MG 4 Luxury: the loading and travel times of our Supertest

In the Supertest, the MG 4 Luxury crashed into the Megane e-Tech. But the Chinese compact drives home the point when it comes to charging!

MG gives itself the means to realize its ambitions with its new electric compact: the MG 4 manages to rise at the level of the European benchmarks in its segment, whether in terms of road performance and autonomy: over a journey of 500 km by highway, we recorded an average consumption of 25.4 kWh/100 km, or 243 km of total autonomy. The Volkswagen ID.3 and Renault Megane e-Tech EV60 do the same under similar conditions. And the Chinese share fairly similar charging capacities with them, at 10-80% in 35 minutes, on paper.

Read also
Video comparison – MG4 vs Renault Megane: a duel to ascend the throne of electric compacts

Charging curve for the MG 4 Luxury: a usable full tank in 25 minutes

In our first hands-on, we clocked the MG 4’s typical charging time at 30 minutes. It was already much better than its competitors and exceeded the promises of the brochures. This is one of the wishes of MG, which is ready to sacrifice the values ​​of its brake pads in order not to present customers with unpleasant surprises, in order to better satisfy them. Quite the opposite from other manufacturers, but we’re not restarting the debate. However, during this charge we had noticed a gap between 53 and 55% charge, losing more than 4 minutes.

Read also
Test – MG 5 Extended Autonomy: the charging and travel times of our Supertest

Which was not the case this time. Always under the same conditions, with the exception of a colder temperature, the MG 4 presented a constant and abundant charging curve for a car of this size. For example, the 10-80% barely claimed 25 minutes, making the compact one of the fastest full after the Koreans on the 800 V e-GMP platform! Of course, the quantities are very different, but its average charging capacity of 109 kW should not be ashamed either: that is more than a Nissan Ariya or a Model Y Performance, which is a record in this category!

In detail, the 4 has a long plateau that revolves around 135 kW on average up to 60%, where the curve starts to drop. The power drop is steep, but stabilizes reasonably well between 65-85%. At 80%, the car still collects 58kW of power, or -59.7% compared to the peak on this curve.

The end of charge is no less interesting as it takes 9 minutes longer to get to 90%. But there’s no need to stay plugged in any longer, as it takes 29 minutes to complete a charge…to 98%. A behavior we had noticed before. But the phenomenon does not occur when charging with alternating current: we indeed found the vehicle 100% charged. Finally, over a long drive, we saw no difference in fast charging performance with the battery prep that has to be activated manually.

Typical charging curve

	10 to 80%	80 to 100%	10 to 100%
Charging time (in min)	25	38	63
Autonomy gained (in km)	170	49	219

Autonomy restored: 185 km in 30 minutes

Average powers and charging times only really have meaning when consumption, and therefore autonomy, comes into play. Based on our consumption measurements, the MG 4 is able to recover 129 km in 15 minutes and 185 km in half an hour. It is simply the most accessible electric vehicle, the Peugeot e-208 can cover 161 km in 30 minutes, while above the Chinese only large SUVs with better equipment can be found (193 km in 30 minutes with the Ford Mustang Mach-E For example) . You will have to pay a lot more to get better.

Autonomy restored

Charging time (in min)	15	30	45	60
Autonomy gained (in km)	129	185	209	211

Cost of MG 4 Luxury recharges

The MG 4 consumes an average of 45.30 kWh between 10 and 80% load, according to the information communicated and invoiced by the terminals. Ionity logically remains the most expensive of the solutions, increasing the cost price on the highway to € 18.38/100 km. At Fastned we find a final cost price of € 15.71/100 km.

Top-up costs per operator

	Ionity	Fastned	Electricity	Lidl
Unit price (€/kWh)	0.69	0.59	0.49	0.40
Total price (10-80%)	31.3	26.7	22.2	18.12
Cost price (€/100 km)	18.4	15.7	13.1	10.7

Travel time for 500 km: 5 h 21

Intended for the largest number, and therefore for beginners in the world of electric mobility, the MG 4 does not offer a route planner: the GPS only communicates the travel time. It does not give any indication of the terminals where to refuel and does not warn the driver that the destination is out of range. Fortunately, the remaining range indicator appears to be slightly better calibrated than onboard the ZS EV, but it can still be misleading due to the significant variations in consumption from one situation to the next.

Read also
Renault Megane e-Tech test: charging and travel times from our Supertest

It is therefore necessary to rely on independent planners, such as ABRP or Chargemap. Both offer a three-stop route, but Chargemap is more detailed in its forecasts: it ensures arrivals to the terminals with less than 20% load, saving time, unlike ABRP. Advantage for the French application on this one, which expects 56 minutes of charging against 76 minutes with ABRP.

In our case, we counted a total of 49 minutes of charging, in three stops. Added to the usual travel time (4 h 20) and the evolution packages on the areas (3 x 4 minutes), this brings the travel time for 500 km to 5 h 21. The versatility is quite remarkable for this electric compact which has one of the best travel times in its category. Again, it will be necessary to choose a larger vehicle to go faster. For comparison, consider that the Renault Megane e-Tech and Volkswagen ID.3 Pro presented times of 5:42 and 5:35 respectively on the same route.