Can I limit charging to 80% and if so how?

[Stuart Wright]

Sorry for not being knowledgeable about every aspect of the car. Clearly not as clever as you. If everyone knew all there was to know about the car then forums like this would not be needed. I raised an issue that I thought would be of interest to many. Having looked at the MG handbook again I can see that there is no direct reference to charging to only 80% or indeed any specific way of limiting any charge other than by monitoring yourself and unplugging when appropriate. I had done research but silly me I did not have all aspects of the car to hand. Some of the issues raised on the forum were ones that I knew about, but I resisted the temptation to belittle those that raised them. I have owned a NIssan Leaf EV for nearly 2 years before buying this MG5. These are not bragging rights just facts. I learnt much more about the car after purchasing it, even though I had done research before purchase. I still did not know everything about the car. I am now in a similar position with the MG. I am learning and will continue to do so throughout my ownership. I shall have to give very careful consideration before asking any questions on this forum again.

I have three (off topic) points to make in response to your post and that which you replied to.

First, not knowing about not being able to limit the charge to 80% is somewhat of a novice omission nowadays, but then there is nothing wrong with being a novice as we all are at first.

[Incidentally having an app or system to limit the charge was not an option on my first EV in 2017, so someone could be an expert EV owner, but just not do sufficient new research when looking at a new car.]

What happened here is that you declared yourself as not exactly a novice

As I said I am not exactly a novice in the EV ownership stakes

But then talked about making somewhat of a novice mistake when researching the ZS EV and then criticised MG.

Once again bit of a fail for MG

You must understand that this being an MG forum, while there are plenty of reasons to legitimately criticise MG and their cars (no company or car is perfect), doing so in this way is somewhat likely to invite an unsympathetic response from other MG owners. So you shouldn't be surprised at the reply you got.

You say you are not a novice in the EV ownership stakes, and then criticise MG for not being able to limit a charge to 80%. Did you not do the appropriate research first? If not, the fail is with you. And apologies for being so blunt, but I am a complete novice with EVs, but I did know this limitation before I bought the car. It was pretty easy to find out.

Which was, I think, a tad tough, but not unreasonable.
So my second point is that people who engage in public forums need to be able to take some (appropriately put) criticism. Call it a 'thick skin' if you like. Although insults and disrespect are not tolerated here.

You shouldn't get so upset at the reply, though you did and reacted.

Third point, the passive aggressive part of your reply was not helpful.

Sorry for not being knowledgeable about every aspect of the car. Clearly not as clever as you.

and

I shall have to give very careful consideration before asking any questions on this forum again.

I would hope that folks consider all the messages they post, though nobody should be afraid of asking a question in fear of it being considered 'silly' because we are all novices at first. And poking fun of novices is not tolerated here. They make up a large proportion of our visitors.

@SDP79 everyone makes mistakes and it was good that you admitted yours. First world problem, though, and I've lived happily with my Ioniq for over 4 years without the programmable charge limit feature.
Correct that the original ZS EV doesn't have the feature, though I believe MG have fixed this (not a mistake, but) feature deficiency for the refreshed model available to order now.

 

[EVsince2016]

Well put and btw my LEAF has no smart charging facilities to limit charge to 80% either and many if not most affordable EVs don't have that feature either!

Also, as an EV owner of 5.5 years and a fan before then, I am still a novice because as quick as I learn, things develop ahead and keeping up is quite a past time.

 

[draxxmenvone]

Not my words. The words of MG UK:
"You can extend the life of the batteries by only charging them between 20% and 80% and trying not to let them drop below 50% too often. Going beyond these limits can increase the rate that the battery deteriorates over time."
Electric car battery life | Electric Life | MG Motor UK | MG MOTOR UK

 

[marcopolomt]

Well put and btw my LEAF has no smart charging facilities to limit charge to 80% either and many if not most affordable EVs don't have that feature either!

Also, as an EV owner of 5.5 years and a fan before then, I am still a novice because as quick as I learn, things develop ahead and keeping up is quite a past time.

my workaround is with charging timers I generally keep mine on a 1230 to 430am octopus go friendly pattern and only charge (via granny cable in my case) when I get below 50% unless doing a lot of driving. The leaf will actually tell you how long it will take to get to each state of charge so makes it quite easy.

imo all evs should be equipped with both start AND stop timers (stelantis cars only have a start charge timer so worthless). capacity limiters would be ideal too, and an app even better.

Looks like we are getting all of these on the new zs so it's better than much of the competition on that aspect. That includes tesla who only have a start charge timer too (you can limit the charge capacity though so it's still a good workaround). Should really help keep MG's running at high capacity for donkeys.

 

[weedavemac]

I have three (off topic) points to make in response to your post and that which you replied to.

First, not knowing about not being able to limit the charge to 80% is somewhat of a novice omission nowadays, but then there is nothing wrong with being a novice as we all are at first.

[Incidentally having an app or system to limit the charge was not an option on my first EV in 2017, so someone could be an expert EV owner, but just not do sufficient new research when looking at a new car.]

What happened here is that you declared yourself as not exactly a novice

But then talked about making somewhat of a novice mistake when researching the ZS EV and then criticised MG.

You must understand that this being an MG forum, while there are plenty of reasons to legitimately criticise MG and their cars (no company or car is perfect), doing so in this way is somewhat likely to invite an unsympathetic response from other MG owners. So you shouldn't be surprised at the reply you got.

Which was, I think, a tad tough, but not unreasonable.
So my second point is that people who engage in public forums need to be able to take some (appropriately put) criticism. Call it a 'thick skin' if you like. Although insults and disrespect are not tolerated here.

You shouldn't get so upset at the reply, though you did and reacted.

Third point, the passive aggressive part of your reply was not helpful.

and

I would hope that folks consider all the messages they post, though nobody should be afraid of asking a question in fear of it being considered 'silly' because we are all novices at first. And poking fun of novices is not tolerated here. They make up a large proportion of our visitors.

@SDP79 everyone makes mistakes and it was good that you admitted yours. First world problem, though, and I've lived happily with my Ioniq for over 4 years without the programmable charge limit feature.
Correct that the original ZS EV doesn't have the feature, though I believe MG have fixed this (not a mistake, but) feature deficiency for the refreshed model available to order now.

I did apologise for being so blunt. What I read was someone blaming MG for failing and it struck me as deflection. I shall leave it there.

 

[watdub]

Not my words. The words of MG UK:
"You can extend the life of the batteries by only charging them between 20% and 80% and trying not to let them drop below 50% too often. Going beyond these limits can increase the rate that the battery deteriorates over time."
Electric car battery life | Electric Life | MG Motor UK | MG MOTOR UK

Newbie here (& first post!). I have my MG5 LR about a month and still learning all the nuances.

This is the first time I've read about the 50% recommendation. Do you know how or why the 50% limit would be important?

I use my MG5 as a taxi and use about 40% battery per day so would end up around 40% battery remaining if I started with an 80% charge at the start of the day.

Thanks.

 

[weedavemac]

Newbie here (& first post!). I have my MG5 LR about a month and still learning all the nuances.

This is the first time I've read about the 50% recommendation. Do you know how or why the 50% limit would be important?

I use my MG5 as a taxi and use about 40% battery per day so would end up around 40% battery remaining if I started with an 80% charge at the start of the day.

Thanks.

I also use my MG5 as a taxi.
I start at 100% pretty much every morning.
I usually finish my day in the 20 to 30% range.
So I am breaking pretty much every rule on the book.

 

[watdub]

My car is only a month old so I'm still on "best behaviour" Give it a month or two, lol

 

[marcopolomt]

personally, i would split the difference and charge to 85%.

 

[EVsince2016]

Newbie here (& first post!). I have my MG5 LR about a month and still learning all the nuances.

This is the first time I've read about the 50% recommendation. Do you know how or why the 50% limit would be important?

I use my MG5 as a taxi and use about 40% battery per day so would end up around 40% battery remaining if I started with an 80% charge at the start of the day.

Thanks.

I have never read anywhere else about the 50% level. Don't worry about running it down to 20% as I am sure it's more about leaving it at <50% for longer periods.

Another fact is that the LFP batteries in MG5 SR and current ZS models are not really affected by any of this much!

 

[EVsince2016]

I also use my MG5 as a taxi.
I start at 100% pretty much every morning.
I usually finish my day in the 20 to 30% range.
So I am breaking pretty much every rule on the book.

The taxi company in St Austell started at 80% in the morning, topped up in the day and ended at 20% thus maintaining their early LEAF for >200,000 miles

 

[Frank]

Is there any real world evidence that charging to 100% each day has X amount of negative effect on the battery?

I ask as I will be charging to 100% each day because I don't know where I may be needed in my job, could be 40 miles or 200. Not got my vehicle yet unfortunately to comment on this in real world terms.

I have and always have charged my EVs every night (that is why I installed a home charger). All battery charging so called problems/concerns are all, if , maybe and buts, there is no concrete evidence for battery concerns except for one that ALL experts agree on, RAPID charging has the most damaging effect on battery life expectency.

The BMS won,t let the Battery charge to a 100% anyway and it also won't let the Battery get too low.

So keep off RAPID chargers if you can but charge every night using your home charger, it won't harm the battery unnecessarily. Just understand that any charging affects the battery but you can't avoid this, low/fast charging is best for battery life, keep off the rapids if you can.

I have never had any problems with either my HV or 12v battery with my charging regime (charge every night when car finished with) , and I NEVER Worried about balancing as the car just took care of that itself.

IMO the don't charge your car past 80% brigade unless you need to have a full tank is a lot of bollocks and stems from all EV manufacturers quoting their charging times to 80% because if they quoted to 100% it would jeopardise sales as we all know the charging times would look even worse than what they are.

This is also where the "you must not charge your car past 80% when using RAPID chargers comes from as well", again bollocks, if you need or want to charge to 100% then carry on, you are paying to use the charger. How would you react if when filling up at a petrol pump someone thought " only put in 10 gallons even though you could take 12 gallons", you are paying for the use of the pump, your choice how you use it.

Lastly before anyone calls me, inconsiderate, selfish when using a RAPID charger how I want to , then don't, I am ALWAYS mindful of other EV users and if there is a queue I will always disconnect and free up the charger.

Too many people worry unnecessarily about their battery, just treat it like your phone, plug it in every night.

Frank

 

[SDP79]

I have three (off topic) points to make in response to your post and that which you replied to.

First, not knowing about not being able to limit the charge to 80% is somewhat of a novice omission nowadays, but then there is nothing wrong with being a novice as we all are at first.

[Incidentally having an app or system to limit the charge was not an option on my first EV in 2017, so someone could be an expert EV owner, but just not do sufficient new research when looking at a new car.]

Hello Mr Wright,
Thank you for taking the time to make this reply which I take in good spirt but disappointment. I shall explain why and hopefully evidence.

Your point about me not knowing that you were not able to limit charge to 80% and that this is a novice question - would appear I am not alone. I thought it was a reasonable question, there are plenty of comments and suggestions about charging to 80% as best practice - though not essential. It therefore follows that they maybe a way to do this - hence the question. There is plenty of experience on this forum and I was hoping that possibly somewhere, someone would have a solution to this problem or maybe they knew that there maybe some software upgrade in the pipeline by MG - isn't this the main reason for the forum?

But then talked about making somewhat of a novice mistake when researching the ZS EV and then criticised MG.

You mention the ZS EV a couple of times don't quite know where this comes from as I am really only concerned with the MG5. Perhaps this is a time when I would be quite within my rights to make some pithy comment but I refrain from any such words. I criticised MG after finding this remark in their brochure:

"How to make your car battery last longer​

There are several tips that you can use to try and increase your electric car battery life:

- Charge the electric car battery between 20%-80% - The lifespan of the battery pack often depends on how much it’s charged. You can extend the life of the batteries by only charging them between 20% and 80% and trying not to let them drop below 50% too often. Going beyond these limits can increase the rate that the battery deteriorates over time...................."

So in my view a failure to have a feature to limit charging capacity after recommending it is a fail and a legitimate criticism. This is posted by another member draxxmenvone. You should be supportive of those that legitimately raise issues about MG - perhaps making a list of issues that should be considered for future vehicles. You never know perhaps there is someone at MG actually looking at forums like this. Rather than to tolerate unjustifiable criticism and rudeness to forum members.

​

Hello again everyone. Thank you for all your replies. Pretty much as I thought - there is no way to make any setting to make charge go only to 80%. Once again bit of a fail for MG - having made recommendation and then giving no way of compliance other than best guess and experienced judgement. As I said I am not exactly a novice in the EV ownership stakes, I will carry on as before. Every once in a while let the battery run down to around 30% and then charge up - but of course this will take longer than my low tariff period! It would be nice to be able to limit charging to this! I have a ChargevEV smart charger. But smart is not the words I would use to describe it - surely something like this should be on the smart list of things to do! Once again thanks to all.

This was my response to the very helpful replies that were initially posted. Several after this were of the same quality. No mention was made about what an elementary lack of knowledge I was displaying or were in any way critical of the matter raised. I was of the opinion that the question had been answered - unless there was some definite alternative solution out there. I was polite, thankful and informative of my position - how can anyone possible take offence? My mistake was saying that MG recommended this action and stating I was not exactly a novice - I have owned an EV for nearly 2 years and now own the MG5 - I am in no way an expert but it is not as though I am in the first week of ownership! I claim no expertise but I do claim some time served in ownership. I am sure that you fully appreciate that practical knowledge by way of ownership is far better that a expert knowledge of the owners manual.

It then goes a bit down hill after I had the temerity to criticise MG, as I stated above quite justifiably and declaring that I am not exactly a novice. Do I really need to explain the inflection in a statement? - I am saying I am not a complete novice. I am certainly not stating that I am an expert but perhaps I am saying is that it is not exactly all new to me.

Bottom line your response is somewhat unsympathetic and weak. I raised an issue - after receiving constructive and informative replies - I thanked everyone but then got rudely taken to task about why I did not know the information in the first place - I suggested that this was not the thing to do- then I am the one accused for being "passive aggressive" and to be more "thick skinned"! I legitimately criticise MG and then I am again taken to task over it - I am the one at fault. Amazing.

I hope you are able to practice what you preach and be thick skinned as it is clear you have made several errors when replying to my post. After this post I fully expect to be removed from this forum and for this post to be removed - prove me wrong.
Good luck to you all and fare well.

 

[EVsince2016]

I have and always have charged my EVs every night (that is why I installed a home charger). All battery charging so called problems/concerns are all, if , maybe and buts, there is no concrete evidence for battery concerns except for one that ALL experts agree on, RAPID charging has the most damaging effect on battery life expectency.

The BMS won,t let the Battery charge to a 100% anyway and it also won't let the Battery get too low.

So keep off RAPID chargers if you can but charge every night using your home charger, it won't harm the battery unnecessarily. Just understand that any charging affects the battery but you can't avoid this, low/fast charging is best for battery life, keep off the rapids if you can.

I have never had any problems with either my HV or 12v battery with my charging regime (charge every night when car finished with) , and I NEVER Worried about balancing as the car just took care of that itself.

IMO the don't charge your car past 80% brigade unless you need to have a full tank is a lot of bollocks and stems from all EV manufacturers quoting their charging times to 80% because if they quoted to 100% it would jeopardise sales as we all know the charging times would look even worse than what they are.

This is also where the "you must not charge your car past 80% when using RAPID chargers comes from as well", again bollocks, if you need or want to charge to 100% then carry on, you are paying to use the charger. How would you react if when filling up at a petrol pump someone thought " only put in 10 gallons even though you could take 12 gallons", you are paying for the use of the pump, your choice how you use it.

Lastly before anyone calls me, inconsiderate, selfish when using a RAPID charger how I want to , then don't, I am ALWAYS mindful of other EV users and if there is a queue I will always disconnect and free up the charger.

Too many people worry unnecessarily about their battery, just treat it like your phone, plug it in every night.

Frank

This is not the case. There are plenty of EVs out there repeatedly rapid charged without an issue. In the early days it was thought that rapids would be a problem and indeed on early Nissan LEAF and small battery cars that was the case.

Today, as long as you keep rapid charging below 80% you have nothing to worry about.

Charging every night to 100% has everything wrong about it. Ignoring the extra damage caused by charging to 100% every time there are other issues. For a start these batteries are quoted as having a number of cycles. Charge them every night when you only need to charge every few nights then you are significantly reducing the battery life. More immediately, charging a full battery uses significantly more energy than a battery below 80%. This is because a full battery creates significantly more heat than a part charged battery. A battery at close to 100% uses twice the power per kw added than a battery below 50%. Why do you want to spend so much more on charging your car?

When charging on a rapid I suggest that you have the battery temperature on display. Under 80% it will be stable, above 80% the coolant system comes on using power and the battery temperature rises costing you time, extra money to charge and warming up the battery thus reducing it's life.

Every single car & battery manufacturer have the 20-80% rule for several reasons. None have that advice on avoiding rapids, but do have advice that if you don't use rapids then every so often you should because they boost battery capacity!

With petrol cars yo should never fill up to full either. Carrying all that extra weight, expansion causing spills & losses, just daft for a different reason.

This tech is new and changing fast. There is no reason to be worried or upset that what you know has changed, I am corrected all the time in my interests, I call it learning!

 

[Petriix]

I have and always have charged my EVs every night (that is why I installed a home charger). All battery charging so called problems/concerns are all, if , maybe and buts, there is no concrete evidence for battery concerns except for one that ALL experts agree on, RAPID charging has the most damaging effect on battery life expectency.

The BMS won,t let the Battery charge to a 100% anyway and it also won't let the Battery get too low.

So keep off RAPID chargers if you can but charge every night using your home charger, it won't harm the battery unnecessarily. Just understand that any charging affects the battery but you can't avoid this, low/fast charging is best for battery life, keep off the rapids if you can.

I have never had any problems with either my HV or 12v battery with my charging regime (charge every night when car finished with) , and I NEVER Worried about balancing as the car just took care of that itself.

IMO the don't charge your car past 80% brigade unless you need to have a full tank is a lot of bollocks and stems from all EV manufacturers quoting their charging times to 80% because if they quoted to 100% it would jeopardise sales as we all know the charging times would look even worse than what they are.

This is also where the "you must not charge your car past 80% when using RAPID chargers comes from as well", again bollocks, if you need or want to charge to 100% then carry on, you are paying to use the charger. How would you react if when filling up at a petrol pump someone thought " only put in 10 gallons even though you could take 12 gallons", you are paying for the use of the pump, your choice how you use it.

Lastly before anyone calls me, inconsiderate, selfish when using a RAPID charger how I want to , then don't, I am ALWAYS mindful of other EV users and if there is a queue I will always disconnect and free up the charger.

Too many people worry unnecessarily about their battery, just treat it like your phone, plug it in every night.

Frank

This is not the case. There are plenty of EVs out there repeatedly rapid charged without an issue. In the early days it was thought that rapids would be a problem and indeed on early Nissan LEAF and small battery cars that was the case.

Today, as long as you keep rapid charging below 80% you have nothing to worry about.

Charging every night to 100% has everything wrong about it. Ignoring the extra damage caused by charging to 100% every time there are other issues. For a start these batteries are quoted as having a number of cycles. Charge them every night when you only need to charge every few nights then you are significantly reducing the battery life. More immediately, charging a full battery uses significantly more energy than a battery below 80%. This is because a full battery creates significantly more heat than a part charged battery. A battery at close to 100% uses twice the power per kw added than a battery below 50%. Why do you want to spend so much more on charging your car?

When charging on a rapid I suggest that you have the battery temperature on display. Under 80% it will be stable, above 80% the coolant system comes on using power and the battery temperature rises costing you time, extra money to charge and warming up the battery thus reducing it's life.

Every single car & battery manufacturer have the 20-80% rule for several reasons. None have that advice on avoiding rapids, but do have advice that if you don't use rapids then every so often you should because they boost battery capacity!

With petrol cars yo should never fill up to full either. Carrying all that extra weight, expansion causing spills & losses, just daft for a different reason.

This tech is new and changing fast. There is no reason to be worried or upset that what you know has changed, I am corrected all the time in my interests, I call it learning!

You're both making some misguided statements. Physics isn't 'bollocks' but charging to 100% isn't going to 'significantly reduce the battery life' and it certainly doesn't use 'twice the power' charging at close to 100%. Yes, there are losses from balancing the cells - particularly because MG decided to do this in the least efficient way. There are also losses from having limited regen every time you drive away at 100% charged.

Charging to 100% adds slightly more strain on the battery but the more significant factor is the cumulative amount of time the car spends sitting around at a high state of charge. Again, not immediately significant but more death by a thousand cuts. 'I have never had any problems' is a binary response to a nuanced issue. What on earth is 'a problem'? 1% degradation? 7% degradation? How would you even measure it?

You're right that there are a lot of unknowns: no one has owned an MG EV for more than a couple of years, and MG are not very forthcoming with detailed information about battery health. It's possible that the BMS is so well programmed that any additional steps really would make so little difference as to be completely pointless. However, given MG's history with badly written BMS software, I'd advise a more pragmatic approach.

The notion that '100% is actually less than 100% therefore being 100% charged causes no degradation' is a non sequitur. Actually charging to real 100% would quickly diminish the battery capacity; the BMS protects it to a degree, but charging to 100% of the usable capacity is still objectively more damaging than keeping it nearer the middle of the voltage range (as of course is charging from very low states of charge, especially when cold).

My personal approach is one of caution so I avoid the extremes where possible. I don't hamper myself in any way - I charge to full whenever I think I might need the range. But, as it takes literally zero effort to not plug the car in, I don't really see what the issue is. If it turns out that the difference is minimal I might have 1-2% more range than you in 5 years time; but, if it turns out to be more significant, we could be looking at a 5-8% difference. You might not care about that, but I do.

So the correct answer is: it may make a small difference over a long time if you choose to attempt to minimise degradation; it will also save you a very small about of money. Whether or not you care is down to personal choice. But I find it baffling why anyone would advise people to do something which may be damaging because they themselves can't be bothered.

 

[EVsince2016]

You're both making some misguided statements. Physics isn't 'bollocks' but charging to 100% isn't going to 'significantly reduce the battery life' and it certainly doesn't use 'twice the power' charging at close to 100%. Yes, there are losses from balancing the cells - particularly because MG decided to do this in the least efficient way. There are also losses from having limited regen every time you drive away at 100% charged.

Charging to 100% adds slightly more strain on the battery but the more significant factor is the cumulative amount of time the car spends sitting around at a high state of charge. Again, not immediately significant but more death by a thousand cuts. 'I have never had any problems' is a binary response to a nuanced issue. What on earth is 'a problem'? 1% degradation? 7% degradation? How would you even measure it?

You're right that there are a lot of unknowns: no one has owned an MG EV for more than a couple of years, and MG are not very forthcoming with detailed information about battery health. It's possible that the BMS is so well programmed that any additional steps really would make so little difference as to be completely pointless. However, given MG's history with badly written BMS software, I'd advise a more pragmatic approach.

The notion that '100% is actually less than 100% therefore being 100% charged causes no degradation' is a non sequitur. Actually charging to real 100% would quickly diminish the battery capacity; the BMS protects it to a degree, but charging to 100% of the usable capacity is still objectively more damaging than keeping it nearer the middle of the voltage range (as of course is charging from very low states of charge, especially when cold).

My personal approach is one of caution so I avoid the extremes where possible. I don't hamper myself in any way - I charge to full whenever I think I might need the range. But, as it takes literally zero effort to not plug the car in, I don't really see what the issue is. If it turns out that the difference is minimal I might have 1-2% more range than you in 5 years time; but, if it turns out to be more significant, we could be looking at a 5-8% difference. You might not care about that, but I do.

So the correct answer is: it may make a small difference over a long time if you choose to attempt to minimise degradation; it will also save you a very small about of money. Whether or not you care is down to personal choice. But I find it baffling why anyone would advise people to do something which may be damaging because they themselves can't be bothered.

My experience of charging is with the Nissan LEAF and I do know that charging up the last few percentage points does use nearly double the input per percentage added. With the MG buffer, that difference is likely to be much less. I am sure that there are trials & papers on this.

I charge on sunny days off solar and at night when I need to mostly keeping to 20-80%, but higher when there's free sun and I'll use it quickly. 100% is reserved for longer trips.

I think the LEAF battery is maybe more sensitive than newer batteries but only time will tell.

When I got my LEAF 1 in 2016, I charged every night. When I stopped doing that and topped up when needed my cost per mile dropped a fair bit.

 

[draxxmenvone]

Newbie here (& first post!). I have my MG5 LR about a month and still learning all the nuances.

This is the first time I've read about the 50% recommendation. Do you know how or why the 50% limit would be important?

I use my MG5 as a taxi and use about 40% battery per day so would end up around 40% battery remaining if I started with an 80% charge at the start of the day.

Thanks.

Hi. I think 50% is the sweet spot for batteries generally so (and I'm only guessing here) you'd be putting slightly more strain on the batteries beyond that point. If you're using it as a taxi, I don't think you need to be overly careful. You'll instantly be making massive savings over ICE even if your car doesn't last as long as others!

 

[watdub]

I live in Ireland so prices will vary. I got a Govt grant to buy the MG5 LR as a taxi. It ended up being very roughly the same price as a 5yr old Prius alpha or Skoda Superb diesel. Taxi's have a 10yr lifespan from new in Ireland. So if my MG5 LR lasts 5 yrs & a day, I'll be making a 'profit' versus the Prius/Superb...

So I guess I need the battery to work reliably for 200k km (~125k miles) or more?

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

 

[weedavemac]

Hello Mr Wright,
Thank you for taking the time to make this reply which I take in good spirt but disappointment. I shall explain why and hopefully evidence.

Your point about me not knowing that you were not able to limit charge to 80% and that this is a novice question - would appear I am not alone. I thought it was a reasonable question, there are plenty of comments and suggestions about charging to 80% as best practice - though not essential. It therefore follows that they maybe a way to do this - hence the question. There is plenty of experience on this forum and I was hoping that possibly somewhere, someone would have a solution to this problem or maybe they knew that there maybe some software upgrade in the pipeline by MG - isn't this the main reason for the forum?


You mention the ZS EV a couple of times don't quite know where this comes from as I am really only concerned with the MG5. Perhaps this is a time when I would be quite within my rights to make some pithy comment but I refrain from any such words. I criticised MG after finding this remark in their brochure:

"How to make your car battery last longer​

There are several tips that you can use to try and increase your electric car battery life:

- Charge the electric car battery between 20%-80% - The lifespan of the battery pack often depends on how much it’s charged. You can extend the life of the batteries by only charging them between 20% and 80% and trying not to let them drop below 50% too often. Going beyond these limits can increase the rate that the battery deteriorates over time...................."

So in my view a failure to have a feature to limit charging capacity after recommending it is a fail and a legitimate criticism. This is posted by another member draxxmenvone. You should be supportive of those that legitimately raise issues about MG - perhaps making a list of issues that should be considered for future vehicles. You never know perhaps there is someone at MG actually looking at forums like this. Rather than to tolerate unjustifiable criticism and rudeness to forum members.

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This was my response to the very helpful replies that were initially posted. Several after this were of the same quality. No mention was made about what an elementary lack of knowledge I was displaying or were in any way critical of the matter raised. I was of the opinion that the question had been answered - unless there was some definite alternative solution out there. I was polite, thankful and informative of my position - how can anyone possible take offence? My mistake was saying that MG recommended this action and stating I was not exactly a novice - I have owned an EV for nearly 2 years and now own the MG5 - I am in no way an expert but it is not as though I am in the first week of ownership! I claim no expertise but I do claim some time served in ownership. I am sure that you fully appreciate that practical knowledge by way of ownership is far better that a expert knowledge of the owners manual.

It then goes a bit down hill after I had the temerity to criticise MG, as I stated above quite justifiably and declaring that I am not exactly a novice. Do I really need to explain the inflection in a statement? - I am saying I am not a complete novice. I am certainly not stating that I am an expert but perhaps I am saying is that it is not exactly all new to me.

Bottom line your response is somewhat unsympathetic and weak. I raised an issue - after receiving constructive and informative replies - I thanked everyone but then got rudely taken to task about why I did not know the information in the first place - I suggested that this was not the thing to do- then I am the one accused for being "passive aggressive" and to be more "thick skinned"! I legitimately criticise MG and then I am again taken to task over it - I am the one at fault. Amazing.

I hope you are able to practice what you preach and be thick skinned as it is clear you have made several errors when replying to my post. After this post I fully expect to be removed from this forum and for this post to be removed - prove me wrong.
Good luck to you all and fare well.

I think you have completely misjudged this forum if you believe you will have your comment deleted and be removed from the forum. You clearly have taken the huff with me suggesting that the fail was with you. I apologised in the same post for being blunt but clearly that was not sufficient. My thought is that you should now move on and let it go. Please.

 

[Daffyd]

Extremely useful thread, although the antagonism is disheartening.

I've just upgraded my Gen 1 Leaf to an ex-demonstration MG 5 and was astonished to find the ability to control the total charge was absent, especially given it was available on the Nissan back in 2015. I assumed this would be a feature on all-electric cars.

The inability to connect the app to the MG 5 is also an issue.