Not getting the advertised range on full charge

[Tan2112]

My MG ZS EV is a long range and around 8months old. Lately on a full charge I have been getting around 248 miles and it seems to keep dropping every time I charge. Is this normal?

 

[Verdigris]

The weather is cold, so the range drops. The same thing happens to ICE vehicles, as well.

 

[Jomarkh]

It is very normal to see a 25-35% range reduction during the winter.
What is your current m/kWh?
Reset your trips counters if you want a factory GOM

 

[Alansurfer]

The indicated range after charging is based on how the car was last driven, speed, weather, acceleration, heat and aircon, auxiliaries etc. It will adjust as you drive so if you drive at a slower speed, weather is warmer etc it will decrease less in real time or drive faster in colder weather it will drop faster in its estimated range. The ZS is a brick so not so efficient at higher speeds and colder weather, mine used to drop below 3 miles per kWh in the winter, the MG5 was better and my MG4 3.2-3.4 miles per kWh winter 4-4.4 summer

 

[Roldorf]

I think the Forum should pin this as a permanent item on the website. It's disappointing that EV owners don't look at the vast amount of information that exists about this subject both in this website, You Tube and the internet in general.

 

[Susanna]

I agree. So many people seeing the advertised figures and expecting exactly that all year round. Obviously, a reduction would occur in ICE vehicles, but maybe never noticed or thought about.
I have been asked about my range quite frequently. I don’t recall anyone asking about that in previous (ICE) cars. You drive until it needs ‘filling’, you fill it with whatever, and then you drive again.

 

[Lovemyev]

An easy mistake to make when choosing your first EV is to look at the advertised range of the car and then think, yeah that will suit my usage case ( just about ).
But when the winter arrives of course, they are disappointed that the car suddenly does not meet their original expectations.
Another consideration should be some HV battery degradation.
In an ICE car the reduction in efficiency in the winter is similar, but is totally disregarded as there is a massive fuel ️ reserve being dragged around in the back of the car.

 

[Ruislip Resident]

My MG ZS EV is a long range and around 8months old. Lately on a full charge I have been getting around 248 miles and it seems to keep dropping every time I charge. Is this normal?

Yes. It's normal.

 

[NIghtmare]

Trophy Connect Long Range 23 plate.
About 200-220 miles at the minute.
Hilly, wet and cold where I live. Heater on ALL the time. Drive in comfort. Don't care about the range.

 

[Bodgerx]

My MG ZS EV is a long range and around 8months old. Lately on a full charge I have been getting around 248 miles and it seems to keep dropping every time I charge. Is this normal?

Yes

 

[tezzflyer]

I have the MG SZ EV trophy Long range, (Sept 22) I expect to get less range in cold weather, but i am down to 198miles on a full (slow) charge. starting to worry that my battery is on the blink.
mileage is also down to 2.3m/Kw from 3.9m/Kw. don't recall it being this bad last winter!
Like Nightmare - it hilly cold and wet here too!
t would be interesting to know at what point you say to yourself, 'this battery is knackered'

 

[Ruislip Resident]

Its not knackered. It's normal winter range and efficiency at low temp of less than 5c .

 

[Lovemyev]

I have the MG SZ EV trophy Long range, (Sept 22) I expect to get less range in cold weather, but i am down to 198miles on a full (slow) charge. starting to worry that my battery is on the blink.
mileage is also down to 2.3m/Kw from 3.9m/Kw. don't recall it being this bad last winter!
Like Nightmare - it hilly cold and wet here too!
t would be interesting to know at what point you say to yourself, 'this battery is knackered'

Are you a high milage user ?.
Is this the reason why you are charging your long range Trophy to 100% battery state every time ?.
Have you reset both of your trip recorders recently ?.
Before you charge next, reset both of your trip recorders and see what the predicted range is then.
Closer to what you expect .

 

[tezzflyer]

Are you a high milage user ?.
Is this the reason why you are charging your long range Trophy to 100% battery state every time ?.
Have you reset both of your trip recorders recently ?.
Before you charge next, reset both of your trip recorders and see what the predicted range is then.
Closer to what you expect .

Hi, I only charge to 100% when I have a long journey planned, not had a long journey (and 100% charge) since September, which will be why the difference in range shown is so noticeable. Mileage is not really high, (8100 since sept 2022) just the mainly local stuff. September's full charge gave a range of 308 miles, last weeks 100% charge gave a range of 198 miles, quite a difference!

 

[Bodgerx]

Hi, I only charge to 100% when I have a long journey planned, not had a long journey (and 100% charge) since September, which will be why the difference in range shown is so noticeable. Mileage is not really high, (8100 since sept 2022) just the mainly local stuff. September's full charge gave a range of 308 miles, last weeks 100% charge gave a range of 198 miles, quite a difference!

Neither of those GOM estimates are real.
You’ll have got something else in reality.

Go by the consumption numbers.

 

[apzs]

Our ZS LR Trophy is from July 22 and we have done about 12200 miles. Full charge is showing about 278miles on the GOM. This has dropped from about 330 miles in summer. Thought I know on motorway this car will do on average 220 miles on almost a full charge at 3.5 miles/kWh. Right now short 10 - 15 miles commutes are giving me 3 to 3.5 miles/kWh.

 

[tezzflyer]

Neither of those GOM estimates are real.
You’ll have got something else in reality.

Go by the consumption numbers.

Thanks, I will do that. It still looks like my range has dropped significantly though, consumption has gone from around 3.9 mi/kWh to 2.2 mi/kWh. looks to me like EVs definitely don't like the cold!
This being my first EV, it's difficult to know exactly what to expect, though some of the answers on this thread have been very useful.

 

[Lovemyev]

Okay, so as you have the NMC battery, what is your usual charging level set at ?.
Have you tried resetting both of your trips yet ?.
So, you are a relatively a low / average milage user then.
Historical driving data is stored by the car and is used to predict the range ( after you have charged ) on the GOM.
IF you have not reset your trips for a while, this can influence the predicted figures show, as your range after charging.
Resetting the trips prior to charging should offer a figure that is closer to the ball park figure of the estimated WLTP range of the car.
Remember, the cold weather WILL have a big negative affect on that predicted range though.
To offer you a some type of comparison, we also have a Trophy LR that is about 18 months old and has covered, roughly about 15,000 miles.
Long story short, I have been monitoring my predicted range on car from it's collection date in March 2022.
It has been exclusively charged from our home A/C wall box and has not been subjected to D/C rapid charging.
My charging schedule level, has mainly been set to a 80% SOC and with both trips zero'd before charging.
Charging to above 80% has only happened on a handful of occasions.
I have chosen to adopt this because one it suits our needs perfectly and two it offers a means of consistently plotting the cars charging behaviour set against the predicted range it offers.
So, it has returned a predicted range of between 211 - 212 miles consistently, over that time scale.
However, as the ambient temp has dropped recently to as low as -5 degrees here, the predicted range has reduced it it's estimated value.
Why, simply because the HV battery pack is extremely cold.
Our car sit's on the drive 24 / 7 and is exposed to all of the weather elements, either good or bad.
When I completed a charge to 80% a few days ago ( both trips reset ) it predicted a reduced range of 206 miles.
Therefore, this clearly displays the negative effect that low ambient temperatures has on the HV pack.
"This is nothing to see here folks" and should be expected in bad winter conditions.
ICE cars are affected in a similar fashion, but as they are dragging around a huge back up of fuel / energy reserves in their tanks, nobody is that interested TBH.

 

[Bodgerx]

It's kind of to be expected that we are getting a lot of these "help my range has dropped" posts now it's winter. I think a sticky thread is needed that explains what's going on.

I think the bottomline is that "EVs don't like the cold" doesn't tell the whole story.

ICE cars are less efficient in winter also, but more importantly, they are much less efficient ALL of the year than EVs.

A very good way to show this is that in the winter all of the ICE inefficiency can be put to use as the engine heat is pushed into the cabin to heat it. EVs are so efficient they don't have this option so you have to have a resistance heater or a heat pump to provide the heat. That explains quite a lot of the delta between winter/summer.

The way we need to think about this is that throughout the year it's a net positive for EVs, but you can expect to charge more in winter.

Pre heat the car, use the seat heaters and turn the cabin target temp down. It helps.

MG also need to start fitting heat pumps in all their EVs!

 

[Coulomb]

in the winter all of the ICE inefficiency can be put to use as the engine heat is pushed into the cabin to heat it.

I think if you were to push all the waste heat of an ice engine into the cabin, even on the coldest days you'd be boiling, possibly literally. On the highway, an engine is using some 20 kW of mechanical power to maintain a steady speed, so twice that (assuming about ⅓ efficiency, hence ⅔ waste heat) would be some 40 kW, way too much heat for comfort. Think of an ICE car with a faulty radiator, and all the steam that comes out of that!