Range decrease due to cold weather [merged thread]

[carl]

Hi all.
Ive had my Mg4 long range trophy for 3 months, its advertised at 281 miles withnits 64kw battery.
When fully charged it used to show 276 miles of range, the last few charges it is only showing around 196 to 210 miles.

What has gone wrong?, its only 3 months old?, could it be an issue with the battery?, someone said it could need updating?.

Any help appreciated.
Cheers

 

[johnb80]

You maybe need to balance the batteries on a slower charger if youve been using rapid chargers. The range is calculated based on your previous driving too, if youve been enjoying yourself your range will be reduced.

 

[siteguru]

Why do we keep getting questions like this in this board?

This board is only for questions about upgrades that you desire to make to your car. (e.g. add a dashcam; add black MG badge; add style trims; add seat covers). It's not for generic questions re. software upgrades etc. - they go into the main MG4 board.

Edit: the thread has been moved.

 

[Jomarkh]

Hi all.
Ive had my Mg4 long range trophy for 3 months, its advertised at 281 miles withnits 64kw battery.
When fully charged it used to show 276 miles of range, the last few charges it is only showing around 196 to 210 miles.

What has gone wrong?, its only 3 months old?, could it be an issue with the battery?, someone said it could need updating?.

Any help appreciated.
Cheers

Hi, try resetting your trip counters and turn AC and fan off and try in eco mode.
To battery balance you need to use a type2 7kW EVSE unit or the 'granny',

 

[DBedford]

Why do we keep getting questions like this in this board?

Maybe a little less aggression!

 

[siteguru]

Maybe a little more thought before posting?

 

[Diggsy]

It could be simply down to driving style. If you’re driving it like an ice car - always either booting it, or driving constantly on motorways at 70/75, then your range will be nowhere near what the quoted range is.

 

[tsedge]

Hi all.
Ive had my Mg4 long range trophy for 3 months, its advertised at 281 miles withnits 64kw battery.
When fully charged it used to show 276 miles of range, the last few charges it is only showing around 196 to 210 miles.

What has gone wrong?, its only 3 months old?, could it be an issue with the battery?, someone said it could need updating?.

Any help appreciated.
Cheers

The range estimate is a kind of guess (slang term is GOM for Guessometer).

It tries to predict your range in miles based on your recent driving style, conditions, terrain etc... It does not measure your battery, that is shown separately as your charge percentage.

When the car is new it just shows the official range, which is unrealistically high unless you drive like a monk smoking a spliff who has taken the vows of chilling.

Most people get something below the official/original figure. I get about 225-230 miles out of my Trophy but I drive it hard and keep the AC on and don't use Eco mode.

Biggest thing that leads to range reduction is motorways, try driving 5-10mph slower and you'll see a big difference.

In winter, the range will decrease by about 30% due to the lower temperatures affecting the battery. It will recover when the weather warms up.

 

[Rolfe]

Someone mentioned balance charges. I know this is an issue with the SR, for sure. Don't let it balance its little cells on a frequent basis and the GOM will start lying like a trooper - one scary scenario being that the apparent range will drop like a stone not long before the battery goes dead, as the algorithms detect the rapid fall-off as it empties and hurriedly recalibrate. Which can be a bit deadly if you've just missed your turn-off on a motorway, ask "Mr EV".

The LR battery doesn't need to be balanced so often and I'd be surprised if lack of attention to this led to what the OP is seeing after only three months. Nevertheless it's something to bear in mind over the longer term.

 

[Kithmo]

The Trophy's WLTP range is 270 miles, the SE LR gets 280 miles.
The real world range is around 250 miles.
Drive steady with no heating or AC on and you'll achieve the WLTP (or better).
Put the heater or AC on and drive fast (motorway) and you'll get nearer 200 miles.
I factor in a 25-30% loss in range in winter due to the cold weather so 180-200 miles expected.
Edit: I'm actually getting nearer 130-150 miles in this cold weather, a bit disappointing TBH.

 

[bowfer]

The trouble with asking about range is you always get some numpty comes along with a ridiculous claim.
Literally just one on the Cupra forum telling a prospective owner he gets 306 miles from 58KW in the summer and 280 in the winter…
What is that going to do but generate disappointment for others?
I used to tell prospective owners to bank on 3.5 miles per kWh, I’ve now stretched that to 4 as efficiency has improved.

 

[Rolfe]

I must be a terrible person. I'd still go with 3.5. I feel very virtuous if I get 4.

I'm seeing 219 miles estimate at the moment, but then I have been pootling round the lanes this week. It was a rather different story when I set the ACC to 80 on the M6.

 

[Pat]

8 months in with Trophy - I get 3.5-3.7 m/kWh driving Wrexham -> Widnes (A483 Dual carriageway, A55 Dual Carriageway, M53 Dual Carriageway (yes, I know, it has a hard shoulder so is technically a motorway), M56 Motorway, Dual Carriageway over New Silver Jubilee Bridge into Widnes and then back again - 64 miles distance. I can comfortably do that using 32% battery (and not driving like a chilled monk being chilled by a spliff!).

The only time I have ever worried about range is going from Wrexham -> Cardiff (280 return). I started at 100% and stopped in Cardiff at just about 40%. I charged back to 76% before heading back and arrived at 17%.

I don't understand the fixation on 'range in miles'. Your range in miles will be different from mine and everybody else on this forum.

My wife driving around town can get 4.5+ m/kWh. I never worry about range - just about charge %.

Think of it another way - an ICE car is advertised as giving '60+MPG'. Do you believe most average people get that amount of range? My wife's car has an 8-gallon fuel tank so she will always go 480 miles on a full tank. No one does that maths in an ICE car - they use the fuel gauge. With an EV you just have to have a little think before setting off on a journey that may involve a supplementary charge and use the battery % as a guide to where you will be if you need that supplementary recharge.

 

[Torryhun]

Well what's all this about? never seen this before

 

[Rolfe]

Looks like you have travelled a mile and a half slowly downhill.

 

[Rolfe]

8 months in with Trophy - I get 3.5-3.7 m/kWh driving Wrexham -> Widnes (A483 Dual carriageway, A55 Dual Carriageway, M53 Dual Carriageway (yes, I know, it has a hard shoulder so is technically a motorway), M56 Motorway, Dual Carriageway over New Silver Jubilee Bridge into Widnes and then back again - 64 miles distance. I can comfortably do that using 32% battery (and not driving like a chilled monk being chilled by a spliff!).

The only time I have ever worried about range is going from Wrexham -> Cardiff (280 return). I started at 100% and stopped in Cardiff at just about 40%. I charged back to 76% before heading back and arrived at 17%.

I don't understand the fixation on 'range in miles'. Your range in miles will be different from mine and everybody else on this forum.

My wife driving around town can get 4.5+ m/kWh. I never worry about range - just about charge %.

Think of it another way - an ICE car is advertised as giving '60+MPG'. Do you believe most average people get that amount of range? My wife's car has an 8-gallon fuel tank so she will always go 480 miles on a full tank. No one does that maths in an ICE car - they use the fuel gauge. With an EV you just have to have a little think before setting off on a journey that may involve a supplementary charge and use the battery % as a guide to where you will be if you need that supplementary recharge.

My ICE car had a GOM. I watched it a lot. It lied to me much more brazenly than the MG4s does. It was almost always wildly out when the tank was full, usually estimating far too much range. Sometimes over 500 miles in a car that usually did about 400 on a tank of petrol, and only a couple of times in its life managed 450. As the tank emptied the estimate got better, but even in the last 30-40 miles, after its "get petrol" warning light had come on, it could be all over the place. About the only thing I could rely on was that if I drove without flooring it, I could get another 20 miles after it said there was no range left.

But nobody talks about the GOM in their ice car. Nobody frets about how far they can go on a tank full of petrol, which is merely a function of the size of the tank and the MPG they're getting. I used to watch the MPG in my ICE car as well, but the GOM was more useful when I needed to know how soon I had to stop for petrol.

I don't quite know why we treat EVs differently. What's your average miles/KWh is a lot more relevant. Nobody is going to drive their battery down to zero anyway. Not even me, who used to run into the petrol station on fumes quite regularly.

 

[Ian Key]

Well what's all this about? never seen this before View attachment 19846

Looks like the GOM has been reset at the top of a hill and then driven down it.

 

[tsedge]

I don't quite know why we treat EVs differently. What's your average miles/KWh is a lot more relevant. Nobody is going to drive their battery down to zero anyway. Not even me, who used to run into the petrol station on fumes quite regularly.

Because... lightning witchcraft contraption bad and scary!

 

[Torryhun]

Looks like you have travelled a mile and a half slowly downhill.

At one point it was up over 20

 

[Kithmo]

The last Prius I had was NEDC rated at 94 mpg, my real world mpg in every day use was 55.
When they changed over to WLTP ratings it was rated at 58 mpg a more realistic figure.
I take the m/kWh on the 4 with a pinch of salt. According to mine I normally get around 4.5m/kWh on my daily trips with no AC or heat and 2.9 with heater or AC on.