Loss of power due to empty battery / uphill driving / acceleration / overtaking

[DMeine]

On the way home, I once again had to experience that the car in normal mode with ACC did not accelerate when overtaking. The battery was empty except for 2 bars and it no longer accelerated, and that was at 110 km/h. If something like that happens on a country road, it can quickly become dangerous. The combustion engine constantly wants to charge the battery instead of giving its full power to the drive wheels.

Strangely enough, it rarely happens when the car is driven in ECO with limiter instead of Normal / Sport with ACC. But that can't be the solution

It has also happened to us when driving slowly uphill that the car no longer accelerates properly.

In any case, the car is back in the workshop today and I hope that there is already an update for it. Because what do you want with a car that has almost 200hp and you can't even overtake with it or it turns into a lottery game. It would also be nice if you could always see how high the battery level is, after all there is enough space on the display to maintain the speedometer or the tachometer. MG should read the forum and respond better to the requests and not turn the customers into test objects.

 

[Anon70]

Have a look at this video from timestamp 12:25 onward, might explain the behaviour you are seeing

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

On the way home, I once again had to experience that the car in normal mode with ACC did not accelerate when overtaking. The battery was empty except for 2 bars and it no longer accelerated, and that was at 110 km/h. If something like that happens on a country road, it can quickly become dangerous. The combustion engine constantly wants to charge the battery instead of giving its full power to the drive wheels.

Strangely enough, it rarely happens when the car is driven in ECO with limiter instead of Normal / Sport with ACC. But that can't be the solution

It has also happened to us when driving slowly uphill that the car no longer accelerates properly.

In any case, the car is back in the workshop today and I hope that there is already an update for it. Because what do you want with a car that has almost 200hp and you can't even overtake with it or it turns into a lottery game. It would also be nice if you could always see how high the battery level is, after all there is enough space on the display to maintain the speedometer or the tachometer. MG should read the forum and respond better to the requests and not turn the customers into test objects.

If it's any consolation (and it's not) then I have been an unpaid test driver for my X Power since I picked it up at the beginning of October 2023.

Still putting up with things that really should have been sorted during the test and development phase. (IF SAIC even has such a thing)

This will be coming to a head in the next few months, but infuriating all the same.

Luckilly for MG, it hasn't put me off the X Power and I shall just make sure that I really, thoughly, leaving no stone unturned, test drive the next one, before signing on the dotted line.

 

[deltasigma]

On the way home, I once again had to experience that the car in normal mode with ACC did not accelerate when overtaking. The battery was empty except for 2 bars and it no longer accelerated, and that was at 110 km/h. If something like that happens on a country road, it can quickly become dangerous. The combustion engine constantly wants to charge the battery instead of giving its full power to the drive wheels.

Strangely enough, it rarely happens when the car is driven in ECO with limiter instead of Normal / Sport with ACC. But that can't be the solution

It has also happened to us when driving slowly uphill that the car no longer accelerates properly.

In any case, the car is back in the workshop today and I hope that there is already an update for it. Because what do you want with a car that has almost 200hp and you can't even overtake with it or it turns into a lottery game. It would also be nice if you could always see how high the battery level is, after all there is enough space on the display to maintain the speedometer or the tachometer. MG should read the forum and respond better to the requests and not turn the customers into test objects.

What you mentioned is true, and I have experienced it as well. If anyone knows about a software update that fixes this behavior, please let me know. Thank you.

 

[FromParis]

Hello the software updates is available since around mid december. It improves things clearly (as people reported on the french facebook group). But on highway you still may have issues.. So it doesn't completely resolve the issue but the loss of power comes ... later

PD030 and PD050 are the codes mentionned by some people

 

[DMeine]

The car was in the workshop. Apparently there is no update for Germany, so the software from July is still on it.

The manual says that the car needs to be run in for 1500km. Up until then I always thought I'd see what happens to the car after that, because I know that a different engine characteristic may be used and I have the feeling that this is the case. I've now driven 2100km and I have the feeling that something has changed. The fuel consumption has gone down and the revs aren't as high anymore. Maybe that's just subjective.

 

[FromParis]

I've read that the updates come from MG Europe and are automatically pushed, there is no "frontier" between the countries. Maybe that's not true

 

[DMeine]

They said that if you enter the vehicle code the computer would tell you whether there was an update or not and apparently there isn't one for mine.

 

[mick78]

The car was in the workshop. Apparently there is no update for Germany, so the software from July is still on it.

The manual says that the car needs to be run in for 1500km. Up until then I always thought I'd see what happens to the car after that, because I know that a different engine characteristic may be used and I have the feeling that this is the case. I've now driven 2100km and I have the feeling that something has changed. The fuel consumption has gone down and the revs aren't as high anymore. Maybe that's just subjective.

I agree, after 2000 kilometres in, mine also shows a better average consumption, and a bit more logical rev behaviour and EV usage. Maybe some learning curve, or a different profile programmed for the first hundreds of kilometres to get everything sorted?

 

[mick78]

I've read that the updates come from MG Europe and are automatically pushed, there is no "frontier" between the countries. Maybe that's not true

I don't think the ZS supports OTA updates, at least not for something as fundamental as engine/hybridsystem programming, so pushing would still have to be done through dealers, who actually install that. Probably not all dealers do it properly?

 

[DMeine]

There are no OTA updates for the ZS, the dealer told me that when I asked him about it, and updates are only done if you specifically request them and have problems with the car. Unfortunately, you don't get any information from the dealership about whether there is one or not, so you have to pester them every now and then. The dealership was very surprised when I told them that there are numerous videos with the errors and that it is also a topic in forums. If the technicians are not told this from above or by the customer, nothing happens and you don't really feel like you are being taken seriously because you haven't experienced it yourself.

 

[FromParis]

Got the information that PD052 update is supposed to treat the problem of the loss of power when the battery is drained (1/10)

 

[DMeine]

@FromParis
Do you have that in writing somewhere? And is it also for the German market?

 

[FromParis]

A guy working from MG motors France (headquarters) gave me the info.
And some guys on the French group gave the confirmation. On the "bill" it's not 100% sure that the PD052 update is written ... that's the problem.

 

[diwat123]

This is from official MG France Facebook:

 

[MGerized]

Hi!, first of all I'm not english speaking fluent, sorry to all users. I'm driving an MG ZS hybrid+ since december 27th, my daily route is arround 27 km of hilly terrain with slope values arround 6% to 23%. Driving down from home i'm getting compsumptions close to 0,3 l to 0,8 l/100km, the worst case was 1,9l. Driving to home, the first week i've suffered punctual 4400 revs and 5200 climbing on Highway, of course was scaring, and forced me to Drive on low speeds. Thanks to this forum i did several tests, specially thanks to DMeine who gave me the basic keys to Drive this car. These are my solutions:

For flat and urban areas: Drive in eco/normal mode, get speed in recharging mode 1 and change to 2, this lets car recharge, i preffer eco after getting speed and mode 2.

In hill change to sport Mode and recharge 2, Mode 3 slows the car without chance to glide, Drive at 60 kmh in 12% slope, your motor keeps 2200 revs to 2500, maybe you can refine, and get the 80 kmh climbing at 2700 revs.

Now i have a drivable car, not the faster, but remmember it's an hybrid car, the way you drive needs to be reviewed, at least uphill. It's a magnific car by it's price.

Seems we have to manage two motors instead one system, eco Mode consumes less gasoline and promotes low electric use but gives low power too, if you use recharge 2, energy produced overpass the requirements in glide. Sport Mode promotes gasoline use and reinforces the electric engine, ideally the recharge Mode should be level 3, but this recharge forces to use more energy due to regen brake.

 

[FromParis]

haha okay but when you are on a highway for eg. in france, speed limits are 130kph
I have experienced the issue on a small hill and we were just 2 adults in the cabin.
So it was disappointing that we finally had 0 power and 1/10 battery bars displayed and the engine reving and no power at all when pushing the throttle on the floor.

So the car doesn't like to be driven at 130kph when it's not flat.. every driver better have the information and should drive carefully and checking the battery indicator

The 30kW consumtion on the dash if above is where the problems starts.. engine can't charge enough and so the battery level goes down down... and if you keep climbing fast, you finally meet the issues.

 

[MGerized]

Hello, try it, use sport Mode recharge level 2 as i said, at 50-70 kmh runs charging and assist , today i tested on hill and got enougth battery at top to achieve 80 kmh something happened then at 3700 revs suddenly achieved 100 kmh on uphill and revs down to 2100 ( i've passed a Tesla Oo)

 

[DMeine]

The charging levels 1-3 have nothing to do with general charging. These are just the recuperation levels that come into play when rolling but do not affect charging while driving.

 

[diwat123]

An official communication to MG dealers in France has been leaked after being published on one of the MG forums on Facebook. MG France is encouraging their customers to perform the PD052 update on already delivered vehicles, while ensuring that all remaining cars receive this update before being handed over to customers. Hopefully, this update will address the power loss issues on hills, which have been gaining significant attention. I have attached the translation from French for reference.