[shavy]

Hi,
I have Honda Clarity PHEV-2018. Can someone please suggest me is it good to take this car for long drive.
From CA to Texas.
It gives only 280 miles/full tank without using AC. and single charge gives 45Miles.

Any help appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[obermd]

Why not? Yes, you'll need to stop every 200-225 miles for gas but think of these as chances to spend five minutes stretching your legs.

 

[fotomoto]

Absolutely! It's a great road car.

 

[mowcowbell]

Were you thinking roads between CA and TX are like the Old Wild West with no gas stations? You won't see a gap of much more than 20 miles without hitting a gas station all along the way.

 

[4sallypat]

We have driven 500+ mile distances and it's not an issue - with a full EV charge, full tank of fuel, using regen paddles, coasting, speeds under 65MPH and a light trunk - we get around 45-50 MPG total which translates to around 350 miles of range per tank of fuel and EV range.

This assumes you switch to HV mode when you have hills, higher speeds, and less efficient battery driving.

We aim our stops along the way to include EV charging (EV Go or Chargepoint) so that improves the overall range.

If you drive just fuel only with a depleted battery, you will get less 280 miles range depending on terrain.

 

[JimWoo]

Hi,
I have Honda Clarity PHEV-2018. Can someone please suggest me is it good to take this car for long drive.
From CA to Texas.
It gives only 280 miles/full tank without using AC. and single charge gives 45Miles.

Any help appreciated.
Thank you.

If you really want to ensure a conservatively safe and comfortable journey of long distances in the Clarity PHEV, I suggest you consider adding a spare gasoline can of say 1 to 2.5 gallons just in case you run into inclement weather, etc., and have to use more fuel than anticipated. Also, you will find much discussion on this forum about Clarity owners who have purchased a fifth wheel and tire (and a jack and tire iron) to use as a spare in the case of a failure of one of your four other tires while on a long road trip. That little battery powered foam filler flat fixer that came with your Clarity that’s in your trunk won’t get you very far on a long trip and it won’t fix a sidewall failure.

 

[don7778]

Hi,
I have Honda Clarity PHEV-2018. Can someone please suggest me is it good to take this car for long drive.
From CA to Texas.
It gives only 280 miles/full tank without using AC. and single charge gives 45Miles.

Any help appreciated.
Thank you.

Hi,
I have Honda Clarity PHEV-2018. Can someone please suggest me is it good to take this car for long drive.
From CA to Texas.
It gives only 280 miles/full tank without using AC. and single charge gives 45Miles.

Any help appreciated.
Thank you.

I recently made a road trip from South Dakota to LA to Dallas back to SD. A little over 5000 thousand miles. It did great averaging 48mpg over the entire trip but I filled up 19 times. Since I'm in my 70's now I only have a 280 mile bladder so had to stop anyway. I do wish they would have put in a normal size gas tank, though.

 

[shome]

You should manually switch from ECON to HV after each startup. If you are worried about the battery charge at any time you can double push the HV button to go into charging mode. This will run the generator to charge the battery but you cannot do this at highway speeds. If you slow through a town or stop for any reason you can charge the battery.

 

[JimO]

Just last week I took a trip from NJ to Niagra Falls. It was just under 200 each way. Stopped for gas once each way getting 5 then 6 gallons each time. With some electric, we averaged 45 MPG traveling 60 to 70 MPH. Sure beats trying to find an open charging station then waiting 20+ minutes!

BTW: Stayed at the Hampton Inn in Eash Aurora and got a free recharge as a perk for there guests.

 

[JimO]

You should manually switch from ECON to HV after each startup. If you are worried about the battery charge at any time you can double push the HV button to go into charging mode. This will run the generator to charge the battery but you cannot do this at highway speeds. If you slow through a town or stop for any reason you can charge the battery.

I did recharge a few bars while at highway speed just to try it out. Frankly, with readily available gas, it really makes no sense to use the ICE to recharge (and of course, it is inefficient as well).

 

[2002]

I did recharge a few bars while at highway speed just to try it out. Frankly, with readily available gas, it really makes no sense to use the ICE to recharge (and of course, it is inefficient as well).

Actually some people have done some gas usage tests and found that HV Charge is pretty efficient with little impact on mpg. It of course uses more gas during the time that HV Charge is running, but it is storing up EV range to be used later, so the overall mpg ends up about the same. HV Charge should be used mainly on the highway if possible where it can be more efficient since the gas engine is already running, whereas if you use HV Charge in city driving then there will be times when the gas engine would normally be off, like slow speeds or when you are stopped at a light, but if you have HV Charge turned on then the engine will continue running which is not going to be as efficient.

There are situations where it would be nice to drive in EV but for whatever reason your EV range has gone to 0. HV Charge is a convenient way to build back some EV range, with only minor loss of efficiency. It can be especially helpful on long trips where you don't really have opportunities to charge, at least not conveniently. It's no fun being on a trip and driving all the time with 0 EV range. HV Charge lets you build up some EV miles while cruising on the highway to be used later, making for a more enjoyable drive.

 

[JimO]

Actually some people have done some gas usage tests and found that HV Charge is pretty efficient with little impact on mpg. It of course uses more gas during the time that HV Charge is running, but it is storing up EV range to be used later, so the overall mpg ends up about the same. HV Charge should be used mainly on the highway if possible where it can be more efficient since the gas engine is already running, whereas if you use HV Charge in city driving then there will be times when the gas engine would normally be off, like slow speeds or when you are stopped at a light, but if you have HV Charge turned on then the engine will continue running which is not going to be as efficient.

There are situations where it would be nice to drive in EV but for whatever reason your EV range has gone to 0. HV Charge is a convenient way to build back some EV range, with only minor loss of efficiency. It can be especially helpful on long trips where you don't really have opportunities to charge, at least not conveniently. It's no fun being on a trip and driving all the time with 0 EV range. HV Charge lets you build up some EV miles while cruising on the highway to be used later, making for a more enjoyable drive.

I agree that it's nice to have a reserve of EV power when in town. My main point was that HV Charge works fine at any speed.

 

[fotomoto]

it really makes no sense to use the ICE to recharge (and of course, it is inefficient as well).

Yes, no doubt it is way less efficient than plugging in but there are many scenarios where using it makes sense otherwise there would be no reason for the designers to include it and its additional costs. Many cities through out the world are implementing emission free zones where only EV running is allowed. Also, sadly, HV+ can sometimes be cheaper than some pubic EV charging stations.

Having the choice? Priceless.