saywatt said:
I wonder if a more accurate SOC reading would matter much to us the NW. Our hilly terrain can really mess up ones range (not to mention the weather). And connecting to NAV won't work as it can only see in 2D. I've seen this whan planning a rout with CarWings - it picks the best rout only in 2D not knowing that a big "mountain" is in the way!
I live on top of a fairly steep hill and when I travel into Seattle, they too have really steep hills. I can gain 30 miles range going down my hill (most of which is the range algorithm) and know from experience I will lose 15 - 20 on the return up that hill ( I attribute the later to the padding in the algorithm as the battery nears empty - which is why it seems I've never run out of juice going up my hill). My point is that hills mess up all chances for range accuracy here in the NW.
What we need are L3 chargers!! :x
i see your point BUT... if we had an accurate usage reading we could create our own data base like Tom and Cathy have. so you can know that in previous journeys over a certain route during certain conditions you used X SOC.
granted, it would be better if the NAV could store previous routes and energy usage results and use that to calculate your "probability of success" and that is what we WILL see in the 2020 Leaf. the technology is there, we only really need to implement it. its not rocket science but it does require someone to maintain a data base online somewhere and that is where in car NAV is going to morph to.
the technology has become nearly a part of life so its moving from the "cool" or "luxury" into the expected standard part of Life and it will fail if it does not continue to innovate. look at cellphones. they were in the same place 10 years ago but now they are so much more than that and just like our cellphones, our cars will become just another cog into the connectivity of our lives.