MG4 in Australia

[Corindikev]

Queensland is cheaper mainly because they still produce 73% of their electricity from old coal & some gas. 10 years ago it was over 90%. That is steadily being replaced by renewables which will make QLD power even cheaper. Most of their renewable energy actually comes from small scale rooftop solar but they do have 52 large scale wind & solar projects on the go & a couple of planned pumped hydro schemes.

 

[ozzz]

I will stick with red 100% Australian, power shop not bad owners shell uk company but at least some profit stays in house.
Most of my charging comes from my roof and free from local shopping centre.

 

[Coulomb]

... free from local shopping centre.

I'm curious where that is. I didn't see one near Albion Park in Plugshare.

 

[decrep]

I just got a free shopping centre charge at our Mandurah Forum, but that's a long way from you guys.

 

[ozzz]

I'm curious where that is. I didn't see one near Albion Park in Plugshare.

Shellharbour square Shellharbour on roof 4 chargers Tesla and all free

great location

 

[Coulomb]

Shellharbour square Shellharbour

Ah! Your Albion Park must be the one in New South Wales.

You New South Welshpeople get all the breaks.

My nearest free shopping centre "chargers" are 8 km away, so it takes half an hour to break even with the travel. Still worth it for the occasional big shops. And only two plugs.

There are chargers closer, but they cost some 65¢/kWh. Yeah, nah.

 

[Corindikev]

Shell like many of the Fossil Fuel companies can see the writing very clearly on the wall. They have been buying in to renewable energy industries for several years now. They know that this is their only option to survive in the Energy market place.

 

[wattmatters]

Queensland is cheaper mainly because they still produce 73% of their electricity from old coal & some gas.

QLD distribution networks are also 100% state govt owned and they are subsidised, ~$700 per customer in the Ergon Energy region, not so much in the more populous SEQ region serviced by Energex.

WA govt subsidises their regional distribution network to the tune of ~$3k per customer.

Essential Energy NSW is still state govt owned but not subsidised in the manner Ergon is. The others in NSW, VIC & SA are majority private owned. TasNetworks is 100% state govt owned.

 

[wattmatters]

The existence of these retail plans with free charging windows during the daytime is an indication of where it's headed.

For now these options are only being made available to those of us with EVs, which does strike me as a little odd. Perhaps it's a way for retailers to test the water with such a strategy and EV owners are a good choice as they tend to be more aware of home energy consumption and are willing to modify habits.

But it will eventually spread to the general residential customer base as the distribution networks are transitioning to new tariff structures where daytime "solar soaker" rates are being introduced. It's already the default tariff for new connections in Essential Energy region, rest of us will be transitioned to it in the coming years.

Our current market system is a mess. All we can plebs do is to keep on top of it all and be prepared to make the switch. There is no brand loyalty anymore.

Had a guy here today doing a building inspection (we are considering selling/moving) and as soon as he saw the car in the garage he was asking a lot of questions about EVs and the MG4.

He does 1500km/week. With an overnight EV charge plan at 8c/kWh, he would reduce weekly vehicle energy spend from ~$180 to $20. Just a matter of a suitable vehicle. He was driving a VW Tiguan (would be a 2 litre turbo diesel).

 

[ozzz]

Westmead hospital in Sydney has just installed 75 ev chargers in the staff car park that’s awesome.

 

[clayton4115]

Does anyone know if Tesla will be opening up any more of their existing super chargers to other EV's in the near future?

 

[wattmatters]

I think it's tied to Supercharger sites funding/part funded by government incentives.

 

[Corindikev]

I read somewhere that the early Tesla chargers were only capable of charging Teslas with the Tesla charging port and Tesla specific software.

Later Tesla chargers are installed with CCS type 2 charging cables and all new EVs sold in Australia from 1 January 2022 must now comply with the CCS type 2 standard. This has become the world standard (except in the US that has standardised on the original Tesla port). The issue here is that they can't use 3 phase AC charging. So any Tesla charger with CCS type 2 cables can charge any car so long as you have downloaded the Tesla App.

Tesla chargers seem to be the most reliable but are also among the most expensive to use for non Tesla owners.

Japanese EVs and plug in hybrids used the CHAdeMO system so the most prevalent old charging ports are CHAdeMO.

The new standard for installing public EV charging facilities in Australia from 1 January 2024 specifies a minimum of 2 charging bays, at least one being disability accessible and at least 70% of all DC chargers must be CCS type 2 so if you want to install a different type you have to install at least 6 chargers, 5 of which must be CCS type 2 & 1 could be CHAdeMO or another type.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/minimum-operating-standards-electric-vehicles-charging-infrastructure.docx&ved=2ahUKEwii6Kjj76KHAxWVwjgGHcTxAS4QFnoECBAQAw&usg=AOvVaw19x1mu8N3q85Y3auA2BTHj

 

[Coulomb]

The new standard for installing public EV charging facilities in Australia from 1 January 2024 specifies a minimum of 2 charging bays, at least one being disability accessible and at least 70% of all DC chargers must be CCS type 2 so if you want to install a different type you have to install at least 6 chargers, 5 of which must be CCS type 2 & 1 could be Chademo or another type.

? Surely there could be 4: three CCS (75%) and one CHAdeMO or other.

But that's pretty brutal for older Leaf and Mitsubishi cars with CHAdeMO. Maybe that's why most new installations (other than Tesla) have at last two dual-cable chargers. With current adoption levels, that's not excessive, perhaps unless the area is very remote.

 

[wattmatters]

So any Tesla charger with CCS type 2 cables can charge any car so long as you have downloaded the Tesla App.

Just to clarify, while Tesla superchargers stations with type 2 CCS (which is most of them) can charge any car with that socket, Tesla lock out charging for non-Tesla vehicles at about half of their supercharger sites.

All Superchargers sites in this map (~76):

Those open to non-Teslas (~40):

 

[Corindikev]

? Surely there could be 4: three CCS (75%) and one CHAdeMO or other.

But that's pretty brutal for older Leaf and Mitsubishi cars with CHAdeMO. Maybe that's why most new installations (other than Tesla) have at last two dual-cable chargers. With current adoption levels, that's not excessive, perhaps unless the area is very remote.

Yeah don't know why I thought 6. The rules are there to promote EV uptake not PHEV as they still use fossil fuels.

PHEVs have actually overtaken EVs in number of sales this year and this is testament to range anxiety in the minds of much of the public, promotion by legacy car makers, plus they are a bit cheaper than EVs though that will change soon given the battery price has gone down a lot but it still has to trickle down to the consumer.

What the stats are showing though is that the claimed fossil fuel mileage is somewhat less that that claimed by vehicle manufacturers. Their complex drive systems also ensure higher maintenance and reliability requirements.

 

[neerav]

If you’re buying a new Australian MG4 make sure you insist that the sales person agrees by email (so there is a record) that they will check the undertray of your car during pre delivery checks and fix it as per AS-TEC-02112023-01 if required

Before & After Photos: MG4 Undertray fix bulletin AS-TEC-02112023-01 on hoist - Electrifying Everything - by Neerav Bhatt

I purchased an MG4 Electric Long Range 77 a few weeks ago and was curious to see the underside of the vehicle and how the common undertray issue had been

www.bhatt.id.au

 

[neerav]

MG Australia has commented on this issue ....

Australian and Kiwi owners of MG4 electric cars are speculating about whether the Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) feature of their car will be improved soon. This discussion was sparked by a comment that MG UK made to consumer advocate organisation WHICH

When will Australia & NZ MG4 Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) be improved? - Electrifying Everything - by Neerav Bhatt

Australian and Kiwi owners of MG4 electric cars are speculating about whether the Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) feature of their car will be improved soon.

www.bhatt.id.au

 

[crc32]

If you’re buying a new Australian MG4 make sure you insist that the sales person agrees by email (so there is a record) that they will check the undertray of your car during pre delivery checks and fix it as per AS-TEC-02112023-01 if required

Before & After Photos: MG4 Undertray fix bulletin AS-TEC-02112023-01 on hoist - Electrifying Everything - by Neerav Bhatt

I purchased an MG4 Electric Long Range 77 a few weeks ago and was curious to see the underside of the vehicle and how the common undertray issue had been

www.bhatt.id.au

Thanks for this. I just went and checked and this hadn't been done on my MG4 that was delivered 6 weeks ago. I'm getting some other warranty work done soon so I'll ask for this to be done at the same time.

 

[Corindikev]

I personally have not found the LKA to be any worse that any other car I've driven with it. Owners of numerous brands of both ICE & EVs have been complaining about LKA for years.

I have found if you drive accurately it isn't a real problem. I've never encountered any issues on narrow country roads where road edges or lines of leaves have been interpreted as lane markings by the system. A simpler one key switch off would be all that is required since it must be on by default to get the 5 star ANCAP rating.