Miles on battery display

In some thread, there is a discussion of the battery scale on the head unit. If I remember correctly, the conclusion was that the max represented a possible amount (I can't remember if it was 50 miles or some other fictional number) and the points on the scale represented an estimated percentage of that amount. I am not remembering it correctly, but my take away was to ignore it.

The number on the head unit is just the integer of the estimate of the remaining estimated mileage based on driving experience, temperature, with a little lizard's tongue and eye of newt.

The important scales to watch are on either side of the info panel behind the steering wheel--the battery SoC and the fuel gauges. Everything else is just for fun.

 

My experience is the info tab on the head unit is on the money with regard to the battery range. The dash bars on the left have proven quite wrong and I wish that section of dash was customizeable so I could display something else there.

 

Are you taking into account the two bars of EV range that the battery gauge always displays, even when you have no EV range left?

I can't figure out what useful purpose those two bars serve. What difference does it make to the driver to know the battery is not actually depleted if you can't use the electricity those two bars represent? Instead, please allow me to be blissfully unaware that the car is protecting its battery and make the battery gauge operate just like gas gauges have operated ever since gas gauges were invented.

 

hey insightman - we've covered this and moaned enough in other posts, but (just like you) I see no reason those "useless" bars should be on the visual display. Honda should have made sure the driver sees only useful power, either from battery or gas in the tank. There will be someone somewhere stranded thinking "but I had 4 bars on my dash - almost quarter capacity - hence 12 miles of range) but I'm sure there is a disclaimer for it. After all we don't get useless bars for the upper (100%) end and there's a buffer there too...

 

The forum should have a way to link people to an "issues solved" page. I went through this exact same issue, and after a lot of posts, we came to the correct conclusion.

It would take some bandwidth to read through all of the confusion and just link the correct conclusion. And "correct" would take work to spot as well.

 

The only value I see in them is that even those 2 bars can deplete if the SoC isn’t maintained. I’ve actually had my car display 1 bar and I’ve heard stories of cars showing 0 bars (after sitting on lots uncharged for extended periods of time). It doesn’t appear that the 2 bars are a hard stop for the system/always present but I do agree that their significance is minimal for average users. It’s kind of like how you by a computer with a 1TB SSD but only get access to 980GB. It would maybe be more useful if they showed below the “0 line” in red or something (similar to how the regenerative braking gauge shows below the “0 line” on the power gauge in green). In fact...I think that would be a fantastic idea...how do I make GUI suggestions to Honda? Haha.


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I think that's a great idea!

 

How about following the tried-and-true gas-tank example and light up a red LED when the battery is dangerously depleted? Use the bars only to show available range and don't force the driver to stare at them, doing mental mathematics to figure out how many bars really count.

 

Well...yeah. That’s kind of what my suggestion is aiming for. No mental mathematics required. You hit the 0 line, you’re not getting any juice from the battery. The needle dips below the 0 line, you’re getting into dangerous territory where you could possibly end up with damage to your battery if you don’t get a charge in there soon.

The bars aren’t there to show range. They’re there to show capacity. Much like the fuel gauge which is also not there to show range, it’s there to show capacity. The only difference is that with a gas tank you’re not risking possible damage to your fuel system if your tank empties so I was suggesting they modify the SoC gauge a little to show “usable charge” and “maintenance charge” a little differently.


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