EV range estimate doesn't agree with battery level

[petteyg359]

So I start out most mornings with 40-46 miles estimated range, depending how cold it was overnight. For a while in May it was up to 55, but I wasn't tracking the battery meter then. Now, I will drive 5 miles in the morning. That should be 2 or 3 of the 20 bars of battery going by percentage of the range estimate. Eventually by the time it says I have 30 ish miles left, I'll still be only 4 or 5 bars down. So why isn't the estimate ever showing something like 60 first thing in the morning, if it clearly thinks I can go that far every day?

 

[KentuckyKen]

It’s well documented that the battery gauge does not drop linearly, especially at the very beginning. This is particularly evident when your EV range estimate is above 47. Mine doesn’t loose any bars until the estimate goes below ~47 miles.
It’s not exactly a stellar example of programming by Honda unless I’m missing something here.
I forgot to mention that the software does change the rate of the estimate so that it always reaches 0 miles when you get to 2 bars. At least mine does.

 

[petteyg359]

That's what I'm wondering about. The initial estimate hasn't been above 47 in 8+ months, yet every day the range estimate drops much slower than actual miles traveled, like it is no longer including yesterday's travel in it's estimate. I could almost think part of the September software update broke something, where instead of considering travel from X hours or miles on the past, it is only considering travel since midnight for making that estimate, so the initial estimate is always badly below where it should be.

 

[MPower]

I think it is kind of like the gas gauge in my old Priuses. The gauge does not show much reduction at the top, but as it gets lower, it seems to drop faster and faster. This seems to be true for both the gas and battery gauges on the Clarity.

 

[jdonalds]

I ignore the bars and just pay attention to the digits.

 

[stacey burke]

I ignore the bars and just pay attention to the digits.

I do just the opposite, The digits are just a guess of what you may get using your last few drivers. If you had been driving in the city and had not taken it on the hwy your digital would be way off. The gauge is just like any car gauge you have had on cars for the past 50 years. The gauge shows how much charge you have left.

 

[Sandroad]

I do just the opposite, The digits are just a guess of what you may get using your last few drivers. If you had been driving in the city and had not taken it on the hwy your digital would be way off. The gauge is just like any car gauge you have had on cars for the past 50 years. The gauge shows how much charge you have left.

I think the guestimate on the digital readout changes real time. If I use extra electric power (rainy, cold night, etc.) the digital readout drops more quickly than on a nice summer afternoon. So, when starting out, the digital readout is a guess, but I believe it adjusts as you go and reflects remaining EV miles sort of accurately. The bars may do that too, but I'm not convinced those are linear, as others have also noted.

 

[KentuckyKen]

I think the guestimate on the digital readout changes real time. If I use extra electric power (rainy, cold night, etc.) the digital readout drops more quickly than on a nice summer afternoon. So, when starting out, the digital readout is a guess, but I believe it adjusts as you go and reflects remaining EV miles sort of accurately. The bars may do that too, but I'm not convinced those are linear, as others have also noted.

Spot on. The digital EV range estimate adjusts on then fly (i.e. does not have a 1:1 correspondence to the odometer) to always reach 0 when you get down to 2 bars on the gauge. The gauge is straight up SOC but is not linear, especially at the top.