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Yes! There is an App for managing the MG ZS EV

I’ve seen a couple of threads asking for details of Apps to access and control the MG ZS EV and others (Mike being one) mentioning a thing called OVMS. So I thought it worth providing consolidated view of the app which is provided by the Open Vehicle Monitoring System (OVMS).

OVMS is an initiative to provide EV users (not just ZS EV but loads of EV’s) the ability to monitor and if possible control aspects of your EV to enhance the overall experience. For more information on the initiative see Users | Open Vehicles and for a full list of EV’s supported have a look here Open Vehicles Monitoring System — Open Vehicles documentation)

What is it and what can it do?

OVMS is a WIFI/3g enabled box which pugs into the cars diagnostic port. When connected to the OMVS app (available for iOS and Android) it can display (and in some case control) a number of functions in the car. It’s not yet a commercial consumer product (ie you can’t buy it from Halfords with full support and return for refund if you don’t like it), as it’s continually being developed and enhanced, however it is good enough for the majority of people.

As it stands it can do a number of things for us ZS EV owners including: displaying the state of charge of the car; range available; temperature of car; GPS location; and others are coming. The developers are also looking to develop new functions including pre-heating the car!!! Full details of what it can do are listed here MG EV — Open Vehicles documentation

Where can I get it

It’s available online for just under £200 (although there’s a 15% off code T177X2CSZ82 it closer to £160 if you order by 1st if December). Before you take the plunge have a good read of the user guide (Installation — Open Vehicles documentation) so your comfortable with what’s involved in getting it going and if after that you decide to go ahead make sure you purchase the Right hand OBDII Cable for a right hand drive car or the Left hand OBDII cable for left hand drive cars.

Open Vehicle Monitoring System (OVMS) WiFi/3G Europe (SIM & ANT included)

What does this mean for me?

Up front I’d like to make clear I don’t have anything to do with OVMS. I’m like you, I’ve bought an MG ZS EV and really want an app to allow me to monitor and (ideally) control some aspects of the car (pre-heating would be near the top of my list). As far as I am aware OVMS is really the only option.

As such I wondered if we as a group would be interested in contributing to OMVS to help drive forward the development of more functions for the ZS EV? I don’t know what contributing would mean (dare I say “crowd funding”) so I’ve reached out to the developers to see if they’d be interested in the support of ZS EV owners and am awaiting their response.
 
 
Then you Red it wrong.
They are hoping it. But for boek tgry are clueless how to send commands and give the car tasks.
The need the software from the Asian market to see hoe the system works and then figure out and hoping that they van duplicate that for OVMS.

Now you only have a expensive tool to Read out some values.
 
Hi Pete & Mike,

Thanks for the links and the summary. I ordered my EV a few weeks ago. This thread has given me a lot to be excited about for when I take delivery.

Another link that might be useful is the discussion forum for hacking the ZS EV, and it appears that the ZS EV OVMS contributors discuss there.
My MGZSEV

Also was able to find the unit on sale on this site.
I paid $166USD w/ free shipping to Australia for the version with the modem, and the ovms, gps, and gsm cables.

It wont be everyone's cup of tea, but like the idea of listening to events from the car, particularly around charging state and writing javascript to handle and respond to these events.

As such I wondered if we as a group would be interested in contributing to OMVS to help drive forward the development of more functions for the ZS EV? I don’t know what contributing would mean (dare I say “crowd funding”) so I’ve reached out to the developers to see if they’d be interested in the support of ZS EV owners and am awaiting their response.
@AussiePete Contributing usually implies writing code, but there are other ways to contribute. It can simply mean testing the device out, contributing feedback, updating documentation and helping out in the forums as well. I'm sure many projects can benefit from crowd funding too but they may not be setup to do so. That said, they may need $$$ to buy an asian edition of the ZS EV so they can reverse engineer the app :).... or potentially hire an experienced engineer. See what they say
 
@AussiePete Contributing usually implies writing code, but there are other ways to contribute. It can simply mean testing the device out, contributing feedback, updating documentation and helping out in the forums as well. I'm sure many projects can benefit from crowd funding too but they may not be setup to do so. That said, they may need $$$ to buy an asian edition of the ZS EV so they can reverse engineer the app :).... or potentially hire an experienced engineer. See what they say
The guys have started a Gofundme page to try and get some cash to support development. Worth considering if you’re up for supporting financially

 
As a person who struggles to log onto Zoom......I think technology like this is best left to car manufactures.

I've never been a fan of crowd funding, in my experiences they are usually associated with 'lost causes'.

Just my opinion of course.
 
As a person who struggles to log onto Zoom......I think technology like this is best left to car manufactures.

I've never been a fan of crowd funding, in my experiences they are usually associated with 'lost causes'.

Just my opinion of course.
There is a lot of sense in your comments - as always.
As someone who loves technology, I do like to see developers pioneering new initiatives though.

To be an early adopter of this type of initiative you need to be really into not only the benefits but to support the further development too.

As with many of these apps the future challenges will be around cost of hardware, connectivity and data costs, management of back-end servers, customer acceptance and research, testing, GDPR, resilience, continuity of service, vehicle safety, manufacturer acceptance etc.

If an app was developed that could both read data and execute car commands remotely, users would then expect full support in the event of its failure or malfunction and become quite reliant on getting continuity of service.

It is great to keep adding additional functionality but It can quite quickly turn into a nightmare if not fully thought through. Look at the home charger suppliers and the challenges they face every day from customers.

Vehicle safety is also a major consideration when looking to execute commands. And let’s not forget that MG would be sure to blame any software issues on the app and make an already challenging relationship even more so.

for me the ultimate end-game for this type of development is to get to the stage where the manufacturer buys into it for use with their vehicles. Has anyone thought about approaching MG to see if they’re interested?

Let’s face it MG should have a universally avaiable app for their cars and it’s very poor that they don’t produce one.
 
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There is a lot of sense in your comments - as always.
As someone who loves technology, I do like to see developers pioneering new initiatives though.

To be an early adopter of this type of initiative you need to be really into not only the benefits but to support the further development too.

As with many of these apps the future challenges will be around cost of hardware, connectivity and data costs, management of back-end servers, customer acceptance and research, testing, GDPR, resilience, continuity of service, vehicle safety, manufacturer acceptance etc.

If an app was developed that could both read data and execute car commands remotely, users would then expect full support in the event of its failure or malfunction and become quite reliant on getting continuity of service.

It is great to keep adding additional functionality but It can quite quickly turn into a nightmare if not fully thought through. Look at the home charger suppliers and the challenges they face every day from customers.

Vehicle safety is also a major consideration when looking to execute commands. And let’s not forget that MG would be sure to blame any software issues on the app and make an already challenging relationship even more so.

for me the ultimate end-game for this type of development is to get to the stage where the manufacturer buys into it for use with their vehicles. Has anyone thought about approaching MG to see if they’re interested?

Let’s face it MG should have a universally avaiable app for their cars and it’s very poor that they don’t produce one.
Just a thought, I believe the reason that MG have not got a European version of the App is because of the restrictions of data getting into Chinese hands?
So if MG got involved in the App, wouldn`t that be the same thing of data getting into Chinese hands?
Regarding server costs, would it be cheaper to use virtual servers?
 
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