My upcoming MG ZS EV
Four weeks to go til pick up, I'm going to chart the trials & tribulations of the process of getting a 7kw wall box charger with the OLEV grant. Already hit the first snag with BP Pulse regarding the charger!
I ordered the car 1st November but they've been so busy with installations it's taken until now for them to contact me. They need lots of pictures of your property and where you want the 7kw charger installed, they need to know how many people live there, what type of electric appliances you have. One of the criteria besides needing off road parking or garage which I have both is the household needs to have a modern electrical system, My old house built around the first world war doesn't :duh: You need pictures of earth bonding clamps to all the metal pipework i.e. gas, water, shower, boiler which this house doesn't :eek: I got electricity north west out t'other day to safety check our electricity system, it passed well within specs including the earthing wires which go under the floorboards to I'm guessing the pipework but they're certainly not the 10 mm gague you need for today's code. :o They said it will need an upgrade from the bakerlite system I have to a comsumer unit & isolation switch, with the Christmas holidays this will have to wait. |
Congratulations Ian, you must be very excited. :xmas-smiley-008:
We were looking at the ZS ourselves, but I'm just not sure I would be happy with it overall, it's a lot of money to part with, and I reckon I would fall out of love with it quite quickly. I see the household energy suppliers are now offering catered tariffs for EV owners, EDF keep sending me offers with a range of tariffs available to suit certain EV lifestyles, I didn't realise such tariffs were available. We have found buying an EV isn't as simple as some would have you believe, it sort of puts you off a little. |
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Cheers Wes, Yes excited, I ordered it at the beginning of November because I didn't know what would happen to prices regards Brexit, WTO !!! BMW announced they were putting a £3000 price increase on their cars for the UK market & Hyundai said they will honour the prices of their cars if you ordered before 31/12/20 :shrug: It fits our needs as we don't do a lot of mileage these days & there's more room in this MG for my lanky frame, I find the seating position very comfortable & it's very well put together. |
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Once the builder was finished I got 3 quotes and a full rewrite done whist the kids were away at uni. Funny enough the original electrician didn’t quote when invited along with others. Re-wire: Loads of disruption. Carpets and floorboards up, channels in the wall, dust, power off etc. |
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Yes I'm hoping to get just a consumer unit just for the 7kw charger, I don't want all that disruption of a full re-wire nor do I have the funds anyway now, Especially as the electricity board engineer gave the old system a clean bill of health t'other day. |
We are waiting for a couple of quotes to come back but am planning to get a 7kw charger.
Have to say that our ZSEV is a solid 10/10 |
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That's good to know. :icon_lol: I'll just have to wait til the OLEV guys get back to me about the 7kw charger, I've done all the online forms & pics they needed. |
I’ll be dropping into this thread for updates as I’ve been thinking about getting an EV myself.
It’s not straight forward unfortunately. 1. I park 20 meters from my house. 2. We currently rent our home. I spend about £200 per month fuelling my car and my wife’s. The EV is allegedly available for £249 per month but will that allow for my annual mileage of 20k? I can just see the look on the salesman’s face as he has to turn me away. Being VAT registered may open some doors for me on a business finance plan but I still see practical problems. |
Certainly worth asking a few questions, the MG5 has a longer range.
On 20000 miles a year you will save money on fuel and servicing but loose time charging. Like all things there are pros and cons |
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20k/year is a lot of charging annually especially if you cant at least charge at home overnight on a cheap tariff. I read the other week that the government are throwing £millions at on-street EV charging like converting lamp posts & pop up pavement chargers to charge EV's (London seem to be getting the lions share at the moment) https://www.electrive.com/2020/08/27...rgy-in-london/. They're going to need hundreds of thousands of these across the country before much longer. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/g...c-car-charging Or Get a VW id 3 & order the mobile charger robot from your phone to come & charge your car. https://media.giphy.com/media/8vpeyWA3OWOhG/giphy.gif |
Another North west Electricity engineer has just been out to look at the shared loop electrical system these old houses have & was talking about putting in a new 100 amp feed from the main supply outside our property which would entail digging up large parts of our garden :icon_cry:
He said they wouldn't be able to isolate this old system as it's connected to two other houses. |
:icon_rolleyes: Just had another email from the OLEV 7kw charger installation guys saying they needed more photo evidence asking for picture evidence of earth bonding straps on water/gas pipework.
I already told them this 100+ year old house does not have those types of earth bonding clamps, It has other earthing wiring from the old bakerlite fuse board to pipework, I sent them details/pics & new safety certificate from our area network electricity providers stating the household electricity system passed safety/earthing tests. I can see this being a long drawn affair with headaches:icon_lol:, I'm already two months in & nowt happening. :snowball1: |
Well just had an email from the OLEV 7kw charger people & ..........https://media.giphy.com/media/9Tq8GKRP4nwl2/giphy.gif :eek:
They said new regulations require the 7kw charger will have to have it's own independent 100Amp double pole mains isolator switch supply which will have to be carried out by the distribution network operator, This shared loop power supply we have in these old houses is not up to being upgraded so a new supply is needed from the main feed in the street, That's what the electricity engineer said when he came to access the situation. Do I want my garden/lawns digging up to have a new supply installed ! Not really. :snowball: It's supposed to be a free upgrade for old housing stock with an antiquated electricity supply, There are literally thousands of this type of housing stock in my neck o the woods. :eek: Going to be a real problem for people in a few years time when they will want a BEV & home charger installed. |
Well nowts going smoothly up until now with this 'ere EV revolution malarkey :mad: I don't know whether to bother with a 7Kw charger because of needing a completely new power supply from the street for it and now hassle with banking apps & mobile phones :devil:
You need a contactless bank card to tap on those public fast chargers to start/stop/pay for a charge so the bank duly sent me a new contactless debit card to be authorised by mobile phone. The banking app says my device isn't compatible :eek::( It's too old to run the banking security app from what I've discovered so I now need a new bleddy mobile phone :devil: |
The DNO got in touch with us yesterday to issue us with a new job number regards upgrading the electricity supply :bowdown:
Amidst all the doom & gloom over poor cars last year only two companies managed to increase sales in 2020, MG & Tesla. |
Just waiting for my last estimate to come back and then we will be purchasing our charger.
Glad to say I am included in the December figures |
What happens if BP Pulse say your property isn't suitable for charger installation?
Our barn conversion has our driveway at the bottom of our 40ft garden. We do have a cable running down our trellis fence to a movement activated light down there, but that's about it. It's in the curtilage of a Grade 2 listed building so there's not a lot that can be done without Planning or Listed Building Consent. Will it mean that properties without the capability to charge a vehicle become hard to sell and lose value after 2030ish? |
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It certainly isn't suitable as it stands and they wont touch it in it's present form as the old bakerlite household electrical system is 100+ years old & not up to today's code :eek: With the mileage we do these days we could happily get by just using the "slow charger/granny charger" that comes with the car but if there's one thing I've learned since reading about BEV's is you need a 'Plan B' There is an instavolt fast charger not far from me where I could get a charge in 30 minutes or all Tesco's 7kw chargers are on free vend. There are hundreds & hundreds of this type of old housing stock in my neck o the woods with the same antiquated shared loop electrical system, It is a free upgrade by the DNO to an 80/100Amp supply, I dare say they will have their work cut out for them over the coming years with these types of older properties. |
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Another thing has just come to light!!! Gas boilers for heating are soon to be banned & if my gas boiler goes belly up in a few years time and we're supposed to use electricity then these old antiquated electrical systems aren't going to be up to the job to run the whole house on electricity. :eek: |
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Electric cars electric heating, electric buses...... has anyone told National Grid? |
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They'll have to link up more inter-connectors to EU countries to keep the lights on or BEV's charged up here. The National grid is getting lots or clean energy from Norway's hydro electricity. The continent is being linked up into one large electricity grid where the time zone difference to the UK means when it is peak time here they get electricity from the continent where it's past peak time there & visa versa. If they had to rely on solar power in Lancashire then we're screwed here :D:p: https://www.nationalgrid.com/our-bus...cleaner-future |
Surely Norways time difference is only an hour and if they go electric heating etc as well, with their winter temps and long winter darkness hours will they have any to spare?
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The bigwig at the National Grid Graham Cooper says they're ready for however many EV's come onto the system :shrug: If your Gas boiler is on it's last legs & you want to replace it with another one you've only got until 2025 or is it 2030 before the Ban. :eek: |
Is that a ban on replacements, or a ban on installations in new builds? If it's the latter it's not really a problem for householders, but if it's the latter it surely means a heck of a problem for an awful lot of property owners.
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I've just checked and the ban I on all fossil fuel boilers as from 2023 on new build houses. That date was recently brought forward from 2025. They estimate that it will add £5k to the cost of a new house. The estimate for converting an existing house is £26k (gulp). Rather like electric vehicles it seems odd that they're just pushing the emissions further upstream to the power stations.
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I may be wrong for replacement gas boilers as they've been changing the goal posts a bit lately, they've brought the time line forward from 2025 to 2023 for new builds that wont be connected to the gas main, I wonder what will happen to oil fired heating systems! |
Just had a call from the DNO people saying they will be coming to upgrade this old shared loop electricity system on the 21st January :bowdown:
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LOL yeah I'll breathe a sigh of relief when they've finished the job upgrading these 20th century electricity systems up to today's code. They'll have to upgrade thousands of these types shared loop electrics on old properties if people want to get a BEV & charge it at home. |
Well this is turning into a right saga! Just had a phone call from the people in the end house in the electricity supply loop & he's just got his C-19 test results back & he's tested positive :duh: Just been in touch with the electricity people to let them know the situation & they've postponed doing the upgrade work until the second week of February now. :(
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LOL Certainly trying the patience, I started this ball rolling for the 7kw wall box charger on the 2nd November last year & still no nearer getting it. :mad: |
First bit of good news! I got my date to collect the car :bowdown::} 29th January.
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I'm going to have to wait another day until I get my mitts on the car :eek: MG Chapelhouse motors rang up today to say the collection date will have to on the Saturday 30th now :shrug::mad: |
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LOL I've been clock watching for a month, another 24 hours will be torture :eek::D I've just been reading about Ovo electricity introducing a half price EV charging rate of 6p/kwh for EV's :eek: From what I've read you need to use one of their 7Kw chargers & they're going to give you an extra £100 on top of the governments £350 OLEV grant :bowdown: Once I've got the electric supply sorted out here I'm going to give them a call as I'm not tied to a charger install yet & our electricity supplier will be getting the heave-ho :D They could draw electricity from my BEV on the days I don't use the car by means of V2G & I'd get paid for the electricity they use to balance the grid. Win Win & cheap as chips motoring. It'll cost 30/- shilling to fill the tank full of electrons :D & with free road tax :cool: https://amp.theguardian.com/money/20...harging-tariff https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/ene...tallation.html |
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Yeah!!! Been over to Wigan this afternoon to collect the MG ZS EV excite & it drives as smooth as silk & the silence is superb & relaxing :bowdown: That one pedal driving regenerative braking is fantastic :cool: I think I only touched the foot brake twice on the drive back :cool: I don't think I'm going to need me spanners & socket sets any more :D https://i.imgur.com/xwitohLl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/4dEMASDl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/OUxRSl4l.jpg It'll have to be the "Granny charger" until the electricity board update my antiquated shared loop supply. :eek: https://i.imgur.com/JcRQslVl.jpg |
Welcome to the future.
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Cheers Bob I don't think I'll ever wear the brakes pads/shoes out with this regen braking.:eek::D |
Welcome to the EV club and to #teamred:D
Have you tried MGPilot yet? |
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Cheers Simon, No I've not touched that yet, I'll need to read up on it a bit yet or watch a YT video. |
I'm just about to plug that "granny charger" in to see how it works, I've switched the tumble drier & washing machine off as any more load of this antiquated shared loop electric system would blow the old wired fuses :eek: Still waiting on the DNO to upgrade our supply, It was supposed to get upgraded on the 21-22nd January but the chap in the end house in this block of three tested positive for covid so the electricity board cancelled :mad:
The biggest fuse we have in that old bakerlite fuse board is only 30amp. :eek: |
Well nowts gone bang flash fizzle or getting warm & the cars charging alright. :bowdown::D
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Whilst it's charging the MG logo on the cover will pulsate. Whilst it's balancing it will have a steady glow and when all's done it will go out.
Also if you go to open the door your dashboard will tell you what % you are on |
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Yes It was pulsating whilst I had it on charge for the four hours, I stopped the charge before it went out. Alls good with the "granny charger" I still need to get some decent armoured cable laid but I'm still waiting on the DNO to upgrade us & then I can get a consumer unit put in. |
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The DNO rang this afternoon to give us a date to upgrade our electricity supply, 23rd 24th February. :cool::bowdown::cool: |
Huzzah:}:}
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Congratulations Ian, she sure does look nice.
As Bob says, welcome to the future. |
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Cheers Wes :} I'm very pleased with how it drives so smoothly & quietly, The one pedal driving is the best it makes for a very relaxing drive :cool: |
One of the things I didn't realise when I went for the test drive back at the beginning of November last year was the antenna! It's too tall to get in the garage :eek: You don't usually see those antenna on cars these days as they're mostly the shark fin type. I suppose it keeps the price down :shrug:
I ended up buying a stub aerial off ebay for the princely sum of £4.69 to replace the long antenna which I had to fasten down with a lerry rigged long elastic band tied to the rear wiper arm :D to get in & out of the garage. :p: Jobs a good un with no loss of DAB radio signal. https://i.imgur.com/ETQQduHl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/MTZbLWvl.jpg |
One thing I really like about this MG ZS EV this time of year is the heater :cool: by the time I've driven the car out of the garage locked the garage doors & got back in the car the heater is already warm, It's almost instant heat :bowdown::}
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Does it have a Webasto Fuel Burning Heater fitted? :getmecoat: |
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LOL Yes coal fired, It comes with a number 10 boiler shovel :D:p::D |
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It depends on so many factors you'll get a different answer from everybody, It all depends on the time of year/season how cold or hot the battery pack is, your driving style etc. The official figures are 167 miles on urban/mixed driving & 200 miles pottering around town. I picked the car up with 11 miles on the speedometer so It's got no history of my previous driving. I drove around 40 miles on the day I picked it up and plugged the "Granny charger" in to test it was working OK. After a four hours charging it was showing a range of 134 miles on a full charge in Winter months. The range will change quite a lot until the main battery pack has had some balanced charging. |
Blimey! I rang a friend up in the next street to me to ask how he went on with the electric upgrade. He was also having his electric supply upgraded by the DNO on the 7th-8th February, it's an Identical house to ours with three houses sharing a shared loop supply.
Same story as me! the guy in one of the houses there has had a positive covid test :mad: & they've cancelled there too because they need access inside his house. We're never going to get this sorted out at this rate :mad:, The DNO are coming here on the 23rd 24th February to upgrade our supply, I don't know if we've been pushed back now :shrug:It'll have to be the granny charger again to charge up. https://i.imgur.com/JcRQslVl.jpg |
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Got ours installed today:getmecoat:
https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...5&d=1612911790 |
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Nice one Simon, That looks a neat & tidy job.:cool: I've been trying since the 2nd November last year to get ours sorted. :mad: I hope the DNO are still coming on the 23/24th February to upgrade ours as the engineer guy that came said they're sort on teams to do these jobs. |
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Had it on charge with the granny charger for around four+ hours in the garage, charged it from 50% to 85% which is the sweet spot if you're not using it every day, That's cost me about ten shilling 10/- :D:p::D https://i.imgur.com/eWL9cUKl.jpg |
Good result tonight! I managed to put the spade through the underground power cable to the garage a few months ago whilst digging the base for a greenhouse :duh:
I've been searching for some armoured cable online ever since & managed to score 30 metres of 3 core 6mm strand armoured cable for the princely sum of £25 :eek::D It would have cost well over £100 for that bought at a store:eek: The best thing about it is the guy lives in Hebden bridge & is coming to Bolton wanderers football ground tomorrow for his vaccination jab so I'm meeting him there to pay him & collect it. :D:bowdown: |
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Just back from Bolton stadium where I picked up the armoured cable I'll be using between house & garage, I won't be digging the trench in this weather that's for sure the ground is frozen solid. :eek: https://i.imgur.com/klzRGAHl.jpg |
I had it on charge for most of the day on the granny charger because I wanted to get it to 100% & check the volts, Magic number being 450v or just over. Mine settled at 453v.
Mileages for 100% charge in Winter. Daytime temps were -1C when I did this. Eco mode 162 miles. Normal mode 133 miles Forgot to do the Sport Mode :duh::D https://i.imgur.com/odtguLul.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Vxv9mcll.jpg |
I don't think I'll go with a 7kw wall box charger, I don't really need that level of fast charge rate these days so I've been looking at those portable adjustable ZenCar units that can charge from 10A 16A 20A 24A to 32A from a dedicated 32A commando socket.
A lot of places seem to be closed down for the Chinese new year on Aliexpress over there until later this month. Most of the Warehouse options in the EU that stock Chinese goods are stating they can no longer deliver to the UK from those places due to Brexit regulations I think :shrug: :mad: I'll wait until they're back at work to see how much it will end up costing. |
Forgot to put the link in for the EV adjustable EV charger I'm looking at :duh:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...archweb201603_ |
The range of my car has risen since this warmer weather kicked in :shrug: from what I've been reading other people are seeing the same thing also.
A neighbour came over yesterday when I had the garage doors open & he was asking about charging the car on house electrics, I said I'm still using the "granny cable" that came with the car to charge until our shared loop electrics are upgraded. When you plug it in the MG logo on the front grill pulsates when it's charging & stays a solid white colour when the main battery pack cells are balancing. The MG logo went to solid colour so the car was balancing the battery pack, Three hours later it had finished so I checked the % of the charged battery & the range in 'Normal' mode had risen from the last few charges of 139 miles to 154 miles :eek: Quite a few people have been complaining of the reduced range in Winter months due to the main battery pack being cold and a software update that made matters worse. :o My car is unaffected by that particular BMS update as it was downloaded into vehicles last year & I only got mine this year:bowdown: https://i.imgur.com/2YaQcGvl.jpg |
They've had to get a mini digger in with a bucket as the main electricity is buried deep :eek:
https://i.imgur.com/nkGqK0Vl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/1HfJCpll.jpg |
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Wow, that seems a lot of hassle ...
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Yeah Pain in the backside, When you apply to have a 7kw EV charger fitted they ask you how many live there & what electrical appliances you have in the house, Washing machine, shower,dishwasher,electric heaters, electric cooker, fridge freezer etc then they add the power usage up, Our ancient supply is only rated at 60A & they require you to have a minimum 80-100 Amp. So they said they wont touch our old 97 year old electrical system until we get this work done by the DNO, It's not costing me nowt. :bowdown: |
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Jobs done, New feed spliced into the main supply & the electric is back on with a 100A fitted :bowdown: Blooming lawn is a total mess though, Can't be helped in this wet weather I suppose.:mad:
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I'm going to make a "Granny charger" board with this Patinaed MG A4 sized metal sign I got off ebay for the garage until I get things sorted out, It will keep the charger off the floor & out of harms way. The DNO have finished now & I've now got a 100A fuse supply in place of the 60A fuse supply.:bowdown:
https://i.imgur.com/AyRbhFGl.jpg |
I'm going to be making a "granny charger" board for the garage wall as soon as a circular saw arrives that I won on ebay.
I'm just laying out the 32a rated commando socket as well because that will eventually be used to plug in a variable power Zencar portable charger with different power settings ranging from 10a,16a,20a,24,32a when I get the armoured steel 6mm2 core cable laid.:cool: https://i.imgur.com/YdQRa61l.jpg |
Just ordered a portable EVSE charger with adjustable charging options from 10a,16a,20a,24a,32a from Aliexpress as they were on sale til the 12th March. :cool: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...archweb201603_
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Look what just turned up! I only ordered it from Aliexpress on the 8th March & it's arrived :eek:It's being inspected by the moggies :D before I try it out later
https://i.imgur.com/oPlS04yl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/p3AMoKtl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/xCCAUX0l.jpg |
Works perfectly & connects up to the car straight away :bowdown: Looks to be made of good quality materials & weighs in at 3.5kgs.
I shot a short vid of the MG charging flap pulsating when it's charging, Never seen that before :D |
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LOL Yeah, I'd only ever plugged it in to charge in daylight hours & had never seen it pulsate in the dark like that before :D |
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Looking good sir
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Cheers Simon :} Looks like MG are making a big play in UK/Europe with new models & plans to double their European network. Facelift versions of the ZS EV & MG5 & Roewe 5 plus the Marvel-R. :cool: The 500 mile range Cyberster looks tasty due on the 31st March ( our wedding anniversary) I wonder if I mention it to the missus she'll buy me one :D:p: Might be a bit undignified getting in & out of it :eek::D https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...500-mile-range https://www.autocar.co.uk/sites/auto...?itok=OkuBEpSL |
Blimey! I was just trying out the vid function my new motorola mobile phone t'other week and shot a short vid of the adjustable current Fenkee EVSE charging the MG at 16A & put it up on youtube, 432 views in such a short time :eek: & it's not even a review of it or anything. Seems to be lots of interest in it. :shrug:
Works well for me. :cool: |
The shared loop electric supply in these old houses is turning into a right malarkey!
My mate in the next street who has the same style house/shared electric supply loop as me whose neighbour had his old bakerlite fuseboard catch fire :eek: has been told by the DNO that they've made the three houses supply safe but cant do an individual supply for them as the other neighbour on the loop is refusing the DNO entry to his house, All three in the loop have to done or none. :eek: The only way he could get an individual 100A supply would be if he bought a BEV then they would have to do it as the current 60A supply is not enough. Yesterday a chap from across the back came over as he saw my garage door open & the MG charging. Same electric loop supply set up as me and was asking about how we went about getting a 100A supply, The company he works for are changing all their fleet of car/van over to BEV's and the company is paying for 7KW charger to be installed at all employees homes but he's got the same problem I had with only a 60A supply & the electrician has told him to get in touch with the DNO to get a 100A supply sorted out before he can do any work there. |
I went out to get some good compost t'other day from a nursery over in Charnock Richard, the roads were a mixture of town & A roads and got a respectable 4.8miles/kWh, Not to shabby for something that's not remotely aerodynamic. :cool:
https://i.imgur.com/DzTEzJ1l.jpg Snowfoam time for the MG ZS EV & I thought I'll dip the.....er...check the......tighten the ...er....nowt to do on it :D Good job I replaced all my old socket sets & spanners for new sets about 12 months before I got this :duh::p: https://i.imgur.com/EDtHnEVl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/S1Ia51Ql.jpg |
Good to see your enjoying the car, I changed our petrol auto ZS after about 8 months as I couldn’t get a running issue fixed and any dealer that didn’t supply it would not look at it. I changed it for an Ioniq hybrid as we Had bought the ZS from Longbridge so not on the doorstep as there is no local dealers.
I want to go full electric next year and the Ioniq and Kona boots are too small for what I need so I’m looking at MG again as I know the ZS boot is the same size as the battery pack is underneath. However, our house is over 100 years old so anticipating similar problems to yourself. I think ours was re wired about 50 years ago but I still have doubts. |
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Yeah even though we haven't used it all that much with the pandemic restrictions I love the quiet ride of these BEV's, Very relaxing. I think our house wiring was replaced some time in the 1960's judging by the stuff we found under the floorboards, An empty players number 6 cigarette packet was in there as well as off cuts of wiring. https://i.imgur.com/ESjr46ql.jpg We had the DNO do a safety check on the house electrics which they passed OK. The OLEV people don't seem to like old style electrics even though the DNO passed ours as safe :shrug: |
Whenever we have any checks done we get “that fuse box is really old you should get rewired” Need to see if it’s rated at 60A or 100A but it’s well hidden and difficult to get to :duh: It would be handy if the new car charge point grant worked prior to buying so that these things could be sorted in advance. I don’t think I have the patience that you have getting yours sorted.
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The OLEV electrician teams wont do any work on the house electrics until all the jobs the OLEV people want you to do are done, It's going to be a problem for sure in the coming years with older housing stock. |
Sorry if I’ve missed this question: we have an MCB consumer unit and currently there are two 45A loops, both terminating in the kitchen. I’m moving the kitchen and laying a new loop in the (old) dining room for the cooker.
I’m very tempted by the deals on the MG5 although a glass topped ZS would be nice. Just wondering if you can fit your own 7Kw charger on a redundant shower circuit? Currently it’s 6mm but could easily change it to 10mm. Sounds like this OLEV grant is more hassle than it’s worth? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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On the subject of electric vehicles. I was reading on the BBC News website a week or so ago they're beginning to wonder what they're going to do with life expired electric vehicle batteries. At the moment manually dismantling is the only option, labour intensive and hazardous.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56574779 |
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I didn't go with the OLEV grant for the same reasons, Too expensive over & above the £350 grant & too much hassle lifting carpets/floorboards in multiple rooms to re-route wiring especially for earth bonding clamps on water/gas pipework, Newer house have utilities all in much the same place, these old house have utilities at opposite ends of the house & at ceiling height. They want 10mm earth wire within 60cm of stop taps, The DNO earthed ours to the same place on the old fuseboard the old earth wire was and passed their safety test. But it was not good enough for the OLEV people :shrug:I had enough hassle with having the garden/lawns dug up so did the work myself with the help of an electrician. |
Seems if you can wire a shower (for the 7Kw) and a shed (for the external protection) it’s ok to do it yourself. By yourself I mean with a qualified sparky..
The residuals on 5’s don’t look so good with delivery mileage cars up at £5k off, but they don’t come with 0% so a new one still makes sense. The balloon payments are quite high, would have to see where I’d be in 4 years time but there would still be 3 yrs warranty left. It’s going to be a long time before we see the value of them when the batteries are out of warranty: will they be worth anything at all? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
EVs too stressful
I have a friend who runs a BMW EV - not the cheapest - and while he's delighted with it as a driver he's found the claims are not met. The range is supposed to be 160 miles but that's if you keep below 55mph. If you drive normally - at motorway speeds - then you won't get more than 90. You watch the range left more than the speedo. But the biggest problem is finding a fast charger that works. He recently did a 100mile trip but spent a most stressful time trying to find a charger that was working. Yes there's an App but it doesn't say if the charger point works or if it is available: it took eight stops before he could breathe easy again. And of course you have to sit there for 20+ minutes. Hardly a viable solution methinks.
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I got a courtesy call off MG Wigan this morning, It's the first time I've spoken to them since buying it as they've been on furlough for months.
She was asking how I'm going on with the MG ZS ev & the 7kw charger installation, I said the car is fabulous and a dream to drive but the 7Kw charger didn't happen because of our antiquated electricity supply & all the hassle that went with it so I told her I installed my own 7kw charger. She said she gave a lady a courtesy call yesterday who bought the MGZS ev & the OLEV people wouldn't install a 7kw charger at her house because she didn't have a dropped kerb into her driveway :eek: |
so I told her I installed my own 7kw charger.
Curiosity got the better of me. What grade cable did you go with? 6mm or 10mm? |
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I went with 6mm2 SWA cable. |
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I should have elaborated more, As edwardmk said a 10mm cable would definitely future proof your installation and if you're charging to 100% on a daily basis then yes 10mm cable would be better. But for my own personal use the 6mm2 SWA was adequate enough. We don't do high mileage or use the car everyday, I've only used the 32A/7kw option on this adjustable charger once to make sure it was working OK. I'm only charging the car twice a month and I just use the 16A option which is plenty fast enough for our use. I was initially going to go with a 16A charger but this 10A,16A,20A,24A,32A adjustable charger worked out cheaper to buy. |
As these MG/Roewe BEV's in Europe & UK cannot use the remote i-smart app due to data protection laws there are some apps available that give you more details/functions as to what is going on other than the dashboard readouts.
I bought a OBD diagnostic scanner & the Nissan Leaf Spy app years ago when I was looking into getting a Leaf but it never came about. https://i.imgur.com/abXblpUl.jpg?1 There are a couple of apps on Google play store so I downloaded the Car scanner pro & it paired up straight away with bluetooth to the scanner tool :bowdown: I wasn't expecting it to as it's over 5 years old but hey oh it works. It's on charge at the minute but I'll have a better look at the app & customise it later.:cool: This is just a one screen example. https://www.mgevs.com/attachments/16...1538-png.2938/ |
This MG ZS ev has been averaging 4.2-4.3 miles/Km which I'm really happy with for this crossover vehicle. I've been sorting out the bluetooth scanner on my mobile phone for real time accurate readings of the battery SOC (state of charge) among dozens of other sensor reading.When the dashboard reads 100% charged it's actually 96.8% which is the upper buffer limit.
If you're planning on running the battery down to the wire this scanner tool will give you a lot more accuracy as to the charge left in the battery. https://i.imgur.com/TqSzkuRl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/jAr6eOPl.png I believe when it goes in for service the software update will reduce the 455.2 V down to 450V to make a bigger buffer so as to let the braking regen put power back into the battery straightaway instead of waiting until the battery is depleted a little from a 100% charge. I'm still only charging the battery to 75-80% which is the sweet spot if you're not using the car everyday, Not good letting a 100% charged ev sit for days. |
Well the AEB (active emergency braking) works well! It's the first time I've encountered it.:eek: As I slowing up to the traffic lights some clown decided to change lanes directly in front of me no indicator & the auto AEB kicked it and stopped the car dead without me touching he brake pedal :cool::bowdown:
It makes a weird juddering ABS noise as there's no vacuum on these cars, Damn clever dicky if you ask me. :D |
What car reliability report
How reliable are you finding these cars?
I have just read What Cars owners reliability survey report of electric and hybrid cars. They list the top ten and the worst bottom three. The top 10 all have a very high reliability score in the high 90% and all look very good with only minor faults recorded and easy quick repairs. The worst is the Tesla S which comes out at the very bottom of all types of engines as well as electric with only 60% reliability. The MG ZS EV however comes out in the 80% range with the second worse electric score The reports say the faults are all major ones including batteries, motors etc. putting the cars off the road for a while. I did consider one but in the end last month got a conventional petrol car after looking into overall buying costs range and charger availability. Travelling around and not seeing many convenient charging points and reading on line owners saying that they often had difficulty finding working available points I put it off for now. Now reading this as the ZS was on price and range the favorite I think for now I made the correct choice. |
I bought two Hyundai's based on media and owner reports on how good they are but they proved to be the most unreliable cars I had ever purchased by far.
However I believe what owners say about their ownership experiences over time is probably going to be more honest and accurate than journalists new car reports and any information from the manufacturer, so I take them into consideration. After one month today my new car is absolutely brilliant, but will I still think that in two years if it lets me down a lot and the dealers are rubbish? |
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I've never had a moments trouble with my MGZS, It's a really nice relaxing car to drive. There has been problems however with quite a few owners very ticked off with MG UK. The most problems are arising from a bad BMS software update (which has now been rectified) but the people whose cars had this bad software update are having to spend hours balancing their battery packs practically everyday from around 430V back up to to 450V which apparently will take weeks to get them re-balanced & the range back to normal :eek: I was lucky my car just missed this update :bowdown: Some people are finding out that the range is terrible if you're using it to travel up & down the motorways daily at 70mph+ day in & day out. But that boils down to them not researching the car enough as to the actual range you'd get at these speeds before they bought it. The public charging network is woefully inadequate at present & the majority of complaints about the ecotricity "electric highway" public chargers will be fixed by September this year, The company who bought out ecotricity is replacing every single one of them in the entire country by September :eek: https://www.transport-network.co.uk/...-by-2025/17343 I cant really speak about public chargers as I've never even used one yet despite owning this since January :eek: My wife & I can get by very easily using our home charger. |
I've been getting a "glitch" a couple of times whereas the electric handbrake wont release :eek: You can here the car go through it's ready mode with the contactors opening or closing :shrug: but the car wont move :eek:The first time it happened I hadn't closed the door fully & the car refused to move til I'd closed it properly :duh:
The second time I was at a loss :shrug: I had to resort to the equivalent of turning the turning the power off at the wall (broadband when calling the call centre) which entails carrying a 10mm spanner to undo the battery terminal for a short while then re-connecting it, (apparently it's a thing with some other marques of BEV's :eek:) It resets the car & all was well, Apart from that the car has been absolutely Stella. :cool: I've read the upcoming MG Marvel R & MGZS ev / MG5 ev facelift models will have the MG i-smart mobile app as the European servers are now live, Pity the first generation of ZS/MG5 ev's wont be eligible as they don't carry the necessary software/hardware due to some c0ckamamie data protection law :mad: |
I find these modern cars frightening, far too many gizmos ready to go wrong. I feel there is too much nannying going on with the modern car, the physicality of driving has been taken away from us. :shrug:
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I must admit I've not even used half of the gizmos on this car yet :o I was dreading something happening to my missus whilst out on her own in it but it happened once when the electronic handbrake wouldn't release whilst in the supermarket car park for her. Sometimes she doesn't press the brake pedal hard enough when pushing the 'ON' button into Ready mode which wont let you disengage the electronic handbrake or select any gear.:shrug: After two or three attempts to talk her through it on the phone I said switch it off get out of the car, lock it with the key fob then unlock it, get back in & foot hard on the brake pedal & press the 'ON' button & it was good to go again.!!! She tried turning it off & locking/unlocking whilst in the car but I'm not sure if there's a sensor in the seat that senses that the seat is occupied & wouldn't restart with warning toots from the horn hence me telling her to get out & try it that way. Another problem with these software updates (My car has only had half of the updates since I got it) is that the manual is already out of date with all the changes that these updates entail :eek: These updates will be done on it's first service presumably. |
Well I ended up having a play with one of the Gizmos this afternoon whilst waiting in the hospital car park for the Missus appointment.
I downloaded a couple of those 50/60's 'Look at Life' youtube videos onto a USB stick to play on the infotainment system, Stuck it into the drivers side USB port & the system picked it up straight away & played them :bowdown::cool: I read some people were having difficulty playing video/music formats on USB sticks, I've no idea what format I downloaded the videos in from youtube but it worked perfectly, I can kick waiting rooms into touch now & relax in the car watching videos :bowdown::D |
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https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...476c72de_z.jpg |
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LOL He looks like a young Chris Farlowe? |
Well! Apparently I've not been charging this MG ZS EV correctly :eek: It says in the manual to charge the car to 100% once a month & leave it plugged in to balance the main traction battery pack, The pulsating MG badge on the charging port pulsates when it's charging and will change to a steady light when finished charging & will stay lit until the balancing is complete, It will then go out when balancing is finished.
I think I've only done it once since getting it in January :o We don't use the car everyday & I only charge it to 50-70% because of that so as not to leave the car sitting with a 100% charge for days. I've just plugged it in now to charge to 100% & see if it goes into balance mode. |
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I had his name in mind too:duh:, Should have known with the old two up two down terraced houses behind. |
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Oops! I forgot to report back on the balancing, Yes it did go into balance mode again, I went out in it to do some errands & the battery discharged from 100% to 97% so I plugged it in again & it charged to 100% then went into balance mode for almost 5 hours :eek: I've never got the message on the dashboard saying 'Slow charge the car' Maybe it's because I've never used a fast charger of even used my 7kW home charger:shrug: I get by on using the 3.6 kW function on my charger just fine. From what I've read you get the 'slow charge the car' message if you've done a lot of fast charges and the battery pack needs to balance the cells about once a month to keep them even. It's all a learning curve as the MG dealership never mentioned this Procedure had to be done around once a month.:eek: |
Likewise have never had the slow charge now warning.
If I use a rapid charger I will usually take it up to around 80% and then finish off on my home charger. Have to say, we live the ZSEV. It's a brilliant car |
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I wonder if other owners are aware of this especially if like me they don't use fast chargers or charge the car to 100%, :shrug: Owners that just plug it in overnight will balance the battery pack without even knowing it as when the car reaches 100% it will automatically go into balance mode if needed. :cool: Yes we love it too, My missus wasn't too sure when we got it but the smooth, quiet higher driving position for her has won her over, She really liked the Kia Niro we had but was scared of not being able to fuel it & had range anxiety even though she'd never driven a BEV before :o but I said to her at the start you don't have to worry about that because I'll see to the charging. I've explained to her what to do if ever I cant charge it & she's happy with that now. |
I only have experience of Hyundai EV’s and they are just plug and play no balancing, there is cell balancing going on in the background but not whilst charging. On another not Cumbria finally has an MG dealer......
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https://www.mgevs.com/attachments/16...2860-png.4290/
https://www.mgevs.com/attachments/16...7544-png.4291/ Page 292-293 of the handbook PDF It must be a quirk of the MG ZS EV BMS as I've not read about any other BEV manufacturer having to do this.:shrug: I wonder if the MG5 ev owners have to do this too. |
We have a MG HS PHEV and are very pleased with it after 4 months no problems at all and the build quility is superb
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MG seems to be going from strength to strength as the biggest ever shipment of MG cars arrive in Portbury docks Bristol.
Over a quarter of those cars are the new long range MG 5 BEV. https://www.motortrader.com/motor-tr...nge-12-08-2021 https://djx5h8pabpett.cloudfront.net...51/MGBOAT1.jpg |
I'm seeing a few work arounds for the MG BEV's due to the powers that be banning remote App access to European/UK cars due to data protection. One of the big bug bears was starting & stopping charging to take advantage of cheap overnight electricity rates usually between midnight & 05:00 hours.
A gadget from Shelly have come up with a good cheap alternative for a "dumb charger" like mine. https://shellystore.co.uk/product/shelly-1/ As I've mentioned I didn't go with the OLEV grant people because of the high price for a Smart charger even after the £350 OLEV grant. Mine cost £163 & if I wanted to turn it into a smart charger it would be £9 more :eek: This device which costs £9 will do the exact same job if you need to charge your car via mobile phone App at certain times to take advantage of overnight cheap rate electricity.:cool: |
We've had ours since May and think it's great. It's my wife's car really and it was her idea to go electric. Such a comfy relaxing car to drive. So far so good. :D
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Anyone tried or purchased one of these. ?
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...214-mile-range |
There's an announcement today on MG's youtube channel about a new MG model
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I really really need this sound file in my MG ZS EV for the low speed pedestrian warning noise. :D
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Looks great on paper, but a jump in price of course. Still very competitive against the competition.
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'From what I've been reading there will be price increases across the all models from Feb (I think) 2022 but they will come with more tech & bigger batteries, They will also have remote access with the MG i-Smart app too I believe.:cool: Our daughter has been using my MG ZS EV for a week whilst her car was in the garage for repairs and as we don't use the car every day I got a better idea of how much of a drain on the battery having the heating,lights,fan,wipers were using as she leaves home in the dark at 5:00am & returns around 9:00pm. Our daughter has the heating Maxed out on her cars all the time :eek: & the range dropped quite a lot compared to our normal usage. |
Well since our energy supplier went belly up along with 19 other energy suppliers :eek: Ofgem have allocated us a new supplier, Octopus energy, I'm still waiting for them to sort us out with an online account but as there were over 500K who have migrated across to them I dare say it will take a little while :eek: The kW/h electricity rate is now higher than the contract we were on before with our previous energy company but it's not too bad, I charged the MG ZS EV overnight & this morning putting 38Kw's in (The MG ZS EV has a useable capacity is 42.5kWhs out of 44.5kWhs) which cost £6.46 for three quarters of a "tank" of electrons :D A bit more than the 5p overnight cheap rate from 00:00 to 04:00 I was paying before but still cheap as chips for our needs. :}
I'll see what other tariffs they have available when we get our account. |
I'm with EDF go electric.
21p kWh 0700 to 2100 10p kWh 2100 to 0700 10p kWh all weekend Would heartily recommend |
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That's a better tariff than I'll be on with Octopus from what I've seen. Cheers Simondi :} |
Mg Sv made by the people who put the final nail in longbridge ....... China no thanks
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Well the Wi-Fi tablet that came with the Electricity & Gas smart meters came back to life today & we've been put on the Octopus Flexible E tariff of 19.95p/kWh, Just that one rate throughout:shrug: I logged into the new Octopus account tonight & sent today's gas & electricity meter readings but it Bizarrely says we don't have a DD account set up despite them taking out a payment at the beginning of the month :eek::shrug: Sounds like par for the course up to now :mad: |
I think Octopus are still doing their 'Go Faster' tariff however you have to e-mail them to request it as it's not on their website. Currently I'm paying 14p peak and then from 20:30Hrs to 01:30Hrs I pay 5p. From what I've read the 5p rate is still the same however peak is now 24p for new customers.
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I'll have to get my thinking cap on when this is sorted out, I could do with a cheap rate at certain times for charging the car albeit not very often with our usage but certainly for the washing machine & tumble drier which never seems to be off :devil: Octopus says I have to wait until the final bill from our last energy supplier comes through to see if we're in credit or debit or need to up our monthly DD. |
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My neighbour has just bought an MG5 and is waiting to get changed onto a cheap tariff so in the mean time I'm letting him use my outside socket to also charge on the 5p rate so we're really maxing it out! |
Well the AEB (autonomous emergency braking) got a work out this morning on my trip to the local hospital with clowns failing to stop at give way side roads THREE TIMES :eek:Is there something in the water lately or is it silly season all the time now? :mad:
The MG ZS EV shuddered to a stop all on it's own without me going anywhere near the brake pedal :bowdown: I knew there was a good reason for not driving in rush hour traffic :devil: |
The new 7kW MG chargers available in Australia are pretty snazzy :cool: I've not seen them on the MG UK site though :shrug:
https://i.imgur.com/tHv5Avfl.jpg |
I got my letter today to book the MG in for it's first service, Not sure I want them to change any of the software that's installed in it as it's running brilliant.
@Simondi Did you have your first service on yours? I know you got your MG just before I got mine. Did they change anything on the software side of yours? & more importantly did you get your free MG teddy bear? :icon_lol: |
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Not sure about Simondi but we got the MG teddy on our first service |
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I was afraid of that if I didn't get the new software updates, I'm one to leave well alone if it's running OK. Still not sorted out our Octopus electricity account from Avro energy yet!!!! They're still waiting on Avro energy to send them the final bill.:shrug: |
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If you haven't had it also really recommend the comfort 2 update which removes many of the annoying bongs etc and improves the various displays. |
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Mine came with only part of the Comfort two update with no warning bongs, It's still on the original 455v software. |
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From what I've been reading quite a few people have only had part of the comfort 2 software update, It's booked in for this Wednesday down at Wigan MG so I'll make a note of the software/BMS version I have installed in the menu. |
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Well after the service it looks like I've still not had the full comfort 2 software update as when I plugged it in to charge after arriving home it still has to have the doors locked before it will initiate a charge. I thought the full comfort 2 update allowed charging whether locked or unlocked. :shrug: I was going to ask the MG technician what software updates they carried out but by the time I got back to the dealership to collect it he had gone. |
Just got around to charging it to 100% & it didn't get any software updates as it's still on the original 455v software!!!
Seems a bit strange as everyone else who had their first service has been updated to the full Comfort 2 update :shrug: I didn't get the 'First service MG Teddy bear' either :snowball1: I connected up the bluetooth OBD scanner to my phone & took a screenshot. https://i.imgur.com/GniFI2dl.png |
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That said it's running really well |
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