My MG ZS EV experience at 20,000 km: 8 observations worth sharing

The increased use of air-conditioning in the summer months has brought down the range by about 10-15 km.

BHPian speedmiester recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

20K Kms Update

Lightfury completed 20000Kms on the odo yesterday. This milestone came in at just over 8 months.

Also got the fourth service done a week ago. An update for the stability control program was performed along with routine service which included a change of the AC filter.

For the past 4 months, I could undertake only two long drives apart from the many Bangalore-Mysore-Bangalore drives. One to Chennai and the other to Manipal. Both were solo drives and I stuck to speeds between 70-90KMPH which resulted in high-efficiency numbers. I could reach Chennai on a single charge and similarly reached Manipal on a single charge.

Few pointers since the last update

1. The car has held up well. While I take care of my cars, I don’t baby them as well.
2. There was slight noise from suspension and steering, this was fixed during the 20K kms service.
3. Battery has degraded a bit; the SOH stands at just over 98%. This is in line with MG’s info on battery life. I still get 320-330Kms in City with AC and around 350Kms on the highways. Range is always dependent on the driving style.
4. I usually keep my speeds between 60-80KMPH on undivided highways, 70-90 on traffic dense Four lane highways and 80-100KMPH on Expressways. I focus on avg speed rather than higher speeds.
5. Learning to modulate the throttle instead of using cruise control helps with the range.
6. Increased usage of AC in the summer months has brought down the range by about 10-15Kms.
7. AC in Eco mode is useless if you have rear passengers. Switching to Normal or Sports mode makes it better. The large pano sunroof and the wafer-thin cloth cover underneath do not help.
8. Fast Charging infrastructure has grown leaps and bounds over the past year. So range anxiety has taken a back seat, though a bit of planning never hurts. Most chargers are still 25-30KW range and higher charging times are expected.

Key stats so far:

Many miles to go

Here's what BHPian DarthVeda had to say about the matter:

This is a bit concerning, the battery degradation is dependent on the # of charge cycles and it's too early for it to onset at this early stage, I have driven over 20k on my Nexon EV and it still takes in 28.6kwh of energy.

Here's what BHPian shyampsunder had to say about the matter:

I wouldn't take SOH at its face value. According to UK forums, it looks like MG's measurement of SOH on their LFP batteries is a static number that keeps reducing in a pre-determined way irrespective of the actual degradation of the battery. Refer to this link.

At 100% charge on normal mode, what is the number of KMs you are seeing as the range?

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.