MG4 - Am I right in thinking this could be the right fit for me?

[yamagoody]

Hey, I have been thinking about this question for a good 6 months now, doing research, talking to dealerships and checking out forums. I am however still not 100% sure the MG4 Trophy or indeed any EV will work for me.

My dilemma is that I do a long commute 5 days a week of about 95 miles there and back. I live fairly centrally in London, Camden to be precise and I commute to near Stansted. The journey basically breaks down into 4 sections. Section one is about 8 miles (20mins) of fully urban driving, 20mph with lots of stop-start action. Section 2 is about 10 miles (15-20mins sometimes up to 50mins) of faster urban road, between 30-50mph still with some stop-start. Section 3 is motorway, about 15 miles (15-20mins) normally free flowing. The last section is a normal rural road about 12 miles (again 20mins) winding through several villages so between 30 and 50mph.

On the plus side, I can use a 7kwh charger at work for about 4 hours a day and there are several 22kwh chargers close to where I live as home charging is not possible. Dealers say they don't see any problem but I decided that asking those who have experience of the MG, in fact any EV, what they think. My main concerns are whether this is realistic at a practical level, what differences I should expect to experience between winter and summer commutes, and whether this can work economically.

I like the idea of reducing my 'footprint' and the tax saving in benefit in kind vs petrol is still attractive. I like the look of the MG4 but would I be taking on more hassle than it's worth? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks...

 

[tsedge]

7kW for 4 hours will give you about 25kWh (allowing for losses) into the battery which should be enough for 90-100 miles most of the year, maybe a bit less in winter. The question is: can you always rely on a work charger being available?

If so, sounds like it will work with you being able to use a local 22kW charger for leisure charging. If you are going to rely on that then a 3-phase 32A type 2 cable will give you 11kW charging if you buy the Trophy.

There are some cars that will give you 22kW AC charging: the Renault Zoe and Megan eTech, they might also be worth a look.

At 11kW, a Trophy will take about 6 hours to fully charge from flat, at 22kW a Renault will fully charge in 2.5-3hrs.

 

[Rolfe]

The round trip is 95 miles? So you're living just under 50 miles from your place of work?

This would be a walk in the park if you had overnight home charging, but I'd be a bit wary of it if you're relying on public chargers. Especially if the best your local area can manage is 22 KW.

You aren't going to get enough charge in 4 hours at work on a type 2 charger to cover all your driving needs. You're going to have to charge at your home location as well, every evening/night. This is simple if you can just park your car in the drive, plug it in, and go and live your home life while it charges. But what are your plans for these 22 KW chargers? Where are they? If they're not within easy walking distance of home this could get very wearing very quickly. The car will have to sit on the charger for some time.

Even if they are within easy walking distance, and you can rely on one being available when you want it, every time, consider winter. Rain, cold, hail, sleet, icy pavements.

I've got a 50 KW charger five minutes walk from my house which is only 30p/KWh. That's marginally cheaper than my home electricity tariff. On a lovely spring morning it's fine to take the car there for some fast food, walk home, get on with life, have a coffee, and walk back to uncouple before the time limit of 55 minutes is reached. Even then, though, the car isn't full and needs a top-up on the granny charger. But on a cold winter night am I going to want to do that? I don't think so. The car is going to be tucked up in the garage all night on the charger.

Also think about balancing the battery cells. The car has to sit on a relatively slow charger at 100% battery capacity for some time to let it do its thing. Fine for those of us with home charging capabilities, either a wall box or a granny charger. Not so fine if you don't have that.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but I think it would take determination and ingenuity. I have a friend who is retired and would like an electric car, but like you she has no opportunity for home charging. Since I got my MG4 I've discussed this with her in more detail and I can see where she's coming from when she says it's just not practical at the present state of charging facilities. (She doesn't even have any chargers within reasonable walking distance of her house.)

My friend is thinking about a hybrid. I don't know much about these, but it could be worth looking into this possiblilty.

 

[yamagoody]

Hi there, I've been looking at the MG4 Trophy for about 6 months now, done lots of research but as I have never had an EV before I still haven't managed to convince myself that it's a fit that would work.

My dilemma is that I do a 95-mile round commute, 5 days a week. I live in Camden, London and I commute out to a location nearish to Stansted Airport. The drive breaks down into roughly four sections. Section 1 is urban driving (approx 8 miles 20 mins) all stop-start at 20mph. Section 2 is an urban clearway on a good day it comprises (approx 10 miles 20 mins) some stop-start ranging between 30-50mph. Section 3 is a motorway (approx 15 miles 20 mins) normally free flowing. Finally, section 4 is a rural road passing through several villages at speeds varying from 30-50mph (12 miles 20 mins).

My circumstances are that although I cannot home charge there are several 22kwh chargers close by and I would have the use of a 7kwh charger while at work for about 4 hours a day. I like the idea of shrinking my 'footprint' and the benefit-in-kind tax break but I am still unsure whether this is actually a practical and economic solution.

It's only when you have committed to something like this that you find the pitfalls so to try and circumnavigate a major disaster I was hoping that some 'kind soul' who has experience with the MG on a day-to-day basis might be able to lend me a few wise words on whether this all sounds feasible, what differences I should expect between summer and winter commutes and I guess whether I'm barking mad to even consider it!

Thanks and all the best

 

[Robf]

4 hour charge at work will cover your full commute.

 

[yamagoody]

Really! on a 7kwh charger... that's good to know. Thanks

 

[okohll]

I did a trip from Bristol to Swansea (83 miles) using 30% battery the other day, on a long range MG. Although that was good weather, the last time I did a similar trip in the cold it used about 40%, though that was with some hills as well.

I get about 10% charge per hour on a 7kw charger (my home 3.6kw gives pretty much 5%/hr bang on*), so a 4hr charge should give you most of that commute yes.

You'll probably need to top up every now and again on other chargers, especially if you use the car for other trips. If it were me I'd go for it, even if I lost 10% or 20% per day overall worst case - you can always find a fast charger every now and again too.

* EDIT: actually thinking about it my home charger actually outputs about 3.7 - 3.8kw because of high supply voltage at the moment, so maybe slightly less than 10% on a 7kw

 

[Rolfe]

4 hour charge at work will cover your full commute.

You reckon? Seriously? On a type 2?

 

[timeades]

For occasional top ups to 100% you can use the 22kW Source London chargers, we have them over in Hammersmith just like you in Camden.

Between 12pm & 7am there is no overstay charge and for £4 a month, as long as you have parking permit, you can get the locals discount for their chargers just in the Camden area and that saves you 9p /kWh 46p down from 55p

 

[Rolfe]

It sounds as if it's more practical than I realised. Always good to think about the possible snags though! My main thought is, what do you do with yourself of an evening if you have to take the car to a charger for several hours, and that charger is a mile or two from home?

I think this will all be sorted out in the coming years. Big cities are full of properties where home charging isn't an option, and these are exactly the motorists that politicians want to get to move to electric cars to meet their environmental targets. It's quite early days on that though.

 

[timeades]

It sounds as if it's more practical than I realised. Always good to think about the possible snags though! My main thought is, what do you do with yourself of an evening if you have to take the car to a charger for several hours, and that charger is a mile or two from home?

I think this will all be sorted out in the coming years. Big cities are full of properties where home charging isn't an option, and these are exactly the motorists that politicians want to get to move to electric cars to meet their environmental targets. It's quite early days on that though.

You are thinking small town not big city. Within 10 minutes in any direction from my front door I have a choice of over 40 charging points.

Source London have a stand of 5 chargers about a minutes walk away. In nearly every street around me there are at least 3 lamppost chargers. OK Hammersmith & Fulham is a bit of a special case as we have nearly 3000 charging points in the Borough but the rest of London is catching up quickly

 

[Rolfe]

That's impressive. I was actually thinking about Glasgow, where my friend lives. I've looked at her area on ZapMaps and it's an absolute desert.

 

[timeades]

That's impressive. I was actually thinking about Glasgow, where my friend lives. I've looked at her area on ZapMaps and it's an absolute desert.

Sadly it shows the stupidity of most councils. The installs cost them nothing 99% of the time the just need to give the operators x number of years use of the site.

The main stumbling block seems to be councils are miffed that they can't make money out of the sites, hence the ridiculous situation where some councils are introducing their own overstay fees

 

[Robf]

Sadly it shows the stupidity of most councils. The installs cost them nothing 99% of the time the just need to give the operators x number of years use of the site.

The main stumbling block seems to be councils are miffed that they can't make money out of the sites, hence the ridiculous situation where some councils are introducing their own overstay fees

If councils are really serious about lowering inner city pollution which seriously affects children (and adults) then they would have installed them. If they haven't in your area then you know that your council is just not bothered, despite the cack they may be spouting (cack is inserted especially for the weegies).

 

[okohll]

It is interesting scrolling around the apps. Here's London, but also everyone says the Netherlands massively into EVs - here you can really see it! That's assuming the Octopus app is up to date for other countries.

 

[yamagoody]

7kW for 4 hours will give you about 25kWh (allowing for losses) into the battery which should be enough for 90-100 miles most of the year, maybe a bit less in winter. The question is: can you always rely on a work charger being available?

If so, sounds like it will work with you being able to use a local 22kW charger for leisure charging. If you are going to rely on that then a 3-phase 32A type 2 cable will give you 11kW charging if you buy the Trophy.

There are some cars that will give you 22kW AC charging: the Renault Zoe and Megan eTech, they might also be worth a look.

At 11kW, a Trophy will take about 6 hours to fully charge from flat, at 22kW a Renault will fully charge in 2.5-3hrs.

Hi there, thanks very much for that. I know I can rely on the charger being available but hadn;t picked up on your points about charging rates, one of the reasons I thought it might be a good idea to post here, as you don't get that kind of stuff from a dealership unless you know to ask

I'll also check out the Renault's as suggested although I've never been a big fan.

Many thanks

 

[Rolfe]

Okohll, but how does it look when you zoom in?

This is where my friend lives - pretty much where the words "Cardonald Park" appear. A couple of type 2 charge-points each with two connectors, within possible walking distance (but no fun in bad weather) but on the other side of the motorway (I think there is a pedestrian underpass), one of which is at a railway station. I believe the chargers at the hospital are restricted to staff, and possibly visitors. She used to work there, but she's now retired.

She says that if there were chargers in the car park at the big Asda store, where she does most of her shopping, she might be able to manage. But there aren't. It's not easy.

London seems to be much more sorted, from what people are saying.

 

[Cocijo]

Hey, I have been thinking about this question for a good 6 months now, doing research, talking to dealerships and checking out forums. I am however still not 100% sure the MG4 Trophy or indeed any EV will work for me.

My dilemma is that I do a long commute 5 days a week of about 95 miles there and back. I live fairly centrally in London, Camden to be precise and I commute to near Stansted. The journey basically breaks down into 4 sections. Section one is about 8 miles (20mins) of fully urban driving, 20mph with lots of stop-start action. Section 2 is about 10 miles (15-20mins sometimes up to 50mins) of faster urban road, between 30-50mph still with some stop-start. Section 3 is motorway, about 15 miles (15-20mins) normally free flowing. The last section is a normal rural road about 12 miles (again 20mins) winding through several villages so between 30 and 50mph.

On the plus side, I can use a 7kwh charger at work for about 4 hours a day and there are several 22kwh chargers close to where I live as home charging is not possible. Dealers say they don't see any problem but I decided that asking those who have experience of the MG, in fact any EV, what they think. My main concerns are whether this is realistic at a practical level, what differences I should expect to experience between winter and summer commutes, and whether this can work economically.

I like the idea of reducing my 'footprint' and the tax saving in benefit in kind vs petrol is still attractive. I like the look of the MG4 but would I be taking on more hassle than it's worth? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks...

If you can use the work charger for a little longer than 4 hours it will cover your commute and give you a small buffer. Is there a limit of 4 hours? If not then just fill up every day at work.

 

[yamagoody]

The round trip is 95 miles? So you're living just under 50 miles from your place of work?

This would be a walk in the park if you had overnight home charging, but I'd be a bit wary of it if you're relying on public chargers. Especially if the best your local area can manage is 22 KW.

You aren't going to get enough charge in 4 hours at work on a type 2 charger to cover all your driving needs. You're going to have to charge at your home location as well, every evening/night. This is simple if you can just park your car in the drive, plug it in, and go and live your home life while it charges. But what are your plans for these 22 KW chargers? Where are they? If they're not within easy walking distance of home this could get very wearing very quickly. The car will have to sit on the charger for some time.

Even if they are within easy walking distance, and you can rely on one being available when you want it, every time, consider winter. Rain, cold, hail, sleet, icy pavements.

I've got a 50 KW charger five minutes walk from my house which is only 30p/KWh. That's marginally cheaper than my home electricity tariff. On a lovely spring morning it's fine to take the car there for some fast food, walk home, get on with life, have a coffee, and walk back to uncouple before the time limit of 55 minutes is reached. Even then, though, the car isn't full and needs a top-up on the granny charger. But on a cold winter night am I going to want to do that? I don't think so. The car is going to be tucked up in the garage all night on the charger.

Also think about balancing the battery cells. The car has to sit on a relatively slow charger at 100% battery capacity for some time to let it do its thing. Fine for those of us with home charging capabilities, either a wall box or a granny charger. Not so fine if you don't have that.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but I think it would take determination and ingenuity. I have a friend who is retired and would like an electric car, but like you she has no opportunity for home charging. Since I got my MG4 I've discussed this with her in more detail and I can see where she's coming from when she says it's just not practical at the present state of charging facilities. (She doesn't even have any chargers within reasonable walking distance of her house.)

My friend is thinking about a hybrid. I don't know much about these, but it could be worth looking into this possiblilty.

Hey Rolfe
Yea, this is why I haven't committed, the 22kwh charger is literally 100 yds away and not used most of the time but I suspect (fairly confidently) that within a year that won't be the case. The winter useage was what worried me most, like your friend I don't really what the extra aggravation.
As it happens since my last car was written off in a motorway shunt in January I've been using my partner's late model Yaris Hybrid and I'm stunned at how little it costs to run. I'm currently getting about 76mpg on the commute. I've virtually halved the fuel costs from my previous car.
I might have to keep on looking... thanks for your input

If you can use the work charger for a little longer than 4 hours it will cover your commute and give you a small buffer. Is there a limit of 4 hours? If not then just fill up every day at work.

Yea, it's difficult as I would be sharing it with my business partner...

I did a trip from Bristol to Swansea (83 miles) using 30% battery the other day, on a long range MG. Although that was good weather, the last time I did a similar trip in the cold it used about 40%, though that was with some hills as well.

I get about 10% charge per hour on a 7kw charger (my home 3.6kw gives pretty much 5%/hr bang on*), so a 4hr charge should give you most of that commute yes.

You'll probably need to top up every now and again on other chargers, especially if you use the car for other trips. If it were me I'd go for it, even if I lost 10% or 20% per day overall worst case - you can always find a fast charger every now and again too.

* EDIT: actually thinking about it my home charger actually outputs about 3.7 - 3.8kw because of high supply voltage at the moment, so maybe slightly less than 10% on a 7kw

Thanks, this is all interesting stuff to read.

For occasional top ups to 100% you can use the 22kW Source London chargers, we have them over in Hammersmith just like you in Camden.

Between 12pm & 7am there is no overstay charge and for £4 a month, as long as you have parking permit, you can get the locals discount for their chargers just in the Camden area and that saves you 9p /kWh 46p down from 55p

I had been researching that and in Camden last time I checked it was 48p /kWh. Still OK

 

[MG4 64kw SE]

Hey, I have been thinking about this question for a good 6 months now, doing research, talking to dealerships and checking out forums. I am however still not 100% sure the MG4 Trophy or indeed any EV will work for me.

My dilemma is that I do a long commute 5 days a week of about 95 miles there and back. I live fairly centrally in London, Camden to be precise and I commute to near Stansted. The journey basically breaks down into 4 sections. Section one is about 8 miles (20mins) of fully urban driving, 20mph with lots of stop-start action. Section 2 is about 10 miles (15-20mins sometimes up to 50mins) of faster urban road, between 30-50mph still with some stop-start. Section 3 is motorway, about 15 miles (15-20mins) normally free flowing. The last section is a normal rural road about 12 miles (again 20mins) winding through several villages so between 30 and 50mph.

On the plus side, I can use a 7kwh charger at work for about 4 hours a day and there are several 22kwh chargers close to where I live as home charging is not possible. Dealers say they don't see any problem but I decided that asking those who have experience of the MG, in fact any EV, what they think. My main concerns are whether this is realistic at a practical level, what differences I should expect to experience between winter and summer commutes, and whether this can work economically.

I like the idea of reducing my 'footprint' and the tax saving in benefit in kind vs petrol is still attractive. I like the look of the MG4 but would I be taking on more hassle than it's worth? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.