Hello and welcome.
Might be worth having a search or skimming through the titles of old post as there are quite a few on here with similar questions. I know as I asked similar questions when I got mine.
We probably need a pinned thread for new EV owners.
I got my MG5 LR FL in December 22. It was my first EV as well. I spent lots of time reading posts on here. It is a very helpful group.
When reading information it is worth noting if the car is a pre-facelift or a FL. There are differences between them.
I am in the same boat as Maskill and do not have the option to charge at home due to living in a London flat. I also rely on public charging.
Most public chargers have instructions on them but they generally all work in the same way. Connect car to charger and start charging with payment method. This can either a contactless card or an App in your phone.
Payment option is where the current challenge lies. Sadly you will probably end up with a handle full of apps as well as some RFID cards link to apps. For example I have an ElectroVerse (Octopus) card as this gives discounts on some chargers. You do not need to be an Octopus customer and the card is free to get. An example of apps are PodPoint (needed for most supermarkets) and BPPulse for those chargers.
The second challenge is which payment method to use to get the cheapest rate. As daft as it sounds you can more or less for the exact same charger depending on which payment method you use.
e.g. one of my local go to 22kwh chargers is 65p/wkh with contactless payment and 45p/kwh if I use the ElectroVerse card. Its crazy but I would suggest checking which charger you plan to use and checking the different costs before you get there.
There are a few types of chargers.
- AC charger ranging from about 3kwh to <50kwh. You can identify these by the cable used. It is a type 2 cable and only uses the top half of the charging port. This type needs a type 2 cable. Most of them do not have a fixed cable and you need to bring your own. At 11kwh does roughly 15-20% an hour.
- DC Rapid chargers range from 50kwh and up. I forget the limit for the FL but I think it tops out at around 80-90kwh. You can tell this charger as it uses both top and bottom parts of the charging port. This type always as a fixed cable. You can charge in around 20-30 mins.
I would strongly suggesting going and playing with same different charger types locally. This will quickly grow you confidence and not freak you out when you need them. I was lucky and had a friend with an EV so we went out and did a few test chargers together. He has a Tesla so does not use other chargers very often so it was a bit of a learning curve for him too.
Assuming you have the FaceLift MG5 it has an onboard 11kwh AC charger. To take advantage of this you need to have the correct type 2 cable (32AMP). If you got one from MG it will not be the correct one and you will only be able to charge at 7kwh. As an example below is a link to the one I got from Amazon. Not the cheapest around but works well and fits in the boot of the car in the storage spot on the right side. Which gives easy access when the car is full
Even if you think you will never use a type 2 cable (e.g. because you charge at home) I would strongly suggest getting one. It is better to have it and not need it than to not have one when you need it.
As for charging as mentioned I cannot charge at home but I am lucky there are quite a few public chargers within a short walk of my flat. I do not drive that many miles to tend to only charger once a week. Normally just before the weekend as this is when I will do most of my driving.
If I go somewhere that has an AC charger and I am going to be there for more than an hour I tend to plug in and charge. e.g. Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. One advantage is the chargers are quite often in the best parking spots. As a courteous EV owner I do move my car once it has finished charging so others can use it.
There a number of chats on apps people use. So worth having a look and read.
Unlike a petrol car which is fill it up when it is empty I tend to graze. Meaning if I am somewhere and can get reasonable cost charging I will. Even charging for an hour at the supermarket covers my usage to get there. It is not so common these days but there are still supermarkets that offer free charging.
As for battery management:
It is recommended you only use DC Rapid chargers when you must. e.g. long road trip and charging at a service station when time is important. The reason being the Rapid charger is force feeding the battery and putting under stress. In the long run this will damage the battery.
I following the manuals recommendations on best charge levels for the battery.
It advises to keep the battery between 30-80% and ideally between 50-80%.You will notice the charge level on the app or info screen goes yellow when below 50%. So for me when my car gets to 50 or below I charge it to 80%. This normally result in my charging once a week routine.
There is nothing wrong with charging to 100% a long as you are not leaving it there for a long time. If I am doing a road trip I will charge to 100% the night before.
Depending on your driving and charger usage you need to equalise the batteries now and again. The manual suggests once a month but if you almost never use a Rapid charger you can go a lot longer than this. Its the Rapid chargers that throw the cells of.
To do an equalise charge you need to be connected to an AC charger and charge to 100%. It will then do a trickle charge while it is equalising and then stop when complete.
As for the charge levels you choose to use in the end it will be up to you. This always triggers a big debate which I am trying to avoid here and just give you my routine and way of working. I plan to keep the car until the end of days so will take the manufactures advice on what to do.
Road trips. EV makes me think of the good old days (I am 52 now) when you had plan your trips out with a map, choose rest and coffee stops to stretch your legs.
I use ABRP app to plan my route. You tell it your starting charge level and what level of charge you want when you arrive. It them suggest charger along the way. I filter to Rapid chargers only as I want the quick charge on road trips. I then use Apple Maps on Carplay to navigate there. I tend to do no more 150 miles between stops. This is normally about 2-3 hours and I can do with a quick break by then. It also leaves me enough charge in case there is an issue and I need to find another charger location. Again have a look there are loads of threads on this with other peoples advice.
LOL I hadn't planed on writing so much but this is brain dump of all the charging information I had to gather to feel comfortable and understand my first EV.
Cable I have
