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Comment by ProfessorLayton | Hacker News Reader

I believe OP is saying that 80/90% or whatever should be displayed as 100% to the user, the same way fuel gauges in ICE vehicles typically leave a large amount of fuel in the tank while displaying as "empty".

This is mainly a U.S. practice, as many European countries like their gauges to be as accurate as possible.

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> I believe OP is saying that 80/90% or whatever should be displayed as 100% to the user

My BMW i3 does that. When my car is fully charged, it's almost exactly 80% of the actual full battery capacity. When it says it's empty it's about 20%.

I verified this using some REST API calls someone had figured out reported capacity (actual and available) in kWh and correlated with the 94Ah specification.

> This is mainly a U.S. practice, as many European countries like their gauges to be as accurate as possible.

-Add the Japanese to that list. My Land Cruiser's low fuel lamp comes on when there's 22L/5.75 US gallons left.

That is low for an off-road vehicle where civilisation could be quite far away. My Suzuki and Chevy off-road vehicles are calibrated the same. My Buick thinks low is 24 miles of range.

While that's undeniably true, if venturing off-road, I'd expect the driver to plan better than simply heading back when the light comes on.

(I'm probably - make that 'almost certainly' erring on the side of caution - having fitted a 90L/24USg auxiliary tank and also often carrying a jerry can or two when heading off into the boonies - heck, even my field kitchen runs on diesel!)

That's why you have five topped off jerrycans in the truck bed.

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