MG ZS EV battery drain? Phantom Drain? 12V battery tips

Tesla's are known for phantom battery drain, and some EVs won't start because of a 12 volt battery issue. If you haven't heard of them, check out this video for some tips on how to save your EVs battery.

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Twitter: @cvanderstock (for my rants and daily musings on random stuff)
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[christopherjohns]

Thank you Chris you saved my life. I was able to use jumper cables / jumper box to get the car started and cancelled a roadside order for a flatbed tow. Left my hazard lights on overnight. Thank you youtube for 2x speed :)

[wildpoet]

Thanks Chris. Firstly, holiday? To Queensland? I’m looking forward to visiting my family up there but keep having to postpone. The battery info is good to know, and very important. Thanks always for your videos.
And I loved your little girls reaction to the nose swab... she handled it better than I did 🥰

[moniquem]

Hey Chris, do you have a video that covers when to charge, not letting it sit for days fully charged etc? That’s probably pretty important to know before I buy an EV!

[Poxenium]

Model 3 and Y have a separate circuit for the 12V battery and supply. You can disconnect the 12V battery and the computers remain powered on.
If you disconnect the plug under the back seat, then everything stops working.

[andrewradford]

12v battery went flat after we brought back our near new used Nissan Leaf and parked it up for two days.
Charged it up and its been fine ever since. Even parking it for 5-6 days.
Thought it might have been from sitting in the car lot, but the two hour drive home should have charged up the lead acid battery from the main traction battery. Just weird..

[yggdrasil]

I think MG will give the Tesla M3 a run for its money in 2021 sales. Different market segment, performance specs and model I know, but in terms of affordability, the difference is night and day.

[pmacgowan]

I have a m3, what we do when we go away is that I plug in the std ac charger on a timer that is only on 11am to 3 pm (because of solar). Then I set the charging limit to 70% and the amp limit to 6amps (1.5kw) for safety reasons. The car will then trickle feed the 12v and when we arrive home I know the car will be at 70% and the excess solar has charged the car

[KJSvitko]

Glad you mentioned to not let a main battery sit at 100% charge for long periods of time.
Charge and go is ok but don't charge to 100% and let it sit for hours, days or weeks.

[ElectraRC]

We have 2 EVs and a Hybrid and the Toyota Camry Hybrid is the worst for this. The 12 vdc battery will be dead in a 4 week period if not used, the manual states that it must be disconnected if not in use. The EVs will keep the 12 vdc battery topped up via the main traction (HV) battery @ about 1, 000 watts of charge. DC to DC charging. So if I want to go on a holiday just leave your EV plugged in to a power point set the charge limit to 80% and have a great time away. No need to disconnect the 12 vdc battery at all. We have been doing this for years with no issues at all. Dog mode and camping mode will always charge the 12 vdc battery because the car knows that it must charge the 12 vdc battery or it will not start. If we have a black out we use our Nissan Leaf to power our freezers via a 12vdc inverter that is charged via the main traction battery for days.

[davidpearn]

Looking forward to getting our red one soon Chris.
Are you going to practice battery balancing on a regular basis ?
I understand that a single cell line drop means the range drops to exactly that level also.
It seems that a monthly charge to 100% and maintenance at that level (on AC wall charger) for a few hours is good practice.
I certainly wouldn’t do it with our Tesla however, but for ‘normal’ BEVs it’s apparently a necessary thing.

[geoffscrase]

You say that the 12V battery powers the air circulation fan, air conditioning, heating, etc; so, why does the indicated remaining range reduce when these are switched on?

[damienocarroll]

Fast forward to 5 mins for answer like I did 50 seconds in.

[esaaus]

Camping mode also known as office mode for road warriors...