I’d say it’s not a lie, it’s making the % display’s inherent inaccuracy opaque to the user.
Would you prefer a gas-gauge-style needle indicator for percent remaining?
My prior ICE vehicle had a needle for gas gauge and a LCD display for “km remaining”. It would always hit “0” and I could still drive 70-100km before actually running out of gas, my needle would also go below “E” during this time. I don’t consider any of these lies. They are inaccurate estimates, such is the case with estimates.
Given the reference to
@wk057 ’s “new” data about the 4kWh buffer being an average of 2, I read that as it starts at 4, and slowly drops to 0 (hopefully) as you get to 0 actual capacity remaining.
I view this as 2 gauges, one visible, one invisible.
The visible one shows you ESTIMATED % or distance remaining, and the invisible one is a number between 4kWh and 0kWh. Remember, it’s always an estimate. SoC calculation is never a “measurement” like sticking a dipstick into a tank of fuel. As the estimated display changes based on battery estimate updates, the software borrows kWh from the invisible gauge as needed and moves it to the visible gauge so as not to alarm the user with “sudden drops”. Likewise if the battery estimate from the BMS went UP, they would add that to the “hidden gauge”. They are smoothing out the “precise looking” % or km display to make it more like an analog needle on your ICE that doesn’t go up and down all jittery as the computer gets more info about your pack as different cells discharge at different rates and balancing conditions change and, etc, etc.
Depending on your conditions, when you get to “0%” on the display, you will have some unknown amount still remaining on the invisible gauge that started at 4kWh. I would imagine Tesla’s goal is for this 4kWh to be near 0 but above 0 once your display shows 0 (plus any actual brick-protection that is below that).
This is my interpretation/ speculation anyways.