Xpower Battery Specs, Economy and Regen question

[BG4]

Hey all,

I am struggling to understand how the battery stats add up on the Xpower.

To start with the battery is apparently rated at 64kWh (approx 62kWh useable) but yet other Teslas etc get more range on less battery , I understand this could be due to software and efficiency etc and whether its lfp or nmc and the buffer that is set below %0

The big question I have though is how the economy stas are quoted in the screen, here in Australia it shows kWh/100km eg 15kWh/100km.

Technically you would think in that case that lets say you have 60kWh useable battery worse case you would get 400km @ 15kWh/100km.

But thats not the case, @ 15kWh/100km you will get approx 340km range

To get 400km range you need to be showing around 13kWh/100km which equates to 52kWh battery?

Yesterday I charged to %74 and checked the km at %24 today , 180km after %50 of combined city/motorway driving in normal mode, so approx a total range of 360km @ 14kWh/100k. which is not bad IMO

This is were I get confused the most:

The efficiency screen showed 26kWh battery usage and 10kWh regen, does that mean I used 16kWh battery and 10kWh regen or 26kWh battery + 10kWh regen for 36kWh total?

Hoping someone can explain more about how the regen and economy is calculated

Cheers

 

[Anon70]

To achieve close to WLTP figures the XPower efficiency needs to be roughly 17.75kWh/100km (about 3.5 miles per kWh).

My wife has a Mini electric and for it to achieve it's WLTP figures it needs to achieve an efficiency around 15.5kWh/100km (4 miles per kWh)

After around 5,100 miles and UK ambient temperatures my XPower efficiency (calculated from actual miles and energy supplied) has ranged from 28.24kWh/100km to 17.26kWh/100km (2.2 to 3.6 miles per kWh)

Even from the start of a charging session to the end the GOM will change it's efficiency figure as it will base the start figure on how the car has been driven for the previous few miles and base the end figure on new information like the state of each battery cell and when they were last balanced as well as any changes in ambient temperature.

Unless you get into the software to see the algorithms MG use then it will always be guess work. I was never bothered about all the tiny details of every stat in my ICE cars and even though an EV is a whole bunch of software and stats it's just more information than I need about my car.

As long as I know the current estimated range and it is accurate enough to get me to the next charging point then that is enough for me.

 

[fnegroni]

to achieve WLTP figures you must drive like during the WLTP test.
And measure efficiency of the motor and regen not the auxiliary elements including HVAC, battery cooling, battery heating, TC, lights, etc.

Also bear in mind that an economy of 3 miles per kWh is 50% better than 2 miles per kWh, but 4 miles per kWh is only 25% more efficient, and so on. Diminishing returns in exchange for less and less comfort

 

[salty]

To get anywhere near the official range of the X Power. You would have to drive like,
Mother Teresa! And where's the bloody fun in that! ????

 

[BG4]

to achieve WLTP figures you must drive like during the WLTP test.
And measure efficiency of the motor and regen not the auxiliary elements including HVAC, battery cooling, battery heating, TC, lights, etc.

Also bear in mind that an economy of 3 miles per kWh is 50% better than 2 miles per kWh, but 4 miles per kWh is only 25% more efficient, and so on. Diminishing returns in exchange for less and less comfort

Ok so good point you raise here, I decided to google more about the WLPT test and was surprised to see that they apparently do this in normal mode (not eco). It was also interesting to see that they quote on average for real world figures to be a further %20 off real world figures , so In the AU model case they claim 400km WLPT (am guessing this differs to UK model 385km range due to warmer temps) and I can achieve 360km which adds up (%20 loss)

Electric car range figures: WLTP and real-world range | Green.Car

When it comes to electric cars, range is the key stat. We tell you how it’s calculated, why it’s higher than what’s typically achieved, what real-world range is, and why you don’t need to worry.

www.green.car

See I also wondered how do they calculate the HVAC into the efficiency reading etc but one thing I have noticed is if you sit in the car with fan/stereo/screen on your kWh/100km reading will go up slowly which indicates they factor some of that into it. but then if you go into the Energy consumption screen tab sometime it will show you the "AC and other parts usage" kWh as red in the pie chart

Im not complaining about the range of the car, more trying to understand how they calculate the efficiency so I can then gauge where i need to be to achieve certain Kilometres for trips etc

ie to achieve the WLPT 400km range it looks like I need to be on 14kWh/100km which is roughly 4.4kWh/mile.

Originally I thought that if you have a 64kWh (62 useable) battery then you must need 62÷4 to get 15.5kWh/100km to equal 400km but obviously that is not the case. The battery on its own chews a lot more but it's the regen that levels it out. (Hence motorway driving chews so much more and probably why they decide to set regen to max for normal mode to get Max WLPT Figures ?) you notice this when you regen and the kWh/100km figure goes down.

I am very happy with my Xpower performance/range/looks/handling etc so far. Its just interesting how different brands get different ranges using different size batteries through software and efficiency

 

[fnegroni]

conversely, the HVAC uses more during the first 10/15 minutes of a journey than the remaining 45 minutes in the first hour, and then it’s only a function of time and weather condition.
Same for battery heater and cooler.

Using an OBD2 reader you can get pretty accurate consumption figures and I noticed the dashboard tends to update on the full kWh consumed so if you drive for half an hour it might show nothing and then at 31 minutes it shows you used 1 kWh for HVAC etc

 

[Anon70]

I decided to google more about the WLPT test and was surprised to see that they apparently do this in normal mode (not eco).

The thing is in normal mode the XPower can either use just the rear motor or both front and rear depending how hard you press the loud pedal. I would expect during a WLTP test they are extremely light with the right foot so the front motor never engages.

Eco mode forces rear motor only use and Sport forces front and rear motor use all the time.

 

[CharlesCarmichael]

The thing is in normal mode the XPower can either use just the rear motor or both front and rear depending how hard you press the loud pedal. I would expect during a WLTP test they are extremely light with the right foot so the front motor never engages.

Eco mode forces rear motor only use and Sport forces front and rear motor use all the time.

I'm sure others have said if you mash the accelerator even in eco mode it will use both motors, eco mode just changes the pedal feel. I haven't tried this though.

Also can we still call it the "loud pedal"? ?

 

[BG4]

Yes I've noticed it engages only at a specific point in normal mode, you can definitely feel it when AWD it kicks in as opposed to sport mode

I also was surprised that Eco mode shows AWD activation when cornering but stays RWD in straight line, was hoping for a hidden drift mode ?

I have to admit though when driving in Eco with energy savings mode on I definitely see good economy, especially in City driving scenario

 

[Anon70]

Also can we still call it the "loud pedal"?

you can if it modifies the level that your passengers scream at

 

[CharlesCarmichael]

you can if it modifies the level that your passengers scream at

I was thinking on the XPower we should call it the "Holy $#!?" Pedal.

 

[BG4]

If interested you can see the various 0-100 km times in different modes in video below, Eco mode 0-100 km test can be found at 10:30min and does a respectable 6.7 seconds which indicates it changes more than just pedal feel adjustment (seems like a single motor time).

Surprisingly Normal and Sport mode are almost identical times.

My tests so far have shown that AWD is only activated when cornering in ECO mode but maybe I didn't floor it enough in straight line , Sport and snow mode show constant AWD but only when above 5km/h approx according to energy flow , you will notice if you enable snow mode the remaining range will be less than ECO mode due to extra motor usage

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

ECO mode does not limit or force the car to rear motor only.

Hit the pedal hard enough and all four wheels are engaged.

 

[CharlesCarmichael]

I had a quick try an hour ago, in eco and hit the accelerator, there was no way it was using all 429hp. I didn't have the power usage thingy up though, will try again later

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

I'm not saying ECO mode limits horsepower, but I do know, that if you floor the pedal, 4WD is engaged.

It certainly feels slower to me, and I can prove it with a 0 to 60 in ECO next time I get my Dragy out.

As an aside, I hate ECO mode!

The pedal feels artificially heavy, which I suspect is what the engineers were trying to achieve.

 

[salty]

I'm not saying it limits horsepower, but I do know, that if you floor the pedal, 4WD is engaged.

It certainly feels slower to me, and I can prove it with a 0 to 60 in ECO next time I get my Dragy out.

That would be interesting. 0-60 times in
Eco, Normal and Sport and in Launch mode. To see if there really is much difference. Over to you, Chris. ???

 

[AlexC]

Xpower needs a long range option! The heat pump is also not efficient. Various changes will improves range / efficiency for next version, including potentially semi solid state battery.

 

[siteguru]

What heat pump? No MG4 variant in the UK comes with a heat pump, not even the ER (I think).

 

[CharlesCarmichael]

I just went out and tested it with the power display on, one caveat was the battery was 40% and below.

A standing start the displayed showed no power going to the front wheels until negotiationing a corner then it showed 4wd, after the corner changed back to rear only. Tried the standing start 4 times with the same results.

Maybe it also has something to do with battery level, so I'll charge up tonight and do the same test tomorrow.

 

[AlexC]

What heat pump? No MG4 variant in the UK comes with a heat pump, not even the ER (I think).

Yes, I meant HVAC system.