At the Australian media launch of the MG4 that I attended 2 months ago, MG Australia promised that the Essence spec “is capable of recharging at up to 140kW, meaning a charge time of only 26 minutes from 10-80% using a 150kW DC rapid charger“.
During the last week I had an MG4 Essence 64 on media loan to review. I drove it for 322km over several days draining the battery from 100% to 25%.
Then I recharged it at the new Evie IKEA Tempe 150kW charging location, so I could see if the charging rate claim at the media event could be proven true.
TLDR Spoiler: the result is great and much faster than the MG4 Excite 51 which has a top charging rate of only 88kW.
Since IKEA Tempe is near where I live the car was only driven a few kilometres to get there, battery pre-heating was off and the outside temperature was only 20C. None of these conditions gave any advantage to the car for this test.
My suggestion based on this test is don’t bother charging an Australian MG4 Essence 64 at a 150kW or faster charger past 80%, unless you really really need the extra range or a longer break from driving eg: to finish a meal or stretch your legs for a walk.
Note if you visit a 150kW Tritium PKM150 site like Evie IKEA Tempe, note that you’ll only achieve a maximum charge rate close to 150kW if:
- your EV supports a max charge rate of close to 150kW or above
- your battery level is quite low as EV’s charge fastest when starting at low battery level
- the charging unit your EV is plugged into isn’t being shared by another car in the parking bay next to it, in which case your top speed will be less
