A method and a battery powered electronic device incorporate use-adaptive fuel gauging. The use-adaptive fuel gauging adapts a fuel gauge algorithm to an average use model for the device. The adaptation accounts for the effects that variations in average use by a user of the device have on a total available energy or charge capacity of a battery. Accordingly, use-adaptivity can improve the fuel gauging accuracy by improving an estimate of the total energy available. The method and device optionally account for different battery chemistries yielding further increases in fuel gauging accuracy compared to conventional fuel gauging approaches.