Battery "SOC" indicator (most obvious), mute button, ...

The most obvious improvement imho is improving the ridiculous 12-bar "fuel gauge/miles remaining" indicator. I can't be the only one who is tired of the number jumping around and/or being way off, even if it is in a "conservative" direction. It should show (graphically) a measure of kilowatt-hours remaining in the battery, an amount which of course always and gradually decreases (ie, does not jump around). Then it could also show (again, graphically) a "normal curve" going from the fewest miles (or most pessimistic range) to the most miles, with the average in the middle and perhaps an indicator of the estimate driving in the current conditions.

It could be done without any numbers at all, really (as most cars have done forever), or only present numbers when it gets under a certain amount. The "world's" fascination with the digital, the numeric, and exactness has gone too far, and this is a perfect example of where it is completely inappropriate (ie, in an inexact setting). Analog is still beautiful.

Anyway, I suspect there's a whole forum dedicated to this topic, but I'm throwing it in here for good measure.

Other features include an easily accessible mute button, allowing the charger door to be opened without having to go back to the door (arrgh!) and reach in (it could still require the FOB to be nearby), and (not car-related per se, but) a map online somewhere of dealers which have ChadeMo quick chargers installed and when others are due to have them installed.

mbender said:

The most obvious improvement imho is improving the ridiculous 12-bar "fuel gauge/miles remaining" indicator. I can't be the only one who is tired of the number jumping around and/or being way off, even if it is in a "conservative" direction. It should show (graphically) a measure of kilowatt-hours remaining in the battery, an amount which of course always and gradually decreases (ie, does not jump around).

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Actually, that is precisely the way the 12-bar fuel gauge behaves, except in the limited case of moving up a bit on a very long downhill stretch, and moving up in that case is quite appropriate. Most of us have learned that most of the time we should ignore the (completely separate) "distance to empty" gauge, which we call the GuessOMeter, or GOM. The 12-bar fuel gauge may be wrapped around the GOM, but they behave very differently and should be treated very differently.

The main complaints we seem to have with the 12-bar fuel gauge are;

• It is not precise enough. Nissan has addressed that in the 2013 by adding a digital percentage of charge display to the "Trip computer".
• It is not zero-based; you still have a lot of miles left in the battery when the last bar disappears. This was not true in the early 2011s, but then Nissan changed the algorithm, presumably to reduce the chance of people running out of juice. From early reports it appears they may have changed it again for 2013, going back to a more nearly zero-based scale.
• As the battery degrades the meaning of the bars changes. 12 bars will always be a "full battery" even if full should in the future be half as much energy as a new battery would hold. You are asking for something that would, at least graphically, show you kilowatt hours available. A lot of us want something like that, but I think most of us would prefer it be in digital form. For now it has to be an add-on like the Gid meter or similar tools.

mbender said:

Other features include an easily accessible mute button, allowing the charger door to be opened without having to go back to the door (arrgh!) and reach in (it could still require the FOB to be nearby)

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I'm not sure why you call it a "mute" button, though I guess it might mute some of your vocalizations. In any event, the 2013 does have a charge door unlock/open button on the key fob.

mbender said:

(not car-related per se, but) a map online somewhere of dealers which have ChadeMo quick chargers installed and when others are due to have them installed.

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Why a map of only dealer QCs? Wouldn't a map of all QCs, and their availability, be much more useful? PlugShare and others provide this. I prefer PlugShare because it seems to be more up to date.

Ray

Thank you, Ray...

planet4ever said:

Actually, that is precisely the way the 12-bar fuel gauge behaves [...]
The main complaints we seem to have with the 12-bar fuel gauge are;

• It is not precise enough. [...]
• It is not zero-based; [...]
• As the battery degrades the meaning of the bars changes. [...]

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It was my understanding that when it really came down to it, the bars don't have a precise meaning, nor are they equal (I watched the Nissan-in-Phoenix meeting on Youtube). But I also agree with the other complaints you list. The gauge (preferably analog with natural divisions for me) should go from empty/0 to full/24, 0 should mean 0 and if the battery degrades the indicator would not reach the top after a full charge.

planet4ever said:

I'm not sure why you call it a "mute" button...

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The mute button was a separate suggestion, but maybe you knew that Glad to hear that they addressed the 'forgetting-to-open-the-charger-latch' issue though!

planet4ever said:

Why a map of only dealer QCs? [...] PlugShare [...]

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I do use and like PlugShare, but have found them to be missing a few at times. But also, part of my request to Nissan was that their map would indicate when dealerships are scheduled to have quick chargers installed. Some Nissan rep (I forget where now) told me all dealers would be getting them installed and I'd like a little advance notice for a little advanced planning!

mbender said:

I do use and like PlugShare, but have found them to be missing a few at times.

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PlugShare is "crowd sourced"... that means you and me. So, if you see a charging station that's NOT in there, put it in there.