ZS EV SR Trophy not charging on DC but ok on AC

lusitano

lusitano

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MG ZS EV
Hi everyone,

I wonder if I'm doing something wrong or my car has an issue again. I tried to charge yesterday on Shell Hub in Fulham using their 175kW chargers, but when I plugged it in and tapped my Electric Juice card to pay it went straight to done and asking me to put plug back to charger, tried on another charger next to it same issue, but as soon as I plugged it in it said Charge Done and to put plug back.
So left and tried the Tesco charger 50kW nearby and it would not charge. Every time it failed when I tried to Drive it would be stuck on Neutral, thankfully switching off and on would let me drive.

I really don't want to be stuck again while charging, when I charge at home using granny charge is fine, and podpoint 7kW chargers seem fine.

I tried car to be Ready mode on or off same result. My schedule was disabled, there was a MG5 there charging fine so were other cars at the same. Any suggestions what I can do here, I'm planning a longer trip than into London and will need to charge.

Thanks
 
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I'm not sure about the facelift model, but I had this issue with the earlier zs ev. My issue was that the bms would not allow the car to start charging on anything faster than a 50kw rapid charger. The car would not start a charge on anything bigger. So in your case you were trying a 175kw charger. The facelift is rated for 75kw charging according to an article I justread. So it could be that this is the issue. Maybe try it tomorrow on a 50kw charger.
It may be the case (as was mine with the non faceliftmodel) that there is a bms update required?
Just my thoughts.
 
CDR said:
I'm not sure about the facelift model, but I had this issue with the earlier zs ev. My issue was that the bms would not allow the car to start charging on anything faster than a 50kw rapid charger. The car would not start a charge on anything bigger. So in your case you were trying a 175kw charger. The facelift is rated for 75kw charging according to an article I justread. So it could be that this is the issue. Maybe try it tomorrow on a 50kw charger.
It may be the case (as was mine with the non faceliftmodel) that there is a bms update required?
Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...
Who knows? 🤷‍♂️ but if this were true I'd kind of expect this to be "known" by now...
 
CDR said:
So in your case you were trying a 175kw charger. The facelift is rated for 75kw charging according to an article I justread. So it could be that this is the issue.
Click to expand...
No, the maximum power rating of the charger should not matter. It's certainly weird that it did for your Mk1.

CDR said:
Maybe try it tomorrow on a 50kw charger.
Click to expand...
OP has already tried it on a Tesco 50kW charger, and it didn't work either. (He called it a 50kwh charger, but I've edited that to 50kW, presuming that's what he meant).
 
I've charged it at home the last few nights, not had a chance yet to try another rapid charger, where I live there isn't many options, only lidl 50kW or BP I think they are 150kW. So will try next Saturday as my OH needs access to car this week and I don't want to be out of a car if I get stuck again.
 
So just wanted to update this thread.

I went to LIDL to try and charge, and it worked first time, rate was at 32kW used to get 48kW, but it could be the charger. So, when I stopped the car charging from the infotainment and then unplugged the charging cable, when I got back to inside the car, the display in front was showing the 12v battery as being RED, and I could not switch the car to drive it was stuck in Neutral, so switched car off and on and this warning on battery went away and I was ready mode.

Clearly it feels to me there is an issue here, which does not happen when I charge at home on the granny charger or the 7kW charger near me. Anyways going to have to raise it with MG, as I can't gamble being stuck on a long trip.
 
BugEyed said:
Do you mean via the PodPoint app or the car itself? If the latter, that will be what caused the error.
Click to expand...
I stopped from the car, ok will try out tomorrow that, and will use the app to stop charging then, and see if that issue happens also.
 
MG clearly has a problem with how the ZS negotiates with fast chargers. I was told this by the AA when they helped me by resetting the faults. On their advice I went and got the system updates from the dealer. Now I get different faults with about 60% of fast chargers I have tried. I am going to see if there is another software update yet. Other makes have problems too but MG has more. As the Aidan McClean says in Electric Revolution "It is the Wild West when it has to fast chargers".
 
sixbacon said:
MG clearly has a problem with how the ZS negotiates with fast chargers. I was told this by the AA when they helped me by resetting the faults. On their advice I went and got the system updates from the dealer. Now I get different faults with about 60% of fast chargers I have tried. I am going to see if there is another software update yet. Other makes have problems too but MG has more. As the Aidan McClean says in Electric Revolution "It is the Wild West when it has to fast chargers".
Click to expand...
Did it make more sense when he said it?
 
sixbacon said:
It is the Wild West when it comes to fast chargers.
Click to expand...
I think your talking about rapid not fast?
Screenshot_20220912_143209.jpg
 
Aha
N2STY said:
rapid not fast
Click to expand...
Aha! That must be the source of the "fast only means medium speed charging" idea. Elsewhere, fast means all DC charging, usually 50 kW and above. Rapid and ultra-rapid are usually reserved for the faster end of fast chargers, e.g. 350 kW and above. As an example, the present Wikipedia page on Charging Station only mentions the word "rapid" twice, and only in the commonly used sense of "quick".

Is the above screen dump from an MG manual?
 
I can just read drivingelectric.com in the URL for the middle screen grab (two posts back now). It seems to be a UK site. So this terminology seems to be a UK specific one. This forum is based in the UK, so I'll accept this usage, but there are readers elsewhere in the world, and I think it's good to remember that this usage is by no means universal.

Edit: the second set of searches is from the same UK-centric site.
 
N2STY said:
is it not level 1, 2 and 3 in Australia?
Click to expand...
No. We view level 1 as a North America thing; charging at 120 VAC. So that just leaves level 2 and level 3, which is more conveniently labelled as AC and DC. Some AC charging (43 kW) is higher than some DC charging (22 kW), and that's more relevant (a few cars don't have DC charging at all, for example).
 
AC 43kW is virtually dead - it was mainly a Renault thing where instead of having a dedicated on board charger they cleverly used the motor windings for the voltage conversion. But in newer models they have moved away from that (there are noise and efficiency issues) and are using conventional OBC and offering DC charging.
So the top end of AC charging in cars is now 22kW three phase (effectively 3x 7.2kW) which isn't really fast enough for Rapid charging today's range hogs (A55 e-tron @ 2.5 m/kWh, Porsche Taycan @ 2.8m/kWh) and is only any use for destination or home (in the rare cases where capacity is available) charging. Gridserve took stick from Zoë owners when they replaced the old Ecohighway units at Motorway service areas without AC, and then for only providing 22kW when they capitulated - I have yet to see one being used as most prefer DC's higher speeds.
 
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