Hi, and welcome. I’ve tried to answer yiur queries below as best I can. I hope that you enjoy your new car. Hi guys,
Should be getting our MG ZS EV car (first EV) in a couple of weeks, I've got a few questions that would be great it any of you folks out there know the answers.
1.
The granny charger plug that comes with the car.
Is the standard 3pin plug that come on the end of it a normal size plug or is it physically bigger? Reason being, I want it to fit into my outside plug socket that has one of those covers that clips down over the plug so that you can safely leave it powered on in the rain.
Standard 3 pin plug
2.
The dreaded BMS question.
My wife (a nurse) is going to use the car to drive 98 miles a day to/from hospital 3 days a week.
I'm just about comfortable with the size battery/range of this car for doing this, given losses in winter and potential battery capacity loss over a few years.
However I need the car to have the working BMS on it when I receive it, otherwise she will not be happy risking that length drive (can't charge at work).
The car we're buying was registered 26/11/2020, what software level do you guys reckon it will have come from the factory with?
my friend just bought hers registered 3/12/2020 and she’s fine with range. i would suggest it should have comfort 2 (the bongs) sorted. The jury is out on BMS... in general if it shows 455v at full charge you should be ok. But, given your important needs I would over emphasise this with the dealer.
3.
List of all updates/fixes/recalls:
How do I find out (or ask the dealer as they seemed a bit vague about it all) what software the car will have on it?
This is a list of all of the updates that I've tried to put together from reading all the forums (please feel free to correct any):
11/19 BMS 1 update
mid/20 comfort pack 2 update
7/20 BMS 2 update - charge whilst unlocked
8/20 High voltage fuse fix
10/20 BMS 3 update - fix long battery equalisation issue, caused reduced range issues
15/1/21 BMS 4 update - hopefully fixes everything!
?/? battery heater update for better charging in very cold conditions
? - Drivers door wiring fix for early cars.
yep - you’ve done your homework!
4.
In car PHONE charging
Does it come with a wireless charging pad thing, or does one have to plug the phone in with a cable to a usb socket?
no wireless charging - yes usb plug in.
We've specifically got iPhones, so will use Apple Car Play, never used it before. Does the iPhone have to be connected with cable to work or can it use bluetooth?
wired connection only for carplay. bluetooth for music streaming/phone calls.
5.
The KEY
I cannot figure the details of it from all my reading etc.
Is it a fob?
yes
with a hidden emergency physical inside it?
yes
I have sneaked onto garage forecourt to look at the car (bought it without driven an EV before), it looked like there were plastic covers/caps that pop over the key lock on the door handles, so normally they aren't visable but in an emergency you could pop it off to access a physical lock?
yes
How does the key unlock the car to gain access?
- Is it an automatic proximity thing or a press on the fob?
not automatic but proximity - push button on either front doors with key present or push button on key fod
- If it's a proximity thing, do we know how secure it is - I know other manufacturers now, to stop people stealing cars off driveways using repeaters etc, their fobs only activate a signal if they sense movement. Is ours like this or should we be keeping our fobs in faraday pouches etc?
unsure - others use faraday bags
How does the key allow the car to start?
- Does it have to be put into a slot, or put in a certain physical location in the car, or can it just be in your pocket etc within a certain distance of the car
i leave mine in my pocket.
6.
Scheduled charging
Do we have it built into the car now or not?
no control from the car - it must be done via the charger - providing the car has the right software update.
I read lots of complaints about how it didn't have this functionality, but I get the impression from reading various things that following some updates this is now available in the car.
yes - this is linked to the bms update - lots on here about this.
Until I get a fast charger installed, I want to be able to schedule the charge using the granny lead.
Thanks guys, I'm sure I'll be on this forum a lot over the next few years.
Jody
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