WAC 768
Established Member
Long story but please read this could be applicable to all MG ZS EV….
Within the first 30 days of ownership my new car, I noticed that at low SOC <25% the power of the car would not go above 30% (+ 2C) when going from 10mph and up a very small incline. I immediately informed my dealer who at the request of MG did a software reload / update. After this, the problem was still present and after a further 3 BMS update (batteries fully balanced) it remained but with varying levels of reduced power, it was getting warmer.…...
By this time, I had owned the car for around 3 months and to support my dealer, I had also raised this to MG UK stating the car was not performing ‘as designed’. Initially, MG UK customer services replied promptly to my emails, but that was only for a short period of time and the more I stated the car was not ‘Fit for purpose’ the communication from them stopped. Eventually though after my dealer had exhausted everything, they could do under the advice of MG UK and asking them to confirm, I finally received this.
“I wanted to touch base with you as I am now aware of the outcome of the technical discussions between the MG technical team and your dealership. The outcome of all testing and discussions is that there are ‘no faults’ and the vehicle is performing as expected. The questions you raised have been answered with the information that we hold and has been verified by our technical team in the process. I am aware that you may be disappointed with the outcome, but I am wanted to write to advise that the request for rejection is not supported by your dealer and MG agree with this.”
Now clearly, MG UK clearly believes that a ‘Fault’ code must be generated if there is something wrong otherwise everything is OK. Having worked in the automation industry for many years I know this is not always the case, and I don’t believe the recent BMS problem shown any fault’s and moreover, it was the reduced range that triggered this update?
MG UK has stated this reduced power output is a “design characteristic” so that you have enough charge to get you to a charging point, but I disagree and here’s why and which I have shared these tests with MG UK but they never responded….
Scenario 1
First battery charge warning appears @ 25% and car is parked overnight within a 5 - 10 miles of this coming on.
Next morning the maximum power the car will provide is between 30 – 60% (Very much outside Temperature dependant) – SOC at charging point 18%
Scenario 2
First battery change warning appears @ 25% after a constant drive of circa 100 mile and driven down even to as low as 8% SOC, 100% power is available.
Now if the power is restricted by design, then clearly, I you would see the same in Scenario 2?
Most of you may never notice this if you charge at home every night or use rapid chargers after a long journey, but for me and like many others I only use public chargers and leave my car overnight on low SOC. It is simply unacceptable of not knowing how much power the car will provide without warning and more importantly very dangerous.
So, to summarise and what I have learned from this is that MG UK don’t really care on what the customer says, and I should have only allowed them to try and fix the car once and rejected it then. On the plus side my dealer has been excellent throughout, but their hands are tied by MG UK.
Hope your cars don’t have the same, but if they do and many of you complain perhaps this will put pressure on MG UK to fix this.
Within the first 30 days of ownership my new car, I noticed that at low SOC <25% the power of the car would not go above 30% (+ 2C) when going from 10mph and up a very small incline. I immediately informed my dealer who at the request of MG did a software reload / update. After this, the problem was still present and after a further 3 BMS update (batteries fully balanced) it remained but with varying levels of reduced power, it was getting warmer.…...
By this time, I had owned the car for around 3 months and to support my dealer, I had also raised this to MG UK stating the car was not performing ‘as designed’. Initially, MG UK customer services replied promptly to my emails, but that was only for a short period of time and the more I stated the car was not ‘Fit for purpose’ the communication from them stopped. Eventually though after my dealer had exhausted everything, they could do under the advice of MG UK and asking them to confirm, I finally received this.
“I wanted to touch base with you as I am now aware of the outcome of the technical discussions between the MG technical team and your dealership. The outcome of all testing and discussions is that there are ‘no faults’ and the vehicle is performing as expected. The questions you raised have been answered with the information that we hold and has been verified by our technical team in the process. I am aware that you may be disappointed with the outcome, but I am wanted to write to advise that the request for rejection is not supported by your dealer and MG agree with this.”
Now clearly, MG UK clearly believes that a ‘Fault’ code must be generated if there is something wrong otherwise everything is OK. Having worked in the automation industry for many years I know this is not always the case, and I don’t believe the recent BMS problem shown any fault’s and moreover, it was the reduced range that triggered this update?
MG UK has stated this reduced power output is a “design characteristic” so that you have enough charge to get you to a charging point, but I disagree and here’s why and which I have shared these tests with MG UK but they never responded….
Scenario 1
First battery charge warning appears @ 25% and car is parked overnight within a 5 - 10 miles of this coming on.
Next morning the maximum power the car will provide is between 30 – 60% (Very much outside Temperature dependant) – SOC at charging point 18%
Scenario 2
First battery change warning appears @ 25% after a constant drive of circa 100 mile and driven down even to as low as 8% SOC, 100% power is available.
Now if the power is restricted by design, then clearly, I you would see the same in Scenario 2?
Most of you may never notice this if you charge at home every night or use rapid chargers after a long journey, but for me and like many others I only use public chargers and leave my car overnight on low SOC. It is simply unacceptable of not knowing how much power the car will provide without warning and more importantly very dangerous.
So, to summarise and what I have learned from this is that MG UK don’t really care on what the customer says, and I should have only allowed them to try and fix the car once and rejected it then. On the plus side my dealer has been excellent throughout, but their hands are tied by MG UK.
Hope your cars don’t have the same, but if they do and many of you complain perhaps this will put pressure on MG UK to fix this.