In truth, the Gen 1 ZS charger is not "designed to cope", but is in point of fact not designed to cope with the needs of NMC based Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) to set a daily limit SOC. With Gen 1 ZS, owners need to manage the maximum State of Charge for themselves. I would regularly estimate what 80% of the seasonally adjusted full charge should be mileage and unless I had a road trip that required the car's maximum range or I wished to force the monthly maintenance Balance/Equalisation Charge I would limit the charge time for a <80% SOC (assuming 25 miles per hour of charge time). As a rule of thumb, I'd assumed in Summer Full (100%) charge to be 163 miles and in Winter 130 miles. Therefore in Summer, I'd aim in the morning to see 130 miles and in Winter 112 miles after 2 to 3 hours at 7 kW.
Of course, if you need the full range the following day or you are plugged into a destination charger by all means charge to 100% and then use the car, but for the sake of battery health, with an NMC battery don't charge to 100% every day and then leave the car parked up. Doing so accelerates the degradation of the battery. I followed my own advice and had no noticeable range reduction or battery performance in over 3 years.
The exception to this is if you have an LFP battery chemistry which is quite different to NMC Chemistry and is definitely designed for 100% Daily Charge. This battery chemistry is in the Standard Range ZS Facelift and MG4 SR which have 51 kWh LFP. In fact, on the charge management screen, it isn't possible to set an 80% charge limit. It is also beneficial for the Battery Management System (BMS) to see a 100% charge to ensure correct calibration of the SOC calculation and therefore the available Range.
