MG 5 long-term test: report 2
The MG 5 is one of the cheapest electric cars on sale, and the only electric estate, but is it any good? We're living with it to find out...
The car 2022 MG 5 SW EV Exclusive Long Range Run by Kiall Garrett, senior videographer
Why it’s here To see whether an electric estate car can support the practicality needs of What Car?’s videographer while getting him around the country with relative ease
Needs to be Spacious, have enough range to travel to far-flung film shoots, and be comfortable to drive
Mileage 6645 Price £28,195 Target price £29,182 Price as tested £30,495 Test range 167 miles Official range 250 miles Options None
10 June 2022 – Electric car charging: the good, the bad and the ugly
After some decent time in the MG 5 I can already see that it’s a great car in many ways. What I want to discuss here, though, are two things that may well be the primary concerns for potential electric car buyers: range and charging.
I can say, happily, that I have been achieving around 200 miles on a full battery in the recent warm-ish weather.
Sure, that doesn’t match the 250-mile official range, but it’s still far enough to have most journeys covered without constantly sweating about where the next charge will come from.
However, living in a flat, I can’t top up at home. So, when my working day takes me to exotic, far away lands like Wales or the North, I need to make sure I've found somewhere to charge in advance and (at least) once again on my way back.
The MG 5 has a quoted maximum charging speed of 80kW. Not the quickest among its rivals – most new EVs offer 100kW or more – but this should be enough to get me from 20-80% charge in 42 minutes. As long as you aren’t in a rush, that isn’t spectacularly inconvenient.
The problem is that having now charged at a dozen rapid 150kW and 250kW chargers, the fastest charging speed I’ve actually received is around 35kW. So, each service station detour regularly needs to last well over an hour.
I’ve contacted MG to see if they might be able to take a look to see if it’s a problem with the car or with the chargers that I’ve ended up at. I’ll report back once I know.
The other problem I’ve faced with charging is the fact that it’s a bit of a lottery as to whether one will actually be available when you arrive. I’ve had to queue up for half an hour to wait for other electric car users to finish their charge and free up a port.
I’ll tell you why the car itself is great next time. It's just that my experience of the charging infrastructure has dominated these early days with the MG 5.
If I can get to the bottom of why I’m only charging at 35kW it would make a huge difference.
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