The usual concerns of charging an electric vehicle and its suitability for long distance driving have been raised again in a new video that has gone viral on Instagram. Influencer Iman Kamil recently drove his MG4 XPower westbound on the East Coast Expressway (ECE), stopping to charge at the Gentari 50 kW DC charger at the Gambang R&R stop at around 2:05pm, with a battery SoC of 19%.
There, he joined a queue of two cars – a Tesla Model Y and Model 3 – to use the sole charger, the first leaving at around 2:45pm, the other only finishing charging at around 3:40pm. By the time Iman finished charging with a battery SoC of 96% (from 14% when he started charging), it was already around 5:05pm. Worse still, he only had 229 km of range to get to his home 227 km away, so he would need to stop again.
It’s a familiar refrain of EV sceptics everywhere: electric cars just aren’t cut out for long-distance driving. And some of the concerns pointed in the video are genuine – insufficient fast chargers and inconsiderate users hogging the said chargers.
A wait of more than an hour and a half just to use the charger is particularly galling – Iman could have made a U-turn to use the eastbound Gambang chargers (which are much faster at 90 kW per gun) before making another U-turn and still would have taken less time. As he pointed out, this wasn’t even during a festive season, when queues will inevitably be even longer.
But Iman’s video conveniently left out a few self-inflicted problems that led to his conundrum. First, his energy efficiency when driving – eagle-eyed viewers will notice that his MG4’s trip computer showed an awful energy consumption of 29.8 kWh per 100 km. Now, we know the XPower version is fast and isn’t very efficient, but this is still a extremely poor showing, considering that even a Porsche Taycan Turbo GT gets 25.9 to 26.8 kWh per 100 km on the WLTP extra-high (read: least efficient) cycle.
Another clue hidden elsewhere on the instrument display points to the cause – Iman’s adaptive cruise control was set to a blistering 160 km/h. Setting aside the fact that this is well beyond the ECE’s 110 km/h speed limit, this absurdly high speed is exactly where an EV is least efficient, sapping plenty of vital juice from the XPower’s not especially massive 64 kWh battery.
As we’ve previously discovered, the XPower is way more efficient than Iman’s video suggests. During his time with the car, our man Hafriz Shah managed to average between 16 and 16.5 kWh per 100 km in mixed conditions, which works out to a range of around 380 km on a full charge – nearly equalling the claimed WLTP range of 385 km. Even a far more conservative 20 kWh per 100 km would have netted around 310 km of range, which would’ve been more than enough to get Iman home without necessitating another charge.
Then there’s the matter of charging etiquette. Iman complained of the person ahead of him charging their Model 3’s battery to full, hogging the charger for more than 47 minutes – an absolutely criminal move, considering there was another person waiting to charge. But he was actually even worse in that regard, sitting at the charger for nearly an hour and 20 minutes to get his battery up to 96% charge.
The fact of the matter is, Iman needn’t have waited anywhere near this long. Charging to 80% would mean he would have still left very late, but better than the full three hours he sat there for. Plus, by driving more efficiently, he could have gotten home on a single charge (even at 20 kWh per 100 km, an 80% charge would have netted a range of just under 250 km) even sooner.
That time gap is substantial, and something even driving at 160 km/h all the way home can’t make up. Plus, DC fast charging only up to 80% is recommended for nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries like the one fitted in the MG4 XPower, helping to extend its service life.
So, to summarise – the next time you’re at a EV charging station, be considerate to the person behind you and only charge as long as necessary. Out on the road, drive more efficiently to eke out more range and reduce the number of charging stops – with the added benefit of being safer by not speeding. Follow these tips and the EV ownership experience won’t be quite as dire as what has been depicted in this video.
GALLERY: MG4 XPower
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Nice investigative work. EV mileage will suffer a lot when driven at prolonged high speeds. Doesn’t matter which brand or model. New highway driving habits needed.
The EV car is touted as being very fast, but in reality, it’s slower than the Axia on the highway.
depends how you define fast. EV acceleration is “faster” than normal car, however top speed is “slower” because regular car has a multi-speed gearbox.
Majority never used ECO mode, They always used Sports mode.
3 jam termenung, use EV in urban areas jela, outstation use AIS, meaning, it is still T20 pnya toy even tho some EVs are below 100k
Lol, 3 jam wasted! Kalau kereta classic, tak sampai 2-3 min pump petrol, dah balik rumah, mandi, makan, lepak, tv, tidur, etc… tapi EV tuh masih belum sampai rumah lagi.
This story is hilarious. I am pretty sure EV group people will come out to debunk the story and tell their “no-problem” experience.
Beli mahal2 can only go 200+km per full charge. If he’s driving a gas car, he can drive back home with a full tank, take shower and go pick up friends to mamak and back without refueling.
User’s problem. EV is not ideal to drive out of town. At least not yet at this time but it is definitely not as bad as his case. I get easily 400km plus on a single charge on my AWD Seal. Iman, please train your foot lighter. If 160km is a must, go back to ICE.
Most people who can afford EVs,have ICE cars on standby.Only dumb people try their luck like going outstation,only to complain when chargers dont work ,or recalcitrant motorist take their time,causing hours of delay due to long queues.
Until the charging infra is extensive enough,just confine EVs to your locality and work areas.
It will be laughing stock if your friends see u frantically getting a tow truck to tow to the nearest charger.
yeah can…but drive like kura2 lah eventhough your EV can do 0-100kph in less than 5 sec
Don’t know to pity you or not judging from your purchase of the dual motor and obviously used for speeding and have less millage so why complain.
Stupidity knows no bounds, especially among the rich
Type M tingz. But with an EV and Tiktok to highlight own stupidity.
memang betul tu. go inside the cancer-app tiktok and you see lots of type M with their idocacy and twisted mentality. and this guy who posted the article above, he has guts to complain on others, but he himself was doing worse by hogging the charger even longer.
Saja ja nak bagi hype… Ev display range memang rendah dari wltp, sebab bila bawa nanti dia akan bertambah sebab bila brek dan turun bukit akan take account regenerative energy. Macam first time ev user ja. Memang la tulis 230km range tapi once bawa boleh 300++ ikut range wltp tapi bergantung kat highway atau city drive. Kat city lebih kilometer sebab banyak start stop daripada highway.
Not surprising. Many EV drivers are a-holes just like Vellfire drivers. Take their victimhood and whining with a pinch of salt because they’re a menace to other road users.
As MG4 xPower owner, bought 2 months ago, so far no complains from KL to Penang about distance range and charging.
luahan EV owner…
Don’t worry. Just buy MG4 with powerbox and can charge for overnight at home till 100% and will have more distance range as what Iman claimed
Agree on all your points, but still, the charging infra is growing way too slow to cope to the numbers of EV on the road now.
Bila duit bnyk, otak sempit malas membaca, kecik2 tak nak mampos, besar menyusahkan orang, dan kepoh (sbb tu jd influencer), mcm ni la jdnya.
Still, i feel ICE is the way to go.
Electrification, still too young, ecosystem not matured yet. mad respek for those who jump in early.
still ICE for me, kthxbye
Sometimes I find these so-called influencers the brainless lots, and couple with the brainless ones willing to be influenced, no wonder we have so many stupid people roaming around…
Never ever believe a word coming out of these influencers’ mouths…
Tu la… kena la pecat MG punya marketing team… bodo… pinjam Xpower variant untuk review… Xpower tu pinjam YS Khong untuk naik genting la… untuk yg lain bagi la range extender je..
thanks for deconstructing this video for everyone
Whatever it is. Any EV brands, still worth to take than Tesla that I don’t have to worry about car fire free
Can also have alternate ways on charging electric cars, like at home, settle. If travelling any places for holiday, first charge at home then drive again then if not enough, can stop again at rest and relax and have a good lunch than drive again to drive the rest of journey
What an irony, Iman isn’t that iman after all.
Another solution, buy home fast charger and put at home. So before you drive out, charge first then you can go out, how difficult was, like what other drivers that drives electric cars
cannot drive fast, cannot charge to full blah blah… For the time being, better continue with our ICE and hybrid car
People would do anything for attention
This influencer didn’t follow the good ways on what EV drivers do when electric car charging before going out
Padan muka sebab beli ev cina hahahaha
Looking at the number of thumbs down, imagine how many little pink lurking in Malaysians social media.
No one bothers with you and your tesla where everyone doesn’t even want to bother tesla fanboys and outdated people from japanese cars
Owned mg4 xpower recently, I have no issues so far on range for mg4 xpower after driving from kl to karak and back. Depends on your luck
kl to karak one way is less than 100km .
buy another one for long journey please, ev(s) are made for city drive, so just use it for city drive. plus ev are unbeatable at going from 0-100, speed will build up pretty slowly after that speed, get a petrol car if you wanna do a 160 on highway, otherwise people will be behind you all the time because of your slow acceleration
To drive an EV, the driver would need to:
1. Plan ahead
2. Drive economically
3. considerate to others when charging midway when there’s que
4. Monitor all notice, alerts and others
5. Be always informed of where are the charges located as well as their fast charging capabilities.
That’s why I stick to ICE…
Can drive as I like no need to worry or think so much, when need petrol just pump at the nearest or next station which would not take more than 5 minutes total.
Go toilet also not enough time. lol….
Drive an ICE is the car serve you….
Drive an EV is you serve the car.
Yes, spot ON bro
To drive an EV, the driver would need to:
1. Use it as your everyday car, go to work go to pasar pagi go to pasar malam go to makan go to shopping malls etc.
2. Use back your ICE for long journey trips, get a bigger size ICE so that your family can travel long journey in comfort.
This way you don’t have any range anxieties coz you already know your daily range, if still anxious, charge to full every night.
When people say transition from ICE to EV, IT MEANS TRANSITION, IT IS NOT TO REPLACE ICE WITH EV.
And if you cannot afford both, work harder before buying an EV, because as you said, you want the car to serve you not the other way around.
EV is not for everyone.
Can see as this is Human problem, not charging problem. If charging up to 100% then, will have more distance range than what u do
Battery degradation bro, the battery health will drop drastically, if you keep charging up to 100%, same to all electronic devices.
lol…i also kena at the same charging station. wait for 2 hour only to take turn, then wait for another hour to charge…
The easiest way to push responsibilities away from his trouble is posting on social media dissing EV for engagement, killing two birds with 1 stone. This was clearly his own fault:
1) Why buy an EV with low range when you know your usual commute is close to the claimed WLTP range?
2) Don’t complain about the range when you drive like an a**hole with a ridiculous efficiency
Spot on, Jonathan!
it seems like a poor management on the owner.. cant blame the car for working as it should be
For me, want to have proper planning, to drive EV car, must have home charger, this way you won’t make more worries when driving to city and long journey
i want to give you a LIKE for this article, clearly explained what should a EV driver to be and not to be. Lacking of study / research but keep complaining, this will only show how poor knowledge to the person.
DONT BUY EV RIGHT NOW, WAIT THERE WILL BE 1000KM & ABOVE SOON…WITH HIGH SPEED CHARGER
DONT BUY EV cars RIGHT NOW,SOON WILL BE 1K KM & ABOVE RANGE EV IN MARKET..
It will still need about 10 years to go into mass market for 1k km range EV. To reach 1k km it is likely solid state battery but now is in prototype status. Even if it predict to produce in 5 years time but will be very expensive.
Anyone report police for his speeding?
EV owners always say just go for a meal break and you are done. Good, 2 hours + of break can have a nice buffet!
Perhaps a change in the headline is needed? Currently if this goes up, people’s perception is bound to be affected, since the article content is critical about the influencer’s review rather than the car, and it’s not being properly relayed to the readers from the headline.
The owner choose to driver fast and complain it need charge before reach the destination. And also he is taking the 385km WLTP and in real world it could be only 300km. He only get 229km most likely due to his speed up fast. If he travel long distance like 300km often he should take the extended range of 520km WLTP. Most likely he still can get around 350km. People who need travel long distance even once a month should consider the EV car with range at least 500km WLTP.
When the time comes to at least 1000 km WLTP, then can consider la!
All these range km marketing BS one. You need to drive with mindful this and that. It’s car, it’s supposed to drive the way without stressing brain cells.
Over the legal speed limit is the right thing to do at first place? When picking the EV one must know the usage and choose the right one. If drive madly and long distance then he should not even consider EV at first place. This MG4 owner is picking the 385km WLTP EV which is absolutely not ideal for long distance travelling and yet he drive madly. Just like a photographer buying a low resolution camera and blame on the camera did not produce high quality photo.
Depending on your choice. It is not like someone that complains about this. But there are people who drive MG4 xPower, but doesn’t complain much on distance range
moral of the story- if you want to cruise at 160kmph and don’t want to wait more than 5 minutes to refuel, buy a myvi
That’s right,K3-VET engine capable of doing it, but make sure U got a good braking system, Good balance chassis and Sebastian Vettel driver skill.
If want to use EV long distance outstation, u need to drive slow to ensure efficiency even though your EV can do 0 – 100kph in 3 4 sec….Just remember, drive selow below 100kph ya if using EV for long distance…hahahahaha
LOL
This is one good analysis. Keep up the good work PT gang !
Banyak beno pantang larang pakai EV. Spec nak tulis letop2 0-100 bawah 8 saat lah top speed gitu gini, sekali nak pakai kena bawak macam Honda EX5
Most ev are for city driving, enough said
just dont buy ev. malaysia generate electricity from coal and gas anyway
Simply, until the infrastructure is more matured, or charging/battery technology improves; plan your long drive properly.
There are still scenarios where using EVs are not feasible e.g. urgent ad-hoc roundtrip Penang-KL within the same day where time is critical. Until this can be done consistently without range anxiety or losing critical time; EV remains a largely second choice against ICE or Hybrid.
Those scenarios are rare for most people so your statement of EV remains largely second choice against ICE/Hybrid is flawed.
Iman’s adaptive cruise control was set to a blistering 160 km/h.
Case closed
In the end, driving style (aggressive vs efficient), other driver’s charging etiquette, limited range, charging station availability, location, capacity, duration etc. will always be the inherent risks with EV ownership. Purchase at your own peril
Imagine he encountered this situation in the middle of the nite!
Lets wait for the Nuclear powered car in the future or flying Car. Conform can go ratus ribu KM without any refueling. No range anxiety anymore
EV Trend is dying! Think a lot before buying EV. In the US, lots of people convert back to ICE!!
Good examplary of the knowledgable vs illiterate content makers.
Iman – noob poor knowledge youtuber
Hafriz – credible autojournalist
orang otak kosong bawa EV jalan2 saja
160km/h?!! Hello Pulis?
No wonder EV drivers looks very polite following speed rule minus 10km/h to save their speed thirsty battery when my Mazda 2.5 ICE Turbo driving 160km/h leaving them a traill of smoke.
Just wait until you meet those long range EVs which have plenty of battery juice to spare. You’re gone from their sight in seconds lmao
the situation will reverse at lower speeds below 100kmph, where even the base MG4 will out-accelerate your cx5 , let alone the xpower.
EV is only good for town use…travelling outstation better use an ICE car. hassle this EV, need to wait for charging vs just 5mins pump petrol and petrol station is everywhere.
oh this iman kamil. i remember in youtube from fuzz channel (tesla owner but in the end wanna sell his tesla), ask iman why he bought mg4, then iman said he wanna be different and rare, tesla too common. hmm maybe iman didnt do proper research about the car, instead just buy, and wanna be kinda “perasan unik” mentality.
because viewers are funding him easy money