What's your main reason for buying a Clarity? "Dirty Electric Power"-related

I live in Northern California and we do have solar. The 7.3kWh system runs the house and the Clarity most days (rain/clouds greatly reduce production). The addition of the car made solar worth while. We are saving about $2,500 / year in monthly electricity and car gas.

 

Ours is a 20 panel LG system, 365W each. On the best days this summer the system was generating over 50kW / day. With the sun lowering in the sky we're getting more like 35-40 in the middle of October. The system is generating a bit over one megawatt each month. Right now, if we had to pay the electric bill for the year, we would owe about $150. Our total electric bill for 2017 (pre solar) was $1,844 (pre Clarity).

 

Yes fortunately our roof is south facing. Also Redding CA is the second sunniest city in the U.S. after Yuma AZ. We are close to parity with the grid. However smoke from the huge Carr fire reduced production for six weeks. We won't know if the system is grid positive or not until we have a normal year. Fortunately our grid cost and reimbursement rate is the same, and guaranteed for 25 years. We treat the grid as if it were a battery.

 

Over 80kWh? I am jealous. How many panels? We have 32 East/West in NC and this time of year breaking 30kWh is a good day.

 

I'm also in CT, and was toying with the idea of solar. Didn't know the net metering was changing. I guess that puts the nail in the coffin of that idea.

 

Thanks for the information!

 

I bought the clarity for economics. I had a 2008 Honda Pilot with 250k miles which costs about $375/month in gas and was ready for some major repairs. The Clarity will cost approximately $100-$150/month in gas and electric. Clarity Touring was only $33k - $9k tax credits -$3k trade-in + taxes = less than $23k at .9% interest for a nice car.

After I bought it I have loved the following:
- Not having to go to the gas station on the way to work since the 3 closest gas stations were removed from my town to make way for a light rail.
- Getting free electric when I park in certain areas.
- Driving a new car that is cheaper each month than a paid off car.

 

I leased it for my daughter (17). The monthly payment is so low that it's not even worth looking at used cars. She only drives to school and sport practices, so it's perfect to have a car that can go 40 some miles (which is more than enough for a day) after one charge and runs less than 10K miles annually. My wife and I still have ICE cars (BMWs), however. But I start liking PHEVs.

One thing I would like to point out though is that Clarity is lot more expensive to insure than ICE counter parts. Insurance company told me that even minor accident may require complete check of battery components, hence higher premiums.

 

There are some very good comments on the life-cycle carbon emissions of BEV and PHEVs in this thread.

I'm technologically offended by ICEs and vastly prefer the feel of driving an EV, and thanks to solar on my roof electric fuel is effectively free, which were all EV versus ICE factors, but as for why PHEV vs BEV:

We're a single-car family in an isolated pocket of civilization, so 95% of my daily driving is under 40 miles at a time, but occasionally I need to do road trips of hundreds or thousanof miles. If I didn't get a PHEV, I would either need a Tesla (which I can't afford), or have to rent a car every time I wanted to leave the area. So a PHEV was basically the only convenient option for my lifestyle. Additionally, the once every couple of years when some emergency requires me to do a bunch of driving without any warning, not having to find an ICE on no notice is of significant peace-of-mind value.

Additionally, since 95% of my daily driving is under 40 miles at a time, I actually don't need a battery pack any larger than that. I'm not exactly sure how the embodied energy in the ICE drivetrain of a Clarity compares a battery 4 times larger, but it seems most efficient in terms of both purchase cost and environmental impact to have a battery just big enough for almost all my needs, plus an ICE for the rare occasions I need more, all in a single frame.

As for which PHEV, I wanted at least 40 miles of range so it would cover 95% of my daily driving and an ICE suitable for road trips, which pretty much only gave me two choices: Gen2 Volt or Clarity. I loved my Gen1 Volt, but the Clarity was bigger, more comfy, my wife prefers Honda, and I kind of wanted to see what Honda could do. The faster L2 charge rate on the Clarity also allows for a slightly higher fraction of EV driving, since I can put a lot more miles in the battery if I'm at home for a half hour or an hour between two 30-40 mile trips.

 

Why did I get a Clarity...to answer that I need to first answer why I got a car now (last June), why a PHEV, why not a BEV or HEV and specifically why the Clarity.

I didn't expect to replace my 2016 Kia Sorento for another 5-10 years. However, it had the same recurring problem every year, the AC died, and the warranty was about 2k miles from expiring (I drive around 20k miles a year, I got my 2016 in June 2015), and AC problems can be expensive. So, I started thinking about a new car. The final straw was when the dealer decided that this time the AC problems were not under warranty and were caused by my trailer wiring (yeah right) and it cost me $6500. At that point I was disgusted by the car and the dealer and I wanted out of the Sorento.

The last time my Sorento had its AC issues, they had trouble finding the issue. It was in and out of the dealer several times, so, over the last 2-3 months of ownership, I had three different rentals, one of which I had for a month. All the rentals were Corollas. While the Sorento is pretty fuel efficient for an SUV, I really liked getting 30+ MPG instead of 20-24. Also, I had sold my pop up camper so I didn't really need the SUV anymore.

So, after the Corolla rentals, I was sold on the idea of a fuel efficient car. However, I hit stop and go traffic every day on my commute. I hated watching my MPGs ticking down on the trip computer in every traffic jam. So, I started thinking a hybrid would be the way to go. I didn't consider any kind of plug in (I live in an apartment where I can't plug in). However, when I realized I could run a PHEV as a hybrid most of the time, I saw that the Prius Prime and Ioniq PHEV get about the same MPGs as the HEV versions, and I saw there was a tax credit from both the feds and Maryland, I started looking primarily at PHEVs.

I was initially leaning towards the Ioniq. The Ioniq PHEV is a pretty negligible amount more than the HEV. In fact, it comes with enough extra stuff over the HEV, that it can be seen as a trim line with a reasonable price difference even without the tax rebates (and ignoring the PHEV feature). Then, with the tax incentives, it is actually cheaper than the base HEV. I loved the idea of 50+ MPG when running as a hybrid, and didn't mind the 29 miles of electric range (until I got one, I envisioned driving a PHEV primarily as a hybrid and not an EV, so the higher hybrid MPG over the Clarity was a plus, as was the larger gas tank). However, Ioniq PHEVs are pretty rare around here and I couldn't find one to test drive within a reasonable drive. The Kia Niro is mechanically the same car, but the small SUV body style causes it to lose about 5-10MPG v. the Ioniq. Also, the Niro is more money and would have cost me the same pre-tax incentives as my base Clarity, and the Clarity has higher tax incentives due to the larger battery.

I drove the Prius Prime, but I just didn't like it as much as the Clarity. I didn't really consider the Volt or the BMW i3. I assumed the Asian cars would be more reliable. Also, the i3 Rex is more an electric car with a small range extender than a true PHEV with the 600cc engine and just over 2 gallon tank. Plus both get low mileage for a hybrid when running primarily on gas.

I got the Clarity as the best overall package. Good size, decent hybrid mileage, small but workable gas tank (I almost didn't get it since 7 gallons is pretty small and since I didn't think I'd plug in much I thought I'd be at the gas station quite a bit), decent price, good equipment/luxury levels (though I'd love a sunroof), and great tax incentives. I do live in an area with a good charger infrastructure. I planned to stop once or twice a week to charge my car. In reality I charge it at least once every two days, and often stop to charge it (at least partially) daily so I get a lot more mileage on a tank than I planned (I usually average and effective 80-100MPG on a tank).

 

Oh, why not a BEV? Because I live in an apartment and can't plug in. I planned to use the public charge stations (many free) once or twice a week, not nearly every day. So, a BEV wouldn't work. Now, I do half wish I got one. I charge far more often than I planned and already run mostly on electricity. Charging at level 2 chargers just a little more than I already do would give me enough electricity for the day. If I hit a level 3 charger once or twice a week (depending upon which car and its range), I could probably get by with a couple hours a week at a level 2, spending far less time at public chargers than I do now. Though, the peace of mind of knowing I can run on gas and I don't have to find a public charger (especially when they are ICEed, out of order, or all in use) is pretty nice, and not needing to rent an ICE car for trips is very nice. Ideally, I'd like one of each now, and as soon as my car is paid down enough I'll probably be getting a BEV (ideally, after I have a house and can plug in at home, but around here, that may not be 100% necessary).

 

While I didn't really buy mine for "green" reasons (the better gas mileage was for economic reasons), it is a nice bonus, and in your case, I don't think you'd be buying it for the wrong reasons. Even if you live in an area that gets all its power from coal generated plants, EV cars are much more greenhouse gas friendly than even the most fuel efficient ICE engines.

As for the emissions from production, anti-BEV, PHEV and HEV advocates talk about how bad battery production is for the environment. Well, guess what...so is oil exploration and extraction, and occasional spills. Then it takes energy to refine petroleum into different useful products (like gas). It also takes plenty of energy to move it from the well, to the refinery, to the distribution centers, to the gas station. Nothing about the system is very efficient.

So, yes, battery production and making PHEV, HEV and BEV could be more efficient. But, it is still better than gas. Also, not everywhere runs mostly coal plants. If production or where you live runs on natural gas, that is already a lot better. Then, many areas use wind power, solar, hydroelectric, and nuclear. That can drop emissions from electric vehicles even more. It is already a good tech, and once we move to more renewable sources for our electricity, it will be a great tech.