slk55er

Just finished a 1600 mile break-in drive with a 560 mile trek yesterday across Utah and Colorado in our CLS53. All the while I was monitoring the "CONSUMPTION" display found on the VEHICLE-CONSUMPTION link on the central Multimedia screen. This screen shows MPG and Charge% (of something.) I would expect this to show the status of the amount of charge on the 12volt and 48volt batteries. But it seems instead (I hope) it is showing the amount of charge APPLIED TO the batteries.

On my 560 mile trip while expecting to see the charge level OF the batteries rather than the amount APPLED TO the batteries, I was surprised and concerned to see that the Charge% rarely showed above about 10% and never above 20% or so as shown in this photo:



And when I arrived at my garage and connected a battery charger, sure enough, the charger's display showed "Discharged" and it took several hours to bring the charge up to "Charged."

Overnight I had a trickle charger on the battery and it showed fully charged this morning. Then I took a short 30 minute trip (to get permanent plates), This was the "CONSUMPTION" display over that trip:




The charge looks very low at the beginning of the trip and returned to nearly zero at the end. And again, when I connected up a charger, it showed "Discharged." None of this seems right. So perhaps instead of showing Charge% OF the batteries, the display actually shows the amount of charge APPLIED TO the batteries during each interval. That would be consistent with the what the display showed during my 560 mile trek. So instead of 100% meaning "fully charged", it would mean the maximum possible charge from the 48volt alternator is being applied to charge the batteries.

Anyone else have any more info on this? Did I miss a description in the Owner's Manual? Thanks much.

slk55er

Could someone else on this forum please check their display and charge level? This either needs clarification by Mercedes on what this display indicates or there is a problem that needs resolved.

Rick2019

I’d help you but my CLS 53 is at the port in Germany preparing for oceanic crossing.

slk55er

Sounds great! Did you have the pleasure of a factory tour, etc.?

I am getting some discussion and answers on the AMG Private Lounge site which I will forward to this forum. I'm off to see the wizard (dealer).

slk55er

I finally did get some answers on this after a lot of discussion on the AMG Private Lounge site. Brian Cotter from MBUSA says:

"Okay, I just spoke with someone on the US technical team and they informed me that the chart you are seeing for "Charge" is not the current state of charge, but the amount of charging that occurred during a 5-minute block of time. I think you can change the scale of this chart to display 1-minute chunks, too, but I am not positive about that.

If you are on the highway, the charge level will be relatively low since the battery will be at a high state of charge. When driving in a city environment, the charge meter will show more charging taking place due to the starter/generator and ebooster being utilized during acceleration, etc. As the energy is used, there is a demand for charge and charging of the 48V battery takes place."

So my speculation about the display showing AMOUNT APPLIED rather than ON seems to be appropriate. Thanks to Brian for tracking this down.

petee1997

I think these very complex cars are great as long as they are on warranty. I would not own one off warranty.