MG Europe Battery Heater Update (released to Norwegian ZS EV owners on 30th Dec 20)

[Mark Holmes]

I’m

Thanks for the apology Mark, there is no need mate No offence was taken ?. unfortunately there are people out there that do exaggerate (not MG Owners lol), and along with all the other owners that are getting good range its easy for us to think its just the odd few making a big deal out of nothing so I can see how it could look, its just unfortunate that it is a real issue and a fault that needs to be fixed.

I’m charging at the moment, local Tesco please see the attached 53% charge with estimated 99 miles of range based on normal driving mode.

 

[Gomev]

I got my car new in September 2020 and it does not AC charge unlocked so I presume it is not the latest BMS? With all the concerns above I have just checked my figures and at 4 degrees ambient the SOC is 75%, GOM is showing 110 in ECO but the HV battery is showing only 421v. Should I be concerned?

I got mine in mid Nov and has the latest BMS update - can charge unlocked (NOT the 'Norwegian')
Just for my peace of mind I have just put it on charge on the home 7Kw. It was standing at 71% SOC and range 103 miles (wouldn't normally charge at 70%). I will also check HV when fully charged and post.

 

[nickhudson]

I’m
I’m charging at the moment, local Tesco please see the attached 53% charge with estimated 99 miles of range based on normal driving mode.

Well if thats anywhere near accurate I'd be over the moon ?

 

[nickhudson]

I've just seen this on the mg group on Facebook, it seems its finally been accepted as a bms software issue. This it what the member put.

442 volts is too low for a fully charged battery. GOM means nothing. Your battery should display 455 volts when fully charged. Recent BMS software updates appear to have vastly reduced the usable capacity of the battery by about 25%. MG Netherlands have confirmed this and no longer apply the update. Apparently, MG know about it and are sorting a software update to fix.

 

[Subra]

I’m having issues with charging my car once again now. On 15th December, around 9pm, while waiting at railway crossing near Stanford Le hope, suddenly the Motor Fault icon started to flashing in the car and the car failed to start. After several attempt, I manage to start the car and pull it to the road side and I called the MG Breakdown team. Within an hour, AA team turned up to the location and even they were unsure of the issue. Later they removed the battery and re placed it to car which made the Motor Fault flashing disappeared. The car seems to fine and moving.

The next day on 16th December evening again when I start my car, the Motor Fault start to flash and immediately I called the MG Breakdown team asked them to bring my car to the workshop to check the actual issue. Next day on 17th December, AA team arrived and escort me to the MG workshop in Toomey Basildon. I have been requested to leave my car there.

On 18th December, around evening, I received called from MG Team to inform the car is ready for collection. On arrival, I have been informed that there was some software issue and that has been rectified now. The car was working perfectly at that point of time.

On 27th December, due to long distance travel, I had to stop mid-way to charge my car at one of the Rapid Charger. The car failed to charge and I thought it might be an issue of the charger and I travel to another charger nearby and realized that my car is not charging in that Rapid charger too. But a car who came later, manage to charge well in that Rapid Charger. Due to emergency, I used the Type 2 charger and charged by car for more than 2 hours there to make it enough for me to reach home. The next day, I went to the local Rapid charger which I frequently using before this and realized my car not charging in that machine too. There is where I realized after the software updated, I’m unable to charge my car in any Rapid charger.

Can anyone advise me because this car three month old only

 

[Gomev]

I got mine in mid Nov and has the latest BMS update - can charge unlocked (NOT the 'Norwegian')
Just for my peace of mind I have just put it on charge on the home 7Kw. It was standing at 71% SOC and range 103 miles (wouldn't normally charge at 70%). I will also check HV when fully charged and post.

OK so now fully charged showing 159 miles and 447 volts.
This is obviously down on the 455 it is said it should be. I will await further developments on here.

To avoid confusion should the posts about the BMS update not be on here and on there own thread as it is quite misleading with this thread title ?

 

[nickhudson]

OK so now fully charged showing 159 miles and 447 volts.
This is obviously down on the 455 it is said it should be. I will await further developments on here.

To avoid confusion should the posts about the BMS update not be on here and on there own thread as it is quite misleading with this thread title ?

447 volts is much nearer to what its supposed to be, if you left it to balance i suspect you would be nearer the 450-455. The main point is how many miles you are acfially getting from a full charge, ultimately that's the most important thing.
And yes your right it should probably have its own thread, im sure the moderators can help with that?

 

[BigEVuser]

So here is the million dollar question... If he BMS is holding back more than usual does that mean that the car can only travel what the GOM says before car stops or will it allow you to use the reserve charge to get you home ( which could be another 40 miles of charge)??

 

[MG ZS EV WEST YORKSHIRE]

If the battery heater is on all the time, then there is a fault with the BMS as I understand it shouldn’t come on until the temperature drops to around -10°C or so.

As I stated above, very few cars have the battery heater update it in the UK as MG only released it week ending 18/12/20. I’m only aware of 2 cars, mine & Jakes, but there may be more.

There does appear to be a problem with the BMS, unrelated to the battery heater as many owners are reporting reduced range.

My theory is that we have been driving the cars less and doing fewer long distance journeys as we have been told not to by the government. The updates were first released in the summer again during Covid-19 so we just haven’t been seeing many issues other than isolated cases where people have been driving longer journeys. Now the temperature has dropped to way less than last winter, we are all starting to notice range issues.

MG know about this and are working on a fix.

Overall MG are doing a great job in updating the cars, my car for example is a better car now than the one I bought.

I agree Michael my ZS has been improved with updates since I've owned the car 1st Mar 20.

 

[MG ZS EV WEST YORKSHIRE]

So here is the million dollar question... If he BMS is holding back more than usual does that mean that the car can only travel what the GOM says before car stops or will it allow you to use the reserve charge to get you home ( which could be another 40 miles of charge)??

I don't know the answer to that question but when driving my car I would suggest it might be the latter. If you have OVMS installed then you would be able to view the battery percentage to give you a more accurate battery reading on your MG. Open Vehicle Monitoring System | Open Vehicles

 

[AussiePete]

OMG..I am an electrical engineer and I did not think of that one !!!

Its zero amps ..so thats that theory out of the window

Just out of interest what is that volts shown at full charge...mine is 437 V

I ran a survey on one of the FB forums and most were around 455v (mine is 454v)

 

[AussiePete]

Hi, im wondering if thats the issue with mine? I have had it 5 weeks but the last couple of weeks I've been getting diabolical range, Wednesday was 100% to --- empty and I got 82 miles, Thursday was 100% to --- empty and I got 73 miles, I barely made it home. Its been into MG both of those days and they cleared over 30 pages of faults, the same the next day but they say thats nothing to be concerned with? The cells all showed up ok but one of the engineers did say it looks like the battery heater was constantly running? The senior engineer at MG head office says its to be expected because of the cold weather, im obviously being palmed off. I've left it with them and they're going to try their charger and a range check just to rule out the charger, if they don't resolve the issue im unfortunately going to have to return the car as "not fit for purpose", 70-80 mile range is totally unacceptable.

Nick, as one of the others on the forum asked, next time car is fully charged switch car on and see what voltage draw is with HVAC and other electrical items (radio, lights etc) turned off. It should be zero or close to it. If there is a draw (continuous or pulsed) then something is drawing on the main battery and it shouldn’t be

 

[nickhudson]

I ran a survey on one of the FB forums and most were around 455v (mine is 454v)

So I have an update, ive just picked my car up from Toomey MG and the engineer has finally got back to him, he has acknowledged that there is an issue with the BMS software update and they are working on a fix, in the meantime the existing BMS update has been pulled and will not be available until the new fixed program. Its good news that its been acknowledged but theres no time frame to how long its going to take before the improved BMS is released, im not sure where that leaves me and all the others that are in the same boat, I need a car for work and it won't do the distance any more????

 

[Mark Holmes]

Nick, as one of the others on the forum asked, next time car is fully charged switch car on and see what voltage draw is with HVAC and other electrical items (radio, lights etc) turned off. It should be zero or close to it. If there is a draw (continuous or pulsed) then something is drawing on the main battery and it shouldn’t be

You may find about 1 amp pull with rear window / door mirrors heating on, but that should be about that.

 

[AussiePete]

So I have an update, ive just picked my car up from Toomey MG and the engineer has finally got back to him, he has acknowledged that there is an issue with the BMS software update and they are working on a fix, in the meantime the existing BMS update has been pulled and will not be available until the new fixed program. Its good news that its been acknowledged but theres no time frame to how long its going to take before the improved BMS is released, im not sure where that leaves me and all the others that are in the same boat, I need a car for work and it won't do the distance any more????

Nick, if they are saying that then the car is faulty. If you continue to drive it then there is a risk that the problem worsens (ie you could damage battery through excessive charge/drain rates). I would contact the head of servicing at the dealership and get written confirmation that the car is ok to drive - if they don’t supply that then tell them to replace the car whilst it is with them for repair.

 

[nickhudson]

Nick, if they are saying that then the car is faulty. If you continue to drive it then there is a risk that the problem worsens (ie you could damage battery through excessive charge/drain rates). I would contact the head of servicing at the dealership and get written confirmation that the car is ok to drive - if they don’t supply that then tell them to replace the car whilst it is with them for repair.

Yes thats all in hand, luckily Sam at Luscombe MG where I bought the car is fighting my corner, hes going to talk to MG technical devision tomorrow to try and find out some more information, ill have to use the wife's car for now but ill be looking for a curtesy car if its going to be a long time before the software update is available, hopefully its a simple adjustment and it will be ready in a week or so but thats probably too optimistic ?

 

[Mark Holmes]

Yes thats all in hand, luckily Sam at Luscombe MG where I bought the car is fighting my corner, hes going to talk to MG technical devision tomorrow to try and find out some more information, ill have to use the wife's car for now but ill be looking for a curtesy car if its going to be a long time before the software update is available, hopefully its a simple adjustment and it will be ready in a week or so but thats probably too optimistic ?

Good luck, it certainly helps with your MG dealer on side...

 

[Jake]

Its when fully charged you need to check it Jake, you should hopefully have 450-455v when fully charged, if you could update us all when you next fully charge it that could be helpful, it seems its the pre updated bms cars that have the better range and higher voltage displays

All good thanks Nick. Just completed a full charge at home on 7kWh point at ambient 3 degrees. GOM reading on ECO is 168 miles (best ever for me) and HV battery 455volts. I don't need unlocked charging on AC so I'm not going to let any MG dealer do any BMS upgrades until you guys report issues have been sorted. Good luck to all of you having troubles hope they are sorted soon.

 

[BigEVuser]

Good luck, it certainly helps with your MG dealer on side...

Nick...would ou be able to ask your dealer whether you can drive your car even though the GOM says below 10 miles , say... In other words if there is still around 40 miles left on the batteries can that be used even though the GOM says none left...if so you could use the milometer as your guage

 

[nickhudson]

Nick...would ou be able to ask your dealer whether you can drive your car even though the GOM says below 10 miles , say... In other words if there is still around 40 miles left on the batteries can that be used even though the GOM says none left...if so you could use the milometer as your guage

I wouldn't advise that anyway, when my low battery warning comes up the power is reduced to between 20 & 40 percent, at 20 percent its not nice to drive and could be dangerous