Summary
State of charge (SoC) is the level of charge of an electric battery relative to its capacity. SoC is usually expressed as percentage (0% = empty; 100% = full). An alternative form of the same measure is the depth of discharge (DoD), calculated as 100 - SoC (100% = empty; 0% = full). SoC is normally used when discussing the current state of a battery in use, while DoD is most often seen when discussing the lifetime of the battery after repeated use. In a battery electric vehicle (BEV), SoC for the battery pack is the equivalent of a fuel gauge. It is important to mention that state of charge, presented as a gauge or percentage value on any vehicle dashboard, especially in plug-in hybrid vehicles, may not be representative of a real level of charge. In that particular case, some noticeable amount of energy stored in the electric battery is not shown on the dashboard, and is reserved for hybrid-work operations. It permits a vehicle to accelerate with electric motors mainly using battery energy, while the petrol engine serves as a generator and recharges the battery to the minimum level needed for such operation. Examples of such cars are Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (all versions/years of production), where 0% of the state of charge presented to the driver is a real 20-22% of charge level (assuming zero level as the lowest level of charge permitted by car producer). Another one is BMW i3 REX (Range Extender version), where about 6% of SOC is reserved for PHEV-alike operations. Tesla has stated that their SoC should be less than 95%, with some commentators saying between 30%-80% . There is some data to back this up as well. The state of charge (SOC) can help to reduce electrical car's owners' anxiety when they are waiting in the line or stay at home since it will reflect the progress of charging and let owners know when it will be ready. Usually, SoC cannot be measured directly but it can be estimated from direct measurement variables in two ways: offline and online.
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