MG ZS EV One pedal driving

[JohnInFrance]

The Aussies have hacked the Mk1 ZS to improve regen, bring true one pedal driving and fix the cruise control to use regen rather than the mechanical brakes - all things that in their natural state annoy me about the ZS.
Now all I need is to find out if this can be done with the Mk2 as well ?

 

[hmadsen]

In the comments they say he will be making a box to connect to the car, that will make this modification.

I just worry a bit, that one of the reasons they did not put these features into the car, is because some of the mechanics in the engine, reduction gear or something, is not strong enough to take the forces.

If so, there is a risk, this will wear out something expensive, prematurely, that the warranty will not cover

 

[Stian Thomassen]

In the comments they say he will be making a box to connect to the car, that will make this modification.

I just worry a bit, that one of the reasons they did not put these features into the car, is because some of the mechanics in the engine, reduction gear or something, is not strong enough to take the forces.

If so, there is a risk, this will wear out something expensive, prematurely, that the warranty will not cover

I agree with you, but I hope MG at least can give an official answer on this. I was actually able to get some info answered from them once, but it was just added as feedback.
In the same reply, they replied honestly why there was no heat pump: It's a cost issue.

 

[RetiredPope]

I just worry a bit, that one of the reasons they did not put these features into the car, is because some of the mechanics in the engine, reduction gear or something, is not strong enough to take the forces.

Not an issue, they know what the maximum normal regen is, so they limit the regen at this level, so no different or heavier load than the system can handle.

 

[hmadsen]

Not an issue, they know what the maximum normal regen is, so they limit the regen at this level, so no different or heavier load than the system can handle.

Could still be a calculation on how much the bearings will take.

Yes same max load, but in terms of hours of being max loaded in the lifetime of the car, there is a big difference.

There will be more combined load on these bearings with more braking.

The amount of brake regen on a longer drive, will be a LOT higher if the ACC uses the regen brake instead of the friction brakes

I agree with you, but I hope MG at least can give an official answer on this. I was actually able to get some info answered from them once, but it was just added as feedback.
In the same reply, they replied honestly why there was no heat pump: It's a cost issue.

The most silly thing is....They have a climate control system, from what i have read, all that would be needed to change this from a cooling only, to a cooling and heating system is one valve, to change the direction of flow.

So we are talking not a lot of money....I would bet, that anyone would pay £1000 extra for the car, if it had a heatpump instead of resistive heating only.

Remember, this is not only for heating the cabin, but also heating the battery pack in the winter.

 

[hmadsen]

Thinking about it, i would also worry just a tiny bit about the "hack"

I would essentially be installing a hack for my brakes, made by a guy that i know nothing about, what are his actual skills and what is it, that he has really done. If it works by injecting commands into the CAN BUS system i would worry, what there is a bug.

Imagine driving along and there is a kindergarden crossing the street at a pedestrian crossing, but due to a bug in the aftermarket box that "hacks" the brakes, the car does not stop.

I am willing to bet, that the court would see you as very liable, if they determine the reason the car did not stop, was because you installed some sort of "defeat device" in your car.

That being said, if this "Random guy off of the internet" can make this work, it really highlights that MG has made a blunder here, and they should software update all of their ZS EV's to enable this feature.

Unless offcourse there is some mechanical reason (Brake / Regen system can not take the extra loads over time) but then they should really communicate this to the owners of their vehicles.

 

[RetiredPope]

The mod as shown in the video instructs the regen before the car would normally apply th brakes. The brake pedal still functions fully and uninterrupted. This is why the speed keeping going downhill is better with the hack (regen) than with the MG system. The regen command goes on the canbus at a lower priority than the braking, so the brakes will take priority.
Some very good information on hacking cars or specifically the Leaf can be found on Dala's Leaf Mods https://www.youtube.com/@DalasEVRepair/videos

 

[Dragonfly]

It would be nice to have a plug-in do-da that can add the features etc. but I think that is unlikely, but it has been debated for a while, whether regen on ACC could be done by MG with a software update, which this show it definitely could be to some extent.

What isn't shown in the video, is whether the regen is used when coming up behind a slower vehicle.

 

[Gadget Geek]

It would be nice to have a plug-in do-da that can add the features etc. but I think that is unlikely, but it has been debated for a while, whether regen on ACC could be done by MG with a software update, which this show it definitely could be to some extent.

What isn't shown in the video, is whether the regen is used when coming up behind a slower vehicle.

If MG did it, they would probably have to pay Bosch to rewrite the code in their module to have it done officially (although, it hasn't stopped the chinese before )

 

[N2STY]

Regen could be limited for the limitations of the batterys maybe degradation is worse with higher regen?
Just because something is possible doesn't mean it is the best way forward

 

[hmadsen]

Regen could be limited for the limitations of the batterys maybe degradation is worse with higher regen?
Just because something is possible doesn't mean it is the best way forward

I agree, there could be some mechanical or technical reason the ZS EV has not got this feature besides "MG did not want to pay bosch to rewrite the code"

To be honest i find that reason a bit silly, i would bet Bosch already sell this to costumers.

I would tend to believe that it is more to do with MG not wanting to pay the slightly higher price for the new device, and offcourse Bosch would not rewrite the code for their "cheap" device, to make it function the same as another probably slightly more expensive variant.

As stated earlier, if this hack is implemented, there will be a lot more regen braking, and besides maybe affecting the battery or the inverter, this would also put additional stresses on the bearings in the motor and the gearbox. The stresses might not be higher than what the car can already do, but the amount of stress would be higher because of the regen being active more often.

If you load the bearings twice as many "hours" compared to before, they might still fail a lot sooner.

This device shows that it is "just" software, but as a LOT of stuff nowadays are just software, the same piece of hardware can often be bought at different prices with more or less functions, so if MG bought the "cheap" variant, i dont think Bosch would update it to be like the "expensive" variant.

There is NO hardware difference between a Tesla with "Navigate on autopilot" and one without, but the price difference is still about £3000, so this is pure software licensing, and there will just be more and more of this.

 

[DB Go Rex]

Regen could be limited for the limitations of the batterys maybe degradation is worse with higher regen?
Just because something is possible doesn't mean it is the best way forward

Absolutely, but in reality that’s actually more worrying, because if MG are playing it safer than everyone else on the regen that’s maybe because they have a lot less faith in their own battery to stand up to more regen….

 

[N2STY]

Absolutely, but in reality that’s actually more worrying, because if MG are playing it safer than everyone else on the regen that’s maybe because they have a lot less faith in their own battery to stand up to more regen….

A non modified gen2 you can easily get -120amp I think that's quite good

 

[Dragonfly]

A non modified gen2 you can easily get -120amp I think that's quite good

But it soon fades, i don't know what governs the amount of regen, but maybe longer at the peak would give better regen, with minimal extra load on systems

 

[RobinH]

But it soon fades, i don't know what governs the amount of regen, but maybe longer at the peak would give better regen, with minimal extra load on systems

It fades because you are slowing down and it is keeping a constant level of deceleration.
To maintain a higher amperage of regen for longer it either needs a higher starting point or you would have to deal with an increasing level of deceleration as the car slows.

 

[Coulomb]

As stated earlier, if this hack is implemented, there will be a lot more regen braking, and besides maybe affecting the battery or the inverter, this would also put additional stresses on the bearings in the motor and the gearbox.

I'll just point out that other EVs use regen for adaptive cruise control, even MG's own MG5. So I don't think that this feature is missing because of any mechanical constraint.

 

[AK OK]

I'll just point out that other EVs use regen for adaptive cruise control, even MG's own MG5. So I don't think that this feature is missing because of any mechanical constraint.

Unless the mg5 & 4? use different spec components...

 

[RetiredPope]

As stated earlier, if this hack is implemented, there will be a lot more regen braking,

I don't follow the logic here, what is the difference between driving the car with this hack and not using ACC. Every time you lift off the accelerator to slow back to the speed limit the regen will activate. The system should be designed assuming that the driver never uses ACC, as several people on here do.

 

[AK OK]

I don't follow the logic here, what is the difference between driving the car with this hack and not using ACC. Every time you lift off the accelerator to slow back to the speed limit the regen will activate. The system should be designed assuming that the driver never uses ACC, as several people on here do.

The video demonstrates the hack uses regen to slow the vehicle at a greater rate than standard?

 

[RetiredPope]

That's not with ACC, that's normal driving and lifting off the pedal to stop the car. It's done to show how quickly you can stop the car. In normal driving you would lift your foot slowly and the regen wouldn't activate as strongly. This is the benefit of one pedal driving and probably the only feature I will miss moving from the Leaf to the MG.