My car range seems low

[peter]

Hi. I've had the car for about a month now. I've been a little concerned about the range I'm getting and not sure if I've a fault with my battery.
Today I needed to top up after about 110 miles, this was on A roads AVG speed around 60. Motorway has been worse.
I had heaters off, except for a few mins here and there to clear mist on windscreen.
I drive in eco mode with reg breaking at 3.
I understand various things impact range but this seemed a conservative drive in ok conditions and still not close to advertised performance.
Has anyone else experienced similar issues?
Not sure if I should contact dealer.

 

[John Arnold]

I have experienced the same problem? Put it down to temperature. Just had 2 BMS updates done and I will see if this improves the situation. I’m aware that the updates allow charging with doors open and unlocked. Are there any other things I need to look for?

 

[Mark Holmes]

The normal battery operating temperature for WTLP in 25 degrees, you will see a big drop off with all electric cars when the temperatures drop to low single figures. What has your average temperature been and on your display how many miles are you getting per kWh on a single journey and as an average?
In the summer on a run I could easily achieve about 173 miles on a run, but that has dropped to about 120 - 130 at present on 4 degrees and yet my journey average since having the car is still 4.3 KWh, which equals an average of 180 miles, it’s dropped slightly recently.

 

[peter]

Most recent run at 110 mile range was about 10 degrees, it was also wet which maybe has an impact?
Reading was about 3.1kwh which by my maths should have given more range.
Does this seem reasonable or possibly a battery fault?

 

[Mark Holmes]

At 3.1 KWh would give you about 130 to completely flat, don’t forget the last bar gives you about 25 miles on average and then when you get three lines appear as if you have no remaining mileage you have about 10 left, but I would never intentionally push it that far..do the calculations by 42.5 usable battery.

 

[peter]

I haven't had the 3 lines appear yet so probably could have pushed it further and got more than the 110. Guess I'll hope for better performance in summer!

 

[Mark Holmes]

When you plug in next time look at your dashboard, middle screen as it will show that you are charging and what percentage of power you have in the car when you connect, that will give you an idea of what you actually had left before plugging in.
You will see a big difference in the summer and as I said before the optimal temp is about 25 degrees to get the best out of any electric car, we have an advantage over this as we do have battery cooling, some others don’t...
Roll on the summer...

 

[MG YB to ZS EV]

When fully charged and select ’E’ it reads 210 miles. On long journeys I select ‘N’ will then read 187 miles, but the car is able to run on less regen braking which maintains the speed on motor ways and less power is needed going up hills. This I feel provides a better m/kwh from the battery on long journeys. Also I’m travelling in the South of England and temperature has an impact. Hope this helps to get more miles from your battery.

 

[Kithmo]

Most recent run at 110 mile range was about 10 degrees, it was also wet which maybe has an impact?
Reading was about 3.1kwh which by my maths should have given more range.
Does this seem reasonable or possibly a battery fault?

Strong headwinds, heavy loads, heavy right foot ?
Could it be the brakes binding, check if any of the wheels are hot after stopping ?
When you say you needed to top up, what was the range left on the GOM ?

 

[Stuart74]

I’ve had my car just under 3 months
I drive 55 miles each way to work
My car reads 159 miles in eco mode every morning and depending on wind and temperature I have between 75-85 miles range left most days.
I drive on motorway 95% of the way and speeds between 65-75mph
I don’t drive really fast and don’t accelerate hard.
So realistically I get about 110 -120 real miles so seems normal.
I think it’s because regen is hardly used due to motorway driving.
Fingers crossed gets better when ambient temp goes up
It doesn’t really affect me too much as I granny charge at work
Love the car though

 

[peter]

Strong headwinds, heavy loads, heavy right foot ?
Could it be the brakes binding, check if any of the wheels are hot after stopping ?
When you say you needed to top up, what was the range left on the GOM ?

I started journey on 100% I'd driven 80 miles and had 30 left on the GOM when I recharged. Winds weren't particularly strong I'll check the wheels next time I stop.

 

[mj224]

I find with my little CV zero, the battery capacity reduces considerably in winter. I wonder whether charging the car in a warmed up garage will increase capacity...

PS Just bought the ZS...)

 

[Jeps]

Hi. I've had the car for about a month now. I've been a little concerned about the range I'm getting and not sure if I've a fault with my battery.
Today I needed to top up after about 110 miles, this was on A roads AVG speed around 60. Motorway has been worse.
I had heaters off, except for a few mins here and there to clear mist on windscreen.
I drive in eco mode with reg breaking at 3.
I understand various things impact range but this seemed a conservative drive in ok conditions and still not close to advertised performance.
Has anyone else experienced similar issues?
Not sure if I should contact dealer.

You say you needed to top it up!!! But how low where you in miles/kilometers or % left when you charged it?

 

[Jeps]

I find with my little CV zero, the battery capacity reduces considerably in winter. I wonder whether charging the car in a warmed up garage will increase capcity...

PS Just bought the ZS...)

Hehe.
We had the Peugeot iOn for 4 years before the MG. Super Mini car???

 

[viffer]

I’ve had my car just under 3 months
I drive 55 miles each way to work
My car reads 159 miles in eco mode every morning and depending on wind and temperature I have between 75-85 miles range left most days.
I drive on motorway 95% of the way and speeds between 65-75mph
I don’t drive really fast and don’t accelerate hard.
So realistically I get about 110 -120 real miles so seems normal.
I think it’s because regen is hardly used due to motorway driving.
Fingers crossed gets better when ambient temp goes up
It doesn’t really affect me too much as I granny charge at work
Love the car though

My gom has never read more than 154 in eco mode?‍

 

[peter]

You say you needed to top it up!!! But how low where you in miles/kilometers or % left when you charged it?

I had 30 miles left but had 50 miles to get home so needed a charge. I'd only driven 80 miles to that point. So I think I would have got a max of 110 or less if I'd kept driving.
Really seems to be slot. Less than some people here are getting so I'm really worried my battery has an issue.
I think I'll collect some more stats on my longer trips and see if it is indeed a problem.

 

[Jeps]

110 miles is a little to the low side.
But next time you charge, try to check as Mark Holmes discribed the % persentage on the dashboard (you look through the window for that just after you start the charging session)
My experience with electric cars and GOM's are, that they start to drop less rapid when you get lower in the capacity. So you will probably see that you could have gone longer then you first thought possible. It's Okey to bail out and charge. But if you do some more experimenting when you have the time, and have available chargers near you. Then it's nice to see and know how your car is behaving.
I can't remember exactly, but when you reach the last bar on the battery gage in the MG you still have about 20% left on the battery.

 

[mj224]

Maybe if the battery is new, it just needs a few cycles to get it working properly...

I don't know if Lithiums have a memory, but maybe if its been sat and not used for several months, it just needs a bit of a kick to get it going. I would give it a couple of full cycles, and see what goes.

I must add I am no battery expert, certainly not lithiums...

 

[Mr H]

I've had my ZS for a month now and I always get 142 miles showing on the GOM in normal mode after a full charge.

 

[Esi]

You could try charging from 3pin house socket as that shall bring the battery cells to level out and charge more too.