So what range were you getting in recent cold weather?

[rdon68]

My first winter weather with an EV and full charge range on my 24 facelift dropped to 180 miles.
Just wondering if this was average for MG’s in cold weather?
Admittedly the car lives outside and I am in North Wales.

 

[crispyjay]

That’s what I’m getting with my FL5 Trophy. Doesn’t help doing the 10 minute remote heating each day from sub zero to toasty. Can take a couple of % off the battery.

My car lives outside in Sheffield.

 

[mj224]

My ZS EV gen 1, is only doing about 100 miles per charge....

The car is now 4 years old, 39,000 miles, bought from new, and a recent service shows the battery to be at 90% capacity.

I will see what summer brings, and decide whether the car will remain with me...

 

[Paulie68]

Deleted comment, just seen it relates to a ZS, so reply no longer valid.

 

[Shrink Proof]

Best I managed last summer was 274 miles.

In the recent cold and snow it dropped to just 170 miles. The car lives outside, and here in Inverness it was -6°C one night.

That's doubly tricky here in the North of Scotland - not only is range reduced but in the far North West even buildings are few and far between, let alone chargers.

 

[maskull]

My PFL is still showing 250 ish range .It will probably drop when I do my monthly reset tonight

 

[Kompins]

We drove back from Cornwall in mostly 3°C a couple of weeks ago, our 2021 SR5 averaged 3.9 miles/kWh with average speed of 46mph. That's the lowest I've seen on a long run, down to low temperature and, for me, I did step on it a bit up the M5.

 

[MickeySw]

My ZS EV gen 1, is only doing about 100 miles per charge....

The car is now 4 years old, 39,000 miles, bought from new, and a recent service shows the battery to be at 90% capacity.

I will see what summer brings, and decide whether the car will remain with me...

IIRC a gen 1 ZS EV came with a 44kWh battery and below are typical values

Charging my Gen 1 2020 Mg ZS it normally charges up to somewhere between 185 and 198 miles

Ref Lovemyev, in colder climes like Canada many ICE cars have an electric heater element fitted in the engine coolant system. These are plugged in at home during the night allowing a warm car in the morning.

www.mgevs.com

Even taking a SoH of 90% into consideration a 100mile range (indicated or actually driven?) seems on the low side unless you’re driving @high speeds in freezing temperatures?

You could try a ‘Battery Calibration Charge’ (discharge the car below 10% and then fully AC charge to 100% in one go) to see if that makes a difference.

 

[5teep]

180 sounds about right for the LR if the temperature is approaching zero. I find I can get ~200mi at 10°C but if it drops below zero my range drops to 160-170ish. This is better then my original SR model which would go below 140 on the coldest days.

 

[Fokmg]

On identical journey my MG5 SR ("covid special" so no silly gizmos) ranges from 6.1mi/kWh to 2.8/kWh dependant upon temperture !
Just a fact of life we have to get use to.

 

[mj224]

IIRC a gen 1 ZS EV came with a 44kWh battery and below are typical values

Charging my Gen 1 2020 Mg ZS it normally charges up to somewhere between 185 and 198 miles

Ref Lovemyev, in colder climes like Canada many ICE cars have an electric heater element fitted in the engine coolant system. These are plugged in at home during the night allowing a warm car in the morning.

www.mgevs.com

Even taking a SoH of 90% into consideration a 100mile range (indicated or actually driven?) seems on the low side unless you’re driving @high speeds in freezing temperatures?

You could try a ‘Battery Calibration Charge’ (discharge the car below 10% and then fully AC charge to 100% in one go) to see if that makes a difference.

My ZS EV Gen 1 has never even remotely claimed to do 180 miles. 160 might be an optimistic.

A minor problem that I try to sort, is that the 5 hours of cheap rate charging with Octopus, just about charges the battery to 100% (7kW times 5 hours= 35kWh). SO if I remember, I charge the car again the following night, in order to get the balancing done. I rarely use Rapid charging I must add.

These cooler days, I am only achieving 2.9 miles (or so) per KWh, not like the summer when I was regularly getting 4+ miles / kWh.

Fortunately, being retired, and my average daily mileage is around 20 miles, I don't have a problem. yet...

 

[rdon68]

Thanks all for replies. Good to know my car battery is about the same as yours and I don’t have an issue.
Steep learning curve all this EV stuff.

 

[JonPants]

Better than the alternative. I took my motorbike into the 'office' on Tuesday, at around 3°C, so the ice light was on (not sure if the tyres or me were more twitchy).
Heated gloves on full which then meant one of the batteries was flat on the way home, just a 22 mile round trip. Makes you appreciate the car's BMS.

Next time I'll take the MG5, even if it means 2 kWh per mile.

 

[rdon68]

Couldn’t be out on two wheels this time of year. Have enough trouble staying upright just walking.
Could be something to do with the pub though

Just charged from 62% to full this afternoon (whilst we have a little warm spell) and range went from 142 to now showing 309!
Not sure if that’s a result of ambient temperature going from 5 to 14 degrees overnight (and then charging) or me tiptoeing around on slippy lanes yesterday and averaging 4.8kWh/mi.
Or a combination of both?

 

[Coulomb]

averaging 4.8kWh/mi

I hope that you mean 4.8 mi/kWh. The other way around is really poor economy, or rather very high consumption.

 

[Harves]

I bought a long range MG5 to replace my previous MG5 I bought the car in April everything was fine until the recent cold snap because as a taxi driver I put the heater on all the time I’m at work. This absolutely hammers the battery way way more than my last shorter range MG5. The official range is 262 miles, but with the heater on I’ll be very lucky to get 100 miles off a full charge. Maybe it’s just me but the 52kWh coped a lot better in cold weather. Anyone else noticed this.
PS: I don’t drive fast and always in eco mode .

 

[MickeySw]

..until the recent cold snap because as a taxi driver I put the heater on all the time I’m at work this absolutely hammers the battery way way more than my last shorter range mg5.

Strange, as the heating systems are identical between LR & SR

The official range is 262 miles with the heater on I’ll be very lucky to get 100 miles off a full charge maybe it’s just me but the 52kw coped a lot better in cold weather.

Something doesn’t seem right here, according to the specs one should achieve around 200miles city driving in cold (-10deg) weather?

MG MG5 Electric Long Range

All details and specs of the MG MG5 Electric Long Range (2022). Compare price, lease, real-world range and consumption of every electric vehicle.

ev-database.org

How long is your typical working day, would you have the heat on full blast, all the time?

 

[Harves]

I totally agree with you it does seem strange but I would put my house on that there is no way I could get anywhere near 200 mls . My typical working day is around 6-7 hrs I only have the heating set at 22 degrees and the fan set on 3. I must add that I turn the heater off when I don’t have a customer in the car just to try and save the battery a bit but you soon get bloody cold. When I first bought the car I thought the miles I was getting wasn’t as good as my previous MG5. I bought it from an MG dealer so just to double check that everything was fine I booked it into another dealer and asked them to do a full check on the car they came back and said everything was fine. The car had 37 mls on the clock when I bought it. It’s a 23 plate.

 

[MickeySw]

When I first bought the car I thought the miles I was getting wasn’t as good as my previous mg5,I bought it from a mg dealer so just to double check that everything was fine I booked it into another dealer and asked them to do a full check on the car they came back and said everything was fine. The car had 37mls on the clock when I bought it,it’s a 23 plate.

I gather you went from SR to LR but what if you were sold a SR with LFP battery instead? This would certainly explain the poor cold weather performance and your miles not increasing?

Another dealer would find nothing wrong with a SR model…

 

[quilkin]

I have just bought a new MG5 and am so far unimpresed with low temperature range, even at +10 degrees outside. I've now been reading various website explanations of this, but I don't agree with what they are saying. First quote from topgear.com:

Well, if the air temperature is colder, the reactions just aren’t as effective. They take longer to warm up, the electrons don’t move as much, and so don’t generate as much power.

and this from AutoExpress:

Lithium-ion batteries work when lithium ions move from the anode to the cathode; cold slows this process down and restricts battery performance.

Both these 'explanations' (and probably countless others) would explain why the power output would drop in cold weather. That's not the same as range. If the reactions happen more slowly, that means less power but for a longer time. The total energy shouldn't be affected.

I just wish these sites would be more truthful about the reasons. Maybe it's just too difficlult to explain, but I hate seeing bad science on so many otherwise respectable places.