New owner, am I charging wrong?!

[Henrystclair]

Hello all. I'm a new owner of a brand new MG ZS EV bought using the affinity scheme (incredible deal!).

I charged for the first time this morning. I had 78 miles of range left so roughly 50%. I plugged into a 50KWH fast charge in Hammersmith, London. Started my charge and went to have a coffee. I returned after 25 minutes and the readout said that I had spent £1.30. I unplugged, got in and started up. The speedo still said 78 miles of battery remaining and the battery level hadn't changed at all! Have I done something wrong.....?

I've got a cable arriving today so I'll try again tomorrow but all advice welcome.

 

[Gomev]

Hello all. I'm a new owner of a brand new MG ZS EV bought using the affinity scheme (incredible deal!).

I charged for the first time this morning. I had 78 miles of range left so roughly 50%. I plugged into a 50KWH fast charge in Hammersmith, London. Started my charge and went to have a coffee. I returned after 25 minutes and the readout said that I had spent £1.30. I unplugged, got in and started up. The speedo still said 78 miles of battery remaining and the battery level hadn't changed at all! Have I done something wrong.....?

I've got a cable arriving today so I'll try again tomorrow but all advice welcome.

Hi, a few things, if the charger was a 50kW (not kWh) that is a rapid charger not a fast charger and has it's own cable with a big connector that you needed to remove both rubber bungs on your charge port to plug it in. The fast chargers are like you get in supermarkets or have installed at home that you just use the top bung/connector charging bit in the car.
Only saying that because it helps others to hopefully diagnose any problems/questions you have. You'll soon pick it up we are all quite nice on here.
How much does that charger you used cost / kW, I'm going to guess at around 40p. After you unplugged and got in you stated that battery level hadn't changed. Again I'm going to assume you meant on the car dashboard that number of white blobs at the bottom of right dial. £1.30 at 40p would have given you 3.25 kWh. Now those blobs are not all equal going from full to empty each blob represents approx 11% of the battery so when you get down to the last one there is still approx 25% battery left. Weird eh.
So as a blob is 11% of approx 42KWh useable battery that's 4.2kwH, it is quite possible that adding just 3.25 kWh will not change the number of blobs lit up on the battery gauge.
Why your range did not change I cannot explain unless you were in Eco mode arriving at the charger. When you turn off and turn back on it will start in Normal mode which will show a lower range than Eco. Maybe it was a coincidence that in Eco you had 78, charged and than in Normal it showed 78. The amount of charge added does come into that ball park range.

Sorry for the long answer (normally the reserve of @Lovemyev) and lots of approxs in there, you get that with EVs, and hope some of it made sense.

 

[Lovemyev]

Hi, a few things, if the charger was a 50kW (not kWh) that is a rapid charger not a fast charger and has it's own cable with a big connector that you needed to remove both rubber bungs on your charge port to plug it in. The fast chargers are like you get in supermarkets or have installed at home that you just use the top bung/connector charging bit in the car.
Only saying that because it helps others to hopefully diagnose any problems/questions you have. You'll soon pick it up we are all quite nice on here.
How much does that charger you used cost / kW, I'm going to guess at around 40p. After you unplugged and got in you stated that battery level hadn't changed. Again I'm going to assume you meant on the car dashboard that number of white blobs at the bottom of right dial. £1.30 at 40p would have given you 3.25 kWh. Now those blobs are not all equal going from full to empty each blob represents approx 11% of the battery so when you get down to the last one there is still approx 25% battery left. Weird eh.
So as a blob is 11% of approx 42KWh useable battery that's 4.2kwH, it is quite possible that adding just 3.25 kWh will not change the number of blobs lit up on the battery gauge.
Why your range did not change I cannot explain unless you were in Eco mode arriving at the charger. When you turn off and turn back on it will start in Normal mode which will show a lower range than Eco. Maybe it was a coincidence that in Eco you had 78, charged and than in Normal it showed 78. The amount of charge added does come into that ball park range.

Sorry for the long answer (normally the reserve of @Lovemyev) and lots of approxs in there, you get that with EVs, and hope some of it made sense.

Nice you gave me a mention @Gomev .
Sorry for the “T.M.I.” ( Too Much Info ) in my posts .
I tend to make my responce’s more detailed for new EV members and therefore they can become too lengthy sometimes, sorry .

 

[Henrystclair]

That is fantastic, thank you both! Gomev that makes perfect sense. I'll try again with my cable that I received today.

Just one thing the cable says type 2, 32amp, 7kw. Does that mean it will only charge at 7kw max?! That would be shitty right...?

 

[Gomev]

That is fantastic, thank you both! Gomev that makes perfect sense. I'll try again with my cable that I received today.

Just one thing the cable says type 2, 32amp, 7kw. Does that mean it will only charge at 7kw max?! That would be sh*tty right...?

It does. It is the 'normal'/most common method of charge, plug in at home for a few hours or overnight, or when shopping at a supermarket for example or at what they call a destination charger e.g a hotel.
Rapids are usually used when travelling longer distances for top up en-route.

Without trying to get too complicated probably best to have a quick read of this

Understanding electric vehicle connector types | Charging guide - Zapmap

How long does it take to charge an electric car? Learn about charging standards, compatibility, and make informed decisions for your EV charging needs.

www.zap-map.com

 

[Henrystclair]

Thanks Gomev, that's a useful page for newbies....

 

[Noraf142]

That is fantastic, thank you both! Gomev that makes perfect sense. I'll try again with my cable that I received today.

Just one thing the cable says type 2, 32amp, 7kw. Does that mean it will only charge at 7kw max?! That would be sh*tty right...?

Well, with that cable, you're charging with AC, and using the onboard charger/converter, and it just so happends to be that it's effect is close to 7
Not many cars have the opportunity to AC charge with more, but some do.

 

[Henrystclair]

So, does that mean that with this cable I am limited to 7kw? But with a rapid charger with fixed cable I can charge at a much higher rate right? Thanks for all advice guys!

 

[Gomev]

So, does that mean that with this cable I am limited to 7kw? But with a rapid charger with fixed cable I can charge at a much higher rate right? Thanks for all advice guys!

Yes you are correct.
The car's onboard charger is limited to 6.6kW and this is what it has to use to convert the AC (home/supermarket) 7kW chargers to the DC that the big HV battery is.
Rapid chargers are DC already so no conversion needed and the car can charge at up to about 75-80kW, although this speed will happen very rarely as is dependent on many conditions.
Regardless of how high the Rapid charger is rated, some are at up to 350kW, the car will limit it to what it can take.

 

[Lovemyev]

So, does that mean that with this cable I am limited to 7kw? But with a rapid charger with fixed cable I can charge at a much higher rate right? Thanks for all advice guys!

With your type 2 cable you will be charging at 7 kw’s.
In a rapid charger ( D/C ) there could be two choices of cable.
One that looks the same as your type 2 plug, this will only supply 7 kw’s.
But if you use the much larger and heavier lead, this will be the CCS plug, where both of your charging bungs will be need to be removed.
This will be the CCS D/C supply that will provide the “Rapid” charging rate.

 

[Henrystclair]

Fantastic, thank you both. Thank god for forums!

 

[Nibloprice]

So all the lamppost chargers in Hammersmith are 7kwh 'fast' chargers - for that your new cable is fine. As well as for the Source London charging bays you will see around. If you want to try a rapid charger, go to the big BP services on Hammersmith roundabout. There are a bank of CCS Rapid chargers there so you can familiarise yourself with them before you have to use one for real.

For the lamppost chargers, the Shall Recharge app is great. Just press one button and you're charging. If you have any near you, you can set it as favorite and it's almost as good as charging in your driveway!! Albeit a slightly more expensive one that other people can also park in....

cheers
nick

 

[Henrystclair]

Brilliant, thanks Nick. I've got two lampposts on my road (Edith) so I'll plug in and give it ago. Trying the BP ahead of a long journey is a good idea too...

 

[TassiedEVil]

So all the lamppost chargers in Hammersmith are 7kwh 'fast' chargers - for that your new cable is fine. As well as for the Source London charging bays you will see around. If you want to try a rapid charger, go to the big BP services on Hammersmith roundabout. There are a bank of CCS Rapid chargers there so you can familiarise yourself with them before you have to use one for real.

For the lamppost chargers, the Shall Recharge app is great. Just press one button and you're charging. If you have any near you, you can set it as favorite and it's almost as good as charging in your driveway!! Albeit a slightly more expensive one that other people can also park in....

cheers
nick

A couple of pics of ‘lamppost chargers’ would be much appreciated for those of us who reside in currently underprivileged (charger-wise) locations. We need all the ideas we can get.

 

[Henrystclair]

I'm on a road with a couple of lamp post chargers, I'll post some pics today. How is charging around your way? These are my local fast-ish chargers...

 

[TassiedEVil]

Apart from our own Zappi, nearest is about 30kms away. But that’s ok - I think the local shops at Cygnet will be getting one soon, which is only a 5 min drive. Progress!

 

[Henrystclair]

I checked out our lamp posts today. Provided by Ubitricity at £0.24 per kw. Pay as you go. 7kw i think... type 2 connector.

 

[Trevor Wootton]

It does. It is the 'normal'/most common method of charge, plug in at home for a few hours or overnight, or when shopping at a supermarket for example or at what they call a destination charger e.g a hotel.
Rapids are usually used when travelling longer distances for top up en-route.

Without trying to get too complicated probably best to have a quick read of this

Understanding electric vehicle connector types | Charging guide - Zapmap

How long does it take to charge an electric car? Learn about charging standards, compatibility, and make informed decisions for your EV charging needs.

www.zap-map.com

Interesting read. It says Tesla owners use an adaptor to be able to use public chargers ! Then why can't we use an adaptor to use tesla chargers, fairs fair

 

[TassiedEVil]

I checked out our lamp posts today. Provided by Ubitricity at £0.24 per kw. Pay as you go. 7kw i think... type 2 connector.

Thanks for the pics. What a great idea! Handy for inner city on-street parking. I’m a little jealous…