[Claritywannab]

Please help. I can't get a straight answer from the literature:
My daily one way commute is 40 miles (5mi local + 35mi highway). Will I be able to go (almost) the whole way on EV or will the car revert to HV on the highway? I can re-charge at work for the ride home. Thanks

 

[RobPaul]

I work 35 miles from home. I easily have 7-9 miles capacity left when I arrive, and then plug in and recharge for the drive home 9 hours later. I have ~4,400 miles on the car and have put only about 9-10 gallons in the tank!


This is the perfect vehicle for a 40 mile commute. Cheers!


Rob

 

[Clarity_newbie]

Claritywannab

Really will depend on how you approach it. Since driving habits and temperatures affect real world EV range there is no clear cut answer.

The short of it is given the Clarity has a stated EV range in the 40's...that should work out fine.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!

 

[jd_lavaman]

My commute is 70 miles per day. I don't charge at work. Starting the day with a full charge I get a little over 100 miles/gallon; and that's in the winter with heat at 70F. Yes, it makes sense.

 

[PHEV Clarity and Volt]

I average about 60-62 miles per charge in crowded LA freeway driving. I would get much less in open road high speed driving. I use Google maps for trips that would exceed my EV range to determine when is the best time to use HV mode. My goal is to use HV mode durning high speed driving. I want to turn the gas motor on the least amount of times and only use HV once during the trip, then the rest of the trip would be EV. By minimizing the HV periods I optimize the fuel efficiency, and wear and tear on engine by getting it warmed up and starting the engine as few times as possible. I use EV for slower driving speeds and use full regen on Sport mode. My highest EV range was 72 miles. Currently I have used 7 gallons of gas in 4,100 miles. Love this car.

 

[Tim66]

I haven't had a Clarity long enough to comment with any confidence. But I did own a Volt for four years. Based on my experience, given that you live in Montreal, you will probably get 35 to 25 miles EV range in the winter.

Tim

 

[spireland]

Please help. I can't get a straight answer from the literature:
My daily one way commute is 40 miles (5mi local + 35mi highway). Will I be able to go (almost) the whole way on EV or will the car revert to HV on the highway? I can re-charge at work for the ride home. Thanks

I have this exact commute.

You can pick when it goes between the modes if you want to us HV when you still have enough juice (above 20% or EV range above 0) to be in EV. Just push the HV button. If you can charge that is perfect, its what I'm doing.

 

[jamhill9849]

Excellent commuter car

The first 40-50 miles will be all electric. The remaining miles will be on gas at about 40 mpg. So, for a 80 mile round trip, you'll use 1 gallon of gas. That's about 80 mpg. Factoring in cost of charging is tricky. It depends on you kwh cost. Mine is $.06 so it cost be about $1 to charge up the batteries. At $2.50 per gallon and adding the electric cost, total cost is about $3.50 which equals the cost of 1.4 gallons. So, 80 miles / 1.4 gallons is 57 equivalent mpg if you include cost of charging. Still better than a Prius and a much nicer car. This assumes no charging at your destination but you get the idea.

 

[[email protected]]

You will definitely need to use the hybrid function of both gas and ev. Ev alone will get you an average of 47 miles. In warm weather you might get up to 60 miles but in cold weather you may only get 40. When you combine the 2 using HV you get really great gas mileage so it's still a great car. But if you are looking to use only ev miles for your commute the Clarity can't get you there. Also, the regenerative breaking allows you to increase your ev miles while driving, but you don't get much breaking on the highway unless you are in traffic. So ev works best off the highway.

 

[MAHonda]

You should be fine in the warmer weather. I live in New England and with the colder weather have been averaging about a 36 mile EV charge, which would cover you for all but a few miles each way of your trip.

 

[d3xbot]

If you run primarily in HV mode on the highways, you'll get pretty killer fuel economy, especially if you run on EV mode on the other roads. There's not really a good PHEV for that length of commute (if you don't charge while at work and take into account the EV range decrease in winter).
If you have a way to charge (L1 or L2), it's a great choice for driving primarily as an EV with an ICE just in case, especially if you have down-hill before or after driving on the highway. If you don't have a way to charge (e.g. they won't let you L1 charge and don't have any L2 chargers), depending on how you drive it is still a lot better than a Prius. You'll still end up needing to gas up, but not nearly as much as in most other hybrids.

Pro tip - I'd avoid letting your EV range go too low - the engine will kick in and get kinda noisy. I usually find it best to put it in HV mode when you get down to 1/4 charge, depending on your commute.

 

[Walt10410]

Short answer is yes. My one way drive is 59 miles. I charge at work. Mostly highway 60 to 65 mph. Drive in EV until ICE kicks in. On warm days I can do the drive all on EV. I live in Houston, flat and mostly warm. Good luck:

 

[jwmackley]

Please help. I can't get a straight answer from the literature:
My daily one way commute is 40 miles (5mi local + 35mi highway). Will I be able to go (almost) the whole way on EV or will the car revert to HV on the highway? I can re-charge at work for the ride home. Thanks

sounds like this is a prefect drive i get 48 miles on a charge with hills , winter is a bit different with the electric heat

 

[Boston_Pilot]

Please help. I can't get a straight answer from the literature:
My daily one way commute is 40 miles (5mi local + 35mi highway). Will I be able to go (almost) the whole way on EV or will the car revert to HV on the highway? I can re-charge at work for the ride home. Thanks

Should be fine as long as you don’t go crazy on highway, speedwise. Hopefully that charger is L2 at work. L1 is a looonnng charge.

 

[fotomoto]

This thread is nearly 2 years old. The OP got his answer a long time ago......

Anyways, for those with this length of commute (40-50+ mile legs) but who can’t charge at work, the math is very different.

By the end of the work week, the tank is nearly empty on the last leg. If the driver has done any other trips (errands, etc) during the work week while on HV, then they won’t make it home on the final leg without stopping for gas. This is our weekly scenario.

A ten gallon tank would mean a solid 400+ mile range and a much better compromise. The deep storage well in the trunk is about that size and I would gladly give that up for it (it’s VERY handy tho’).

 

[[email protected]]

Please help. I can't get a straight answer from the literature:
My daily one way commute is 40 miles (5mi local + 35mi highway). Will I be able to go (almost) the whole way on EV or will the car revert to HV on the highway? I can re-charge at work for the ride home. Thanks

I never get less than 50 miles on a fully charged battery...a 40 or 50 miles commute seems perfectly suited for this car. If you are doing a lot of high speed driving ( over 70 MPH) you may not get as good of mileage.