It has been a while since I have posted a question on this forum. By way of background, I have a 2018 Clarity PHEV Touring purchased new in November 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Build date in Japan was January 2019. Our Clarity has about 22,000 miles on her and most of those miles has been around-town driving with a smattering of annual road trips. As an aside, I have never once had a technical nor mechanical problem with the Clarity. In the almost four years of ownership my only expenses for maintenance and upkeep have been for annual oil and filter changes, changing out the cabin air filter annually and tire rotations as needed.
Now, to my question and/or issue. Prior to April of 2022 the Clarity had been routinely garaged at night at our home and plugged into a Level II Siemens wall charger. However, In April 2022 we sold our home and moved into an apartment while we build a new home. In our new, temporary location, we do not have access to a electric vehicle charger on premises, nor a outside wall outlet to use the charging cord that came with the Clarity. The nearest charging stations to our current address require me to drive fifteen minutes or so and then wait upwards of an hour or more to keep the battery topped up when needed. Such a routine as this wouldn’t be so onerous if the weather were milder, but this is North Carolina, on the coast, and we are in the throes of summer now and the heat index can approach and stay in the upper 90’s and lower 100’s for days on end. Plus, we tend to get rain here in abundance on a regular basis. Sitting in or even near my Clarity waiting for it to charge under these conditions is not my idea of fun. (Note: The location of these particular chargers is in an isolated location with no facilities nearby to retreat to and wait.)
Therefore, given these scenarios and these weather patterns, whenever my electric miles reserve falls to the 10 to 12 miles level, I have taken to the routine of using the Clarity’s onboard electrical generator, powered by the ICE to keep the lithium battery, and the 12 volt battery by default, charged to slightly above the 50% charged level on a regular basis as needed when I am out driving around (Note: Specifically, I mean by holding down the “Hybrid” button for two seconds until “Charging” icon appears under Hybrid on dashboard). I have been practicing this routine for about the past month and plan on keeping doing it for another month through August. Reason being, we are planning on taking possession of a leased garage in our apartment complex, with a electrical wall outlet in the garage, September 1st. When this occurs I will have access to using the wall outlet to connect the Clarity’s charging cable to in order to maintain charging on a regular and stable basis.
I don’t put many miles on the vehicle under the conditions described above using the generator and the ICE to keep the vehicle charged. My question is: Does anyone on this forum see any problems with THIS routine in general, or with my primarily, for a short period of time only (I.E., for sixty days, on and off), maintaining the lithium battery, and 12 volt battery by default, primarily around the 50% charge level — the level at which I can charge it to using the electric generator using the ICE?
Thanks for any input you might have on these issues.
Now, to my question and/or issue. Prior to April of 2022 the Clarity had been routinely garaged at night at our home and plugged into a Level II Siemens wall charger. However, In April 2022 we sold our home and moved into an apartment while we build a new home. In our new, temporary location, we do not have access to a electric vehicle charger on premises, nor a outside wall outlet to use the charging cord that came with the Clarity. The nearest charging stations to our current address require me to drive fifteen minutes or so and then wait upwards of an hour or more to keep the battery topped up when needed. Such a routine as this wouldn’t be so onerous if the weather were milder, but this is North Carolina, on the coast, and we are in the throes of summer now and the heat index can approach and stay in the upper 90’s and lower 100’s for days on end. Plus, we tend to get rain here in abundance on a regular basis. Sitting in or even near my Clarity waiting for it to charge under these conditions is not my idea of fun. (Note: The location of these particular chargers is in an isolated location with no facilities nearby to retreat to and wait.)
Therefore, given these scenarios and these weather patterns, whenever my electric miles reserve falls to the 10 to 12 miles level, I have taken to the routine of using the Clarity’s onboard electrical generator, powered by the ICE to keep the lithium battery, and the 12 volt battery by default, charged to slightly above the 50% charged level on a regular basis as needed when I am out driving around (Note: Specifically, I mean by holding down the “Hybrid” button for two seconds until “Charging” icon appears under Hybrid on dashboard). I have been practicing this routine for about the past month and plan on keeping doing it for another month through August. Reason being, we are planning on taking possession of a leased garage in our apartment complex, with a electrical wall outlet in the garage, September 1st. When this occurs I will have access to using the wall outlet to connect the Clarity’s charging cable to in order to maintain charging on a regular and stable basis.
I don’t put many miles on the vehicle under the conditions described above using the generator and the ICE to keep the vehicle charged. My question is: Does anyone on this forum see any problems with THIS routine in general, or with my primarily, for a short period of time only (I.E., for sixty days, on and off), maintaining the lithium battery, and 12 volt battery by default, primarily around the 50% charge level — the level at which I can charge it to using the electric generator using the ICE?
Thanks for any input you might have on these issues.