MG5 FL - Maximising Range in Winter with Heating On

[pemmery1965]

Hey everyone,

As the title suggests, I'm looking to squeeze every last mile out of my MG5 FL this winter, especially with the need to keep the heating on for these chilly commutes! Ideally, I'd love to consistently hit 150+ miles on a single charge without needing to stop.

Anyone have any tried-and-true tips for maximizing range in cold weather while staying warm? I'm already aware of the basics like:

• Pre-heating while plugged in: Definitely using this to warm the cabin without draining the battery.
• Keeping speeds moderate: Trying to stay around 50-60 mph on the motorway.
• Smooth acceleration and braking: Practicing that "hypermiling" technique!
• Tire pressure: Keeping them topped up to the recommended levels.

But I'm curious about other strategies specific to the MG5 FL. For example:

• Heat pump vs. standard heating: Is there a noticeable difference in efficiency?
• Seat heaters: Do these use significantly less energy than cabin heating?
• Eco mode: How much does this actually impact range in real-world driving?
• Any other hidden settings or tricks?

Any advice or insights from fellow MG5 FL owners would be greatly appreciated! Let's share our best practices for winter driving and conquer those long journeys!

 

[kevin ellard]

Hey everyone,

As the title suggests, I'm looking to squeeze every last mile out of my MG5 FL this winter, especially with the need to keep the heating on for these chilly commutes! Ideally, I'd love to consistently hit 150+ miles on a single charge without needing to stop.

Anyone have any tried-and-true tips for maximizing range in cold weather while staying warm? I'm already aware of the basics like:

• Pre-heating while plugged in: Definitely using this to warm the cabin without draining the battery.
• Keeping speeds moderate: Trying to stay around 50-60 mph on the motorway.
• Smooth acceleration and braking: Practicing that "hypermiling" technique!
• Tire pressure: Keeping them topped up to the recommended levels.

But I'm curious about other strategies specific to the MG5 FL. For example:

• Heat pump vs. standard heating: Is there a noticeable difference in efficiency?
• Seat heaters: Do these use significantly less energy than cabin heating?
• Eco mode: How much does this actually impact range in real-world driving?
• Any other hidden settings or tricks?

Any advice or insights from fellow MG5 FL owners would be greatly appreciated! Let's share our best practices for winter driving and conquer those long journeys!

Speed is the main variable that you have control over.
I'm not sure that smooth acceleration makes as much difference in an EV as it does in an ICE.
Seat heaters are more efficient but without the heating on the screen will mist up.
Eco mode seems to make a bit of difference but makes the car worse in every other way so I don't use it anymore unless I am really struggling to make it to my next charge.
Slipstreaming a large lorry definitely increases efficiency but has its risks.

 

[Jaumg]

Hey everyone,

As the title suggests, I'm looking to squeeze every last mile out of my MG5 FL this winter, especially with the need to keep the heating on for these chilly commutes! Ideally, I'd love to consistently hit 150+ miles on a single charge without needing to stop.

Anyone have any tried-and-true tips for maximizing range in cold weather while staying warm? I'm already aware of the basics like:

• Pre-heating while plugged in: Definitely using this to warm the cabin without draining the battery.
• Keeping speeds moderate: Trying to stay around 50-60 mph on the motorway.
• Smooth acceleration and braking: Practicing that "hypermiling" technique!
• Tire pressure: Keeping them topped up to the recommended levels.

But I'm curious about other strategies specific to the MG5 FL. For example:

• Heat pump vs. standard heating: Is there a noticeable difference in efficiency?
• Seat heaters: Do these use significantly less energy than cabin heating?
• Eco mode: How much does this actually impact range in real-world driving?
• Any other hidden settings or tricks?

Any advice or insights from fellow MG5 FL owners would be greatly appreciated! Let's share our best practices for winter driving and conquer those long journeys!

Was there a heatpump option with the MG5?

The seat heaters use about 100W max whereas the heating is 6,000W max, so much less, although neither actually run at that level all the time. When using seat heaters alone (which I have only done as an experiment), I put the windscreen fan on AC and low with a low speed setting which keeps it clear without giving too much wind chill. It makes a big big difference to efficiency all else being equal, but you'll want to wear a jacket in these temperatures even with the seat heater. Heat energy with the climate control increases proportionally to the difference in outside temperature to desired inside temperature.

I think eco mode changes the accelerator pedal response and so reduces heat losses from fast acceleration. Such losses increase with the square of the amperage, and are larger when the system is cold. It also changes the climate control, but I don't know what it does.

I'm not sure what your motivation behind efficiency is, but if it's cost of home charging, then do consider checking if you're on the cheapest tariff (smart or otherwise) for your needs as well.

 

[Pebblefeline]

I tend to use the battery heater before I set off on a longer drive if it’s below freezing, this overall seems to help efficiency.

I find that the 5 is pretty efficient as long as the temp is above freezing, below freezing and winter range loss becomes pretty extreme

This is of course anecdotal and I am sure it may just be in my head

 

[t509triumph]

The cold weather has killed my battery range!
But I'm still going to use cabin heater, aircon ( to reduce steaming up) and seat heaters (just to take the chill out the seats) the "leather" seat covers are much colder to sit on than velor type materials

 

[kevin ellard]

I tend to use the battery heater before I set off on a longer drive if it’s below freezing, this overall seems to help efficiency.

How do you do that? I cant see it on the app anywhere.

 

[Pebblefeline]

On the pfl it can be turned in I car setting in the car. Heats the battery to 10degrees I believe

 

[Muffler]

Have battery heating option in the app for XPower but not the FL5

 

[Jaumg]

How do you do that? I cant see it on the app anywhere.

It seems to be hidden from the app. If you're technically minded enough, you can access it from the API SAIC-iSmart-API

On the pfl it can be turned in I car setting in the car. Heats the battery to 10degrees I believe

That's only whilst driving though, and it should be used to improve charging speed but not overall efficiency.
Editing this to say I mean that heating the battery whilst driving doesn't improve efficiency, whereas heating it beforehand when on charge would improve the range of the car whilst driving, but would increase overall home charging costs if that's what's being minimised and range isn't an issue.

 

[5teep]

On the pfl it can be turned in I car setting in the car. Heats the battery to 10degrees I believe

No, I don't think the pfl has the hardware even though there is a sort of an option in the media centre. At least I've never got it to work.

 

[MickeySw]

No, I don't think the pfl has the hardware even though there is a sort of an option in the media centre. At least I've never got it to work.

I tend to use the battery heater before I set off on a longer drive if it’s below freezing, this overall seems to help efficiency.

Afaik both FL and PFL work on the same principle when driving:

The battery cells are constantly cooled to around 10°C or ambient temperature, whichever is higher.

The manual heater can be activated on the infotainment system but only kicks in when cell temperatures are below 10°C and will then heat the battery once to approximately 30°C.

After that it will turn off and the cells cool down quickly to nominal level, therefore don’t bother using this function unless you plan to do a rapid DC charge.

 

[Gomev]

The cold weather has killed my battery range!
But I'm still going to use cabin heater, aircon ( to reduce steaming up) and seat heaters (just to take the chill out the seats) the "leather" seat covers are much colder to sit on than velor type materials

Quite right too. I didn't buy a car to freeze my **** off in winter just to save a few miles range. The AC and heated seats won't affect the range anyway, it's the heater that does that.