In their marketing MG Australia promise that all versions of the 2022 and 2023 MG ZS EV Excite and Essence electric car are capable of a 11kW AC charging rate.
I tested whether this was true twice.
Firstly at a friends place connected to their Zappi smart solar aware charger, with the ZS EV Excite 2022 I had on loan from MG to review over 2 weeks during late December 2022.
The Zappi supplied my ZS EV Excite with a charge rate of 9.71kW as measured at the car and 10.5kW as measured at the charger, which was the unused solar generation at the time. This is a solid result.
Secondly I tested in mid 2023 at my local shopping centre Ocular AC charging station, using my 7m Type 2 to Type 2 EV Charging Cable (22kW, 32 amp) cable and a ZS EV Essence 2023 Long Range (which I had on loan for a week to review).
I plugged one end of the cable into the car charger port.
I plugged the other end of the cable into the Ocular brand AC charging station.
After a few seconds charging started and I saw that the ZS EV Essence 2023 Long Range was charging at a rate of 9.76kW.
This is consistent with my earlier test with the ZS EV Excite.
As a side note one common question about the MG ZS EV is can you can set the maximum charge percentage level?
The answer is No for the Standard Range ZS EV Excite and Essence that have a LFP battery.
However the answer is Yes for the MG ZS EV Long Range that has an NMC battery.
You can set the charge limit using your finger on the touchscreen menu or in the MG iSmart app as I’ve demonstrated below and tested by setting a limit of 90% and seeing if the car stopped charging at this limit.
Type 2 to Type 2 Cable Buying Tips
I recommend buying your Type 2 to Type 2 cable from an Australian retailer like EVSE or Jetcharge so you have a good warranty and are supporting the local EV accessory industry.
You could get a shorter, cheaper 5m cable but I find the 7m length is handy as you never know how far the charging station will be from your car charging port.
There are slower slightly cheaper cables available for purchase such as the Type 2 to Type 2 EV Charging Cable (7kW, 32amp) for cars like the BYD Atto 3, MG ZS EV 2021 and Hyundai Kona EV 2021 that don’t support 11kW AC charging.
Some electric vehicle (EV) owners buy a 7kW charge rate Type 2 to Type 2 cable to save a little bit of money.
However if they later buy a newer electric car that is capable of 11kW AC charge rate or rent an EV capable of 11kW AC charge rate (eg common rental models Tesla Model 3 and Polestar 2) then this wastes an opportunity to charge that EV much faster at an AC charging station.
Leave a Reply