Which Upgrade would you like next for the ZS EV? In-car time programmable charging?

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KasEV

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When the BMS update was provided by MGa few months back, I was surprised it had no in-car facility. It was however much better than before and hence welcomed by us all as the majority of us had time programmable wall charger units at the time.
Now looking back I do think this has been a bit of a "short changing" on the part of MG. The BMS update should definately have included an in-car timed charging facility.
I find it also very upsetting that MG UK is offering new ZS EV buyers an inclusive deal with pod point when they are fully aware that the pod point wall unit does not have a timed charging programmable function and requires a car with in-car time programmable function (not available in ZS EV) to facilitate delayed / timed charging.
I think it is time for MG to sort this out now.
It just makes the ZS EV feel really sub standard despite its many good features and demonstrates an attitude of not doing their best for customers.
We all seem to have forgiven MG for initially selling us a car that could not do the most basic function all electric cars should be able to perform till the BMS update but I think we should now be pressing harder that the BMS update and delayed charging function as we have it now is not good enough.
What do You Think..??
Or should we now start a campaign to force MG to look into making a connectivity module available in the UK/EU MG ZS EVs?
Somehow I think an in-car software for delayed/timed charging is what is needed.
What’s s your opinion?????
 
For clarity, Rolec wall boxes are included in the current dear, so there is some app-based timer support.
 
Depends on your circumstances.
If you are on variable night time tariff electricity then timed charging is useful as it saves having to go out to the car and plug it in before going to bed.
If you are on a fixed tariff you can just plug it in at any time so timed charging is not really necessary.
More useful function updates to me would include one touch windows all round and automatic climate control. A longer range would be nice further down the line as an option of a larger capacity HV battery swap.
 
@Kithmo
You are right but try selling a ZS EV come next year and you will definitely be asked why has it not got in-car charging software. As for the tariff issue I am on Octopus Go so I need the night charging facility. I can do that now with the granny cable and a wall socket timer but then I am able to load only 2.7kW per hour instead of 6.6kWper hour on a standard Wall EV charger.
My daily use is about 10kWh per day.
@DaveG
You are most welcome to this forum. I hope your new EV is a MG ZS EV.
Ohme is good. There shouldn't be any problems. If you have any issues read the threads on charging and post a new thread and all the members will contribute to resolve your issue.
 
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Skippy said:
In no particular order:
Onboard timer charge/cut-off might be nice.
More consistent setup for MG Pilot/aids.
Regen when using ACC/Pilot.
Close all windows on remote.
Click to expand...
Yes global opening and closing of the windows certainly comes in handy in this hot weather.
 
Heated seats that you can control and not burn your b—.
 
Having now had my ZS EV for 9 months the thing I really think is essential is for vehicle timed charging. It's an absolute pain to lock the car and start the charging immediately, before retiring for the night. My 5p/Kwh tariff with Octopus doesn't start until 00.30.
I believe EVs which have had an update now display outside temperature on the dashboard. For me this is a must have for the Winter months.
 
Yes there is room for improvement and I hope that the on board tech hardware in the ZS EV is good enough to allow all these improvements to be made by simple software updates.
It however seems most of the issues raised if not all of them affect the EU/UK ZS EV mainly because the Chinese are not allowed to fit connectivity modules in the UK / European ZS EVs.
I am sure controlled electric seat heating and in-car timed charging software can however be done without need for a connectivity module and so those may be considered in the next update.
There is also a rumour that the ACC regen issue will be sorted by an update before the end of the year. This is just a rumour I do not know if it is true but apparently some European reviewers have said that is the case.
Does any of you know how well ACC regen works in Tesla?
 
I would like to have a setting that really switches off MG Pilot and does not keep switching it on a every start.
Close or open all windows on remote.
 
We now have two electric cars; the MG and a new Kia e-Niro. The Kia does have car-based timed charging, but it's of no use to me, as I have Agile Octopus tarriff (by far the best EV tarriff in the UK at present) which needs specific intellegence in the charger to pick up the half-hour pricing exposed in the Octopus cloud API. Our two Ohme chargers integrate perfectly with Agile Octopus, so the car has nothing to do with the charging schedule. When I visit family members and charge there, I use the granny charger, which needs all the time it can get, so will always be started immediately on plug-in. Therefore, I think there are other features I'd want to see on the MG first, before in-car timed charging. Regen on ACC is the biggie, followed by MUCH faster responsiveness on the heater screen and the infotainment system in general. Starting the navigation at startup, also (EVERY other car does this!!). Accuracy in the speed detection features (for intellegent speed assist) is also necessary for these features to be useful. Better reliability in Android Auto connection is next on the list.

Now that I have another electric car to compare the MG with, the shortcomings in the overall quality of the software is becoming apparent. The "bongs" so dominated our experience of the car software that these other shortcomings were pushed to the background 'till we got the comfort2 upgrade. Now they've gone and the car is much more "normal" to live with, these other issues are coming to the fore. The single biggest difference I noticed straight away between the MG and the Kia was the big difference in quality and feel (of the software). The Kia functions work much better - eg. the speed detection makes the right call between 60mph A-roads and 70mph dual carrigeways/motorways. The AndroidAuto and bluetooth phone integration work flawlessley every time. The touch screen is instantly responsive and solid. The heater controls are instantly visible. The list goes on....

So basically what I'm asking for is a full quality overhaul of the software in the MG, to bring it up to western standards. Right now I'm afraid it does look just like "cheap chinese" once you compare it to the competition.

Please don't get me wrong - I LOVE our MG - it has real character, compared with the cold impersonal efficiency of the Kia, but if they are to keep selling cars as the EV market fattens out over the year, MG will need to greatly improve the quality of their software.
 
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I think the biggest blocker to change with the headunit is its processing power and ram. From videos it doesn't seem to have enough to multitask and reminds me of running Android Auto via a Fire HD 7" tablet when I had my Leaf. It worked, but boy was it a slow experience to load up Google Maps, put in directions, etc. While MG can do tweaks like they have with Comfort 2. They will / already have come up against the limitations of the underpowered headunit they have in the car, I wouldn't be surprised if the Thai, China and India models that have the app have a higher powered headunit in their setup.

Coming from a Soul, I appreacite the simplicity and get it done nature of Kia/Hyundai's infotainment system. It's not showy but gets the job done well and in 2 years of ownership never glitched on me.
 
shikoku14 said:
I think the biggest blocker to change with the headunit is its processing power and ram. From videos it doesn't seem to have enough to multitask and reminds me of running Android Auto via a Fire HD 7" tablet when I had my Leaf. It worked, but boy was it a slow experience to load up Google Maps, put in directions, etc. While MG can do tweaks like they have with Comfort 2. They will / already have come up against the limitations of the underpowered headunit they have in the car, I wouldn't be surprised if the Thai, China and India models that have the app have a higher powered headunit in their setup.

Coming from a Soul, I appreacite the simplicity and get it done nature of Kia/Hyundai's infotainment system. It's not showy but gets the job done well and in 2 years of ownership never glitched on me.
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Thanks for your interesting reply - good to see that my Kia experience is not unique :) - We've lamented on this site many times the lack of app (GPRS head unit) and railed at MG for short-changing the UK market. A hardware upgrade (even paid-for) would be very welcome for many of us MG owners - I for one would be happy to pay a bit more to get proper modern EV ownership experience (my Kia has the app - 2020 model - and it's incredibly useful!).

Come on MG, you have real competition now, so time to step up....
 
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