[GST]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Update: 30000Kms completed and 5th Service:

Lightfury completed 30000kms over the weekend during our last long drive.


The car has performing well with zero rattles and complaints.

Thank you for a happy ownership report. I have been test driving all sort of cars for a replacement for Ciaz petrol. For MG ZS EV I had a longish test drive and found that the car was somewhat bouncy on minor imperfections on highways. Above speeds of 70 or so these bounces once in a while make you feel floating. Is it just some random combination of feelings and situation or do you notice this as well. Another thing I noticed was that ergonomics felt a bit off for my driving position as a short person: One hand couldn't reach the resting place on the door pad and the other couldn't use the center armrest.

Apart from this, had a blast shooing away lane higs at speed breakers. Real fun! A wonderful car it is.

I will appreciate your remarks. Thanks.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by GST

Thank you for a happy ownership report. I have been test driving all sort of cars for a replacement for Ciaz petrol. For MG ZS EV I had a longish test drive and found that the car was somewhat bouncy on minor imperfections on highways. Above speeds of 70 or so these bounces once in a while make you feel floating. Is it just some random combination of feelings and situation or do you notice this as well. Another thing I noticed was that ergonomics felt a bit off for my driving position as a short person: One hand couldn't reach the resting place on the door pad and the other couldn't use the center armrest.

Apart from this, had a blast shooing away lane higs at speed breakers. Real fun! A wonderful car it is.

I will appreciate your remarks. Thanks.

I agree with you on the softer suspension setup, it's more comfort oriented. At higher speeds, minor undulations can unsettle the car, but not so bad or maybe I am used to it now.

Ergonomics are also little suspect as I am also unable to reach the centre arm rest or the door pad for resting elblow while driving.

[speedmiester]

Completed a 3000+km drive in Lightfury from Bangalore to Statue of Unity in Gujarat. Didn’t face any issue with charging on the highways or in cities. The car performed well and exceeded my expectations I had from an EV.

My faith in ZS EV has increased much more after this drive. Even after such a long drive, there wasn’t much discomfort, especially for my father. The silent, comfortable cabin aided in reducing fatigue. We drove across expressways, highways, state highways on excellent as well as potholed roads. There are no rattles even after this much punishment. I maintained speeds between 80-95 and sometimes even crossed 120kmph for short periods on good roads, I am surprised by the efficiency over the entire drive and AC was on for more than 98% of the drive. Each full charge offered no less than 330Kms.

The only areas of improvement for this EV will be better headlights and slightly stiffer suspension.

Some stats from the drive.

• Total Kms driven: 3070Kms
• Driving time: 54hrs 30mins (this includes about 75-80mins of idling with AC)
• Efficiency: 7.9KM/KW
• Total cost of charging: Rs. 7678.08/-
• Cost per KM: ~Rs.2.5/KM

Crossing 33333KM milestone during the drive.

[GTE]

The efficiency shown is a bit optimistic. 7.9 should yield a range close to 400kms.

[rajeshrajan]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Crossing 33333KM milestone during the drive.

Attachment 2506806

Awesome.

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Cost per KM: ~Rs.2.5/KM

That very decent cost/KM considering you used commercial chargers.
Wonder what was the average cost per unit in Maharashtra and Gujarat!

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by rajeshrajan

Awesome.

That very decent cost/KM considering you used commercial chargers.
Wonder what was the average cost per unit in Maharashtra and Gujarat!

It's on par with other states. Since one of the charging session was free courtesy my friend, the overall cost/km reduced. Else add in about 1K to the overall cost, the cost/km will be around Rs. 2.8 -2.85/km

[jathin]

Your thread gives confidence to those who are in two minds about buying an EV.

[idoctor]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

It's on par with other states. Since one of the charging session was free courtesy my friend, the overall cost/km reduced. Else add in about 1K to the overall cost, the cost/km will be around Rs. 2.8 -2.85/km

I agree, I did a road trip from Bengaluru to Coorg and back in a self drive rental Nexon EV Prime and covered around 900 kms too and fro (including some sightseeing beyond Coorg as well) and entirely on commercial chargers. My running cost was also around Rs 2/km.

[VSEV85]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum. I drive a 2014 VW Jetta which has clocked 2,40,000kms and a 2021 MG Zs EV which has clocked 98000kms till date. I need to get your inputs about the battery Degradation in your EV's. I recently checked my Battery state of Health of my ZS EV and its around 91%. The technicians at MG service say this level of degradation is lower than they have seen in a few other cars. Kindly feel free to share your inputs.

[speedmiester]

40000Kms and 6th Service Update

It’s been sometime since I last updated on the Lightfury.

Lightfury completes 40000Kms on the odo in just under 18 months since I got the car. I also got it serviced recently which was the first paid service. So far, I have not faced any issues and fully satisfied with my ownership. I am still getting between 320-350Kms on a single charge and I have not noticed any degradation in range or battery.

The car is performing as expected and I have completed many long drives including a 3000Kms round trip to Statue of Unity and back. Link to the travelogue below
(https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...-mg-zs-ev.html (Lightfury visits Statue of Unity and Equality | 3000+ km drive in my MG ZS EV))

Apart from the above long drive, I did a couple of Solo drives, one to Kohli hills and another ~900Kms drive to Udupi, Mysore and back to Bangalore in a day. The regular drives between Bangalore and Mysore continues without hiccups.

Drive to Kohli Hills

I had a day for myself during Dasara holidays and I was itching for a drive. Decided to tackle the 70+ hairpins of Kohli hills. This is a round trip of around 600Kms from my residence.

I left my residence at 3AM and reached the Zeon Charger near Salem at 6AM for a quick topup before tackling the hairpins. The uphill drive was a pleasure since there are no gear changes and power was available with just a dap of the throttle. The range dropped as expected, but nothing alarming. Completed the circuit of the hills and descended. The downhill drive topped up the range lost during the uphill climb. By the time I reached down, the consumption stood at 7.9KM/KWH which is similar to the numbers I get on a highway drive. I had a quick charging and lunch stop at Salem before a quick sprint back home.

Stats from the drive.



Couple of pics from the drive.





Drive to Udupi

This was a drive to check out fellow BHPian Samurai’s Grand Vitara. I took the Charmadi ghat route over the regular Shiradi route. I was able to drive to Udupi, 416Kms in a single charge with 8% range left. This is the longest I have driven on a single charge.

I charged at Zeon Charger in Udupi till 98% for my next destination Mysore, a distance of around 300Kms. The drive was through Sampaje ghat, Madikeri and Mysore. Had a blast on the uphill drive to Madikeri on the Sampaje ghat. I was able to reach Mysore with 15% charge left. I had a quick dinner and charge for the next drive to Bangalore completing 889Kms in a day.

Longest drive on a single charge



At Charmadi ghat




6th Service Update:

This is the first paid service for the ZS EV. I got the appointment at Electronic City service centre. The front suspension was creaking a bit on some large humps, this was sorted during the service.

Service took about 7hrs and cost was 7682/-
Breakup of the cost is below

1. Paid service: 3068/-
2. WA and WB: 1326/-
3. AC Filter: 1696/-
4. Coolant: 1592/-

The coolant is used for both Battery and Motor thermal management. This needs to be replaced every 40K Kms. Service quality is as expected, no surprises but cleaning was not great.


Summary of Stats from my ownership so far.



Parting shot from one of the drives

[ALTIMAed]

Originally Posted by shyampsunder

Hi, is it possible to share the app and information on the OBD2 adapter? Does it make sense to use this information in a PDI to check the health of the battery before taking delivery?

November 2023, I purchased a MG Comet. I am keen to know the app used to check battery health. Any idea on the configuration / model code of the OBD adaptor and which one to purchase. Thanks in advance

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by ALTIMAed

November 2023, I purchased a MG Comet. I am keen to know the app used to check battery health. Any idea on the configuration / model code of the OBD adaptor and which one to purchase. Thanks in advance

This is the OBD reader I use.
vgate icar 2 Bluetooth OBD II Auto Diagnostic Tool for Android Devices and windows PC Black Color https://amzn.eu/d/87r5U3u

For the app, you need to download it from apk site.
https://apkcombo.com/ezs/com.mg.zs.mgzsev/

[saurabh_v8]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Completed a 3000+km drive in Lightfury from Bangalore to Statue of Unity in Gujarat. Didn’t face any issue with charging on the highways or in cities.

Hi Buddy,

If we use fast charger consecutively on multiple occasions the battery life may be impacted.
Now will MG honor the 8year battery life warranty in these circumstances.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by saurabh_v8

Hi Buddy,

If we use fast charger consecutively on multiple occasions the battery life may be impacted.
Now will MG honor the 8year battery life warranty in these circumstances.

It is not recommended to use fast charging for more than 4-5 times consecutively, but this doesn't affect warranty.

The degradation is due to lack of cell balancing which only occurs during AC slow charging.

During my trip all overnight charging was done using AC chargers and I only fast charged twice in a row before using AC charging.

[doctorjee]

3 & 1/2 years driving an EV, and at what one might consider the half-life of a typical car in India...
It started as a gamble, yes, actually a gamble where one gives up the peace of mind of staying with the masses for the peace of mind that comes with driving comfort and saving a few pennies while at it...

The biggest question: how will the battery hold up over the years?
This is the 2020 Gen 1 model of the MG ZS EV, having a 44.5 kWh battery. At the time of purchase, the car promised 332 km on a full charge. I never really checked if it was true, but a number of online reviewers confirmed that it was very close to the actual numbers (and much better than the Hyundai Kona, which overpromised by a big margin). Also, the mode and style of driving heavily impact the "mileage." We typically measure this as km/unit or km/kWh, and I would get anywhere between 5 and 9 depending on how I drive. That equated to a range between 222.5 km and 400.5 km. Some reviewers were even able to extract over 600 km on this model. Lighter EVs can extract much more from the battery, but this vehicle weighs >1600 kgs (for context, an Innova weighs 1730 kgs, a Creta weighs ~1400 kgs).

So today I did a practical range test. Home-to-office drive in Mumbai traffic, a mix of city and highway driving. At full charge, the car now promises 324 km (an 8 km or 2% drop since Nov 2020). I started at 8:26 AM (a bit later than usual). It took me ~45 mins to drive from Andheri East to Airoli (21.5 km). Average speed 28 km/h. I drove at ~70 kmph on the entire EEH stretch (that's the speed limit). Efficiency was 8 km/unit. I reached the office with 305 km of range remaining. So, simple math – I was promised 324 km and I will be getting 326.5 km as projected. At an average of 7 Rs per unit of electricity in Mumbai, I have spent <19 Rs for this commute.

Notes:
1. The range is typically given with the AC turned off. The AC can shave off around 10% of the total range, so this isn't a completely realistic estimate. I'll do another test run with the AC on sometime next week. Thankfully, it wasn't too uncomfortable in the morning.
2. The TPMS suggests that the tires are underinflated. Tire pressure makes a big difference in EV efficiency. Adding ~3 PSI could have given me about a 4% increase in range.
3. I have done quite a few medium-long drives with this and never faced any range anxiety. I typically do a monthly trip to Karjat and at least once in 2 months do a 600km+ roundtrip.
4. Shock absorbers do wear off fast in this may be. I have changed them twice in the last 3.5 years, but Mumbai roads have been real crappy recently and I did hit quite a few potholes real bad. The other minor challenges, the infotainment panel is more sluggish than before and the rearview camera is basically a potato.

So after ~36k km and 3.5 years, these are not bad numbers at the half-life of a car, right?