New S5 Owner checking in

[derekmines]

Just thought I'd check on on this thread.
My new S5 Trophy LR was delivered earlier today, my first foray into electric cars.

I left it charging at work and popped back earlier, it was nicely charged to 100%, my 25 mile trip home has reduced that to 87% (not sure if that's to be expected or not)

I'm not going to form an opinion on the car yet, as I literally climbed in and drove, I've not configured anything.
I will say though that I seriously hope the incessant "the speed limit is 70 miles per hour" voice can be turned off and the incredibly annoying auto main-beam headlights will need permanently disabling too.

 

[TimothyN]

Most annoying sh!t can be turned off, you'll soon learn. MGPilot is your friend. Long press to save your settings.

13% of 64kWh is 8.32kWh, 25/8.32 is 3 miles per kWh, which is reasonable in the cold.

 

[Loada]

You’ll be happy to hear that the voice speed warning can be turned off (permanently) in the sat nav settings. You can turn the auto beam off in the car settings (car icon).

 

[derekmines]

2 fantastic replies to my first post. Thank you both very much.

As noted, it's my first electric vehicle, I'm coming from 4 years in a 4.2 V8 diesel Cayenne with Range Rovers and Jeeps stretching back 20+ years before that so this is a complete step-change for me.

I've got some European travel planned for next year as well, and quite a number of long-distance UK trips too, so I'm really interested to see how an EV fits into my life (especially as I won't have a home charger)

 

[salty]

To the forum. Congrats on your new motor.

 

[Alb]

Welcome to the S5 world
Most of the annoying things can be turned off so you'll soon settle in.
When you say you won't have a home charger do you mean won't or can't?'

 

[TimothyN]

Bear in mind that the cost of highest speed charging at a pubic charger is 12x as much as home charging. Worth thinking about.

 

[derekmines]

A bit of both, the way my house is laid out would make installing an electric charger very difficult, so I have no plans to do so.

 

[TimothyN]

You can use a granny charger with little or no installation and very low cost (~£30).

You get 30% at low rates overnight.

 

[derekmines]

Tell me more.... that would be worth it for me for sure

 

[Jomarkh]

A bit of both, the way my house is laid out would make installing an electric charger very difficult, so I have no plans to do so.

Welcome to the forum.
You can put charge points on posts along a driveway

 

[TimothyN]

Tell me more.... that would be worth it for me for sure

Sorry, more than I remember, but nonetheless...

https://amzn.eu/d/3QYPe1L

 

[derekmines]

Sorry, more than I remember, but nonetheless...

https://amzn.eu/d/3QYPe1L

So there's a 3kW, a 7kW, and an 11kW option there.... I assume the 11kW is the way to go?
That does seem quite a lot to pull from a standard socket though!

 

[anth5864]

Welcome, 3 month S5 owner here also new to EVs. I love mine, yes it has quirks, don't they all

European, Chinese, or whatever EVs are moving targets right now and the S5 is a tip into where the quality is meeting the price very well indeed in my opinion.

I think a software update will fix a lot of those sticking points, and it will come for the S5 I think, but it's not like they are deal breakers. I've had good dealer experience also like - really good.

Seriously love mine, hope you enjoy yours too, the forum is a great resource, and thanks to all that help run it!

 

[Coulomb]

So there's a 3kW, a 7kW, and an 11kW option there.... I assume the 11kW is the way to go?

No, 11kW requires three phase, your house probably doesn't have three phase, and your car probably doesn't have an 11kW on-board charger. Plus, the 7kW and 11kW options come with a different plug at the mains end (click on those options to see the image change).

Assuming that you don't have a Commando socket handy, you will need the 3kW model, and likely need to turn it down to about 10A (about 2.4kW). That's the downside of "granny" charging: less expensive, but quite slow.

 

[Ruislip Resident]

You don't have turn the speed warning voice off to not hear it. You could just stick to the speed limit.

 

[Ian Key]

I've got some European travel planned for next year as well, and quite a number of long-distance UK trips too, so I'm really interested to see how an EV fits into my life (especially as I won't have a home charger)

Seriously research if you can have a home charger fitted. I'm only paying 7p/kWh to charge mine at night and the rest of the house (washing machine, bread maker etc.) are also included in that rate.

If that is still not an option have a look if a Tesla charging subscription is worthwhile and convenient. Also get the Octopus Electroverse card for paying at other chargers. It's free and you don't need to be an Octopus customer to have one.

 

[Lovemyev]

You don't have turn the speed warning voice off to not hear it. You could just stick to the speed limit.

Agreed.
Also if you are going to travel at above motorway speeds, you are going to see your range disappearing REALLY fast !.

 

[anth5864]

Part of speed limit issue is not related to 'speeding' as such, the S5 has speed limit recognition and so it can easily pickup unwanted speed limits from side streets, and it also can misinterpret 'true' speed limit. The reason you would want to turn the intrusion off is that in that case (if like me you have a lot up and down speed limits in your area) the intrusion is less an indicator of contravention of speed limit at that point more a very unwelcome distraction from a general road safety perspective, I don't need warning if I the driver know better what is legal and what is not at any given point. The last thing I need is the S5 shouting at me personally, but everyone sets these things how they want them, that's what pilot is for

Safety systems are helpers, in my opinion and help doesn't have to come in the form of verbal announcement, to that point you have a number of other speed limit warning options with S5 all of which are better in my own opinion.

 

[TimothyN]

My usual diatribe in favour of granny…

If you don't use your car an enormous amount (I really only use mine to go from Biggin Hill to Bromley and Morden), you are unlikely to use more than 30% of the capacity, and granny will give you 30% per night.

I have my granny charger set to 13A, and the socket in the garage doesn't feel any more than a tiny bit warm. I haven't found it a problem at all. My oven is powered from a 13 amp socket, and the plug gets much warmer than does my charger.

If I owned my house, rather than a (hopefully) short-term rent, I would get a 7 kW charger, but, as things stand, 2.7 is absolutely fine for me.

Most days I can use V2L to extract all the heating, cooking and laundry I want to do, at night time rates.