Clarity EV charge has dropped

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by campton1, Nov 26, 2018.

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  1. Sandroad

    Sandroad Well-Known Member

    Econ all the time. My wife and I both regularly drive our Clarity, so it has to “adjust” to 2 different driving styles daily. Around town it pretty much always runs as an EV. We use the HV setting only on the highway.
     
    4sallypat likes this.
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  3. MajorAward

    MajorAward Active Member

    O.k. Starting today I am giving econ mode a try to see if I can up the GOM past 60. One more question: Have you clocked actual miles vs the 66 you saw on the GOM to see how they compare?
     
  4. Sandroad

    Sandroad Well-Known Member

    Nope, the actual mpc don't matter to me. I know that's it's very close; when I drive 6 miles locally as an EV, the GOM goes down 6 miles.
     
  5. bpratt

    bpratt Active Member

    I constantly see over 60 in the summer months, but that being said: My car is always kept in a semi conditioned garage. Even when the outside temperature exceeds 100 degrees, the garage never gets over about 85 degrees. In the winter when the temperature drops to the low 20s, the garage temperature seldom drops below 55 degrees. Also, 90% to 95% of my driving is on city streets where I probably average 30 mph.
    I drove a Toyota Camry Hybrid for several years and learned that jackrabbit starts and especially stops have a negative effect on mileage. Other than that, I drive in economy mode all the time and after a couple of short trips last year, I used a total of 5.8 gallons of gas for the year.
     
  6. Dan Albrich

    Dan Albrich Well-Known Member

    My Clarity has always been on the low-side for reported EV range. I bought it in late Sept 2018, and by December had all service updates applied. I know it hasn't been everyone's experience but the service updates seemed to take away EV range. I'm sorry I don't know which, but all related to the power-system problem when charging at a public charger. i.e. 18-079, 18-097 (and yes both of those do exist, not a typo).

    One thing that was modest help with EV range was to "reboot" the car by disconnecting the battery lead (thanks KentuckyKen). If not attempted I would try that. You'll have to drive throught scary warnings until they clear (if you do) but your car should come back.

    In my case this "reboot" seems to have permanently remediated 'angry bees' -- this literally never happens now. And yes, done quite a bit of driving with 0 ev range, it just doesn't do it now. In terms of EV range, eh, initially it was 8 miles better but as car learned my driving pattern settled back to the ~40 miles of EV range I saw before. Under no condition, even summer, do I ever see great EV range. Just doesn't happen on my Clarity. So I do understand the frustration of not seeing range other see-- although my car never had the better range to begin with.

    If someone who drops EV range figures out what it is, it would be nice to know. And of course if I ever find out, I'd share. Luckily for me my commute is relatively short and average around town driving is 20-25 miles per day so the relatively lower EV range hasn't effected me save winter when I do burn gas.

    -Dan
     
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  8. Piku1

    Piku1 New Member

    I have had my 2019 base Clarity for 3 weeks. May 2019 built. My commute is about 25 miles round trip and 50/50 highway and city streets. I drive in the normal setting. I charge every night using the 120V cable provided.
    My GOM ranges from 45-49 miles with the majority of the times at 47 miles. I would love to see these high 50s low 60s that others are getting but no luck so far. Temperatures have been in the high 70s low 80s here.
     
  9. How inconvenient would it be to try the same route but staying off of the highway? I find that makes a big difference.
     
  10. Mowcowbell

    Mowcowbell Well-Known Member

    How fast is your highway driving? If you can safely keep your highway speed around 55-60 mph (and not get run off the road), you'll see a nice increase in your EV range.
     
  11. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    NORMAL Mode: Invites accidental activation of the ICE, but without the exuberance of SPORT Mode (and it's attendant vices).
    ECON Mode: The only way to go (IM frequently disputed HO).

    PS. I'd read that ECON Mode moderates the performance of the A/C and when the weather got hot, I was disappointed how hot it was in our Clarity. However, NORMAL and SPORT Modes didn't make any difference. Turns out our Clarity's A/C condenser (radiator) had leaked out the refrigerant. Back to ECON Mode when our Clarity is fixed and comes home this week.
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2019
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  13. Piku1

    Piku1 New Member

    I have an option to take back roads to work but takes a little longer time wise but distance might be a little shorter, just have to deal with many stop lights.

    On the highway, I usually drive at about 65-70 with the Clarity. Will slow down to 60 and see if that helps. Also, I will switch to ECON Mode. If no improvement, I will try the back roads.

    Thanks guys for the suggestions!
     
  14. MPower

    MPower Well-Known Member

    Yesterday in the heatwave, the GOM hit 60 for the first time--very exciting. Today it was 58. In the winter, it was going as low at 28-9.

    I always have it in ECON.
     
    insightman likes this.
  15. fotomoto

    fotomoto Active Member

    Depending on your highways speeds and distance doing those speeds, you most likely will not. The 47 miles estimate is an EPA calculation that uses low highway speeds (like 60mph) and very gentle acceleration to get there. Every car forum I've been to has "poor fuel economy" threads as most folks have a hard time matching EPA estimates.
     
  16. 2002

    2002 Well-Known Member

    My spring/summer EV range has been 56-62. The 60's are more rare though. My EV driving mix is about 75% city and 25% highway. The highway driving averages around 65 mph so that eats into the EV range quite a bit. I only get into the 60's if I do a lot of non-highway driving but that's not typical so 56 or 57 is pretty much it, which I'm certainly not complaining about.
     
  17. Clarity_Newbie

    Clarity_Newbie Active Member

    The Clarity I drive has been achieving 58 to 63 EV range both on the GOM and in actuality this summer. I typically keep the charge between 20% and 90% but the few times a month I perform a full recharge, 60 plus is generally achieved.

    I drive normal mode 95% of the time with sport mode the remaining 5%. I drive in mountainous country with a 80/20 split local/highway. AC run most days.

    I have not noticed any appreciable decline from last year for either GOM or actual.

    I have empathy for @jdonalds with his loss of EV range for no apparent reason. Typical cricket sonetto from Honda USA n their dealer network. Unfathomable. Here's hoping it's not a trend.

    I was among the first to get all TSB's updated last October (sans the public charging debacle update). I never noticed any difference in the performance of the Clarity since.

    Love the Clarity. Recommend the Clarity. Would buy another Clarity. Honda USA...not so much.
     
  18. Jordan

    Jordan Member

    I've never got more than 52 and usually get around 47-48 on a full charge. I also accelerate quickly. Hey it's a fun car to drive so getting a few more miles from the charge isn't worth it to me to drive like a old fogey. here in St Louis, we've been over 100 and my range has gone down to 43-44. I heavily use the ac.
     
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  19. Clarity_Newbie

    Clarity_Newbie Active Member

    Guess I forgot to include..."I drive like an old fogey" in my Clarity. Just another bit of info...lol
     
  20. Clarity Dave

    Clarity Dave Member

    I've been getting EV mile estimates mid-to-high 50's, similar to what I got last summer, and they seem to be pretty accurate.

    Last weekend, I had a 240-mile round trip across a mountain pass -- 4,000' up, 2000' down on the way there, the inverse coming back. Full charge at the start, charged fully at each end of the trip. I turned HV mode on for some of the time so that I'd hit 0 EV miles close to the destination, but turned it off for the coast down from the pass in both directions. Didn't use AC.

    After the first recharge, the estimate was 69 EV miles. after charging at home last night, 72 EV miles. Using gas on the climbs definitely influences the guess-o-meter. I'd think those estimates are pretty accurate for that trip managing the HV button as I did, but not for everyday driving.
     
  21. PHEV Newbie

    PHEV Newbie Well-Known Member

    The more important issue is battery degradation, which directly affects range. Does anyone know a good way to determine that without taking it back to the dealer? I mostly do around town driving, charging to 80% after each run to minimize depth of discharge which is one of the factors that affect battery degradation. After 1.7 years of ownership and about 12,000 EV only miles (the rest being HV), one of my regular 14 mile loops still only use 17% under optimal conditions (75 degrees outside with no A/C turned on). At 70 degrees I use 18%, or more at all other temps (varying due to the extent of A/C or heating). That hasn't changed since I bought the car so I'm not seeing any battery degradation. Of course, the BMU could be fooling me by decreasing the buffers in order to maintain the range. That would be really bad because that would then accelerate battery degradation if Honda did that. I still get 8%/per hour during charging using the 120v charger, the same as when the car was new so hopefully all is well.
     
    2002 likes this.
  22. LAF

    LAF Active Member

    Too much highway driving for that.

     
  23. LAF

    LAF Active Member

    stop worrying and enjoy the car
     

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