Disappointing winter range

[Bam Bam]

My numbers are real.

For the SR?

EV database has 130 miles as range worst case scenario (as I mentioned in an earlier post).

Relative to battery size 150 miles in the LR would be 118 for the SR.

(edit: think I might have replied to the wrong person there).

 

[Tig170]

Are those distances based on several real-life journeys or hear-say? Genuine question as I'm looking to buy an MG4 soon.

All real - just managing expectations, MG4 SE, 30,000 miles todate : In winter e.g. yesterday I went out early morning 1/2 hr drive, 10 miles or so the consumption was 6kw, made up of 3kw for moving the car, and the other 3kw was for ancillary bits/defrosting before setting off. Temp was -2 degs, I dont think this is any different to any car when defrosting the car (whether ICE/EV) - likewise at the other extreme motorway driving if you do 70-80 mph (such as christmas day) in winter you'll only get 100 miles on a SE (for the past 30 months I have battery heating defaulting to ON - but dont know what it does). During normal driving you can easily get 200 miles, if you manage the car appropriatly - one good thing with the MG4 is the Range indicator is very accurate (the more you drive), so you can drive (almost normally - slight reduction in acceleration) down to 1-2% no problems - on the SE it goes to 0% whilst stationary (did this on my drive, as a test), but couldn't select drive once at 0 %. To be honest no issues todate what so ever (Gen 1 : so no LKA challenges also)

 

[Bam Bam]

morning 1/2 hr drive, 10 miles or so the consumption was 6kw, made up of 3kw for moving the car, and the other 3kw was for ancillary bits/defrosting before setting off. Temp was - 2 degs - I dont think this is any different to any car when defrosting the car (whether ICE/EV) - likewise at the other extreme motorway driving if you do 70-80 mph (such as christmas day) in winter you'll only get 100 miles on a SE.

But over a longer distance that 3kWh of defrosting power would be a smaller and smaller proportion of the total, thus the efficiency should rise as the journey goes on (unless perhaps travelling very fast).

 

[NLMGSAN]

For the SR?

EV database has 130 miles as range worst case scenario.

Relative to battery size 150 miles in the LR would be 118 for the SR.

Why specifically for the SR?

 

[Bam Bam]

Why specifically for the SR?

Sorry, replied to the wrong person.

Causing massive confusion in the thread I am!

 

[Tig170]

But over a longer distance that 3kWh of defrosting power would be a smaller and smaller proportion of the total, thus the efficiency should rise as the journey goes on (unless perhaps travelling very fast).

Agree : Its exactly like my old Tiguan Sport, drive normally at 55mph in cruise control on a motorway you get 50mpg, but drive like its stolen / up hills (or my wife driving) and you get30 mpg.

 

[tsedge]

You can depend on a decent range in winter for both the SR or LR, but you may have to modify your mode selection and driving style to get that range.

So I would say this is more about the driver than the car.

If you are someone who is more than happy to drive at 60 on motorways, manage energy well with gentle acceleration and breaking and let speed build, or you are quite happy to take A roads and stick to 45-50mph for maximum efficiency: then you'll get much higher range figures.

However, if you are someone who is enthusiastic, impatient and cannot stand the idea of being passed, who cannot change how they drive to suit the journey, you'll get very much lower range figures especially in winter.

Therefore I propose that we also label drivers with an efficiency score.

 

[Everest]

All real - just managing expectations

OK - real, but not that representative IMHO.

If you are just driving 10 miles in cold weather, yes I can believe you can only do that 10 times on a full charge.

But, as BB said...

But over a longer distance that 3kWh of defrosting power would be a smaller and smaller proportion of the total

The concern I'd have about range is doing a longer journey where the reduced range due to cold weather means I have to charge up when out-and-about (or charge up more often).

But if one is just doing 10 miles in a day, then replacing that 6kWh usage overnight is not an issue. So the 'range' becomes somewhat irrelevant IMHO.

 

[DannySB1]

All of our helpful explanations aside, I do think it is reasonable for people to be surprised.

Winter range isn't well advertised and I bet many salespeople avoid mentioning it (if they know about it) in case it puts people off.

I'd like to see:

• Revised and more realistic testing regime - most people should be able to get the official figures with normal driving.
• Two official figures quoted: summer and winter range.

Absolutely this.

 

[Dafc1fan]

My MG4 SE does over 200 miles in the summer which is excellent. I needed to do a 65 - 70 mile journey last Saturday in -2 degrees, I didn’t want to charge on the road at all, At 100% the prediction was 150 miles. On arrival at my destination, 67 miles, I recall I had 91 miles left, so I used the motorway home 72 miles and drove at 70mph, it was now 4 degrees. Got home with 15% and 22 miles to spare. Got over range anxiety 18 months ago! I used the heater, the radio, lights and rear heated screen as required. I’m a complete convert to EV’s. If I had needed to go further, would have just paid at the services and enjoyed a coffee. Not sure why I ever had range anxiety, it’s absolutely pointless, the prediction is so accurate in the summer and winter, why be disappointed by the results because of weather. It’s just a fact, batteries go further in hotter weather!

 

[Dafc1fan]

My MG4SE does over 200 miles in the summer which is excellent. I needed to do a 65 - 70 mile journey last Saturday in -2• degrees, I didn’t want to charge on the road at all, At 100% the prediction was 150 miles. On arrival at my destination, 67 miles, I recall I had 91 miles left, so I used the motorway home 72 miles and drove at 70mph, it was now 4 degrees. Got home with 15% and 22 miles to spare. Got over range anxiety 18 months ago! I used the heater, the radio, lights and rear heated screen as required. I’m a complete convert to EV’s. If I had needed to go further, would have just paid at the services and enjoyed a coffee. Not sure why I ever had range anxiety, it’s absolutely pointless, the prediction is so accurate in the summer and winter, why be disappointed by the results because of weather. It’s just a fact, batteries go further in hotter weather!

Forgot to mention, the whole journey there and back cost me less that a fiver in energy, so being disappointed about a 25% miles less in the winter is probably still not worth trading your MG4 in just yet!

 

[Andy pandy]

@Andypandy, you have an NMC battery so it will balance at levels lower than 100%. Balancing involves charging on AC until the car declares it is no longer charging having reached the set level. Note that just reaching the set level is not good enough, you must wait until the port lights (if working) go out or the car/app declares charging finished. Balancing can be assumed to be occuring if the estimated end time keeps moving in sync with real time and the consumed power goes between 0.0kW and a higher level, eg 3kW.

Calibrating the BMS involves running the battery down to below 10%, waiting an hour or so (recommended by some), then fully charging + balancing to 100% on an AC charger. See the Manual extract below:

View attachment 33837
Note: what you see on the car's screens is an 'guestimate' of the range. Your real range depends on a number of factors. You cannot rely on scaling up from a percentage range to the 100% range. A better estimate may be obtained by multiplying the accumulated miles/kWh figure by your battery size once that figure has stabilised on a journey.

Martin online
I followed your guidance and calibrated the BMS as you described. What a difference it has made. I hadn't been balancing the battery regularly, so definitely will in the future.

 

[siteguru]

Can you show us a photo of the driver display, with the Accumulated Total trip meter showing please?

 

[Andy pandy]

Can you show us a photo of the driver display, with the Accumulated Total trip meter showing please?

Yes, no problem. Just wondering why you need this information?

 

[siteguru]

That's the From Start trip ... I asked for the Accumulated Total trip. Reason for asking is if that has been reset then the guess-o-meter (GOM) range resets to around the factory WLTP figure ... I don't believe that you'll get a real 229 miles range at this time of year.

 

[Andy pandy]

That's the From Start trip ... I asked for the Accumulated Total trip. Reason for asking is if that has been reset then the guess-o-meter (GOM) range resets to around the factory WLTP figure ... I don't believe that you'll get a real 229 miles range at this time of year.

 

[siteguru]

Well that scuppers that theory

 

[barry7153]

I drive an MG4 LR and the range I am getting at the moment is disappointing. I know that in colder weather the range drops off but right now it seems excessive. The quoted range for this model is 281 and in the summer months it goes above 300. At the moment it's dropped to 163 on 100% battery. On any longish trips the range is limiting.
Anyone else got comments on this subject?


View attachment 33817

I have noticed that as soon as I activate the ac for heating, the available mileage immediately drops by 20mls. Whether that is the predicted total consumption of the AC for that charge cycle or whether the range will continue to fall off all the time it's on I don't know.

 

[siteguru]

Actually (@Andy pandy) I've just noticed that your profile says SE LR ... I thought it said SE SR earlier, hence my scepticism. In that case 229 miles at 100% is more reasonable at this time of year for the (supposed) 61.7kWh battery pack. (281 miles WLTP if I recall right).

 

[Martinonline]

@barry7153, I have found that with a high SOC I get a 20 miles drop but at a lower SOC I get a lower drop, ~9 miles. That may be because the car is estimating how long I will be driving and therefore how much battery energy I will use. But who knows? I just treat it as a warning that the range will be reduced.