorway. I think the MG IS quieter and just as nice to drive as the Kia. The Kia rides better and a little bit faster and the EV software is better but overall it is NOT £13000 better.

In my opinion the biggest inconvenience from a car with good motorway range and short motorway range (as long as there is no problems with faulty charges, ICE'D, in use, not working etc etc) is purely the extra time involved and if time is not an issue the MG is very happy on the Motorway and you have plenty of acceleration for any situation and it's top speed is 96 mph NOT 87 mph. As a matter of interest if you think the MG suffers from wind noise then fit the chrome wind deflectors I fitted (shown in a previous post) they do reduce the wind noise a lot and they look good. So in answer to your question yes I think they are being not so much unfair but unduly harsh.

Frank
 
Thank you Frank for your honest response, it’s really appreciated. I must admit my main concern is the long runs, but then it’s simply plan your journey and use the breaks wisely as health and safety breaks....been to Leeds today in a Petrol car and drove straight there and back again without sufficient rests, at least this will promote good behaviours.

I would be interested to hear more opinions from other owners; mine has been ordered and therefore it doesn’t make any bearing on my order, but would still like to see what the other forum users think..

All the best
 
Further to my post I have heard that MG is developing a new battery pack that has a higher energy density than the current pack used in the current ZS EV. It is believed to be about 64Kwh, same physical size but even though a very useful Kwh increase it is lighter.

should be ready in about two years time. The larger capacity should easily add about 80 miles (maybe even a 100, with say a revised software) to the range or maybe more depending on efficiency advances in the cells themselves.

You may not know this but it takes about 1 hours Labour to replace the battery pack, unplugs, unbolts from the chassis and Bob's your uncle, comes off as a big box.

I see no reason why one could not just exchange the battery pack for a larger one to increase the range and not change the car. China has already got battery pack exchange stations where you drive in with a flat battery and drive off with full battery in less time than it takes to charge it.

I believe that eventually this might happen here and if I had the capital and was a bit younger I wouldn't mind opening some here, ALL based in Motorway service stations. There will also be I think a thriving aftermarket repair and replace battery pack service especially if manufactures agree on set standard of battery pack design, and even if they don't that are all very similar anyway.

So in two years time don't charge the car change the battery pack!!!
 
in my opinion it is not the battery size that is a problem but rather the efficiency and speed of charging - size doesn't matter ;)
  • ZSEV had the ability to cool and head the battery, but does not use this efficiant during fast charging
  • consumption is also during low speed city driving high, ecomode and ~25kWh

Whereby I would like to put the word "problem" into perspective again, but especially with the engine efficiency is a lot of play upwards!
 
How well the battery pack charges has no effect on the range. I will agree with you on the efficiency of the battery, motor, aerodynamics and effectiveness of the software controlling the EDS. An efficient overall system will make better (ie give you more range) use of a given capacity of a battery pack, so yes size wouldn't matter in that case but no matter how efficient or inefficient a Electric Drive System is a larger capacity battery WILL give you more range. We must not forget the right foot factor of course (putting aside all the other factors that effect range (which as we know is applicable to ALL vehicles ICE or electric)) make use of speed and the great acceleration of the EV all the time and range goes out the window but even then if you start off with more petrol or more electricity you will still go further than when starting off with less petrol or electricity.
 
Question when they do these real world tests does anyone have further details of the spec behind these tests, are for example speeds at 60 or 70 mph. I recently learned at ICE’s were at 60 mph which I thought was stupid as who drives at that speed other than me...
 
How well the battery pack charges has no effect on the range.

I agree with you, but on a long trip (see FullyCharged posting), it is essential to quickly get a lot of electricity into your battery. No matter whether it has 40 or 100 kWh.
Even if you can drive longer distances, the loading time is longer again.

What i wanted to say there should be a better temperature management for the battery, it makes no sense if I could theoretically charge 80kW (peak), but effectively only charge 28kW because of cold battery.
 
Mark , if you google the WLTP it tells you how the tests are done and if I remember it is split into a percentage of different driving scenarios and only 18% I think is on the Motorway. If you are always doing trips more than about 100 miles on the Motorway then the MG is probably not the best EV choice. Putting ALL the range issues aside the MG IMO is a really nice car, quiet, fast and nice and relaxing to drive. 99% of my driving is less than 60 miles a day and every day with the home charger I start with a full SOC. I am also in the enviable position where I pay a set monthly cost for electricity so I could charge my car ten times a day and not worry about it. ProundEVowner , agree completely about the charging. About the range, no car is perfect all have their faults and all cars are different and as long as the car meets your needs as it does for me, we should just enjoy it, I really like driving the MG and look forward to driving it every time, and as mentioned earlier I test drove the e-Niro which IS a better car but NOT £13000 better car . Look at the proposed new electric sports car from MG it is a stunner and if it is as cheap as proposed I would definitely put a deposit on it. Have a good weekend all.
 
Thanks again, yes seen the emotion and I was going to place everything on hold with only one problem, it only has four seats and I have three children...but hey if MG continue in the same vein and based on what was said earlier about bigger batteries all maybe good.
 
I love my MG, but frequency do a trip of 155 miles, which it just can't do on one charge.... which is a little frustrating. If a higher capacity battery came along I'd be first in the queue to buy one. By then they will probably have a de-bonging modification...come on MG!!!!!.

..Talk about shooting them selves in the foot....or more correctly, in the ear.
 
I think the problem isn’t how far the car will go on a charge, it’s charging it up, at the minute I have an ICE Merc and a Porsche…and again it’s not how far any of them will go, if they have little fuel in them, I can’t go very far, I will have to stop and fill up, which takes about 5 minutes…and I can find a station almost anywhere…what will p*ss me off, will be sitting around for 40 odd minutes waiting for the car to get a charge in it…if every fuel station had chargers and you could charge the car in 10 minutes or so, I think it’ll put the range issue to bed..if the EV car only does 150 miles to a charge, just like an ICE car your not going to run it till it’s empty, your going to be looking at the fuel and when it gets low, refill it…

I’m waiting for my MG EV Trophy to turn up and it’ll replace the Merc will keep the Porsche as it only comes out to play on nice sunny days..
 
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We replaced one of the ICE (we had two too) cars a few years back to see how it would fare (it was only 22kw) It is a good time for you to do similar, replace one and see how it goes, although now of course you can replace with a car that can do 270+ miles). We ended up hardly ever using the ice car out of choice, and are replacing it with an MG EV. I suspect most ice drivers that have your concerns will do likewise once they realise how good they are, especially during times of fuel shortages and price hikes.
 
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