New first time ev owner

[Steven Tiffany]

Hi I'm Steven I'm picking up my new to me mg5 on Saturday & I'm a first time ev owner. This has probably been asked a million times & sorry if it has but.
I don't have any clue how to go about changing the car if away from home.
I'm also confused about home charging & the best charging unit to go for. Any advice & help would be very much appreciated.

 

[Deep purple]

Home charging depends on your usual daily mileage and your tariff. We manage easily with a granny charger (13 amp plug job) and use economy 7 overnight for charging. We tend to use about 12-15 KWhr in the car every day which takes about 6-7 hours to put back in which exactly matches our cheap electricity time.
Main benefit of a dedicated charging point is that you can increase the charging rate and also be smarter when it comes to scheduling.

 

[Jomarkh]

Welcome,
There are a number of threads about charging your car.
If you can then get a home EVSE unit like a Zappi if you have or might get solar.
Podpoint have free EVSE at supermarkets but you need to App to 'confirm'the charge.
My local Asda has a free BP Pulse but again you need an app to start it.
The Electric Juice card is good as it covers a number of networks and goes onto your energy bill.
What sort of weekly milage do you do?

 

[Steven Tiffany]

We do have solar.

 

[BugEyed]

We do have solar.

But will the car be at home during the day to use it. Before regular WFH it was theoretical for me, now very significant.
How many miles per week do you expect to do, and how often will you exceed 200 in a trip?
Do you have a home battery, and are you already on a dual rate tariff?

 

[Bluesparky]

We charge ours using our solar system, the Zappi charger is great. You can set it to only use your excess electric, although I find it best to let it take up to 50% of minimum required (700 watts) when needed otherwise it stops charging every time a cloud goes over, on a sunny day it pumps in 4kw/hour , easily charging a half empty battery in one sunny day or from empty in under 2 days. Free driving juice, happy days.

 

[Deleted member 8235]

For charging away from home, download the ZapMap app, it shows you where all the public chargers are, how much they cost, whether they're available/in use/broken etc, and what app or account you'll need to use them.

 

[Gomev]

For charging away from home, download the ZapMap app, it shows you where all the public chargers are, how much they cost, whether they're available/in use/broken etc, and what app or account you'll need to use them.

If it says broken or has issues, check with the providers app. Zap map is renowned for reporting problems but not reporting when they are fixed.

 

[Lguk]

From what I can tell, Zap Map marks them as broken as a result of users reporting them broken, but then doesn't seem to have a mechanism for setting them as fixed. It's quite a flaw in the system as many will avoid those marked as broken when they may have been fixed weeks ago.

 

[Lovemyev]

If you intend to charge at a public charging post or at one of the larger local super markets, then you are going to need a Type 2 charging cable to do this.
MG only provide the slower three pin plug Granny charger with the car from new, unless your dealer has kindly provided one FOC.
They can be bought readerly enough on line for about £120 (ish).
You will need the 7 Kw 32 Amp version and they come in different length sizes.
5 mitres tends to be the common off the shelf size.

EV / Electric Car - Charging Cable - Type 2 to Type 2 | 32amp | 5m |

Premium fast PHEV EV Electric Car Vehicle Charging cable lead - Type 2 to Type 2 IEC62196 / Mennekes 16 amp 3.6 kW 5 meter cable tidy carry case

evonestop.co.uk

 

[Les burrows]

Hi Steven don’t think I can add much more than has already been written above but to say welcome to the forum,you will fine almost anything you need to know about the car in here with a little time spent searching the site but if you can’t or are not sure about something then don’t be afraid to ask, the picture above looks the same car as mine I think an MG5 exclusive Standard range is it.

But apart from charging and chargers take your time and enjoy the car I’m sure you will.
Couple of things to do have a read of the handbook if you have it if not there’s one online at the MG website.

if you wash the car be sure to set the wipers in the service position,as if you don’t you risk damaged to the paint on the edge of the bonnet if you try to lift the wiper arms.

When you starting the car trick is foot on the brake and keep it on until you get the ready message on the dash only then select a drive mode.
When you have been charging and your done standing by the charge port be sure when you stop the charge to unplug the cable from the car right away as it might lock the cable In again in a few seconds if it does,unlock the cat with your key fob and remove the cable straight away.
So again Steven Enjoy the car and welcome here.
Les

 

[gus]

Hi I'm Steven I'm picking up my new to me mg5 on Saturday & I'm a first time ev owner. This has probably been asked a million times & sorry if it has but.
I don't have any clue how to go about changing the car if away from home.
I'm also confused about home charging & the best charging unit to go for. Any advice & help would be very much appreciated.

Before you leave the garage, get them to show you how to charge and how to stop a charge.
I picked up my first EV this year so like a lot of folks here on a learning curve, secondly when you have a reasonable charge take a trip when things are quiet, to a local fast charger and on another date one of the supermarkets and just try it out when you are not under time pressure, queue of folks waiting to use the charger or low on charge.

 

[Lovemyev]

When you starting the car trick is foot on the brake and keep it on until you get the ready message on the dash only then select a drive mode.

Great advice Les !.
Just to say, don’t be temped to rush the start up procedure.
Allow the car the time to fully boot up and wait for the READY light and the “Bong”
BEFORE you engage the gear selector.
If you rush the process, the car will complain and you are likely to have no forward / reverse motion when you apply the “GO” pedal ?.
There are plenty of friendly people on here that will answer the questions that you will have over the next few week !.
Remember to enjoy the car !.

 

[Steven Tiffany]

Well I never ended up getting the car as there was too many cosmetic issues that was never shown to me. On the plus side I'm picking up a brand new one tomorrow.

 

[Lespresso]

Well I never ended up getting the car as there was too many cosmetic issues that was never shown to me. On the plus side I'm picking up a brand new one tomorrow.

Ahh, there’s nothing like the new car smell in the morning, enjoy the ride. ??

 

[Lovemyev]

Well I never ended up getting the car as there was too many cosmetic issues that was never shown to me. On the plus side I'm picking up a brand new one tomorrow.

I am a bit confused ( which is not too difficult ).
I though in your first post, that you where picking up a brand new car anyway ?.
Was it brand new / pre-owned or a Demo ?.
If it WAS brand new, did you reject it on collection day and why can I ask ?.
Thanks !.

 

[Steven Tiffany]

I am a bit confused ( which is not too difficult ).
I though in your first post, that you where picking up a brand new car anyway ?.
Was it brand new / pre-owned or a Demo ?.
If it WAS brand new, did you reject it on collection day and why can I ask ?.
Thanks !.

No I put new to me which would indicate a used car. The registration plate in the photo clearly shows a 21reg (1 year old) sorry if this confused you.

 

[Jomarkh]

I am confused now, so do you own the car in the picture?

 

[Steven Tiffany]

No I turned it down when I went to collect it due to faults with it, so I'm now picking up a brand new one tomorrow.

 

[Lovemyev]

No I put new to me which would indicate a used car. The registration plate in the photo clearly shows a 21reg (1 year old) sorry if this confused you.

Okay sorry, I did not think to check the number plate in the picture ( my bad ).
Purely went on the description in the post.
If it was not right on collection day, then you did the right thing to walk away from it.
Sounds like it had not been very well looked after, by the sounds of it.
Enjoy your brand new car !.