MG ZS EV Owner shame on you

[Kithmo]

The calculation wasn't simple! took me 10mins to figure out! The resulting charge policy of 15p per kwh & 25p per min is simple.

But billing at that amount per kWh and per minute, would work out pretty much the same as it is currently billed per kWh - UNTIL your car starts to slow down the charge rate it accepts (at circa 80%), then is gets more and more expensive as you "waste" the chargers (and others) time by keep on charging at a low rate.
That solves the problem perfectly I would say (would be simple to implement too on existing units)

Some charger companies have difficulty implementing the charger to work at all, let alone programmed charging.

 

[JodyS21]

This penalises cars that charge slower like the MGs, however if you can afford to buy a Taycan or an Ioniq you will pay less.
KISS applies here, set price per kWh with an overstay fee set at say 60 mins.

I agree it does penalise slower charging cars, my suggestion was based on charging at 50kW though to make it equal to the current billing. Pretty much all cars charge at at least 50kW I think, obviously that was an arbitrary 50kW figure I used to come up with that calculation.

From a business point of view (which I'm not, I'm a consumer), it does makes sense to bill for time. Their income (and therefore covering their costs) is restricted by the amount of juice they can output into cars per day.
If they can get more juice (kWh) output per day, then the costs to the consumer could be lowered so the rate would come down for us...

Thinking about it, the really expensive rapid chargers (60p+) ones (the name of I cannot remember), aren't they the ones that offer a a really high charge rate (100 odd kW)? If so I can understand why they are more expensive billing per kWh, their setup costs for those machines will have been higher so they need to recoup it. For us MG owners that can only accept a lower rate of charge it's annoying paying more for something we can't use, but I guess that's life.

 

[JodyS21]

JodyS21, this here is one of the problems that discourages people for turning to an EV, apps for this that and the other, no they are not required for charging in most places and thank god more and more chargers are becoming contactless so pay as you charge buy just using the debit/credit card at the charger plug in, touch the screen and away you go simple.
This is right way in IMHO quick and simple keeping it that way my help more people to look at owning an electric vehicle and help us all, our children and our children’s children in the future, ill tell you something else as well if I was your father in law and you spoke to me like that you would have got a piece of my mind and that’s for sure your response to him was terrible IMHO, also where ever you get the idea that electric cars almost always come with an app to charge them is rubbish jodyS21
Les.

It is good the government stepped in and said all new chargers must simply accept a card for payment.
@Les burrows, I think it is a fact that almost all electric cars out there offer an app that allows you to monitor/manage the charge and do things like pre-heat/cool etc, we are in the minority with our existing MG EVs.

I was conveying a funny story btw, I was not asking for anyones opinion on my relationship with my father-in-law - which is a very good one of being quite like "mates" where we have fun/make fun of each other etc, thank you very much!

 

[JodyS21]

Is that supposed to be clever? More like downright rude and insulting. Perhaps you should be smart enough to show a bit more respect.

Get a life. Google what a "joke" is.

 

[Les burrows]

It is good the government stepped in and said all new chargers must simply accept a card for payment.
@Les burrows, I think it is a fact that almost all electric cars out there offer an app that allows you to monitor/manage the charge and do things like pre-heat/cool etc, we are in the minority with our existing MG EVs.

I was conveying a funny story btw, I was not asking for anyones opinion on my relationship with my father-in-law - which is a very good one of being quite like "mates" where we have fun/make fun of each other etc, thank you very much!

Hi JodyS21 let get a few things right hear, I was not saying anything about your relationship with your father in law and I’m very glad to hear you have a good one with him, but what you wrote in your post #45 is not the way it came across
you said there if he is not smart enough to use a smartphone and Apps he shouldn’t have an EV !!!

I have to agree with what Flatcoat wrote in #59 , what you wrote #45 came across as very rude and insulting to the man even as a joke not very nice is it.

Also your quite right about some EVs coming with an App to control things in that vehicle like heating/cooling setting timers or seeing how much charge it might have, but you do not need a dedicated car App to start any car charging MG or any other make as far as I know, contactless is the way forward not Apps.

As far as unplugging some one else is car as you talk about in #24 of this thread, I think that could be classed as an offence to some degree for anyone to interfere with another persons vehicle and who knows what damage might be done in doing so.
Les

 

[JodyS21]

Hi JodyS21 let get a few things right hear, I was not saying anything about your relationship with your father in law and I’m very glad to hear you have a good one with him, but what you wrote in your post #45 is not the way it came across
you said there if he is not smart enough to use a smartphone and Apps he shouldn’t have an EV !!!

I have to agree with what Flatcoat wrote in #59 , what you wrote #45 came across as very rude and insulting to the man even as a joke not very nice is it.

Also your quite right about some EVs coming with an App to control things in that vehicle like heating/cooling setting timers or seeing how much charge it might have, but you do not need a dedicated car App to start any car charging MG or any other make as far as I know, contactless is the way forward not Apps.

As far as unplugging some one else is car as you talk about in #24 of this thread, I think that could be classed as an offence to some degree for anyone to interfere with another persons vehicle and who knows what damage might be done in doing so.
Les

Well he found it very funny, he often says himself he doesn't want a smart phone as he's not smart enough to use one.
Everyone has their own sense of humour, you are entitled to yours.
Thus ends this not relevant story, I'm here to discuss MG EV cars.

Context is everything here. But some public chargers you do actually need an app to be able to charge the car unfortunately, I rarely public charge but one that I have used a couple of times you must use their app or have enabled (via the app!) an RFID card, it is the only way to use it - I can't remember the charger brand.
Unfortunately the government only said all new chargers must offer standard card payment, I guess really they cannot force old ones to be changed as they may not have the necessary hardware etc.

I do not know about it being an offence, but it is seen as standard practice to unplug from someone else's car to use on your own if they have finished their charge. Never done it myself but lots of people on the forum have done it.
It maybe something that we should all be aware of, not sure how we can find out if it is technically an offence.

 

[Les burrows]

Ok jodyS21, thus ends this story,
I’m here for the same purpose and the benefit of all but me when I’m charging on a public charger I never leave my car for more than a toilet break so never really go past 80% or so and after that I move it and then go to eat shop or whatever
Les

 

[Electrifried]

I have never used a 50 kw charger, are you supposed to stay sitting in the vehicle whilst charging? Is this selfish? Perhaps the driver was having a coffee or at the toilets.

You don’t have to stay with vehicle but you have to appreciate charge will probably be for only 45 min average after that many rapids will charge an overstay charge.

 

[MGBok]

When they had the petrol shortages I confess I went into a petrol station parked at one of two that had petrol (everywhere else was coned off) got out & bought a Costa...slowly walking back to the car drinking it much to the confused looks of the ICE heads

Revenge is a dish best served with a latte

 

[Dr Dave]

You don’t have to stay with vehicle but you have to appreciate charge will probably be for only 45 min average after that many rapids will charge an overstay charge.

My original point stands, there is no need to stay in your vehicle when rapid charging you could be at the toilet or having a coffee. Use my FREE app (no ads) for the ZS EV and it will calculate your charging and can notify you when you are charged to 80 or 100%.

EV Charge Meter - Apps on Google Play

 

[BarryH]

A tail of woe.

I got caught out on Southbound M1 yesterday evening (29/10/21) at Newport Pagnell and again Milton Keynes Coachway. First, at NP Services, there are only 2 old-style Ecotrocity (Now managed by GridServe of course) 50kW chargers only one of which has CCS. EVs/Plug-in SUVs in both bays when I arrived with an insufficient charge to complete my journey. Unfortunately, only one of these, an Outlander, was even plugged in on the CHaDeMo on the CCS/CHaDeMo double-headed Charger rather than the CHaDeMo only charger while the CCS Volvo PARKED in the remaining bay, ut then the EV Bays are conveniently placed close to the entrance to the Services entrance! The Volvo perhaps wanted a charge who knows and would have been able to charge the CCS/CHaDeMo double-headed charger bay? So I parked in the ordinary car park space opposite when a 1st Gen LEAF rolled up with 30 miles only and was unable to put his LEAF in the bay blocked by the Volvo. I left for Milton Keynes Coachway and the BP Pulse EV Charging Hub as the LEAF tried to manoeuvre into a broadside position beneath the sign warning £100 Fine for parking without charging.

3 to 4 miles away, the MK Coachway car park was in darkness when I arrived and all the overhead lighting over the 9 BP Pulse 50 kW chargers. Three chargers showed out of service on the screen, two bays had cars charging and only one bay was free since the others had Milton Keynes city Mini-Van / Shuttle buses parked or charging! So fine I had a charger. Wrong when I got to the point of selecting CCS, CHaDeMo or 43 kW AC I found the CCS was out of order!. So let's ask the other drivers in their cars. The first said he could only get the AC at 11 kW so he would be another 40 minutes. Hed at first tried the IONITY but they were running too slow! Then a stroke of luck and the Polstar driver would finish in 10 minutes. At last a working CCS except for the first 10 minutes it crawled. Then in the Bay next to mine the finished its charge and the pace picked up.

Milton Keynes Coachway used to be my mainstay for charging on my trips from Essex to the Coventry and Nuneaton area before COVID but then they shut all the facilities where you get a coffee and a toilet stop. The carpark was well lit and all the then Polar Rapids were in-service and fast but no longer.

 

[Brianlescargot]

Had a great away day at football today. Planned charging from East Lothian to Aberdeen.
Stopped at Forfar 50kwDC charge free and parked in Bon Accord shopping centre and got free charge in Aberdeen(£6) parking.
On way back stopped at Forfar for a top up.
High winds affected my range and Edinburgh city bypass closed at Hillend. Pulled off at Hermiston with 18 miles remaining.
Only to find another mg ZS EV identical to mine parked with the 50kw ccs plugged in with nobody in it.
It’s bad when we get iced but I thought MG owners would know better.
Shame on you!
Took me an extra 1 1/2 hours to get home
Has anyone else had this problem?
Do we post pics of the culprits ?
Maybe this will embarrass them to stop being so selfish!

Install Need to Charge and print off the ready made templates. Leave a pilot note with it on windscreen

 

[jamesie]

Needed to charge yesterday at the Chargeplace Scotland charger in Melrose. Arrived and a PHEV was connected to the AC plug and had been for 1 Hour 15 minutes for just under 4 kWh! No sign of the owner and the charger wouldn't allow another use on CCS. Sign adjacent to the charger stated max stay of 45 minutes.

You can imagine....I wasn't too happy!

 

[BarryH]

It's my understanding based on my limited use of a Plugin Prius, conversations with my former neighbour with Outlander, and certain PHEV/EV dealers that PHEVs don't really benefit from on the motorway from their EV Mode and operate in ICE Mode or Regular "Self-Charging" Hybrid Modes. Therefore IMHO PHEVs shouldn't be using Rapid Bays on the motorways at all as they have to option of putting Fossil Juice in the tank and in point-of-fact they should be running ICE/Hybrid mode so as to save the EV mode for their urban destinations. Whereas, us BEV drivers have no option but to fuel up on a Rapid on at Motorway Services or leave the motorway. If PHEV drivers want to sip electrons at the Services then plug into stand-alone 7 kW posts where available so as not to block a Rapid. A PHEV on a Rapid is in effect just parking!

 

[Kayged]

Had a great away day at football today. Planned charging from East Lothian to Aberdeen.
Stopped at Forfar 50kwDC charge free and parked in Bon Accord shopping centre and got free charge in Aberdeen(£6) parking.
On way back stopped at Forfar for a top up.
High winds affected my range and Edinburgh city bypass closed at Hillend. Pulled off at Hermiston with 18 miles remaining.
Only to find another mg ZS EV identical to mine parked with the 50kw ccs plugged in with nobody in it.
It’s bad when we get iced but I thought MG owners would know better.
Shame on you!
Took me an extra 1 1/2 hours to get home
Has anyone else had this problem?
Do we post pics of the culprits ?
Maybe this will embarrass them to stop being so selfish!

Why would you expect somebody to sit in the car while doing a fast charge? It takes at least 30 minutes to charge on the fast charger and most of them fine you if you stay connected after your car reaches full charge. Maybe you are being unreasonable expecting people to sit in their car while charging just in case you want to use the charger.

 

[Kayged]

I can understand why it is very annoying, however I'm not sure they did anything wrong.

If someones car is plugged in and finished charging and they aren't back, I thought you were allowed to remove it from their car and start your own charge.

It is a bit strange that it is a park & ride at 9pm at night and they've not come back yet for their car, but it's kinda besides the point.

I would suggest this is almost an expected/will become common scenario to find a car plugged in and it has finished charging with no owner around.
At a park & ride I imagine it will happen all of the time, someone's driven their car there and need a charge and are going into town for several hours, they have no choice but to leave the car and know that it'll finished charging before they return.
At my local shopping centre there are several of the pay and display spaces that also have chargers, people will pay for say 2+ hours parking and plug in to charge, they'll be finished charging before they return. Assuming there isn't a charger per space and it's shared between 2 spaces, this situation is going to occur regularly.

The only way around this is for charging stations to have more than 1 ccs cable on them, so that you can use the 2nd cable if someones charge has finished on the other cable. Maybe this will happen.
The chargers should say on them really, "if plugged in and not charging, remove from that car and use". Do any say anything like this on them? I rarely use them.

I don't think you can remove the plug from the car without using the app to end the charge or using the card that was used to start a charge. I leave a card with my phone number on and a message to call me if they need the charger so I can tell them when I am due to finish charging. I only use the rapid charger on long journeys and need to get to 80% so as not to have too many stops for charging.

 

[JodyS21]

I don't think you can remove the plug from the car without using the app to end the charge or using the card that was used to start a charge. I leave a card with my phone number on and a message to call me if they need the charger so I can tell them when I am due to finish charging. I only use the rapid charger on long journeys and need to get to 80% so as not to have too many stops for charging.

Others have confirmed that they have done this, so it must be possible.
It may of course depend on the type of car and/or the type of charger.

It makes sense on a tethered charger, that once it is no longer charging the car, it unlocks the plug. Exactly how this works in the comms/protocol I have no idea; can the charger command the car to unlock, does it rely on the car deciding to just unlock once it is no longer charging......????

 

[Dave53]

My original point stands, there is no need to stay in your vehicle when rapid charging you could be at the toilet or having a coffee. Use my FREE app (no ads) for the ZS EV and it will calculate your charging and can notify you when you are charged to 80 or 100%.

EV Charge Meter - Apps on Google Play

Charging to 100% is a lot faster after the battery percentage update as it never gets to the batteries full capacity, it also letts you use KERS on full charge,much more efficient now and no drop in GOM miles

I will day it again I use a lot of free Rapid chargers when I can and the only ones free are the ones quickly are the ones that have overcharge payment on them £1 min. after 45 mi with 15 min grace, for the dog walks, if you want to be longer than 60 min. Use the A/C charger and leave the DC for the people who want a fast charge and go and rapid charge when you get back to the car.

 

[Dave53]

Maybe we should all have these parking type disks that sayHad a great away day at football today. Planned charging from East Lothian to Aberdeen.
Stopped at Forfar 50kwDC charge free and parked in Bon Accord shopping centre and got free charge in Aberdeen(£6) parking.
On way back stopped at Forfar for a top up.
High winds affected my range and Edinburgh city bypass closed at Hillend. Pulled off at Hermiston with 18 miles remaining.
Only to find another mg ZS EV identical to mine parked with the 50kw ccs plugged in with nobody in it.
It’s bad when we get iced but I thought MG owners would know better.
Shame on you!
Took me an extra 1 1/2 hours to get home
Has anyone else had this problem?
Do we post pics of the culprits ?
Maybe this will embarrass them to stop being so selfish!

A lot of the charge place Scotland power points that charge you for the power you draw have a 45 min with a 15 min grace period with no return for 30 min, then it £1 a minute added to your charge cost to a maximum of £60, never had a problem getting a charge at one of these

Maybe we should all have one of these parking type disks you put on the dash showing what time you started charging and confirming your return time within 60 min.

 

[Elec Car Aust]

Had a great away day at football today. Planned charging from East Lothian to Aberdeen.
Stopped at Forfar 50kwDC charge free and parked in Bon Accord shopping centre and got free charge in Aberdeen(£6) parking.
On way back stopped at Forfar for a top up.
High winds affected my range and Edinburgh city bypass closed at Hillend. Pulled off at Hermiston with 18 miles remaining.
Only to find another mg ZS EV identical to mine parked with the 50kw ccs plugged in with nobody in it.
It’s bad when we get iced but I thought MG owners would know better.
Shame on you!
Took me an extra 1 1/2 hours to get home
Has anyone else had this problem?
Do we post pics of the culprits ?
Maybe this will embarrass them to stop being so selfish!

Yes, slack act. If you need to leave your car while charging it's just courtesy to leave your ph number under the wiper so someone can call. Also we keep some 'courtesy cards' in the glovebox to remind non EV's not to park in EV charging spots.