Is the onboard computer reliable? In my case

How reliable is the dashboard? Massimo shares his doubts after a trip in his Nissan Leaf 40 kWh. Vaielettrico responds. To contact us: info@Vaielettrico.it

The dashboard defies math

I’m writing to you because I think it’s a topic that could concern us all: Is the onboard computer reliable? Let me explain with my own example. A few days ago, I drove 88 km, about seventy of which were on the highway at a cruise speed of 105 km/h, with the rest on rural roads. At the end of the trip, the onboard unit (photo above) showed that my average fuel consumption was 12.5 kWh. I started with the battery at 100%, and it now shows a remaining charge of 63%, allowing me to drive an additional 159 km. Well, if math isn’t subjective, with that consumption level I should have been able to drive up to 320 km! I used this formula:

– Range = (Battery Capacity) x 100; (40) x 100 = 3.2 x 100 = 320 km

Average Consumption: 12.5

So, with the remaining battery charge, I could never cover that distance. Moreover, my 40kWh Leaf has never traveled more than 200km in such driving situations, even though I’ve never let the charge drop below 20%. Could you experts give me an explanation? Thank you.” Massimo

It’s no coincidence it’s called a “guessometer”

Answer. You will find the answers you’re looking for in an article we published a few years ago on the reliability limits of the onboard computer. “We call it a ‘guessing machine’ because we’ve all realized that, in the end, it’s not exactly a marvel of perfection... It relies on the last few kilometers we’ve traveled, how we drove, and our fuel consumption. It knows how much energy (of any kind) we have ‘on board’ and makes its estimate based on how it was programmed ‘in the factory’. And it doesn’t know the future, even though it tries to ‘guess’ it!”, wrote Ivano Monici for us. It’s well known that the onboard computer can be wrong, to the point that many people no longer even check it. They rely solely on the battery life shown as a percentage to determine the remaining kilometers. Moreover, it’s not just electric vehicles where the onboard computer gives incorrect predictions, as several other readers have reported. For...

Example: Paolo with a Hyundai hybrid.

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