Very poor range

[Mazzyh]

I've read most of the posts that I can find on the forum but nothing seems to be this bad! The monthly snapshot range post is very helpful but currently looks like very wishful thinking for my recently purchased MG5 LR pre facelift 72 plate.

After a full recharge on the Granny charger, it has achieved 115 miles at 75% battery usage! The last 25% shows 41 miles in eco mode.

That's worse than my old ZS!

For those who have more experience with this car and also with the quirks of batteries, I have some questions.

This car was accident damaged and I've repaired it (see other posts) so it may well have been sitting around for ages, possibly 2 months or more. When I saw it for the first time, the battery was at 5% but I've no idea how long it was like that. It also was cold <9'C for some of that period, possibly with some minus temps in there too. I asked them to charge it to make sure it took charge, which it did and was delivered to me with 70% battery. I didn't drain it but charged it to 100% whilst I rebuilt it over a week.

So could this be because it has not been emptied and then had the Granny equalisation charge?

Admittedly we are driving it with heating and aircon on because it was pretty damp when I got it.

My intention is to get it to 6% or less and then do the full 24 hour charge on the Granny. I may also disconnect the 12v battery as someone suggested elsewhere.

What software do people use to read the obd2 port? I have a Bluetooth dongle.

Currently I'm pretty concerned that the battery is in some way damaged. When fully charged in standard mode it estimates the range at 221 miles.

Advice and help would be great. Thank you.

 

[Gomev]

I've read most of the posts that I can find on the forum but nothing seems to be this bad! The monthly snapshot range post is very helpful but currently looks like very wishful thinking for my recently purchased MG5 LR pre facelift 72 plate.

After a full recharge on the Granny charger, it has achieved 115 miles at 75% battery usage! The last 25% shows 41 miles in eco mode.

That's worse than my old ZS!

For those who have more experience with this car and also with the quirks of batteries, I have some questions.

This car was accident damaged and I've repaired it (see other posts) so it may well have been sitting around for ages, possibly 2 months or more. When I saw it for the first time, the battery was at 5% but I've no idea how long it was like that. It also was cold <9'C for some of that period, possibly with some minus temps in there too. I asked them to charge it to make sure it took charge, which it did and was delivered to me with 70% battery. I didn't drain it but charged it to 100% whilst I rebuilt it over a week.

So could this be because it has not been emptied and then had the Granny equalisation charge?

Admittedly we are driving it with heating and aircon on because it was pretty damp when I got it.

My intention is to get it to 6% or less and then do the full 24 hour charge on the Granny. I may also disconnect the 12v battery as someone suggested elsewhere.

What software do people use to read the obd2 port? I have a Bluetooth dongle.

Currently I'm pretty concerned that the battery is in some way damaged. When fully charged in standard mode it estimates the range at 221 miles.

Advice and help would be great. Thank you.

re OBD dongle software, most use CarScanner. Free version is good, only a small price to upgrade to Pro.

 

[Mazzyh]

Thanks. That's helpful. I'll have a go.

 

[Alb]

+1 for Car Scanner.
It will give you the info you need on cell voltages.

 

[Mazzyh]

Thanks. This will be interesting. I've downloaded the app. I'll report later. Can't do it now as I'm off to work.

 

[Dino]

Basic questions first: what does it read when fully charged in Eco mode with the aircon/heating off? Have the trip computers been reset?
221 miles in normal mode doesn’t sound bad to me in winter. Especially if the heating is on.
I do lots of short runs, always have the heating and aircon on and have a heavy right foot. Based on my previous driving I’m lucky to get 180 miles from a full charge at this time of year. In summer it’s back closer to 240, and if I reset the trip computers it shows the expected 250 mile range in Eco with everything switched off.

 

[5teep]

I've read most of the posts that I can find on the forum but nothing seems to be this bad! The monthly snapshot range post is very helpful but currently looks like very wishful thinking for my recently purchased MG5 LR pre facelift 72 plate.

After a full recharge on the Granny charger, it has achieved 115 miles at 75% battery usage! The last 25% shows 41 miles in eco mode.

That's worse than my old ZS!

For those who have more experience with this car and also with the quirks of batteries, I have some questions.

This car was accident damaged and I've repaired it (see other posts) so it may well have been sitting around for ages, possibly 2 months or more. When I saw it for the first time, the battery was at 5% but I've no idea how long it was like that. It also was cold <9'C for some of that period, possibly with some minus temps in there too. I asked them to charge it to make sure it took charge, which it did and was delivered to me with 70% battery. I didn't drain it but charged it to 100% whilst I rebuilt it over a week.

So could this be because it has not been emptied and then had the Granny equalisation charge?

Admittedly we are driving it with heating and aircon on because it was pretty damp when I got it.

My intention is to get it to 6% or less and then do the full 24 hour charge on the Granny. I may also disconnect the 12v battery as someone suggested elsewhere.

What software do people use to read the obd2 port? I have a Bluetooth dongle.

Currently I'm pretty concerned that the battery is in some way damaged. When fully charged in standard mode it estimates the range at 221 miles.

Advice and help would be great. Thank you.

I had the same model for a couple of years, winter mileage was always awful. When the temp dropped near zero I would get about 140 miles. I also drove the SR version for a couple of years, it was about the same in winter, though the LR is better in warm weather.

Obd info is not great because the car doesn't provide as much info as some others. Don't leave the dongle in it as it sets off the alarm.

Re balance charging, just plug it into AC when you need to, the car will balance charge when it needs to.

 

[Mazzyh]

That's really helpful. Thank you both of you.

So it looks like I'm getting worried over nothing. In terms of the mileage, with nothing turned on and in eco mode it says 234 miles. I had assumed it might show more than that. My wife is driving it more than I am and I'm pretty sure she's leaving the heating on even if she's not got the AC on.

We should end up with about 150 miles in total I think by the time it reaches empty or about 5%.

My ZS which I bought you in early 2020, was quite disappointing in that it rarely ever reached anywhere near 150 miles. So much so, that we did a long journey and planned the stop-off points to recharge with 25% battery left, however, it never made it with 25%. Then we hit the motorway services with about 10% left only to find that the chargers were broken! We set off down the motorway again to get to the next services and the the range was 30 miles and the services were 29. I was slip streaming lorries trying to eek out as much as I could and as we approached the slip road to the services, it died completely. Fortunately the slip road was down hill and it put enough into it to crawl at 5mph to the one charger that was working. There were so few around 6 years ago and it gave me range concern from that point on, which is why I sold it and said I'd never do it again.

But I have and I'm glad I have because it's a nice car and supposedly the range is much better than the original ZS.

Thanks again. I'll see what I get from the readings later.

 

[Dino]

I’ve had both the SR and LR, the SR didn’t drop as much range in the winter but had a smaller range to begin with. I was surprised the LR only gives about the same winter range as the SR. But come the summer months and the LR fares much better. In my current LR I get around 2.5-2.9 miles per kwh over winter, in summer it’s closer to 5 miles per kWh

 

[Mazzyh]

Thanks. That ties in with mine. I'm getting 2.4 to 3.4 at the moment. I was surprised by that but it's great to know I'm not alone!

I'm just hoping leaving the car uncharged with only about 5% for a few months hasn't done any lasting damage. I should have added that the car has done 55k miles. No idea how it was charged before but as it didn't come with a Granny, I'm hoping it was home charged more often than DC charged and because it was in an accident, they didn't hand over the charger (or the spare key or the roller cover for the boot).

 

[DBedford]

...... Don't leave the dongle in it as it sets off the alarm.

Had our OBD2 dongle left plugged in for over two years, never been an issue with the alarm in our MG ZS TLR.

 

[5teep]

Had our OBD2 dongle left plugged in for over two years, never been an issue with the alarm in our MG ZS TLR.

Yeah, that's because it's not an mg5.

 

[Mazzyh]

Hmmm. I was wrong. Just fully charged it from 5% and left it for 36 hours. It's not good. In eco with nothing turned on, it's only 196 miles. That was a surprise because the first time I charged it, it was 200 odd, from memory about 233.

So perhaps I do need to disconnect the battery because this may be the consequences of very short journeys with all the heating on and it's basing it on previous performance.

You can also see how many miles the last full charge gave me and it's pitiful. 133!

Bit disappointed.

 

[Fokmg]

Hi
It does seem a bit on the low side. What mode are you using E N or S?
If possible I would try a few charges where you go down to 20% and charge to 80%, after repeating this cycle 2 or 3 times I would then charge it to 100% plus extra time for regen cycle. Make sure you use the car as soon as you can once it is at 100%. If you can try and keep the discharge recharge window between 20% and 80 % rather than 5% - 100% you may well see an improvement.
This time of year I would expect to see 2.8 -3.4 mile/kw
Cheers
Brian

 

[jackois]

Hmmm. I was wrong. Just fully charged it from 5% and left it for 36 hours. It's not good. In eco with nothing turned on, it's only 196 miles. That was a surprise because the first time I charged it, it was 200 odd, from memory about 233.

So perhaps I do need to disconnect the battery because this may be the consequences of very short journeys with all the heating on and it's basing it on previous performance.

You can also see how many miles the last full charge gave me and it's pitiful. 133!

Bit disappointed.

View attachment 43258

Now try re-setting that trip and see what you get... as mentioned before, the 'guessometer' calculates using previous journeys and will give the standard 235miles with it set to zero.

A better way of looking at your real world range is how far you'll get before you need to charge again. I have the same model as you ans my calculations on a journey aim to set off with 100% battery and stop after 2 hours at motorway speeds... it averages out at about 30% left and I recharge to 80% while I have a coffee, then off for the next 2 hours where I'll do a charge for 'running around' miles while visiting... same for the return journey.

 

[Dino]

Reset the accumulated trip log by scrolling with the arrows on the right side of the steering wheel and long pressing the ok button. Will then show the full range

 

[Mazzyh]

Thanks all.

Dino - perfect answer. Did as you said. What a difference!

 

[Dino]

Glad it worked, enjoy the car!

 

[Mazzyh]

What mode are you using E N or S?

Mostly E, very rarely N (although my wife tends to forget to switch) and never S

If you can try and keep the discharge recharge window between 20% and 80 %

Really useful tip. I only took it down to 5% to try to force the battery balancing but I'll try to do so my charging in that window.

it averages out at about 30% left and I recharge to 80% while I have a coffee, then off for the next 2 hours

Yes, I did a very similar thing with the ZS, particularly after I ran out of juice for to broken chargers at motorway services! Again, good tip.

Thanks all.

 

[MickeySw]

You can also see how many miles the last full charge gave me and it's pitiful. 133!

Future range is calculated using the current capacity (SoC x SoH) and rolling average of (past) consumption.

Battery capacity looks OK, therefore the cause of dismal range seems to be efficiency (which does go down a bit in winter).

What was your accumulated miles/kwh before you reset trip? Your example of 133 miles @ 100% SoC, (@ 98% SoH) would suggest around 2.4 miles/kWh?

That’s not great, but as you mentioned, could be explained by frequent, very short trips with heating on full blast…