New to EVs And the MG5

[Rolfe]

I understand the MG5 can charge at up to 80kW. Using the 3pin plug I am drawing around 10Amps. Not sure what this means kW wise?

Using a “wall box”, would this get me closer to the 80kW? I have looked around at them and they mostly seam to be limited to about 7kW. There does appear to be a lot to choose from.

Lots of new words and terms to get my head around.

Maybe I should be asking these questions on a different conversation thread?

The 80 Kw thing is the best you might expect to get from a public DC charger, when you're trying to "fill up" in a hurry on the road. It's not applicable to AC charging, which is what you're doing at home.

If you're getting the answers you need here, it's all good. If not, try a search of the MG5 forum for appropriate threads.

 

[siteguru]

Just about every newbuild near me has 3 phase installed so 22kW would be the way to go in this situation. Sadly, my cave is 32 years old and has single phase only.

That must be a relatively new thing then, and perhaps only a regional thing. My house was new in 1997 and is single phase.

 

[GaryMG4]

Just about every newbuild near me has 3 phase installed so 22kW would be the way to go in this situation. Sadly, my cave is 32 years old and has single phase only.

Will the MG5 accept 22kW or is it limited to 7/11 like the MG4?

 

[johnb80]

Will the MG5 accept 22kW or is it limited to 7/11 like the MG4?

I'm sure it's 7/11, to be honest 7 is enough IMHO for most people, 6 hours would provide 42 kWh of charge and with Octopus Intelligent GO they will at times give you additional off peak hours. For our use, we only charge once per week on Sunday mornings to extend our off peak time.

 

[slmorgan42]

Will the MG5 accept 22kW or is it limited to 7/11 like the MG4?

The FL is rated for 11. In real world with loss I get about 9.7 on average. This gives a rough 20% and hour.

As I rely 100% on public charging I like the high charge speed.

 

[Fiver]

Thanks for all the replies.

A lot to take in there. Wallbox, wall box, AC, DC, 80%, 20%, NMC, LFP, Single Phase, 3-Phase, etc…..

Think I’ll just stick with my 3-pin plug for now and see how that works out for me.

Quick question:

It will be very rare that I will need to travel far enough that I need to use public charging. However, if I did need to use one of the faster chargers at a motorway services, do I have to ensure that I don’t use chargers that are rated at higher power than my car? I think mine is limited to 80kW for charging. I assume I can use chargers that can provide up to 80kW ? I have searched on an application call ZapMap and this lists lots of 50kW chargers. I can’t see any that provide 80kW, but there appears to be lots that do 150kW and some up to 350kW. I wouldn’t want to plug my battery into the larger ones if it is a problem for the battery.

 

[Grriff]

Just about every newbuild near me has 3 phase installed so 22kW would be the way to go in this situation. Sadly, my cave is 32 years old and has single phase only.

Thanks for all the replies.

A lot to take in there. Wallbox, wall box, AC, DC, 80%, 20%, NMC, LFP, Single Phase, 3-Phase, etc…..

Think I’ll just stick with my 3-pin plug for now and see how that works out for me.

Quick question:

It will be very rare that I will need to travel far enough that I need to use public charging. However, if I did need to use one of the faster chargers at a motorway services, do I have to ensure that I don’t use chargers that are rated at higher power than my car? I think mine is limited to 80kW for charging. I assume I can use chargers that can provide up to 80kW ? I have searched on an application call ZapMap and this lists lots of 50kW chargers. I can’t see any that provide 80kW, but there appears to be lots that do 150kW and some up to 350kW. I wouldn’t want to plug my battery into the larger ones if it is a problem for the battery.

Your car will take what it needs, the charger does not 'force' charge on the car what ever its upper limit, so your battery is safe.
As has been said on the Forum, the rate of charge will fall when the battery is over 80% in order to protect the battery, so it's generally not worth charging over 80% on a public charger. It also inconsiderate if drivers are waiting.
Chapter 9 of my guide may help MG4 Trophy - a Guide. It provides a general introduction to charging.

 

[johnb80]

Thanks for all the replies.

A lot to take in there. Wallbox, wall box, AC, DC, 80%, 20%, NMC, LFP, Single Phase, 3-Phase, etc…..

Think I’ll just stick with my 3-pin plug for now and see how that works out for me.

Quick question:

It will be very rare that I will need to travel far enough that I need to use public charging. However, if I did need to use one of the faster chargers at a motorway services, do I have to ensure that I don’t use chargers that are rated at higher power than my car? I think mine is limited to 80kW for charging. I assume I can use chargers that can provide up to 80kW ? I have searched on an application call ZapMap and this lists lots of 50kW chargers. I can’t see any that provide 80kW, but there appears to be lots that do 150kW and some up to 350kW. I wouldn’t want to plug my battery into the larger ones if it is a problem for the battery.

No problem with this one, the EV and the charger talk to each other and the charger will supply the maximum it can do or the car can accepts.

 

[Gadget Geek]

. . . the charger will supply the maximum it can do or the car can accepts.

If you are lucky.

 

[slmorgan42]

Thanks for all the replies.

A lot to take in there. Wallbox, wall box, AC, DC, 80%, 20%, NMC, LFP, Single Phase, 3-Phase, etc…..

Think I’ll just stick with my 3-pin plug for now and see how that works out for me.

Quick question:

It will be very rare that I will need to travel far enough that I need to use public charging. However, if I did need to use one of the faster chargers at a motorway services, do I have to ensure that I don’t use chargers that are rated at higher power than my car? I think mine is limited to 80kW for charging. I assume I can use chargers that can provide up to 80kW ? I have searched on an application call ZapMap and this lists lots of 50kW chargers. I can’t see any that provide 80kW, but there appears to be lots that do 150kW and some up to 350kW. I wouldn’t want to plug my battery into the larger ones if it is a problem for the battery.

Strongly recommend doing a few test chargers using public rapid (dc) and ac locally when you don’t need it. Saves the stress and worry doing it on the road.

 

[dsimpkins]

Strongly recommend doing a few test chargers using public rapid (dc) and ac locally when you don’t need it. Saves the stress and worry doing it on the road.

Yes, I took on board that tip, and it saved me time and hassle for when on a long journey and needed to use a rapid DC charger.

 

[slmorgan42]

Yes, I took on board that tip, and it saved me time and hassle for when on a long journey and needed to use a rapid DC charger.

It always sound daft saying it but it does really help with confidence. Saying that I have found when on the road fellow EV owners are quite friendly and helpful if you get stuck.

 

[Rolfe]

Thanks for all the replies.

A lot to take in there. Wallbox, wall box, AC, DC, 80%, 20%, NMC, LFP, Single Phase, 3-Phase, etc…..

Think I’ll just stick with my 3-pin plug for now and see how that works out for me.

Quick question:

It will be very rare that I will need to travel far enough that I need to use public charging. However, if I did need to use one of the faster chargers at a motorway services, do I have to ensure that I don’t use chargers that are rated at higher power than my car? I think mine is limited to 80kW for charging. I assume I can use chargers that can provide up to 80kW ? I have searched on an application call ZapMap and this lists lots of 50kW chargers. I can’t see any that provide 80kW, but there appears to be lots that do 150kW and some up to 350kW. I wouldn’t want to plug my battery into the larger ones if it is a problem for the battery.

I started off with my 3-pin plug nine months ago and I'm still using it. Mind you, some people report trouble with the plug heating up if the circuit or the connections aren't top-notch, so keep an eye on that. My only slight difficulty is when it comes to doing the recommended <10% to 100% slow charge I have to arrange to arrive down at 10% on the day before a day when I won't be needing the car, because it takes so long to do the long AC charge on the 13A plug. This isn't an issue if you have a home charger, because that will do it in 8-10 hours, so overnight. But you only need to do that once every 3 to 6 months.

As others have said, what you're looking for are DC chargers rated above 80 Kw if possible, because that way you have a chance of actually getting 80 Kw. They will not overload your battery. On a 50 Kw charger you will get at best about 48 Kw. However, if there is a site where there are 350 Kw and 50 Kw chargers, as is the case at quite a few motorway service stations, and the 350 Kw units are busy, it's polite to take a 50 Kw charger if you can, it won't delay you by much compared to how much it would delay someone in a car that can charge at 150 or 200 Kw.

 

[slmorgan42]

I started off with my 3-pin plug nine months ago and I'm still using it. Mind you, some people report trouble with the plug heating up if the circuit or the connections aren't top-notch, so keep an eye on that. My only slight difficulty is when it comes to doing the recommended <10% to 100% slow charge I have to arrange to arrive down at 10% on the day before a day when I won't be needing the car, because it takes so long to do the long AC charge on the 13A plug. This isn't an issue if you have a home charger, because that will do it in 8-10 hours, so overnight. But you only need to do that once every 3 to 6 months.

As others have said, what you're looking for are DC chargers rated above 80 Kw if possible, because that way you have a chance of actually getting 80 Kw. They will not overload your battery. On a 50 Kw charger you will get at best about 48 Kw. However, if there is a site where there are 350 Kw and 50 Kw chargers, as is the case at quite a few motorway service stations, and the 350 Kw units are busy, it's polite to take a 50 Kw charger if you can, it won't delay you by much compared to how much it would delay someone in a car that can charge at 150 or 200 Kw.

I am curious what the recommended <10% to 100% charge is and where is it from? I have not heard this before and wondered what its purpose is.

The closest thing I can think of is in the FL manual it says to do a 100% AC charge now and again to balance the batteries. There is no lower limit needed for this though.

The manual recommends keeping the battery above 30% and ideally between 50-80% for daily use.

 

[Rolfe]

It's in the manual for the MG4, and it's recommended for other cars too. It's in addition to your 100% balancing charge which should be done about every month. Are you sure it's not in your manual?

 

[slmorgan42]

It's in the manual for the MG4, and it's recommended for other cars too. It's in addition to your 100% balancing charge which should be done about every month. Are you sure it's not in your manual?

Interesting can you send me a screenshot of where it is in the MG4 manual and I will look for the same section in the MG5 manual.

Interesting can you send me a screenshot of where it is in the MG4 manual and I will look for the same section in the MG5 manual.

So interesting enough I did find there are 2 version of the manual. One in the app and one on MG website. Depending on which you look at the maintenance section is different.

The online version does say if you use it daily you should do the slow low charge from 10%.

I have to say as someone who cannot have a home charger and rely on public charging having to drop to 10% and charge to 100% would be a real challenge. Lucky I am a low usage driver only really using it on the weekend.

 

[Gomev]

Hence why I said the main choices,

Of course you know this.
However my comment was for anyone that wasn't aware and to avoid confusion between the generic term wallbox you were using and the brand Wallbox.
(as in 'this requires either a compatible wallbox or compatible car'

 

[johnb80]

Of course you know this.
However my comment was for anyone that wasn't aware and to avoid confusion between the generic term wallbox you were using and the brand Wallbox.
(as in 'this requires either a compatible wallbox or compatible car'

You raise a good point about the flavours of EVSE m’lud ?

 

[MichaelJHunt]

Of course you know this.
However my comment was for anyone that wasn't aware and to avoid confusion between the generic term wallbox you were using and the brand Wallbox.
(as in 'this requires either a compatible wallbox or compatible c

 

[Fiver]

Strongly recommend doing a few test chargers using public rapid (dc) and ac locally when you don’t need it. Saves the stress and worry doing it on the road.

Hi, I will give it a go. There is a pub not too far from us that has two “Instavolt” chargers that are signed as 150kW. From my understanding now, I can use these chargers and should get the maximum the car can handle. It will be interesting to see how complicated something like this is to do.