MG ZS EV Remote Charging Query

[MGE]

Hi all - I am a new member on here and about to take delivery of my MG ZS EV in early January - an issue which has not been without problems, the latest of which I would welcome any advice from those more technically minded amongst the electric vehicle community.
The issue surrounds my choice of the complimentary charging point supplied by Pod Point as one of MG Cars first 1000 customers. The charger is being installed in my garage which actually on it's own land with a driveway at the far side of my next-door neighbour's house. It has it's own power supply for which I pay a daily standing charge with British Gas additional to my house. There are therefore two meters but I am charged on one bill.
Having looked at alternative suppliers I noted that British Gas have an off-peak rate aimed at EV users to encourage night charging at 4.7p per kWh hour which appears attractive and I intend to put the meter for the garage onto that rate whilst leaving the main house one at my standard charge.
So far so good but Pod Point advise they will need my wi-fi password to log in and to be able to extract data and update apps accordingly.
And here's the crux.... the garage is approximately 30-50 metres from my house and out of range of my existing Virgin wi-fi. I am told there are boosters available but this may involve an antenna being fitted somewhere on the outside of my house which I am not particularly keen on both from aesthetics and as part of the EV experience is to save motoring costs not add to them due to hardware required to run the vehicle.
Also, as there may still be an issue with 'Smartgate' delayed charging if MG's own software doesn't solve it, then Pod Point say they will have a fix by end of the first quarter of 2020 which, of course, they would download to my charger via the internet.
I gather that despite Pod Point's desire to have a wi-fi internet connection the unit can still be installed and working but - as I have pointed out to my MG dealer - the car needs to be able to charge remotely on a delayed timer not only to gain the benefit of cheaper electricity but also as I have no intention of walking to the garage in my pjs to begin charging at midnight.
Any thoughts / opinions would be most welcome.

 

[Stuart Wright]

Installation of my Podpoint

Might homeplugs work between your garage and your house? I'm thinking maybe not if they are on separate electrical loops, but it's worth a thought.
Alternatively you could bury cat5 cable from one location to the other.

 

[Mszybut]

can you not stick a cheap, low data, pay as you go mobile broadband dongle / mini router in there? perhaps get a unit second hand and then the cheapest pre-paid as you go sim only deal? have no idea how much it would cost, but would hopefully only be a one-off or annual thing...

 

[stumgev56]

My Mg EV as had the charger update installed and i use the Ohme charger cable which you start from an app on ipad or iphone ( they do wall chargers to) this uses a sim card so no wi fi needed, runs off 4 g etc.
You tell the app how much mileage you need by a certain time in the morning and then switches off. i use Octopus go so setting the timer only to use 5 p rate just delays until the time reaches 12.30 am.
This other idea may work but not knowing our your house is designed or built, you could run a Ethernet network cable to your garage from the home router and buy another router and plug in and use as a slave etc, this would be full wi fi in your garage.

 

[MGE]

Thank you for your initial thoughts guys. Unfortunately running a cable between the two properties is out of the question as it crosses a neighbour's property or would have to run up a public highways road. I popped into my local Virgin store earlier today and was informed a robust booster should be able to 'jump' the approximate 35 metres to the garage so I will look into that shortly.

In the meantime I have been frustrated by my current energy supplier British Gas informing me that, despite having a separate supply directly to the garage which is on it's own meter - for which I am charged at a slightly different rate from the main house as well as a daily standing charge - it would not be possible to run a different tariff to this at their relatively new EV nightly rate. If I were to change then they tell me it would affect both properties and while I would get the benefit of cheaper electricity to charge the car my household charge would increase by 2p per kWh other than during the night which, I think, would outweigh the saving.

I am still not convinced by this and am challenging the call centre's advice but, when they input the data, the computer says 'no.' I believe this is simply down to the way the algorithms work on their system which does not allow for the historic way our Victorian property has been configured. If I am paying for two standing charges and differing readings are taken from two separate meters for which I am paying different rates then I feel it should be feasible.

 

[Damdog]

try to switch supplier just for the garage that would prove wether they are truly separate or not

 

[Stuart Wright]

I think most people with electric cars consider getting green energy suppliers over dirty ones like British Gas.
That's why Bulb and Octopus are quite popular.
Also consider the daily standing charge rate that can be quite a bit higher for some cheaper tariffs.
Ultimately it's best to do the calculations, which can be tricky if you don't have the numbers from your usage.
I work from home and charge at night. So the electricity usage during the day is high and occasionally also when I'm charging at night. It's quite a juggling act working it all out.

 

[MGE]

Many thanks for the continued feedback. Yes, I have thought about switching suppliers and am aware of both Octopus and Bulb. My circumstances are similar to Stuart's and so swapping to a much cheaper night tariff at the expense of increasing the daily rate when most energy is consumed may be counter productive especially as I don't anticipate having to charge the ZS up each evening.

To put the usage into context there will probably only be less than 100 miles locally during a week (say one to two part charges ahead of a full charge) but as we also divide our time between West Yorks and the Lake District there is either a 108-mile motorway journey or 87 miles up hill down dale cross country run approximately once a fortnight and more frequently in the summer. I have contemplated obtaining a second charger for the Lake District where a cheaper night time tariff would prove more viable and allow localised running and a re-charge to return for little cost.

 

[YoungEV]

I’m in a similar situation where I cannot get Wi-Fi connection to where my car is parked. The underground garage is 4 floors of reinforced concrete away from our flat meaning an antenna won’t connect to the Wi-Fi router.

Like what Mszybut said you can get a portable Wi-Fi hotspot like this EE 4G portable Wi-Fi router for £14.99 from Curry’s PC World: Longest URL in the world.

What you’ll need:

• a plug socket to charge the device
• 3G/4G connection in your area
• data only SIM plan

I would heavily consider getting a portable Wi-Fi router even if it is more expensive than your current tariff as if you cannot get a hotspot connected to your car charger Pod Point will charge you £200 to send an engineer out for a simple matter that could be solved over the internet. Alternatively if the Pod Point breaks you can hotspot it to your phone for diagnosis and you won’t have to pay the fee for engineer call out as they will be able to fix it remotely.

How much data will you need?
Conversations with Pod Point engineers have said that all the data you need is the equivalent of a 5 second clip of a YouTube video on standard definition. That’s less than 5MB, equivalent to 150MB a month. So just go for the cheapest ~£4 SIM plan or get one of those discounted prepaid SIM plans with ~100GB and renew as it runs out of data.

Estimated cost £48 a year plus £14.99; £62.99 first year, £48 thereafter.

 

[YoungEV]

This Pay As You Go SIM is £10 giving you approx 17 years worth of data

 

[MikeR]

Two separate questions here - getting the internet to the charger (which is required for the £500 grant which MG use to fund the "free" charger) and getting the car to initiate charging on the timer. The former has been covered above and the latter should be OK after the car's (now available) software update to allow remotely initiated charging. Also, some chargers can sense the night rate switchover pulse and can initiate charging based on that rather than a timer but either should work.

 

[Marmaduke]

Hi all - I am a new member on here and about to take delivery of my MG ZS EV in early January - an issue which has not been without problems, the latest of which I would welcome any advice from those more technically minded amongst the electric vehicle community.
The issue surrounds my choice of the complimentary charging point supplied by Pod Point as one of MG Cars first 1000 customers. The charger is being installed in my garage which actually on it's own land with a driveway at the far side of my next-door neighbour's house. It has it's own power supply for which I pay a daily standing charge with British Gas additional to my house. There are therefore two meters but I am charged on one bill.
Having looked at alternative suppliers I noted that British Gas have an off-peak rate aimed at EV users to encourage night charging at 4.7p per kWh hour which appears attractive and I intend to put the meter for the garage onto that rate whilst leaving the main house one at my standard charge.
So far so good but Pod Point advise they will need my wi-fi password to log in and to be able to extract data and update apps accordingly.
And here's the crux.... the garage is approximately 30-50 metres from my house and out of range of my existing Virgin wi-fi. I am told there are boosters available but this may involve an antenna being fitted somewhere on the outside of my house which I am not particularly keen on both from aesthetics and as part of the EV experience is to save motoring costs not add to them due to hardware required to run the vehicle.
Also, as there may still be an issue with 'Smartgate' delayed charging if MG's own software doesn't solve it, then Pod Point say they will have a fix by end of the first quarter of 2020 which, of course, they would download to my charger via the internet.
I gather that despite Pod Point's desire to have a wi-fi internet connection the unit can still be installed and working but - as I have pointed out to my MG dealer - the car needs to be able to charge remotely on a delayed timer not only to gain the benefit of cheaper electricity but also as I have no intention of walking to the garage in my pjs to begin charging at midnight.
Any thoughts / opinions would be most welcome.

I am a prospective MG ZS EV owner with delivery due in March. My charger which is due to be installed shortly is 30mtrs from my house and we are having to have a 50 mtr cable installed from the rear of the house where the elcestricity supply enters the house to the charger. The charger being installed should be Wi-fi connected and I have managed to pick up a WiFi signal in the garage at the closest point to my house and have put a WiFi extender in the garage so that the charger which is probably at the furthest distance from the house can pick up the WiFi signal. I am a bit confused by the options available and I have a couple of questions.
1.If the charger is controlled by WiFi can you plug in the car in the evening and let the charger determine from its WiFi instructions when the car is charged
2. Is there new software on the car which will tell the vehicle when to accept the charge and will this interfere with the chargers instructions?
3. Will the car accept a charge from the charger that is WiFi controlled?
I also don’t want to have to walk 30mtrs in my PJs to plug and unplug the car at midnight and 5am in order to get the cheap Octopus rate!

 

[MikeR]

Assuming your charger offers timed or deferred charges and your car has the software update that allows it to wake up to accept them (which all new deliveries should), all should be fine. In any case, you don't need to physically plug the car in to initiate the charge, you leave it plugged in and just unlock and re-lock it using the remote key fob.

 

[Marmaduke]

Thanks for your helpful answer. Seems like all will be OK with charging

 

[MGE]

Re Mike's answer to Marmaduke isn't it given that all charges offer timed or deferred charges then? I am about to have the Pod-Point charger installed as MG Cars' preferred partners for the first 1000 customers and recall in a conversation with someone at the company saying that they were introducing software sometime during the first quarter of this year to allow timed charging - seems my installation next week my not have it then.

If this is the case then despite the ZS EV supposedly having the software update in order to get a deferred charge can you advise is it the charger which determines the time to begin charging or is it the car which has been plugged in with a timer set?

 

[Marmaduke]

Re Mike's answer to Marmaduke isn't it given that all charges offer timed or deferred charges then? I am about to have the Pod-Point charger installed as MG Cars' preferred partners for the first 1000 customers and recall in a conversation with someone at the company saying that they were introducing software sometime during the first quarter of this year to allow timed charging - seems my installation next week my not have it then.

If this is the case then despite the ZS EV supposedly having the software update in order to get a deferred charge can you advise is it the charger which determines the time to begin charging or is it the car which has been plugged in with a timer set?

You’ve highlighted very clearly the question I was attempting to ask. My son has a plug in hybrid and he couldn’t believe that the car could not control when the car is charged. i therefore made sure my charger could pick up a WiFi signal using an extender to control when the car is charged to take advantage of the Octopus night cheap rate. However if the car does not wake up when the charger turns on then that is a real problem. Hopefully the software update takes account of that issue? My experience of purchasing the MG EV is that MG need to do an awful lot of work to educate their dealers in the technicalities of the car because with many of the questions I asked the sales person didn’t know the answer. They did find out the answers from MG but it took a few days

 

[MGE]

I entirely agree about dealers. I am new to EVs but not the MG brand and with many loyal MG followers looking at switching over to EV because the ZS is both electric AND an MG I feel most dealers are not really clued up enough on their own product. This may be down to insufficient training and support from MG itself but, whatever the reason, they need to be able to answer basic questions.

I have had problems all along with people unable to provide answers whether that be about the car itself, charging, how chargers work and what's required such as wi-fi connection, differing and confusing electricity supply rates and it's really been a battle when the whole process encouraging us to drive 'greener' should be made easy and a joy.

While many of the dealers are new as MG rolls out greater coverage some have metamorphosed from the previous days when they sold the MGF sports car as a new model almost 20 years ago now. As such these dealers know they are dealing with a more knowledgable customer and taking that bit more time and trouble to fully understand their product reaps rewards from an appreciative customer who then becomes an ambassador to spread the word.

 

[MikeR]

See this charger comparison site: Best Home EV Chargers UK 2019 Reviews | Comparisons

All chargers which are eligible for the OLEV grant must be smart so need an internet connection, either hard-wired or wi-fi. They should also offer timed charging although I am aware it is still work in progress with some. Also, although my car has had the update, it still sometimes refuses to wake up for the charge. My recommendation would be to opt for a charger that offers the option of a trickle charge (to keep it awake) with a timed boost during the cheaper night-rate period e.g. Zappi and, I think, Ohme) although this should hopefully be a temporary problem.

 

[MGE]

Many thanks for the update Mike - as I was contacted by Pod-Point who had been forwarded my details from MG as their 'preferred partner' under the complimentary installation as one of the first 1,000 ZS EV customers - I feel obliged to go with them and am due to have the charger installed next week.

Having looked at the link you kindly quoted it seems the 7kw/h home charger could allow deferred charging which I initially desired as my garage is on a separate meter. However, following lengthy and time wasting calls with current supplier British Gas it appears they cannot place part of my overall bill on their new EV nightly tariff which, whilst it is frustrating, isn't worth the hassle of further pursuing for now as I don't envisage the car needing nightly charges and I'll see how I go as I become more familiar with the car.

 

[MGE]

As an update to anyone who may have followed this thread and experienced similar problems I am posting to advise that having followed Young EV‘s suggestion I opted for a ‘portable’ wi-fi charger from EE purchased from Curry PC World for £48 which includes 9GB of data valid for three months which, I’m told, should more than meet Pod-Points requirements. At the end of the three months I can simply add a Data only SIM as there are no ongoing charges.

My home charger courtesy of being amongst the first 1000 ZS EV customers was efficiently installed by a Pod-Point engineer today and all works well with the portable wi-fi which will remain in my garage. Somewhat ironically the guy’s father is Dealer Principal at an MG dealership and was therefore pretty clued up on the car which he highly rates.

The only issue with the charger as I see it is the standard supplied cable length which, at only approximately five metres, means the car must be driven forwards into the driveway to reach resulting in a difficult reversing manoeuvre to exit onto a busy road close to a junction. Another couple of metres would have been appreciated.

Timing couldn’t have been better as I collect the car tomorrow.