A few months of driving our MG ZS EV has taught us a few things about living with a pure-electric car.
Our ZS EV is the standard range 51kWh battery version. The stated 320km range is a little optimistic, though like any fuel consumption figure, measured under ideal and relative circumstances. In the real world, that could mean listening to the radio or a podcast, being connected to and charging a smartphone, keeping warm or cool, running headlights at night or wipers in the wet. Or even, traffic madness permitting, speeds as high as a heady 110km/h.
These are all parameters that I encounter on my commute from home in Hamilton to the DRIVEN office in central Auckland, right near Sky City. It’s a 130km one-way trip, which – as any math super genius will attest – equals a 260km round trip. Which leaves a net balance of 60km from the full charge and stated range; low, but not anxiety inducing.
But for those masochists amongst us who love the run the gauntlet and get every drop of fuel from a tank and run out just for the fun of seeing how far it can go, the similar EV challenge presents different problems.
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The plan was to leave home at 100 per cent state of charge (SOC), drive to work and back again and complete the 260km.
My departure is under the darkness of night, and at 6am, the MG’s auto headlights do their requested function and, well, light up. It was a cold morning, too, so the heater was also called into action, instantly dropping around 5 per cent from the predicted range.
Hitting the new 110km/h speed zones on SH1 exiting Hamilton is great for transit times, but less so for battery duration, and nearing an hour into the trip, it’s chewing down power at a rate of a high 26Wh.
Passing Hampton Downs, the speed limit drops to 100km/h, which helps ease battery draining to a more eco-friendly 21kWh, as does the increasing morning light deactivating the headlights. With a cosy cabin, turning off the AC system regains 12km… though the windscreen starts to fog.
After scaling the Bombay Hill, the SOC is down to 65 per cent, after just 67km, and 10km later, traffic comes to a standstill at Drury, with battery at 63 per cent. I find that focusing on the numbers doesn’t help increase them, oddly enough.
The need to use AC to clear the windscreen drops another 7km, and by the time the radar cruise control effectively stops, starts and crawls us into the heart of Auckland, even the final 2km of downhill barely recharges the system, highlighting one big feature that’s also a flaw – when on cruise control, the MG does not regenerate charge back into the battery.
Pulling into work, the MG’s state of charge is down to 47 per cent, equaling around 130km – the exact distance of the return leg home.
It’s a similar story of consumption on the way back, but at least remaining in total daylight and the ability to deactivate the AC. The trip computer has at least calibrated itself to my motorway driving and providing a slightly more accurate range prediction, but the southbound Bombay Hill drinks up a chunk of power on the climb to Pukekohe exit: it consumes around 9-10km more climbing to the peak. Rolling down the south side – even with cruise control deactivated to maximise regeneration, it only recharges and regenerates it another 2-3km.
As I pass the Hampton Downs WEL Networks charger, the range drops to 15km… with 20km to go. Mitigating risk of being stranded, I exit to the Taupiri BP charger, where a 10 minute wait for a Tesla offers me up a 10 minute charge boost, more than enough to get me the 20km home.
So it possibly could have made the 260km trip, but given the rated range of 320km, the fact motorway driving is possibly the fastest way to consume battery power, and the minimal lack of compromise given for comfort or driving style, a worst-case scenario results in a 19 per cent reduction in range.
With the more suburban driving revealing more EV-friendly figures, it was a good test of the MG ZS “short-range” model, on a drive loop that few would realistically do or expect from an entry level EV, and would have easily been handled with a charge boost at work.
With the ZS EV “long range” version due to arrive this month, that could be a better horse for this person’s course.
MG ZS EV ESSENCE
ENGINE: 51kWh battery with single electric motor
POWER: 130kW/280Nm
GEARBOX: Single-speed automatic, FWD
0-100KM/H: 8.2 seconds
CONSUMPTION: 17.1kWh/100km, range 320km (WLTP)
PRICE: $53,990
