[pinnacle]

!

 

[ChristophW]

Your range indication is an estimate based on previous driving. It will naturally fluctuate. If you drive on the highway, range will drop from increased wind and rolling resistance, if you drive in town at lower speeds you will get more range. Don’t overly worry about it and just drive and enjoy the ride.
Your previous gas engine car had variable range too, except it had no range indicator.
On a related note, you will keep the battery a bit healthier if you only charge to 80% for regular use. Spare the 100% charges for the night before long trips.
Lastly, most chargers are back ordered. Between the chip shortage and high demand things are tough right now.

 

[Nai3t]

Echoing what ChristopherW wrote, don't get hung up on indicated range.

Besides recent driving history, here's something else to consider: even state of charge is an estimate.

It's really difficult for the battery management system to guess exactly what % the battery is at. The BMS uses a technique called columbe counting — literally counting electrons in / out — to estimate your state of charge. If you're not charging to 100%, this always remains a best guess estimate.

After charging, if given the chance to settle, cool, balance cells, and measure voltage, the BMS may revise its estimate of what's "in the tank" and this can result in an adjustment to predicted range as well.

With other cars (my i3 in particular), when estimating battery capacity, there's a suggestion to fully charge, drive to depletion, then fully charge on L2 to 100% in order to generate the most reliable kWh capacity. Owners state that performing this cycle sometimes has a dramatic impact on their projected range.

I'm offering this not as a suggestion to do this all the time, but just as an example of why range projections may show variability from day to day, charge to charge. Don't sweat it, your battery isn't being harmed, just understand that battery capacity and range are both imprecise figures.

 

[My Main Man]

Echoing what ChristopherW wrote, don't get hung up on indicated range.

Besides recent driving history, here's something else to consider: even state of charge is an estimate.

It's really difficult for the battery management system to guess exactly what % the battery is at. The BMS uses a technique called columbe counting — literally counting electrons in / out — to estimate your state of charge. If you're not charging to 100%, this always remains a best guess estimate.

After charging, if given the chance to settle, cool, balance cells, and measure voltage, the BMS may revise its estimate of what's "in the tank" and this can result in an adjustment to predicted range as well.

With other cars (my i3 in particular), when estimating battery capacity, there's a suggestion to fully charge, drive to depletion, then fully charge on L2 to 100% in order to generate the most reliable kWh capacity. Owners state that performing this cycle sometimes has a dramatic impact on their projected range.

I'm offering this not as a suggestion to do this all the time, but just as an example of why range projections may show variability from day to day, charge to charge. Don't sweat it, your battery isn't being harmed, just understand that battery capacity and range are both imprecise figures.

Wonder what would happen if after cycling the battery you L1 charged to 100%.

 

[mjmenhart]

Also consider what else is going on in the vehicle. We've had more tepid weather the last couple of days and I noticed when I turned off the air conditioner while driving the estimated range jumped about 15 miles instantly.

 

[Huey52]

Many years ago in designing/managing a battery-backed system for a hospital I struggled with an effective way to annunciate real time battery capacity and thereby "range." The battery technologies have dramatically improved but alas it's just as difficult today as it was way back then to accurately determine instantaneous operational capacity.
Let's keep in mind that EV's are somewhat unique in attempting to provide a range projection. Manufacturers do this mostly as they're aware of EV range anxiety, especially among new owners/adopters.
We'll all become more comfortable over time in guesstimating our range given our own environments and driving styles vis a vis the projected output.
Always be charging (ABC) and don't panic.

Echoing what ChristopherW wrote, don't get hung up on indicated range.

Besides recent driving history, here's something else to consider: even state of charge is an estimate.

It's really difficult for the battery management system to guess exactly what % the battery is at. The BMS uses a technique called columbe counting — literally counting electrons in / out — to estimate your state of charge. If you're not charging to 100%, this always remains a best guess estimate.

After charging, if given the chance to settle, cool, balance cells, and measure voltage, the BMS may revise its estimate of what's "in the tank" and this can result in an adjustment to predicted range as well.

With other cars (my i3 in particular), when estimating battery capacity, there's a suggestion to fully charge, drive to depletion, then fully charge on L2 to 100% in order to generate the most reliable kWh capacity. Owners state that performing this cycle sometimes has a dramatic impact on their projected range.

I'm offering this not as a suggestion to do this all the time, but just as an example of why range projections may show variability from day to day, charge to charge. Don't sweat it, your battery isn't being harmed, just understand that battery capacity and range are both imprecise figures.

 

[Nai3t]

Wonder what would happen if after cycling the battery you L1 charged to 100%.

Same effect as L2, me thinks. Steady rate of charge, low battery temps, predictable voltage buildup at the end. Not as violent as DCFC.

 

[TPG]

I think this is another reason to ditch the range GOM and display the remaining SOC instead. Gas cars and other EVs have fuel / SOC gauges that are always visible. Why does the ID.4 not have one?

 

[Nai3t]

I think this is another reason to ditch the range GOM and display the remaining SOC instead. Gas cars and other EVs have fuel / SOC gauges that are always visible. Why does the ID.4 not have one?

I totally understand VW's rationale behind this decision, but I disagree with it.

They're thinking of user simplicity, and why present two numbers to the driver, both measuring ostensibly the same thing, but in different units.

But yeah, we should have that front and center, even if it's only an option.

 

[Huey52]

That's the salient point. We enthusiasts often forget that VW is designing mostly for the masses and not necessarily for us.
And as we know they want to present a CUV that is comparable to several ICE vehicles, but it just happens to be electric.

I totally understand VW's rationale behind this decision, but I disagree with it.

They're thinking of user simplicity, and why present two numbers to the driver, both measuring ostensibly the same thing, but in different units.

But yeah, we should have that front and center, even if it's only an option.

 

[TPG]

That's the salient point. We enthusiasts often forget that VW is designing mostly for the masses and not necessarily for us.
And as we know they want to present a CUV that is comparable to several ICE vehicles, but it just happens to be electric.

So the ID.4 needs a charge gauge as an analog to a gas car's fuel gauge.

 

[sprylo]

Gas cars and other EVs have fuel / SOC gauges that are always visible. Why does the ID.4 not have one?

It does (see #1 below).

You might want it to be larger or prefer that it be shown numerically, but it's there, always visible, as you request. I don't think I've ever driven an ICE vehicle that shows fuel level numerically.

 

[TPG]

It does (see #1 below).

View attachment 4056

You might want it to be larger or prefer that it be shown numerically, but it's there, always visible, as you request. I don't think I've ever driven an ICE vehicle that shows fuel level numerically.

OK, I'll clarify: No useful SOC is shown on the steering column display. There is an icon but it is not precise enough to be useful. It is pure infotainment and only communicates whether the car is nearly full, around the middle, or at low SOC. The only scale marks are 0% and 100% (ends of battery icon), so you have to guess at anything in between. It has been a while since I have driven an ICE car, but I recall that their fuel gauges are either divided into something like 25 bars (4% intervals) or show an analog gauge with a scale precision of about 1/16 of a tank.