What charging stations can I use?

[scimitarjohn]

I've just bought an MG5 long range, love this car to bits, quite probably the nicest car I've ever owned, and I've owned quite a few. I'm retired and use the car only for short journeys so find the supplied lead into an 13A outside socket quite adequate. However we've just done out first journey of any distance from our home in Kent to visit our daughter in Leeds. I suppose that in theory this is possible? range of car 250m, journey 240m (as it turned out I managed 222m on 100% of charge) so we stopped at Cambridge services for a bite to eat and a top up charge. Jeez how many different charge connectors, charge rates and suppliers can you get! I'm confused what the heck can I use with this car? I found one point, on the side of a grid serve station, that was type2 22kW, knowing this is OK that's what I used. So my question (after all this) is what other chargers, slow/fast/rapid, can I use?

 

[jackois]

Welcome to the forum.

You can use pretty much all of them. Most will have the CCS plug that fits the front of the car, but lower rate chargers may be untethered so you'll need an aftermarket cable if you didn't get one form the dealer.

Your journey had excellent fuel efficiency... I've never got mine down below 15% before bottling it and stopping for a top up.

The main thing to remember about chargers is that the bigger the number, generally the quicker the charge (generally higher price also) and that once you reach around 80% the car reduces the charging rate to protect the battery and, I think, most of us treminate at that point unless we desperately need the extra charge.

Planning is generally the key on a long trip, I generally stop half way-ish for refreshment and bladded releif, and always have a list of nearby chargers to where you want to charge, in case your pick has gone faulty.

If you look around the forum, there are threads on which cards are advatageous to have, but mostly a contactless banking card will do the trick.

Here's to much more happy motoring...

 

[Jomarkh]

The main things that kill the battery are the cold and speed.
Where you plug in the type2 cable there is a smaller bung that you will need to remove for using a CCS DC rapid charger.
These will add enongh power to get you to 80% in 30/40 minutes.

 

[BarryH]

If you have been charging at home on the slow charging adapter which came with the car and has a 3 Pin plug at one end and a D-shaped "Type 2" plug at the other you will have been using only the top portion of the charging socket on your car. Your dealer should have explained this to you especially as this is your first EV, but when you are on a trip and need to "Rapidly" charge the car you will need to use a DC Rapid Charger. These have the large CCS which stands for "Combined Charging System" and has a "D" shaped top section and is "combined" with a 2-pin figure 8 (DC) part beneath. To use this cable and plug you will usually have to remove the rubber bung beneath the D-shaped socket on your car before you can firmly insert the large plug.

Top Tip: Since your MG5 like the ZS has its charging socket at the front, and the large Rapid Charger Cables are quite stiff, you may find if you don't drive the car fully into the charging bay it will be easier to manhandle the cable into the socket.

 

[scimitarjohn]

Many thanks for your replies, makes things a lot clearer and gives a lot more options for charging in future. Love the car but the dealer?.. but then found that with just about every car we've ever bought!

 

[Gomev]

Many thanks for your replies, makes things a lot clearer and gives a lot more options for charging in future. Love the car but the dealer?.. but then found that with just about every car we've ever bought!

Maybe if there is someone local with a 5 you could meet up for a coffee and swap notes.