[phbsurrey]

Just finished first week with white exclusive (with black mirror caps waiting for the tint). Love it but less so the car manual. Can anyone help me on two questions: How do I keep the digital speed in the centre display? I switch to it and after a minute some warning has taken it away so I have to arrow to it again. The second is should I just ignore the snowdop button on the righ hand multi function gizmo on the steering wheel - it doesnt seem to do anything?
My observation on charging after looking at wall chargers, commando sockets et al. On the granny charger in one hour it recharges battery by +5% and adds 8 to normal range, 10 miles to eco range. So my average 60% weekly top up will take 12 hours - easy. Assuming an average consumption of 3.5 miles/kwh my annual 6,000miles (ignoring free solar in summer) is a max (6000/3.5) = 1,714kwh which at 15p/kwh is £281pa With a wall charger costing me £500 to install and Octopus 5p deal these costs would be £94 pa assuming I only charge between 12 and 4am. Thats a saving of £188pa so pays for itself in 3 years. Moving to a cheaper (12p/kwh) standard supplier and maxing solar use in summer its more like 4 years. So I think I have persuaded myself not to go the wall charger route but find a cheaper kwh rate.

 

[Wazzmania]

Digital Speedometer - each time you get a lane departure/keeping warning or any other warning you'll have to manually press the left or right button twice to revert back to speedometer.

The star button can be customised using the infotainment system - choice of either Home screen, Smart Phone....one more but not sure what exactly..

 

[dk6780]

The pEVSE only question come up regularly and there is no absolute answer. A few facts, all unquantifiable:

• pEVSE are marginally less safe than fixed EVSE, partly due to lower standards and less waterproofing, and partly due to the nature of the UK 3 pin plug's fusing arrangement which risks overheating. Cue the normal "I've done it for years without being electrocuted or my house catching fire" comments.
  
  
• Charging at a slower rate is often less efficient than at 7kW, but this varies from car to car with outliers such as the Zoe and E-Tron being 30% worse.
  
  
• pEVSE seem less robust than fixed EVSEs - the components in the "brick" often are lighter weight and suffer overheating. Again you may be lucky.
  
  
• In theory adding an EVSE can add value to your house, and as it is getting gradually harder and more expensive to do so it might be better to do so now.

 

[phbsurrey]

Thank you for a very objective response, although there do seem to be some stories around wall chargers being unreliable. I am having a dedicated switched 13A socket installed for car charging on a 22amp cable to the consumer unit, both will be inside the garage and the granny charger will be left plugged in at all times, not constantly plugged/unplugged. But I do agree it seems a marginal call and other factors will influence, particularly if you are a higher mileage driver. I just think its worth considering if you are driving c6,000 miles a year.

 

[dk6780]

I just think its worth considering if you are driving c6,000 miles a year.

Agreed, well worth considering in those circumstances, particularly if you might move house in the short term. My thinking is clouded by 20,000 miles/year and no intention of moving.

 

[dk6780]

Duplicate

 

[Carty]

Digital Speedometer - each time you get a lane departure/keeping warning or any other warning you'll have to manually press the left or right button twice to revert back to speedometer.

I have lane departure disabled on my car and the digital speedo is displayed constantly every time I boot up the car ?.
If I receive a warning on the dash ( i e ) Lane Departure Is In Inactive or the change of Speed Limit warning, the dash panel shows the warning, then instantly reverts straight back to the digital speedo ?.
I don't have to keep toddling with the steering wheel buttons backwards to get the speedo display, after every time I receive a warning ?.
It has been this way from Jan 2020.
Maybe it because I have the Lane Departure / Lane Assist permanently disabled in the head unit settings ?.
Original I had the Lane Assist turned on and would then have to disable it, due to the constant bonging.
A long press of the blue button on the left hand column switch would only disable the Lane Assist for the length of that current journey.
As soon as the car is powered down and then rebooted, the Lane Assist would be reactivated as per the default setting.
This is okay if you are making long trips, but if you are doing a lot of local trips, then having to disable the feature every single time you boot up the car can soon wear you down !.
After two weeks of the annoying loud bogging, together warnings flashing upon the dash constantly, I decided to disable it in the main settings in the head unit.
Arhhhhh ....... That is much better !
My brother collected his new ZS EV only last week, on only his second trip out the car kept sending out the Lane Assist warnings all of the time.
He had the comfort 2 update done on his car prior to delivery as well.
On the third day, he was complaining about the warnings ALL of the time.
He paid us visit to show off his very first EV.
When I asked him if he was enjoying his car, he said it was brilliant but got straight onto the subject of the constant warnings he was receiving on the dash panel.
I knew straight away what he was moaning about, so I showed him how to disable it in the setting menu and how normal service was resumed.
He said that the sales person had told him that when he collected the car, he had turned OFF one of the settings because otherwise he said :- "It will drive you completely mad".
But I believe he had not disabled it correctly in the settings menu so as soon as my brother used the car the following day, it reverted back to the default settings.
I have received no further complaints since !.

 

[Ralkbirdy]

and the granny charger will be left plugged in at all times, not constantly plugged/unplugged.

This does not improve things, removing and inserting will help keep the contacts clean. A good alternative is a commando socket which has more substantial contacts and can be either 16A or 32A.

EV Charging Cable | Type 2 to 32A Commando | 7.2 kW | 5 Metre | Mode 2 |

Easily charge your Type 2 EV from a 32 Amp commando socket. Just plug and charge! This is suitable for all UK households. Specification Car Checker Free UK Delivery -32 Amp Commando power plug -Type 2 charging plug (IEC 62196) -Power usage stats via LED screen -Amp select feature to down rate on...

evonestop.co.uk

 

[Neilew]

then instantly reverts straight back to the digital speedo

The only exception of this is changing lanes when on MGpilot (nealy typed Autopilot then ). I know the bongs have been fixed by the update, but the Speedo doesn't return after switching lanes. It does get a tad annoying if you're doing 65 mph and the motorway is chock with lorries and caravan/campers.

Lane Assist is permanently disabled and will remain so. I find it such a pain.

 

[lee graham]

We should not have to disable features in order to have a digital speedometer all the time. I did 100 miles on the motorway the other night and had to change back to speedometer about 5 times due to mg pilot reacquiring blue lines. I love the eZS and this is only a minor inconvenience, here are two solutions that could be incorporated in next update.
1) Lane keep assist / MG pilot display for 5 seconds, then reverts back to digital speedometer.
2) Combine the ACC and speedometer screens. Make that car graphic move to show position in road (left//right) and have the red/blue lines too.

 

[dk6780]

This does not improve things, removing and inserting will help keep the contacts clean. A good alternative is a commando socket which has more substantial contacts and can be either 16A or 32A.

EV Charging Cable | Type 2 to 32A Commando | 7.2 kW | 5 Metre | Mode 2 |

Easily charge your Type 2 EV from a 32 Amp commando socket. Just plug and charge! This is suitable for all UK households. Specification Car Checker Free UK Delivery -32 Amp Commando power plug -Type 2 charging plug (IEC 62196) -Power usage stats via LED screen -Amp select feature to down rate on...

evonestop.co.uk

The OP is seeking to save money by not purchasing an EVSE but to only use the supplied pEVSE. If he pays for another pEVSE and a Commando socket then the Ohme lead is a similar price via Octopus and other low cost EVSE work out similarly. But you are correct, even with a new socket the 3 pin plug on a pEVSE remains the weak point.

 

[Carty]

We should not have to disable features in order to have a digital speedometer all the time. I did 100 miles on the motorway the other night and had to change back to speedometer about 5 times due to mg pilot reacquiring blue lines. I love the eZS and this is only a minor inconvenience, here are two solutions that could be incorporated in next update.
1) Lane keep assist / MG pilot display for 5 seconds, then reverts back to digital speedometer.
2) Combine the ACC and speedometer screens. Make that car graphic move to show position in road (left//right) and have the red/blue lines too.

It would be a nice upgrade, but I have not used Pro Pilot yet I can not comment really.
You do still have the “Old School” speedo with a needle should you need to check your speed of course !.

 

[Neilew]

It would be a nice upgrade, but I have not used Pro Pilot yet I can not comment really.
You do still have the “Old School” speedo with a needle should you need to check your speed of course !.

TBH I'd like to see the analogue speedo done away with and the efficiency gauge linear with the extra space used for a more comprehensive display. Something more akin to other EV. It does seem rather dated.

Also, for me, it seemed to be on the wrong side. In the beginning I kept looking at the efficiency dial for the speed. I've got used to it now. Must have had a speedo on the right in a previous car.

 

[davesul]

To me, with an analogue speedo its quicker, easier and safer while driving to glance at it to check speed, compared with reading a numerical display digit-by-digit .
YMMV.

 

[HandyAndy]

...

• pEVSE seem less robust than fixed EVSEs - the components in the "brick" often are lighter weight and suffer overheating. Again you may be lucky.

To add to this, I've recently burnt out a good quality portable EVSE. I had set it to 13A, which I've used without problems on the particular socket before. This pEVSE is rated 16A, as you can get the Commando-plug version of it, with identical electronics. It's had 5 years fairly hard use; I do 6k miles electrically p.a. A lot of 6A solar-panel charging during winter, and in summer this has been bumped up to 8A or 10A depending how sunny.

13A I only used when in a rush for a quick top-up. About a year ago it started showing signs of overheating by cutting out after 1/2 an hour or so, on 10A, then on 8A. I tracked this down to one of the 2 relays inside wearing out, this forms the contactor. Swapped that for new one & it's lasted another year. This time it failed without warning, the circuitboad blew up where the 13A mains comes onto it, at a soldered blade connector. I've replaced this pESVE with another the same, and this one will get a service after 3 years where I'll resolder all the relevant connections inside in case they're suffering from thermal fatigue like the original did. And I'll check the relay resistance across the points. And I'll try harder to stick to 10A max, and not be tempted to use 13A at all! And of course, if I stick to 8A, it will last even longer.

But these things can, and do, wear out. So it's always a good plan to have at least 2 EVSEs of some kind around...

 

[dk6780]

And to be fair, a lot of fixed EVSE have worn out in less than 5 year as a number of Rolec owners will testify ......

Certainly the amount of usage is more a factor than age - I'm sure that I'm stressing my fixed EVSE more using it daily at 32A than you might a pEVSE using it weekly at 6A.

 

[HandyAndy]

But are you stressing it harder? My pEVSE has no internal cooling, my Rolec has lots of air inside. The Contactor inside Rolec is far more substantial. My pEVSE survived a short-circuiting Car socket, my Rolec ECU died as lacked protection. So it got a Viridian in it, easy DIY swap by me. Swapping the relay in pEVSE needs special desoldering tool ideally. Rolec RCBO was cr*p eastern Mfr junk, DIY replaced with good quality Garo. I reckon it's more reliable than my pEVSE.

 

[Bullterrier]

I suppose you could buy the plug in Ohme and cut the plug off and use an FCU if you want to eliminate the plug and socket. Have to retrieve and poke the thermal sensor somewhere though.

What about the visits to the old lady though?

 

[SueH]

I can only write so far from the point of view of limited experience of about a month. To begin with for the first three weeks I relied on the granny charger and a 10m extension lead from my outbuilding plus a few free supermarket charges. The last couple of weeks I've been able to charge parked on the new block work at the front of my terrace house (expensive business getting an EV!) using the granny out the lounge window. I'd agree on the charging rates mentioned above, and it's mostly been on solar.

I've done the usual periodic safety checks on heat build up and there's been barely noticeable warmth at either shed or lounge plug, but I haven't charged for long periods as I've had no need and wanted to use solar. Longer term I might still want to use the granny next summer to take advantage of solar as I don't really want to spend more on a diverter such as Zappi.

When my GF gets round to it she's going to sort out a commando lead and earthing device, and there's some ducting under the block work with a neat exit hole in the blocks for a neat cable run and I've got an OHME cable ready and waiting.
Waiting also for Octopus to repair my smart meter next week so that I can actually use Agile again! Hopefully with the autumn gales the rates will come down again, as my solar will be declining. It's been good until recently, and last week was even charging the car with a dribble left over for the hot water diverter.

 

[dk6780]

@SueH

Do you plan to change between the "granny" lead on good days for solar and the Ohme when you need to import from the grid? AFAIK there is no support with Ohme to vary the charge rate apart from asking them to reduce the maximum on a fixed basis (for example @donald has had his reduced to 16A).