Has anyone figured out how to display charge percentage?

Has anyone figured out how to display charge percentage, %0-%100, on the in car display? The "range estimate" does not cover everything, and it changes. It has been steadily dropping since I left the dealer. The Leaf has this feature (it shows a bar display). The Android app displays this information, but the car itself does not.

Thanks,

Scott Franco

The car itself cannot display this information. You would need to use the mylink app to find this number, which is pretty inconvenient if you want to do it while driving...

kicoken said:

The car itself cannot display this information. You would need to use the mylink app to find this number, which is pretty inconvenient if you want to do it while driving...

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This information can be useful when driving on steep roads. I know that the Leaf uses about 5kWh per 1000 meters of climbing. Or 25% of the roughly 21kWh usable battery capacity or 3 fuel bars. Or 1.5kWh per 1000 feet, or 8% per 1000 feet, or 1 fuel bar per 1000 feet.

Sure, the battery is much larger. But if you are at the bottom of a climb, how can you be sure you have enough energy to climb it?

For example, suppose I'm at Deming, WA and want to go to the highest point on Mt Baker that you can drive to, Artist Point.

43 miles of driving one way, 5000 feet of climbing. The battery isn't full, I've driven to Deming from somewhere. Can I go there? And return?

The altitude gain is around 15% of the battery. The GOM doesn't have a clue as to where I'm going. Yes, if I get there I can almost coast back at the speed limit, and the GOM isn't likely to have a clue about that as well.

The enhanced (or something) display mode shows a stack of green bars on the left side to indicate the charge level (with the remaining range estimate on top of it). Not an exact number, though. Example photo below shows a little less than 3/4 of a full charge.

That looks suspiciously like a stack of 12 bars. Greeeeaaat...

LeftieBiker said:

That looks suspiciously like a stack of 12 bars. Greeeeaaat...

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It is a stack of 20 bars.

Wow. A nice even 5% measuring stick!

Thanks! I didn't see that.

It makes sense, my Spark has a similar display.

I feel better now.

20 bars is much more usable than the Leaf's 12, but I don't love charging that much money for less basic instrumentation.

Interesting, I've seen comments that the Bolt displays too much information and too little. I wonder which it is right?

They are both correct, since it is a personal preference. And the only thing that matters is if YOUR personal preferences are met.

I wonder if they ran into an "issue" with a full 100% not showing at full charge, and decided it wasn't worth coming up with new programming to solve it. Because I've never seen anyone complain about having a SOC display...

I see no issue with a 20-bar display. As was noted by others elsewhere, I have never seen a gas car with a gas tank reading in percent full. What matters is that the bars are predictable. Preferably linear.

roundpeg said:

Interesting, I've seen comments that the Bolt displays too much information and too little. I wonder which it is right?

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The rule of thumb is that if there are roughly an equal number of complainants in both directions then the design is a good one.

roundpeg said:

Interesting, I've seen comments that the Bolt displays too much information and too little. I wonder which it is right?

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There are three different displays (basic, modern, enhanced or something like that) that you can choose from. So there is some accommodation for user preference in how much information is shown in the main instruments.

SeanNelson said:

The rule of thumb is that if there are roughly an equal number of complainants in both directions then the design is a good one.

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That's the way I look at it. Consumer product designs are never going to completely satisfy everybody. It's not only an impossible design goal, it's a dangerous design goal. I can completely understand why someone might not like a product design (in which case, they definitely should not buy it), but what I don't understand is the opinion that a product design has utterly failed if it doesn't satisfy some particular individual preference.

boltage said:

There are three different displays (basic, modern, enhanced or something like that) that you can choose from. So there is some accommodation for user preference in how much information is shown in the main instruments.

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Yes, those are the three choices. I started out with Enhanced to see more numbers, but recently switched to Modern, which is more graphical in its reporting of energy use and regeneration. I wasn't getting much out of knowing the exact number of KW being using used or regenerated at any moment.

roundpeg said:

what I don't understand is the opinion that a product design has utterly failed if it doesn't satisfy some particular individual preference.

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It seems to me that this comes from a sense of disappointment. The product has failed that person. If they had high hopes for the product - as many have for the Bolt - this disappointment is a hard pill. And currently there are no viable alternatives if one wants a sub-$50k long-range EV.

GetOffYourGas said:

It seems to me that this comes from a sense of disappointment. The product has failed that person. If they had high hopes for the product - as many have for the Bolt - this disappointment is a hard pill. And currently there are no viable alternatives if one wants a sub-$50k long-range EV.

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Sure, but what I am saying is we should be realistic in our expectations. Not every product is designed specifically for you. I can think of any number of small to moderate items that I might have preferred they'd done differently on the Bolt, but tracking the bigger picture keeps those items in realistic perspective. Taking one small (and dare I say it, quirky) feature and blowing it up to some kind of major failure issue suggests a loss of perspective.

LeftieBiker said:

I wonder if they ran into an "issue" with a full 100% not showing at full charge, and decided it wasn't worth coming up with new programming to solve it. Because I've never seen anyone complain about having a SOC display...

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No, that would be a trivial effort to program. My guess is that measuring SOC is somewhat imprecise, and GM (or its legal department) prefers to avoid showing exact percentages that would imply a greater level of precision than actually exists. I could understand their thinking, and their attempt at risk avoidance, but as a customer I would prefer to have a percentage display, along with whatever accuracy disclaimer was needed.