MG4 Range

[Ayoull]

....
Edit I have just noticed your Avatar picture up the power lines are you stealing it.
LOL

Design engineer for the DNO now, I just assess the network and say yes or no you can't have that connected unless you pay £xxx

 

[Nigelleics]

Here's a thought. IF battery heating takes around 2.5kwh and is known to improve range through having a nice warm battery, then is it really necessary if you're only setting out on say a 8 mile trip?

My thinking would be no. The 8 miles in normal conditions would use up 2kwh, but with a cold battery would it really use up over 4.5kwh? I'm just positing that there may be a journey distance where it is worth battery heating, but otherwise it simply isn't.

 

[the briggie]

Here's a thought. IF battery heating takes around 2.5kwh and is known to improve range through having a nice warm battery, then is it really necessary if you're only setting out on say a 8 mile trip?

My thinking would be no. The 8 miles in normal conditions would use up 2kwh, but with a cold battery would it really use up over 4.5kwh? I'm just positing that there may be a journey distance where it is worth battery heating, but otherwise it simply isn't.

See this thread, and I agree re short hop effectiveness

MG4 Trophy Preheat Battery Help

I was thinking about the advice Tesla gives in their manual about fast charging when the battery is cold: basically, don't do it! Here is what the manual says: "You can minimize the amount of charge time by using Trip Planner (if available in your market region) to warm the Battery while...

www.mgevs.com

 

[Macadoodle]

Picked up my SE SR today.... yah, they do sup the electrons in 0 degree weather ! Left dealer with 96% , had a play around , admittedly driving it fairly briskly, and managed to get it to 52% in 55 miles
It was stuck on 2m kWh for around 20 miles before creeping up a little before journey's end.
Gonna run it down towards 10% tomorrow and stick it on a nice slow balance charge tomorrow night.
Good fun to drive though, feels pretty much as brisk as the trophy, wouldn't guess that there's a 30bhp deficit TBH.
But yeah, if you're relying on public chargers at 50p + kWh then you would be saving money just running an economical ICE to be honest.
I realised the LFP cells in the SR were particularly hobbled by low temp but wasn't expecting the low twos to be honest.

Oh well, weekend is supposed to be warmer and I will have satisfied my acceleration curiosity a little so hopefully the low 3's kWh will be doable

 

[Les burrows]

Just to put things in perspective. Mg4 sesr.
130 mile journey 2 weeks ago with 31% left and showed 3.7 miles/kwh.
Yesterday morning after an overnight temperature of minus 10.7c at Andrews field weather station about 5 minutes away from me.
10 minutes pre conditioning which struggled with 4 inches of frozen snow particularly around the wiper blades, shafts etc so had to spend another 10 minutes with car turned on before everything was clear enough to drive.
Then drove 8 miles and left car for 3 hours followed by 4 mile drive and car then left for 2 hours. Finally 12 miles home in dark. Acc was on at 23 degrees all the time I was driving. A total of 24 miles and 23% battery used. On that basis a real range of 100 miles. I reckon that was ok considering the circumstances.
Therefore about 1% per mile at present in really cold conditions, I can live with that knowing it can only get better.
All the best...Chris.

Wow thanks Noblapod, Chris , for that it’s kind of put my mind to rest a little because that is the kind of figures we have been seeing but it is still very low to what my 5 SR did with the same size but different battery chemistry kind of makes me wish we had gone LR now same type of battery as the 5 but then again I have read post here about similar figures on the Trophy which has the LR battery so is there a problem with the cars or is it the weather that is the question.

Something as changed because when we collected the car SESR from the dealer the GOM was reading 97% 223 in normal REN high, miles available the default setting I have never seen that since best I have seen is 196 miles on 100% battery.
Les

 

[Les burrows]

Picked up my SE SR today.... yah, they do sup the electrons in 0 degree weather ! Left dealer with 96% , had a play around , admittedly driving it fairly briskly, and managed to get it to 52% in 55 miles
It was stuck on 2m kWh for around 20 miles before creeping up a little before journey's end.
Gonna run it down towards 10% tomorrow and stick it on a nice slow balance charge tomorrow night.
Good fun to drive though, feels pretty much as brisk as the trophy, wouldn't guess that there's a 30bhp deficit TBH.
But yeah, if you're relying on public chargers at 50p + kWh then you would be saving money just running an economical ICE to be honest.
I realised the LFP cells in the SR were particularly hobbled by low temp but wasn't expecting the low twos to be honest.

Oh well, weekend is supposed to be warmer and I will have satisfied my acceleration curiosity a little so hopefully the low 3's kWh will be doable

Well if you read my post #99 you will see I got a 4 yes 4mpkh last week on a short trip to a shop and 3.9 on the way back don’t ask me how I wish I knew so I could repeat it daily just drove as normal can get it now ours has had three balances charges up to now but no different or better really still only see 100 or so miles out of a charge the GOM can be 196 or so to start but once down to 45 % or so it’s almost reading one to one cant understand it at all tomorrow I am going to try and run it low enough to get a( charge battery warning up ) not been that low as yet.
Les

 

[M101]

Here's a thought. IF battery heating takes around 2.5kwh and is known to improve range through having a nice warm battery, then is it really necessary if you're only setting out on say a 8 mile trip?

My thinking would be no. The 8 miles in normal conditions would use up 2kwh, but with a cold battery would it really use up over 4.5kwh? I'm just positing that there may be a journey distance where it is worth battery heating, but otherwise it simply isn't.

I agree, Its not worth it,. i heated my battery yesterday and burned through twice the amount of battery that i would normally go through on my commute and saw no improvement in m/kwh

 

[Thorpey]

I've had another thought about poor range. Tyres can make a big difference, the Chinese rubber may be especially bad and different to the tested spec. I know a few people changed due to vibrations, if you have changed tyres have you noticed a difference in consumption?

 

[tsedge]

Well if you read my post #99 you will see I got a 4 yes 4mpkh last week on a short trip to a shop and 3.9 on the way back don’t ask me how I wish I knew so I could repeat it daily just drove as normal can get it now ours has had three balances charges up to now but no different or better really still only see 100 or so miles out of a charge the GOM can be 196 or so to start but once down to 45 % or so it’s almost reading one to one cant understand it at all tomorrow I am going to try and run it low enough to get a( charge battery warning up ) not been that low as yet.
Les

Les, long shot this, but you don’t keep it garaged do you?

 

[Nigelleics]

I had a short trip of 6 mile last night in around -6c. I've never preheated cabin or battery, which I think is significant. So, I was sat defrosting the screen on 25c setting 5 for maybe 2 minutes until it was safe to get going (note, a 10 minute preheat would probably have been excessive). Then left on 25c setting 2 for the short journey. I knew from experience that it would take too many miles to counteract the stationary heating, but still managed to get it up to 2.6 ml/kwh. Probably another mile or two through town would have got it up beyond 3.

For a short trip on a night colder than the coldest in most winters, I thought that was quite ok.

 

[Deleted member 9692]

When I left for work this morning it was -5 and it remained at that temp for my morning commute. I did not charge last night, car not plugged in. Pre heat battery set for 06:15am (the app recommends 1 hour before departure, I’m happy to be corrected). Pre heated the cabin for 10 minutes. My commute is 25 miles, average speed was around 35 mph. At the 10 mile mark I was showing 2.2 m/kw at the 20 mile mark I was showing 3.4 m/kw and when I arrived it was 3.3 m/kw. My heater was on auto and on 25 degrees for the whole trip, heated seat on 1 for all but last 10 minutes of the 1 hour 10 minute journey. I did not pay any attention to trying to maximise economy.

What this illustrates to me and as others have said is that short journeys (10 miles for example) in very cold weather will give much lower economy than usual (2.2 m/kw in my example). As others have alluded to, if you are expecting great economy from your car in cold conditions on short trips, then the MG4 probably is not the car for you. The above notwithstanding, cars that are limiting acceleration for example need to be looked at.

 

[Nigelleics]

When I left for work this morning it was -5 and it remained at that temp for my morning commute. I did not charge last night, car not plugged in. Pre heat battery set for 06:15am (the app recommends 1 hour before departure, I’m happy to be corrected). Pre heated the cabin for 10 minutes. My commute is 25 miles, average speed was around 35 mph. At the 10 mile mark I was showing 2.3 m/kw at the 20 mile mark I was showing 3.4 m/kw and when I arrived it was 3.3 m/kw. My heater was on auto and on 25 degrees for the whole trip, heated seat on 1 for all but last 10 minutes of the 1 hour 10 minute journey. I did not pay any attention to trying to maximise economy.

What this illustrates to me and as others have said is that short journeys (10 miles for example) in very cold weather will give much lower economy than usual (2.2 m/kw in my example). As others have alluded to, if you are expecting great economy from your car in cold conditions on short trips, then the MG4 probably is not the car for you. The above notwithstanding, cars that are limiting acceleration for example need to be looked at.

Your 2nd ten mile efficiency must have been around 4.5 (to drag the avg up by 1.1 over 2x the distance). It could be that over 10 miles is where the battery heating pays dividends?

 

[Deleted member 9692]

Your 2nd ten mile efficiency must have been around 4.5 (to drag the avg up by 1.1 over 2x the distance). It could be that over 10 miles is where the battery heating pays dividends?

My second leg is 15 miles in this example but yes the ”over 10 miles“ was my rough guesstimate also (to gain benefit from preheating), I think others experiences are roughly corroborating this also.

 

[jon0881]

yeah we need to figure out that sweet spot of journey time/distance for the preheating. having an OBD2 conenction monitoring the pack would be the most scientific.

 

[Macadoodle]

I've had another thought about poor range. Tyres can make a big difference, the Chinese rubber may be especially bad and different to the tested spec. I know a few people changed due to vibrations, if you have changed tyres have you noticed a difference in consumption?

I do wonder about the tyres, mild vibration was noted as soon as I got up to 60mph, looks like my one has the slow boat from China flat spots like many others.
Hopefully they'll regain their shape with running, did seem to improve as I drove.
Don't really feel like shelling out another £500 already though

 

[Deleted member 9692]

I do wonder about the tyres, mild vibration was noted as soon as I got up to 60mph, looks like my one has the slow boat from China flat spots like many others.
Hopefully they'll regain their shape with running, did seem to improve as I drove.
Don't really feel like shelling out another £500 already though

Have you had the balancing checked? Mine were significantly out on 3 out of 4 wheels.

 

[colsky]

I do wonder about the tyres, mild vibration was noted as soon as I got up to 60mph, looks like my one has the slow boat from China flat spots like many others.
Hopefully they'll regain their shape with running, did seem to improve as I drove.
Don't really feel like shelling out another £500 already though

My tyres have a rumble sound to them most of the time, and the pressures are possibly low at 2.4, up to 2.5 after a few minutes of a journey. I'm hoping that this is due to the excessive cold weather and the bedding in period for the new tyres while the flat spots sort themselves out. I'm not going to worry about these things until after Christmas when the weather (hopefully) improves, unless of course I get locked in in the meantime!

 

[NickHeynes]

When I left for work this morning it was -5 and it remained at that temp for my morning commute. I did not charge last night, car not plugged in. Pre heat battery set for 06:15am (the app recommends 1 hour before departure, I’m happy to be corrected). Pre heated the cabin for 10 minutes. My commute is 25 miles, average speed was around 35 mph. At the 10 mile mark I was showing 2.2 m/kw at the 20 mile mark I was showing 3.4 m/kw and when I arrived it was 3.3 m/kw. My heater was on auto and on 25 degrees for the whole trip, heated seat on 1 for all but last 10 minutes of the 1 hour 10 minute journey. I did not pay any attention to trying to maximise economy.

What this illustrates to me and as others have said is that short journeys (10 miles for example) in very cold weather will give much lower economy than usual (2.2 m/kw in my example). As others have alluded to, if you are expecting great economy from your car in cold conditions on short trips, then the MG4 probably is not the car for you. The above notwithstanding, cars that are limiting acceleration for example need to be looked at.

As I have said elsewhere my daily commute is 27 miles (round trip of 54)
When I set of this morning it was -7 (went up to -3 by the time I got to work.)
Battery was at 76% not preheated
Preheated cabin for 10mins via the app.
Trip along the A13 Some reasonably fast stretches but most limited to 50mph
Then the last 9 miles stop start traffic as usual
AC was on and off ( I'm going to try it on auto tomorrow)
27miles
1hr 16min
av speed 21mph
3.4 mile/kw
Battery at destination 60%

Total power consumed 8kwh

I'm pretty happy with that.

 

[Les burrows]

Les, long shot this, but you don’t keep it garaged do you?

No tsedge it’s out in all weathers can’t move for junk in my garage New Years resolution sort the place out around May time and 20 degrees LOL.
Les.

 

[hamd01]

Good fun to drive though, feels pretty much as brisk as the trophy, wouldn't guess that there's a 30bhp deficit TBH.

It's actually slightly quicker than the Trophy, likely owing to the battery weight.