MG ZS (2020) HEATER

[Ian MG5]

Mk1 MG ZS HEATER
Right guys, this is a good one.
The heater on my wife’s 2020 MGZSEV only works when you have it turned on to clear the windscreen(top left button hvac row of buttons)if you turn it on manual to the vents footwells or even the screen it blows cool out .
Has anyone else had this problem.
If so, how did you cure it?
Cheers
Ian

 

[peterseddon]

If you have ECO mode selected for driving, the heater power is greatly reduced, keep it in normal to get the most heat out of it.

 

[Tim Green]

I suspect that the heater system is software driven. This allows for the various options to be quickly available and shown on the display module.,
Thus it just might be worth doing the "disconnect the 12V battery" trick which should reset the software.

 

[Ian MG5]

Thanks everyone
Yep it was eco mode
I don’t drive the ZS so didn’t realise it turned the heater down

 

[Lovemyev]

As the cabin heater consumes such a lot of battery power / range, then I guess they figured that if the driver wanted to conserve range for making a longer trip, then throttling back the energy consumed by the HVAC system was a good place to start in ECO mode.
Otherwise using ECO mode and then still allowing you to cranking up the HVAC to max, kind of defeats the whole purpose really.
I never use ECO mode myself TBH as similar results can be achieved by driving more conservatively.
OBTW - In the summer time, using ECO mode has the same effect on reducing the system ability to cool down the car also in ECO mode, but it’s a little less hungry then the heating the cabin in the winter on a high setting.

 

[riddick]

In winter, I hardly use the Eco mode because the heating is so limited that it doesn't have a chance to warm up the car. But it makes sense—that's why it's called ECO.

 

[Lovemyev]

The efficiency results gained in eco mode, can be matched using normal mode IF the car is driven very efficiently, treating the “go pedal” as if it has a fresh chicken egg underneath it .
The preset Eco mode, only throttles back on performance etc and therefore reduces the responce available to the driver.
Heavy use of the “go pedal” means increased performance, which it turn consumes more energy from the traction battery.
The traction battery only has the same level of energy stored.
The indicated range shown by the GOM in eco mode, will be higher than in normal mode, but this is only a prediction of the expected range.

 

[Tim Green]

In an EV, anything that uses kWh costs miles - its as simple as that. It is tedious to have to turn the heating on and off, but if you need to de-mist the windscreen it's the only way, as the heater/blower uses so much energy. Using Eco is a sop to the mind, you can drive like that in any mode.