Which Settings to use?

[Jon H]

Hi I am a new MG4 Excite (as we call it in Aus) owner. I am new to driving an EV and wondered what are the best settings to use for optimal performance. Is it best to drive in Eco mode with one pedal driving? Would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks
J.

 

[decrep]

Join the club mate. although we're a few months ahead of you. Hope you enjoy yours as much as we enjoy ours.

I haven't worried about eco mode, our electricity is free from the sun, so I stay in normal, we inhibit all the fun you can have?

I use OPD all the time, but my wife just uses regen 3. (actually I don't think she notices any difference in regn level. I charged it to 100% a few days ago. Asked here if having to use the brakes, caught her by surprise. She said she didn't notice any difference!).

The main difference is how you drive, not what mode it's in.
Unlike ICE cars there's no optimum speed to drive at. The faster you go the worse the consumption figures.
At 100% charge it's less efficient because there's no regen.
It's also best to time the lights, ease up to them on minimum regen, hopefully get there as the traffic starts moving ahead of you.
There's a maximum current the batteries will accept from regen, so if you ask too much of it the friction brakes will add their support.
Any use of friction brakes is a waste of energy.
Accept they do need to be used enough to stop them rusting up. I'm yet to work out how often this is, but it happens when you are at 100% charge.

So there are a lot of variables, and I don't think there's a definitive answer to "best"

 

[salty]

Jon. enjoy your new motor.

 

[salty]

So there are a lot of variables, and I don't think there's a definitive answer to "best"

Agreed. You'll soon work out, what's best for you. Just enjoy your new motor.

 

[ReintjeWA]

Welcome to the club mate.

As mentioned above it all comes down to your style of driving. And remember to have fun driving it, you save enough over petrol or diesel to not get hung up on efficiency too much. Eco mode does a few things behind the scenes in cold weather (so not very applicable to most of us) but it mostly gives you a gentler power curve on the accelerator. I just leave it in normal now.

If you ever find yourself worried about making it to your next charger, just slow down, that will eek out your range the most.

Other than that, just setup the car so you enjoy driving it, personally I like the heavy regen I get from setting 3, but it makes for slightly harsh braking using Adaptive Cruise Control. I use the TJA setting on ACC for long drives on freeways with not too much traffic as the car stays in it's lane pretty well, but I find it fights me more in the city so I just do the driving myself.

I've read somewhere on the forum the car never regens in reverse, and so do a bit of a reverse pull and then braking hard is a way to use the friction brakes and keep them rust free, although I haven't done this myself yet so don't know if it's true.

 

[NLMGSAN]

Some say eco mode is not of any use. But personally, i prefer eco because the car is a tadd slower on the throttle. It's just a bit more comfy this way. Also, one week with normal mode in mid summer and the car did use some 5% more than in eco. If I need the accelaration in ECO, just use your big foot...
I always drive in Custom mode with engine in eco but steering etc in sports. Best of both..
I do use ACC (never the nervous TJA). But I disable it on highway trips with a lot of overtaking. Always set to smallest distance.
Traffic signs are off (a joke..), lane assist is in alert mode, low sensitivity. I do not allow the car to do the steering. Lane Assist audio signal is off. So crossing the lane markers only causes a vibration in the wheel.

 

[Jon H]

Thanks everyone for the tips, I suppose I'll just try various settings and see what feels comfortable for me. Appreciate all the comments

J.

 

[Robf]

i always use normal, unless wanting to take off from the traffic lights to leave the unfortunates behind, when i use sport. never ever considered ECO

 

[salty]

i always use normal, unless wanting to take off from the traffic lights to leave the unfortunates behind, when i use sport. never ever considered ECO

Agree. Didn't even know it had an ECO mode.

 

[Jamesrr]

i always use normal, unless wanting to take off from the traffic lights to leave the unfortunates behind, when i use sport.

I've never even found it necessary to leave Normal mode to leave the unfortunates behind

 

[salty]

I've never even found it necessary to leave Normal mode to leave the unfortunates behind

In most cases that's very true. But just to be on the safe side, if you've got something particularly tasty at the side of you. Sports mode it is.

 

[dsr]

My right foot setting at the lights is ECO, enjoying the thought as someone struggles to pull away from me that they implicitly acknowledge I could have had them for breakfast any time. Boringly, I also save on ‘fuel’ and tyre wear.

 

[NLMGSAN]

My right foot setting at the lights is ECO, enjoying the thought as someone struggles to pull away from me that they implicitly acknowledge I could have had them for breakfast any time. Boringly, I also save on ‘fuel’ and tyre wear.

I guess I'm more of a lazy driver. For 10 year I drove Toyota hybrids, usually 170 km/working day. These cars are sluggish by default. If you want to be quick you really needed to stress the engine. E-support was minimal. They suffer from acceleration pauzes around 30 and 85 - 100 kmh, depending on the manufacturing date and engine. Poor acceleration was highly influenced by the CVT design. It however forced me to anticipate as much as possible. And to be honoust, then the hybrids were very economic. Particularly on highways. 24 km/ltr on combined city and highway trips was no surprise at all.

EV's are completely different. It is fast by default. Instant power. The ER is even more powerful than expected. Faster than needed in many cases. The complete opposite of the hybrid Toyo.
It does not matter whether you gently push the throttle or the eco mode simply slows the accelaration a bit. Both will do the same.
But as I said, I'm a lazy driver. And i do not mind if a system helps being one...

 

[Jamesrr]

In most cases that's very true. But just to be on the safe side, if you've got something particularly tasty at the side of you. Sports mode it is.

I had a Porsche SUV yesterday. Normal was fine. He tried but then I put the foot down a bit more

 

[grange]

At 100% charge it's less efficient because there's no regen.

Sorry to disappoint, but my car will use regen on OPD mode, when the battery is showing 100%.

 

[decrep]

Sorry to disappoint, but my car will use regen on OPD mode, when the battery is showing 100%.

Something wrong there I think. on 100% charge, there's no room for regen current. So either it's not at 100% and there's still room for more current, or the current is going somewhere else.
Bit of a mystery?

 

[grange]

Not a mystery at all, I showed on a Facebook group via video, proving it does as mentioned.
When the car shows 100% battery, there is a small percentage of battery not used.
What that means is that for my car, 77kWh battery, the 100%mark may be at 75kWh, with a small unused buffer.
I did have the actual figures for the different batteries bookmarked somewhere, if I can find it, I will put up the figures, but google searching can find it.

 

[dsr]

Same here. I've never noticed any regen reduction at 100%.

 

[decrep]

So simple, 100% is not 100%, either that or it's using friction brakes, until there's enough room for more electrons.

 

[salty]

I had a Porsche SUV yesterday. Normal was fine. He tried but then I put the foot down a bit more

I said something a bit tasty. Not a Porky
Porker.
It's very satisfying though, innit.