Lower average SOC: a warning sign?

For about the last few weeks, SOC on my 2002 seems to be lower on average than what I remember it being previously. It never reaches 100% and more often than not, after the car has been sitting for a while or in the mornings, SOC is about 50% or slightly below this.

Is this an indicator of bad things for the HV battery? The car has just reached 70k.

There have been some discussions about how to measure the traction battery capacity but very few have taken time to do it:

• backing up a hill - the altitude change when it runs out of 'omph' is proportional to the traction battery AHr. Best done after doing a 'forced charge' to bring the traction battery up to maximum energy level.
• leaving car in "R" with brake on and every other electrical load - same idea as the hill climb in "R". Arts Automotive has a write-up.

I've not been that curious, yet.

Bob Wilson

The Classic SOC gauge should normally be at either 50% or 75%. It's a sign of trouble if you see the gauge at 0%, 25%, or 100%. The gauge doesn't have finer gradations than 25% intervals...