MG dealership problem after a breakdown

[IvanB]

Hi. I was driving my 16month old MG5 up to inverness from central scotland last Monday and stopped in Aviemore to charge.
Tried the Tesla Supercharger - it wouldnt recognise the car (i see elsewhere on this forum this is a known issue). Tried a BP pulse charger - same issue. Went down the road to a chargeplace scotland charger to try that even though other drivers had problems on that charger too.
Unsurprisingly had the same issue except after attemting this the Car refused to start with a red system error and the HV battery shutoff error. SO I waited a bit which usually clears such errors but no joy. Eventually called MG assist who sent a subcontrcactor out from inverness (about 40 miles).
They tried and failed to get any change and so said it needed recovered.
Unfortunately the MG garage in inverness couldnt take it for 3-4 weeks I ended up having to leave it with the recovery people and get onto my leasing company to see what they could do (zenAuto -- who to be fair were very good). As I had work meeting to get to beyond inverness - so I had to go by train and Taxi.

Apparently though none of the MG dealerships within a nearly 200 mile radius could see my car and fix what I am fairly sure is a software issue and thus should be a relatively easy fix for weeks or even months. Some dealerships quoted me May as the first time they could even look at it. Not that the other dealerships mattered much as MG would only take it to a local garage anyway.
I have no word from MG except via my leasing company who are trying to get a hire car from them, and the dealership when they finally agreed to take it have said they hope to get to it by 11th April, by which point I will presumably have to take a train the 190miles to inverness to collect it as I had to take the train back home yesterday.

So I have to ask is that the usual experience with breakdowns and MG dealerships and can anyone suggest anything else I can or could have done.

 

[Alb]

I wouldn't describe your experience as "usual" but I'd not describe it as uncommon either. Lots of owners face lengthy waits to get their vehicle booked in for whatever so perhaps the real issue here is whether breakdowns should have the right to queue jump. It's perhaps a bit less of an issue if you can get an immediate courtesy car out of them but this often isn't even an EV.

 

[5teep]

Hi. I was driving my 16month old MG5 up to inverness from central scotland last Monday and stopped in Aviemore to charge.
Tried the Tesla Supercharger - it wouldnt recognise the car (i see elsewhere on this forum this is a known issue). Tried a BP pulse charger - same issue. Went down the road to a chargeplace scotland charger to try that even though other drivers had problems on that charger too.
Unsurprisingly had the same issue except after attemting this the Car refused to start with a red system error and the HV battery shutoff error. SO I waited a bit which usually clears such errors but no joy. Eventually called MG assist who sent a subcontrcactor out from inverness (about 40 miles).
They tried and failed to get any change and so said it needed recovered.
Unfortunately the MG garage in inverness couldnt take it for 3-4 weeks I ended up having to leave it with the recovery people and get onto my leasing company to see what they could do (zenAuto -- who to be fair were very good). As I had work meeting to get to beyond inverness - so I had to go by train and Taxi.

Apparently though none of the MG dealerships within a nearly 200 mile radius could see my car and fix what I am fairly sure is a software issue and thus should be a relatively easy fix for weeks or even months. Some dealerships quoted me May as the first time they could even look at it. Not that the other dealerships mattered much as MG would only take it to a local garage anyway.
I have no word from MG except via my leasing company who are trying to get a hire car from them, and the dealership when they finally agreed to take it have said they hope to get to it by 11th April, by which point I will presumably have to take a train the 190miles to inverness to collect it as I had to take the train back home yesterday.

So I have to ask is that the usual experience with breakdowns and MG dealerships and can anyone suggest anything else I can or could have done.

If you mean the charger by the police station, I've used it ok but have had your exact issue on another of the same type when the charge failed a year or so ago. Called the AA out and their guy cleared the fault by clearing 'all errors' via his tablet. It hasn't come back so far.

For reference there are a couple of newer chargers which take contactless at the HiRange hotel in Aviemore, they are Forev chargers but the same as the Chargeplace Scotland newer ones.

/edit and yes I've also had very lengthy waits for service, the local dealer says they are "swamped" with MG breakdowns.

 

[Rayz]

Hi. I was driving my 16month old MG5 up to inverness from central scotland last Monday and stopped in Aviemore to charge.
Tried the Tesla Supercharger - it wouldnt recognise the car (i see elsewhere on this forum this is a known issue). Tried a BP pulse charger - same issue. Went down the road to a chargeplace scotland charger to try that even though other drivers had problems on that charger too.
Unsurprisingly had the same issue except after attemting this the Car refused to start with a red system error and the HV battery shutoff error. SO I waited a bit which usually clears such errors but no joy. Eventually called MG assist who sent a subcontrcactor out from inverness (about 40 miles).
They tried and failed to get any change and so said it needed recovered.
Unfortunately the MG garage in inverness couldnt take it for 3-4 weeks I ended up having to leave it with the recovery people and get onto my leasing company to see what they could do (zenAuto -- who to be fair were very good). As I had work meeting to get to beyond inverness - so I had to go by train and Taxi.

Apparently though none of the MG dealerships within a nearly 200 mile radius could see my car and fix what I am fairly sure is a software issue and thus should be a relatively easy fix for weeks or even months. Some dealerships quoted me May as the first time they could even look at it. Not that the other dealerships mattered much as MG would only take it to a local garage anyway.
I have no word from MG except via my leasing company who are trying to get a hire car from them, and the dealership when they finally agreed to take it have said they hope to get to it by 11th April, by which point I will presumably have to take a train the 190miles to inverness to collect it as I had to take the train back home yesterday.

So I have to ask is that the usual experience with breakdowns and MG dealerships and can anyone suggest anything else I can or could have done.

The MG EV5 LR and S range is the most reliable car . But finding out the Charging instructions for the car is imperative. REMEMBER that the max charge recommended on the MG site is CCS 80 kW for a very short time ( Mins ) 50 kW CCS is far safer and fast . This is a fact, I had a simular problem finding a fast charger . I plugged into a CCS 50KW and put it up to 80% from 48% in 10mins. Absolutely the truth, I was very pleased as I was late getting to a remembrance for my young Niece not realising it didn't charge at 22KW after owing it for a year. Sorry you had a bad response from MG.Just be aware you use the correct charger to avoid this happening .Tesco and other Supermarkets chargers seem to be better maintained and reliable. Keep away from Tesla chargers ? .

 

[siteguru]

The car decides how much charge it will take, not the charger. So it doesn't matter what rating charger you connect to ... even if it is 350kW then your car will still only take the max. rate it can tolerate; in my case that is a maximum of about 88kW for not too long, dropping accordingly (to about 20kW at around 85% SoC). If you connect to a 50kW charger then that is the maximum you can possibly get, regardless of how much the car wants to take.

 

[Adam C]

The car decides how much charge it will take, not the charger. So it doesn't matter what rating charger you connect to ... even if it is 350kW then your car will still only take the max. rate it can tolerate; in my case that is a maximum of about 88kW for not too long, dropping accordingly (to about 20kW at around 85% SoC). If you connect to a 50kW charger then that is the maximum you can possibly get, regardless of how much the car wants to take.

That’s all I’ve used to charge my car so far, Mer 50kw charger.

The vast majority of chargers here on island are 50kw but Waitrose store now has 2 ultra rapid chargers but I’ve yet to drive over & try

Tbh though the 50kw does me fine. When sitting in the car waiting I’ve never seen it go above 48kw, it does drop to roughly 22-23kw as the battery reaches 78-79% but I’ve read that’s normal for a Long Range battery & so far I’ve never gone above 80%.

 

[siteguru]

I agree - a 50kW charger will take a little longer than a, say, 100kW charger to charge your car to, say, 80%, but it's not a huge difference. (Certainly not with the LFP pack ... the NMC pack will charge faster so the time difference is exacerbated).

I was just positing an alternative viewpoint to that of @Rayz, in that you are not protecting your battery or "being safe" by using a 50kW charger (which is how I read that post) as the car itself decides how fast it can take charge - the charger doesn't control that.

 

[Adam C]

I agree - a 50kW charger will take a little longer than a, say, 100kW charger to charge your car to, say, 80%, but it's not a huge difference. (Certainly not with the LFP pack ... the NMC pack will charge faster so the time difference is exacerbated).

I was just positing an alternative viewpoint to that of @Rayz, in that you are not protecting your battery or "being safe" by using a 50kW charger (which is how I read that post) as the car itself decides how fast it can take charge - the charger doesn't control that.

Funny because I went down this morning at 6am to charge the car.

Shortly after one of our local broadband providers vans pulled on the same charging machine, he did apologise because when 2 vehicles charging at the same time it splits the charge, mine dropped from 48kw down to 23kw when his charger started

Anyway I done my good duty for today. I was going to charge mine to 80% but no doubt he was in more of a hurry than me so I stopped mine at 76%

I should have asked him as out of interest I’d like to know what distance they get in their vans.

 

[siteguru]

Sorry but that's an entirely different scenario, yet it still supports what I was saying - the charger has no control over the safety of your battery.

What if that had been a 250kW charger? That may be shared between 2 connectors, so each one gets up to 125kW (if both in use) ... if your car only supports a max. of 88kW then that's still all you'll get. If the charger is limited for any reason then obviously that will have an effect, but only the car determines what it can take (within the limits of the charger capability).

 

[5teep]

I think most chargers that share power these days do it intelligently, the charger will allocate more power to the car that needs it more, in Adam's case above it seems they both needed about the same so it split pretty evenly.

 

[Adam C]

I think most chargers that share power these days do it intelligently, the charger will allocate more power to the car that needs it more, in Adam's case above it seems they both needed about the same so it split pretty evenly.

Yep was told this first time I used the charger.

I parked up & there was a Cupra Born already using it. As I scanned my bank card to start the charge the screen said he was getting a little over 48kw, mine started & it only went to 23kw & his then dropped down to the same

I actually got talking to the guy, I believe he said his had a 55kwh battery