So, I picked up my new ZS Hybrid+ Trophy today. Forgot to ask about the update, will do tomorrow. For context, we also have a 2024 ZS EV long range Trophy, acting as our local car (which we love), and the H+ is for when we do the occasional longer journey from Scotland to England etc. Driving the H+ home today, I had the revving thing, usually up to 3k, but rarely more. The journey was in the west of Scotland (including the Rest and be Thankful pass, if you know it), so quite a few 'test' hills. The revving was certainly new to me (previously had the Vitara mild hybrid), but as I understand it to mean that it is topping up the battery, it was not too alarming; I didn't experience the lack of acceleration, which would be alarming for sure. My take on it is that not having a display of the range/scale of possible rev frequencies, and showing the red line, doesn't help; seeing (and hearing in an under-insulated car) the revving may have felt less unsettling if I could see that 3k, and even 4/5k, is still within the range of 'acceptable' / non-damaging revs. I was told that the H+'s peak power is at 6k (with the red line being slightly above that) and the max torque is at 4.5k. An earlier post talked of the engine charging the battery at 'efficiently high revs'. It's the high revving in the context of going slow (and uphill, usually) that is unsettling. I did feel that some of the revving was the car hunting the right gear, as it went from EV to HEV, but absolutely the main thing is the charging aspect. Perhaps I have been too used to thinking low revs is good, high revs is bad; that's true no doubt for mpg or long-term wear and tear, but it's not always bad bad. Perhaps the software is written by engineers who value high-torque/rev charging efficiency over the toe-curling, sweat-inducing impact on the driver! I empathise with previous posters who wonder why the algorithm couldn't just let the petrol engine do the hard work of getting up the blooming hill (or keeping a higher proportion of the work, to maintain a decent speed), and forget about the charging thing; but perhaps, not knowing how long the hill (or car park ramp) is, the system is paranoid about leaving the driver with a discharged battery because the petrol engine's drive train doesn't, in effect, actually have first, second, or even third gear (as the EV-side normally handles that, early doors stuff). So my sympathy also extends to the dilemmas faced under the bonnet. As AI co-pilot (no pun) says: "This revving isn’t necessarily a fault—it’s often a byproduct of how hybrids manage power. But the feel of it can vary wildly between brands. Toyota’s system is smooth but droney, Kia’s can feel gear-hungry, and MG’s (as you’ve seen) can be a bit shouty without much go." I thank, amongst others, KenK, mick78, and Noel for their input on this thread. I have picked up from the thread to consider / test going to Sport mode when negotiating hills, to look at lifting the foot when the revs build, and that the regen setting might default to 2 for a reason not unconnected to this issue (compared to the ZS EV default of regen 3 setting).
