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Smart Charger Dumb Car

NeilC

Standard Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2021
Messages
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Location
Essex
Driving
MG ZS EV
I can't seem to make the car stop charging at 80%, the only way I can see how to do this is either physically going to the car to check or looking at the hypervolt app and waiting for the charge to drop, which I presume is around 80%.

Most EV cars, that I have read about, seem to be able to have some control over setting charge limits.

Is my MG dumb or have I missed something?
 
I can't seem to make the car stop charging at 80%, the only way I can see how to do this is either physically going to the car to check or looking at the hypervolt app and waiting for the charge to drop, which I presume is around 80%.

Most EV cars, that I have read about, seem to be able to have some control over setting charge limits.

Is my MG dumb or have I missed something?
Current MGs don't have the ability to stop charge at a defined percentage - I think the new facelift ZS supports this though.
 
Although the car doesn't have the intelligence you seek, there are some fairly effective workarounds.
Charge rate on the Hypervolt is pretty constant so I know that 4 hours on my MG5 represents around 50% capacity. For convenience more than anything else, I charge (using Octopus Go during the cheap 4 hour period) when the car gets down to around 30% so it always finishes around 80% at the end of the charge period.
Crude but repeatable and very effective.
 
Why do you want to only charge to 80%?
Surely the BMS (as designed by the manufacturer) determines the maximum that the battery can safely be charged, which is presumably about 80% of the batteries actual capacity.
Thus trying to limit the charge to 80% of that amount is about 64% of total capacity.
The manufacturer has to warrant the batteries for 7 years so will only allow charging to a level that will support that?
 
Why do you want to only charge to 80%?
Surely the BMS (as designed by the manufacturer) determines the maximum that the battery can safely be charged, which is presumably about 80% of the batteries actual capacity.
Thus trying to limit the charge to 80% of that amount is about 64% of total capacity.
The manufacturer has to warrant the batteries for 7 years so will only allow charging to a level that will support that?
There are numerous threads here (and likely on every other EV forum) debating this. Evidence and information tends to be given supporting each perspective.

Guess we’re all going to know more in 5 years time 🤷‍♂️
 
Why do you want to only charge to 80%?
Surely the BMS (as designed by the manufacturer) determines the maximum that the battery can safely be charged, which is presumably about 80% of the batteries actual capacity.
Thus trying to limit the charge to 80% of that amount is about 64% of total capacity.
The manufacturer has to warrant the batteries for 7 years so will only allow charging to a level that will support that?
I don't think it's something to fret over.
In my case it fits in with my convenience to charge in the way I described so that's what I do.
 
I can't seem to make the car stop charging at 80%, the only way I can see how to do this is either physically going to the car to check or looking at the hypervolt app and waiting for the charge to drop, which I presume is around 80%.

Most EV cars, that I have read about, seem to be able to have some control over setting charge limits.

Is my MG dumb or have I missed something?
Best to time it 22% and hour and 18% in winter. Try that.
 
Best to time it 22% and hour and 18% in winter. Try that.
You are likely to get about roughly 25 miles of extra range into the HV battery, for every hour you are plugged into a 7kw A/C wall box.
You can pretty much judge how long you are required to charge, to hit the 80% mark by doing this.
 
Can smart chargers not detect the level of charge in the car?

When I plug int a rapid it knows, so there is some communication the car gives to some chargers, surely there must be a way for the smart charger to read it and stop at 80%?
 
I don't want to hijack this thread but I have a related question.

I have a ZS EV and a SyncEV charge point. When I schedule charging with the SyncEV, I have the option of 'pulse charging' or 'charging at minimum power' (1.5kW). If I use pulse charging, the car does not start charging at the scheduled time. If I use charging at minimum power, then all works OK but I've been charging at 1.5kW from when I plugged in 'til the scheduled charge time. (The pulse charging works fine for my Leaf even though I don't think it needs it).

In an ideal world, I'd like to be able to schedule charging overnight and have the option to limit to 80%. I can't find any charge schedule or limit options in the MG and the SyncEV will charge at 1.5kW all evening!

Do other charge points have this issue with minimum power/pulse charging whilst waiting for scheduled charge time? OP, does the Hypervolt use minimum or pulse charging?
 
When I plug int a rapid it knows, so there is some communication the car gives to some chargers, surely there must be a way for the smart charger to read it and stop at 80%?
Rapids have a different communication mode than AC "chargers". So no, an AC "charger" can't read the SOC unless it has special facilities, e.g. a WiFi connection to an OVMS or similar (Open Vehicle Monitoring System).
 
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