Why is the SoC on the vehicle dashboard different to BetterFleet?

Created by Levin Lam, Modified on Wed, 11 Mar at 11:49 PM by Levin Lam

This article explains the state of charge (SoC) discrepancy between what is shown on vehicle dashboard and BetterFleet Manage.

This is expected behaviour for some vehicles. BetterFleet shows the true value of battery SoC as reported by the vehicle’s battery management system (BMS), while the vehicle dashboard shows a driver-friendly, scaled value of battery SoC. Both can represent the same actual battery state.

Vehicle dashboards and telematics typically use scaled SoC. Vehicle manufacturers intentionally scale the battery’s usable range to display 0 -100% to drivers.

For example:

A battery that is physically operating between 7% and 87% may be displayed as 0 - 100% on the vehicle dashboard where the 7% SoC is treated as “empty” and 87% SoC is treated as “full”.
When the battery has reached its maximum safe charge level (e.g. 87%), the vehicle dashboard will show 100%, indicating to the driver that the vehicle has finished charging.

This design simplifies the experience and avoids confusion to the driver.

Because of this, SoC shown on BetterFleet is sometimes lower than the vehicle dashboard reading. Hence, it is normal for charging to stop when the SoC displayed on BetterFleet is <100%.