Change battery meter to show energy?

[rjpjnk]

There is so much confusion regarding estimated range as our cars age. Some worry about perceived drops and how to get the BMS to relearn driving habits.

A much better solution in my opinion would be for Tesla to add the option for the battery indicator to show remaining energy in kWh. The indicator already can toggle between range and percentage of charge, but the actual remaining energy is the ultimate truth.

When we fully charged our cars we could simply look at the stored energy display and see how much we are holding. Maybe 80 kWh when new and maybe 77 kWh a few months later as the battery ages for example. It would be an excellent indicator of our battery’s health over time.

Why don’t we have this most basic of indicators on an electric car?

 

[Rice&Curry]

There is so much confusion regarding estimated range as our cars age. Some worry about perceived drops and how to get the BMS to relearn driving habits.

A much better solution in my opinion would be for Tesla to add the option for the battery indicator to show remaining energy in kWh. The indicator already can toggle between range and percentage of charge, but the actual remaining energy is the ultimate truth.

When we fully charged our cars we could simply look at the stored energy display and see how much we are holding. Maybe 80 kWh when new and maybe 77 kWh a few months later as the battery ages for example. It would be an excellent indicator of our battery’s health over time.

Why don’t we have this most basic of indicators on an electric car?

you have energy % as an indicator which is how we all understand our cell ph battery charge. If we display absolute KWH as battery charge remaining (SoC) , it may lead to more confusion for a lot of folks, as consumption WH/mile depends on a lot of factors like, speed, weather , wind resistance , load etc so it may lead to a false sense of range. Also there may be folks who may not yet have a good understanding of their average consumption in terms of WH/mile. So till then , I feel % battery charge remaining is a sensible way of depicting SoC of the battery.

 

[rjpjnk]

Percentage of charge is good, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. I agree it is what people are used to from cell phones and even gas tanks, and I would not remove percentage as an option. I would just add a third option to show absolute charge, or energy, for technical minded folks or those that want to keep track of battery health.

Percentage of charge is a lot like a gas gauge. It can tell you the tank is 50% full but doesn’t tell you how many gallons that means. Suppose your fuel gauge showed gallons rather than percent? Percent is only useful if you know how big the tank is. With EVs our “tank” is changing size every day.

 

[pt19713]

There are 3rd party apps that will give you a lot more information. I've been using Scan My Tesla, which will provide you with pretty much everything you'd ever want to know about the car.

 

[rjpjnk]

Yes, these are excellent apps! I've been using TesLAX myself. Haven't tried Scan My Tesla. Is one better than the other? I assume SMT requires adding a OBD2 port as well?

That number you indicated is exactly what I'd like to see the Tesla OS display, kWh Remaining.

 

[pt19713]

Yes, these are excellent apps! I've been using TesLAX myself. Haven't tried Scan My Tesla. Is one better than the other? I assume SMT requires adding a OBD2 port as well?

That number you indicated is exactly what I'd like to see the Tesla OS display, kWh Remaining.

I don't have much experience with TesLAX so I can't say if one is better than the other. I've been quite happy with the SMT app with the assorted updates and changes that the developers have implemented over the years.

Yes, it also uses the CAN bus harness and Bluetooth OBDII adapter to extract the data.