Focus on percent

[dazz13]

tl;dr PLEASE CHANGE THE LEFT NAV TO HAVE A "DISPLAY BATTERY PERCENTAGE" OPTION.

It would be great if Ford would change the displays in general and especially the left information display to focus on battery percentage. The "Range" and "Budget", "Surplus" mileage numbers can be way off and of little or negative value. What is always of value is the percentage of battery left. That is always what we want to see, as it is always completely accurate, and we cannot see it at all in the left display.

To give an example, we live near a big hill. We have to drive miles up hill and then miles down on the other side. As we are going up hill the mileage numbers become less and less accurate, as they estimate we have very little range (which would be true if we were driving up hill forever). Similarly as we approach the bottom of the hill the numbers are way off in the other direction, indicating the range is much higher than it really is. The percentage would be completely relevant and accurate at each moment, no matter the topography.

 

[campfamily]

tl;dr PLEASE CHANGE THE LEFT NAV TO HAVE A "DISPLAY BATTERY PERCENTAGE" OPTION.

It would be great if Ford would change the displays in general and especially the left information display to focus on battery percentage. The "Range" and "Budget", "Surplus" mileage numbers can be way off and of little or negative value. What is always of value is the percentage of battery left. That is always what we want to see, as it is always completely accurate, and we cannot see it at all in the left display.

To give an example, we live near a big hill. We have to drive miles up hill and then miles down on the other side. As we are going up hill the mileage numbers become less and less accurate, as they estimate we have very little range (which would be true if we were driving up hill forever). Similarly as we approach the bottom of the hill the numbers are way off in the other direction, indicating the range is much higher than it really is. The percentage would be completely relevant and accurate at each moment, no matter the topography.

I agree. My daily commute (26 miles each way) is downhill in the morning, uphill in the evening. When I leave in the morning with a full charge, my car usually shows about 80 miles range. When I arrive at work, I still have over 70 miles remaining, but I've driven 26 miles. ????? Then, going home, I do the same 26 miles, but I arrive back at home with about 25 to 30 miles remaining.

The way Ford has it now, it's like having an ICE car without a gas gauge, only a "distance to empty" readout. Just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Keith

 

[WattsUp]

tl;dr PLEASE CHANGE THE LEFT NAV TO HAVE A "DISPLAY BATTERY PERCENTAGE" OPTION.

I agree.

You both know there is a percent SOC display on the main MFT screen, on the Energy page? You're just asking for something on the dash?

 

[jmueller065]

In addition you both know that the battery level is highlighted in the battery display on the left display panel? (it just doesn't show %, more of a graph).

 

[campfamily]

tl;dr PLEASE CHANGE THE LEFT NAV TO HAVE A "DISPLAY BATTERY PERCENTAGE" OPTION.

I agree.

You both know there is a percent SOC display on the main MFT screen, on the Energy page? You're just asking for something on the dash?

Yes, I do. But, we all tend to focus on the "Miles to Empty" gauge rather than the "% Remaining" gauge, which is the prominent feature on the left hand screen.

 

[damania]

it should display both battery capacity and miles remaining. and a terrain smart gps with miles already calculated on the route destination would be super accurate too

 

[NightHawk]

tl;dr PLEASE CHANGE THE LEFT NAV TO HAVE A "DISPLAY BATTERY PERCENTAGE" OPTION.

I agree.

You both know there is a percent SOC display on the main MFT screen, on the Energy page? You're just asking for something on the dash?

That would be a nice addition so I don't have to display the big MFT screen with SOC% all the time.

 

[hybridbear]

What is always of value is the percentage of battery left. That is always what we want to see, as it is always completely accurate, and we cannot see it at all in the left display.

This is not "always completely accurate". Calculating the SOC of a battery is not an exact science. It is an estimate. The battery's capacity to store energy is impacted by many factors. The car periodically recalculates its ETE (Energy to Empty) which correlates to the % SOC displayed on the MFT screen and in filling the battery picture on the left dash screen. These changes in recalculating ETE can cause big jumps in range predictions and in your available range.

I've had stretches where I've driven miles on the freeway at around 250-300 Wh/mi and yet my ETE is dropping less than 100 Wh/mi during those stretches. Then the BECM recalculates and all of a sudden I'll see my range drop by 10-12 miles in an instant because it recalculated and made up for the error. Imagine if you were watching the % display and saw it drop by 10% in an instant. Showing % is not precisely accurate.

I agree that there are advantages to having it such as the scenario mentioned by Keith, but please be aware that showing SOC isn't the magical solution that some think it is.

 

[jmueller065]

Also note that many of us use the FFE as a commuter car. As such the car drives the same route day after day. In that scenario you don't even need the SOC display, or even the guess-o-meter. After the first few weeks you know how the car will drive along the route, how much you'll have left at the end of any given day, etc.

Personally I usually only check the % SOC display when I pull into the driveway at the end of the day just as an estimate of how efficient I was (>50% left is a good day, on some warm and sunny days I'll have >60% left).