MG4 Range

[Rolfe]

Yeah, it's been blowy yesterday and today. But 2 miles/kwh seems alarmingly low. Pete, do you have an SR or an LR?

 

[PeteC]

Yeah, it's been blowy yesterday and today. But 2 miles/kwh seems alarmingly low. Pete, do you have an SR or an LR?

I've got a Trophy. It dipped to 2.8 m/kWh at it's lowest and ended up at 3, so not quite as bad as 2. A short slower drive today and it was back up around 4.5m/kWh.

 

[Rolfe]

Yours sounds reasonable enough, but what Sha66ir is reporting sounds worrying. I was hoping someone who knows more about it might come in on that.

 

[Ian Key]

Yours sounds reasonable enough, but what Sha66ir is reporting sounds worrying. I was hoping someone who knows more about it might come in on that.

Not surprising really. It is uphill to Scotland after all

 

[Alb]

The secret is to have the wind behind you!
That said, I remember from my younger bike riding days that it was uncannily common to find the wind conspiring to be against you not only on the outward journey but also on the return

 

[siteguru]

... and the rain always seemed to conspire with the wind.

 

[PeteC]

The secret is to have the wind behind you!
That said, I remember from my younger bike riding days that it was uncannily common to find the wind conspiring to be against you not only on the outward journey but also on the return

Oh yes! It's always a headwind on a bike whichever way you're going!

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Oh yes! It's always a headwind on a bike whichever way you're going!

And uphill both ways!

 

[strange powers]

I knew I had a round trip of 100+ mostly motorway miles yesterday, so charged to 100% on my Trophy beforehand. Setting off it gave me a guess of 252 miles (aircon and music on, phone plugged in for Android Auto). I drove Eco mode, speeds between 40 and 70 on the motorway when I wasn't at a standstill and mostly 30 off it. I used the cruise control a fair bit, but ultimately drove it like I used to drive my ICE car.

I got home having done 107 miles with 63% remaining, and an estimated range of 170 miles left. This was hugely reassuring - this is my first EV and I only got the MG4 on Friday - and about as good as I might have hoped for. My girlfriend has been hesitant about going electric due to range anxiety, but is now talking about trading in her Qashqai for a second MG4!

 

[Rolfe]

Honestly, I'm thinking range anxiety is talked about a lot but isn't something that happens much in the real world, because people plan ahead a bit. I'm currently (in another thread) planning a one-way journey of nearly 450 miles in my SR, and while it's an interesting conundrum working out how often to charge, and where and when and for how long, there is no chance I'm going to run out of charge. I might spend longer charging than I need to, but I am not going to find myself on a road somewhere, stuck, with an empty battery!

Most people do not drive further in a day than the range on their cars. They fill up at night while they're sleeping. Then they get up and do it again. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum. Range anxiety, zero. Most of us only do longer trips on special occasions, and then we plan ahead so we know what we're going to do.

It's only a fairly small minority who routinely drive further in a day than the range on their cars. And these people get very savvy very quickly. They're not getting stranded either.

The day will come when every overnight stop has type 2 charging facilities in its car park, and when ultra-rapid chargers on motorways and trunk roads happen every 20 miles or so. Then, maybe we won't need to plan. Just get in the car and when the range is showing low. pop into the nearest charging station wherever you happen to be, and be as confident of getting on a working charger as we currently are of getting a working petrol pump. But until then, a little foresight averts the low-loader of shame.

I took my car down to 4% a couple of weeks ago, when a charger I meant to use turned out to be broken, and I realised the range the car was showing was enough to get me home anyway. I wasn't being an idiot, I had an eye on it, and there were other places I could have charged if I'd needed too, but the car sailed home in good order, even overtaking a slowcoach a couple of miles from home and getting up to 80 mph in the process, while showing 5% charge. It was actually less nerve-racking than driving an ICE car once the range has dropped right down, because the measurement of remaining charge is more accurate than a car sensing petrol in its tank. I found the exercise remarkably reassuring.

The other thing is, these cars have a bit of safety built in. Even after the battery % is showing as zero there is a bit of low-speed crawling still available, probably enough to get you to the cnarger - or at worst, to a 13A plug where someone will let you charge on your granny lead.

 

[kin]

… or at worst, to a 13A plug where someone will let you charge on your granny lead.

To be honest, if you’re in a housing estate, chances are some household would have a home charger, if you asked nicely, and offered to pay for the lecy, I’m sure the fellow EV owner would let you use it, you’ll be able charge your car a lot faster!

 

[siteguru]

We're off to Tighnabruaich next week for a couple of nights. I've already sussed EV charging en-route (and back), but the hotel have told me that they also have an outside socket I can use with my granny lead if necessary.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

To be honest, if you’re in a housing estate, chances are some household would have a home charger, if you asked nicely, and offered to pay for the lecy, I’m sure the fellow EV owner would let you use it, you’ll be able charge your car a lot faster!

They might even be on Co-Charger (an app that lets you rent out your charger for profit when not using it yourself)

 

[Rolfe]

To be honest, if you’re in a housing estate, chances are some household would have a home charger, if you asked nicely, and offered to pay for the lecy, I’m sure the fellow EV owner would let you use it, you’ll be able charge your car a lot faster!

That would be ideal, and if you're in a town or village I think you'd almost certainly find someone. But even out in the country, you'll find some habitation that at least has mains electricity. And people in remote locations are usually helpful, unless you find some absolute reclusive hermit.

In fact you might be better off with an EV in a remote location, because there are possibilities. Driving an ICE car in a remote location can be hairy too, because petrol stations are few and far between. OK you should have a can in the boot and that should do you for 30 miles or so, but there's a lot less petrol available than there is electricity, if you really think about it.

It is reassuring to know that the car is not suddenly going to brick bang on zero. You'll get some turtle creep that should at least get you to a farm or something. When Bjorn Nyland tried this on the Trophy, he circled the Ikea car park for 15 miles before the car actually wouldn't move any more.

 

[kin]

Lol I think you should also bring an extension cable for your granny charger, not all household has extension cable for your charger?

 

[Rolfe]

Hah. The only time I saw this happen was in one of these "how far can this car drive before it actually dies?" videos, when somebody miscalculated. But they did get a charge. Several neighbours in the road identified the guy who would have all the gear, and they all helped roll it out. I don't think they set it up.

The point is that all this is wildly unlikely. People don't drive EVs down to zero and there are actually more chargers around the landscape than there are petrol stations. In the real world you'd have to find multiple chargers out of order in succession before you'd even be in danger, and as you said, you'd probably be able to find someone with a wall box who would let you pick up enough charge to get you out of trouble for a tenner.

 

[Macadoodle]

Did a mini 'Bjorn Nyland' today, just to see what would happen below zero % zero miles on my SE standard.
Well, it didn't stop but I only pushed it around 1.5 miles before I bowed out and headed for the safety of my driveway
So it definitely has at least a few hundred watt hrs below zero but I really doubt it has in reserve what the larger battery has.
Taking into account the suspected 2% mileage under reporting, I think it's releasing 49 kWh down to zero and I'm not sure that the total capacity will be much above this with nearly 8000 miles completed.

 

[Rolfe]

I'm confused about the mileage reporting. I noticed an under-reporting when I first got the car, for sure. There is a particular stretch of road that was always 8 miles dead in my Golf, and I saw something like 7.3 miles when I did it in the MG4. But then more recently I was a little bit past the 8-mile spot and looked down and saw 8.3 miles. Odd.

So this week, coming back the same way, I made a point of looking. Same distance that was 7.3 miles earlier, was now 8.1 miles. The car hasn't been anywhere near the dealer so it isn't an update thing.

 

[Macadoodle]

I'm confused about the mileage reporting. I noticed an under-reporting when I first got the car, for sure. There is a particular stretch of road that was always 8 miles dead in my Golf, and I saw something like 7.3 miles when I did it in the MG4. But then more recently I was a little bit past the 8-mile spot and looked down and saw 8.3 miles. Odd.

So this week, coming back the same way, I made a point of looking. Same distance that was 7.3 miles earlier, was now 8.1 miles. The car hasn't been anywhere near the dealer so it isn't an update thing.

That is pretty odd. Have only checked mine a couple of times after B Nyland mentioned that the SE he tested was 2.5% out IIRC.
Mine did seem to be 2% pessimistic on the 2 occasions I compared with the google maps distance.

One thing's sure, the WLTP figures really are nonsense , as is the car's GOM.
Typically have a GOM of 228 miles following a full charge, not a hope in hell, utterly impossible on a long term average of 4.1m kWh so why does it insist on spouting pointless figures when it has records to work with

It's been pretty warm recently so that 200mile run down to absolute zero is clearly the best I'm ever going to achieve with this car with average driving , would always normally call time at 180 miles and 10% to be kinder to the battery and my nerves though.

 

[Rolfe]

It is odd, and I don't understand it. I have a few other distances that I know from driving the Golf so I'll maybe drive some of them some time and check. But if it's not consistent, that's a real curve-ball.