The ZS EV’s straight-line stability is good and the car doesn’t feel nervous even at 120 km/h. However, if there are undulations on the road, the car does tend to feel bouncy.
Driving the MG ZS EV
Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor puts out 174 BHP & 280 Nm of torque. Compared to the previous car, the facelift makes 33 BHP more, but 73 Nm less! It’s still as quick though:
Before we get to the driving part, let’s get the basics right. There are 3 main components in an EV – the battery, the motor and the controller/charger. The battery is what stores the energy and the motor is what uses that energy to move the car. The controller/charger converts the energy from the battery into a usable form to power the motor. In more technical terms, the power grid from your house or a charging station is usually an AC. The lithium-ion battery can store electric energy in DC form. So while charging, there’s usually an AC/DC converter that will convert the power grid’s AC into DC and store it in the car’s battery. The DC fast chargers that you see, usually have the AC/DC converter inbuilt, which is how they can charge the car’s battery faster. The controller typically sits on top of the motor.
Driving an EV is quite a unique experience and recent EVs have all been impressive. Push the engine start button with your foot on the brake pedal and you’ll hear nothing, although the car is “alive” now. There are four transmission modes to choose from – P, D, R and N. Turn the classy rotary dial to engage D, lift your foot off the brake pedal and the car crawls forward at 6 km/h. This will be highly appreciated in heavy traffic conditions where you can drive with just the brake pedal. I had the privilege of getting stuck in Mumbai’s Western Express Highway weekend traffic for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, and it wasn’t that bad crawling in the bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Driving in the city is a pleasant experience. The accelerator pedal’s response is linear and not snappy (especially in Eco mode). Passengers will appreciate how smooth the drive feels, without any jerks caused by gearshifts or any engine sounds. It is an incredibly refined experience.
Get on some open city roads, floor the A pedal and you’ll be greeted with instant power / acceleration. This is the beauty of powerful electric motors. The car is fast and has abundant torque right from the get-go. In fact, the acceleration is so strong that, in all of the silly childish drag races at traffic lights, you will always win. MG claims a 0-100 km/h time of 8.5 seconds (same as the previous car) and we believe that. To put that timing in perspective, the ZS EV is faster than the Creta, Seltos, Astor etc., but not something like the Octavia which is 0.5 seconds quicker to 100. The MG ZS EV is genuinely enjoyable to drive and anyone who experiences the effortless acceleration the first time becomes an instant convert.
One key difference compared to the outgoing car is that the traction control cannot be switched off manually. While in the old car, you could switch it off and leave tyre marks on the road, in the new car, the traction control gives you a perfect launch without the unnecessary wheelspin. On the move, you will not only be keeping up with traffic, but flying past other unsuspecting cars in no time (in stealth mode) quite easily. Overall, despite the lesser torque and more power, the refreshed ZS EV feels very similar to the outgoing car in terms of performance.
Out on the highway, the ZS EV is fantastic. An advantage of a powerful electric motor is, if you need to perform a quick overtake, there’s no need to wait for a downshift or being in the engine’s powerband. Just bury the accelerator pedal and you’re off! You’ll hit silly speeds with ease, and not even realise it due to the lack of drama (engine noise etc.). That being said, single-gear EVs don’t have that higher end punch above 120 – 140 km/h that geared turbo-petrol cars do. Keep in mind that if you drive hard, the range drops drastically. This is also why you will see EVs that are driving longer distances sticking to the middle lane and cruising at 80-100 km/h (which is the best cruising speed for the current lots of EVs). We already told you that the ZS EV has a realistic range of 350 – 400 km. But with an aggressive pedal-to-the-metal driving style, GTO used up about 70% of the battery after just 135 km of hard driving. Again, EVs are best at cruising @ 80-100 km/h for long-distance travel. This sensitivity to driving style is more like turbo-petrols rather than turbo-diesels which are more forgiving.
Getting up to cruising speeds is an easy affair and the absence of any sound means you will reach triple-digit speeds without realising it (it’s only when the speed warning chimes sound that you know you’re doing 80 km/h and 120 km/h). The MID shows the motor spinning at 7,600 rpm while doing 100 km/h and 9,000 rpm at 120 km/h. If you’re wondering, “isn’t this too high?”, well, most electric motors are high revving and can rev to over 20,000 rpm! This eliminates the need to use complicated gearboxes. The entire usable powerband can be achieved with a single-speed transmission, although higher-end cars like the Porsche Taycan have adopted a second gear.
There are 3 driving modes to choose from and unlike some other cars, these aren’t gimmicky. They’re mapped specifically for different driving styles.
• Normal Mode: The default mode. The car always restarts in this mode, no matter what mode you last drove in. It’s great for driving in the city as well as on the highway. Strikes a good balance between power and economy.
• Eco Mode: The mode to engage when you want the maximum range. Throttle response is dumbed down, which actually results in a smoother drive in the city (less of that “torque-pull” effect). Power comes in more gradually when you ask for it. However, even in this mode, the motor does not feel dull to drive. There’s enough grunt for day-to-day driving and overtaking. The performance of the air-con, however, drops noticeably in this mode.
• Sport Mode: The mode when you really want to have fun. While Normal mode will keep you entertained 90% of the time, Sport mode is for the remaining 10%. The accelerator response is even sharper and the car just feels more eager to pounce. However, it can feel too peaky for city driving and also eats up the battery faster. Use “Sport” when you’re looking for fun on expressway runs.
Regenerative Braking
There are 3 levels of regenerative braking, just like in the previous car. At levels 1 and 2, there’s obviously lesser resistance when you lift off the accelerator pedal. I found myself driving mostly on level 3 with maximum regeneration. Interestingly, even at level 3, the regenerative braking didn’t really seem as strong as in the Hyundai Kona. It’s slightly more subdued, but still works well and feels more natural for someone coming from a petrol / diesel-powered car. Engine braking lovers will appreciate driving with regen at the maximum level. But MG should really have made level 3 stronger.
Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH)
No engine, no sound, no gearshifts! The ZS EV is eerily silent on the inside as well as the outside. So, you will find yourself honking at pedestrians who’re simply unaware of the car creeping up behind them. A faint whine from the motor is heard only at high revs, which is beyond 100 km/h and that too isn’t intrusive. On the highway, tyre noise and wind noise register themselves beyond 100 km/h.
Range
MG claims a range of 461 km with the new 50.3 kWh battery pack based on ICAT certification. The new battery pack is the largest in the segment and gets ASIL-D, IP69K safety ratings, which are by today’s standards the highest for electric cars. It gets a UL 2580 certification, which just means that it has been tested to meet nationally-recognized safety standards.
The outgoing car had a 44.5 kWh battery pack and its ARAI certified range was 340 km. In all fairness, these numbers are very subjective and the real-life range solely depends on how you drive the car. Check out this excellent report by BHPian docelectric2020 where he took the ZS EV on a 1,200 km road trip. You should expect 350 – 400 km, depending on how you push the magic pedal.
Given the rising demand for EVs, there are plenty of charging stations popping up everywhere, which ought to take care of range anxiety. There are many apps and websites like pulseenergy.io, plugshare.com, etc. that list out all the charging stations near you. End of the day though, remember the golden rule = EVs are best charged where they are parked (either at your office or home).
Charging
The ZS EV gets the industry-standard CCS type-2 charging port. You get a 7.4 kW home charger from MG installed in your parking lot that can charge the battery from 0-100% in 8.5 to 9 hours. If you’re travelling somewhere, you can use the portable charger in the boot to charge the car from any 15 Amp socket (the larger 3-pin sockets used for ACs and fridges), which would take about 15-19 hours to charge from 0-100%. Do note that in all EVs, the initial 0 – 80% charging happens quicker…the final 81 – 100% takes more time. The last option are the 50 kW DC fast chargers that you will find at some of the charging stations. This would fill up your car’s battery from 0-80% in about 60 minutes. If you’re still worried about getting stuck somewhere after running out of juice, MG has roadside assistance with mobile charging support currently available in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune.
The charging socket is placed under a simple flap on the front solid grille. There’s a green indicator next to the socket showing the battery level. The pre-facelift car had a unique charging flap where the MG logo would move up and you had to insert the charging cable below. The MG logo even lit up when the car was charging (
Once plugged in, the MID displays the remaining charging time, estimated range and battery percentage:
Suspension
Ride Comfort
EVs are inherently heavy cars due to the battery pack in the middle. Getting the right balance of ride & handling is tricky and it’s especially the case with EVs based on ICE cars (like the ZS EV). The ZS EV gets a MacPherson strut suspension at the front and a twist-beam suspension at the rear. It rides on 17″ alloy wheels that are shod with 215/55 section tyres. The recommended tyre pressure is a (very high) 41 PSI, presumably to maximise the driving range. With this tyre pressure, the suspension is firm and you are always aware of the kind of road you’re travelling on. That said, the ride quality isn’t as bone-jarringly stiff as the Kona. It’s liveable, although you will slow down for bad roads.
We dropped the pressure down to 35 PSI, which made the ride more absorbent & compliant. With this more reasonable tyre pressure level, bumpy roads were handled in a better manner (although the underlying firmness was there).
Handling & Dynamics
The ZS EV’s straight-line stability is good and the car doesn’t feel nervous even at 120 km/h. However, if there are undulations on the road, the car does tend to feel bouncy. The handling is above average. Drive it like a family man and you’ll find the behaviour to be neutral. Drive it like an enthusiast and you’ll feel body roll, with understeer coming in earlier than expected. The ZS EV isn’t a car that likes being hustled through corners & these tyres can’t handle all that sudden torque in the turns either. We recommend a more conservative driving style on your favourite mountain roads.
Steering
The electric power steering is a nice unit and very user-friendly. It’s light at slow speeds which makes driving around the city a breeze. The EPS weighs up adequately on the highways.
Braking
The all-wheel disc brake setup provides good stopping power. Emergency braking situations are handled well and the car is brought to a halt from high speeds effectively.
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Keyword: 2022 MG ZS EV Facelift: Observations after 4 days of driving