[Nhat_dam]

My local Honda dealer said that I need to have the orginal Honda Clarity charger to get the full 47 miles range in EV mode.

Is that true???

I have just bought a 2018 Touring model and I was unable to get the EV range above 35 miles range when used Megear 2021 Gen2 Level 1 and 2 charger.

Please let me know if I need to get the OEM Honda Clarity level 1 charger to get the 47 miles range for EV mode.

Thanks so much for your help,
ND

 

[4sallypat]

Sorry your dealer is that uninformed.

Your Clarity can get a full charge using any L1 or L2 charger.

At home, I use an aftermarket L1/L2 charger (Duosida) and I get a full charge every time.

Outside home, I use public L2 chargers and also get a full charge.

If you are having issues with range during the colder months, then it's not the fault of the vehicle.
It's the fault of cold weather on batteries and use of cabin heating.

It's normal to lose anywhere from 10-40% loss in range during the cold winter months.

 

[Nhat_dam]

Sorry your dealer is that uninformed.

Your Clarity can get a full charge using any L1 or L2 charger.

At home, I use an aftermarket L1/L2 charger (Duosida) and I get a full charge every time.

Outside home, I use public L2 chargers and also get a full charge.

If you are having issues with range during the colder months, then it's not the fault of the vehicle.
It's the fault of cold weather on batteries and use of cabin heating.

It's normal to lose anywhere from 10-40% loss in range during the cold winter months.

Thanks 4sallypat for that clarification. I thought what my dealer said was quite odd also. Thanks again! ND

 

[obermd]

At home I use my Volt's charger on the our Clarity and a Duosida L2 20 amp charger for my Volt. Both these have 25 ft charging cables which makes them perfect for my home uses. For the road I use the Clarity's charger (either car) and if needed, a 40 ft 10 gauge x 3 strand all weather extension cord.

 

[Nhat_dam]

At home I use my Volt's charger on the our Clarity and a Duosida L2 20 amp charger for my Volt. Both these have 25 ft charging cables which makes them perfect for my home uses. For the road I use the Clarity's charger (either car) and if needed, a 40 ft 10 gauge x 3 strand all weather extension cord.

At home I use my Volt's charger on the our Clarity and a Duosida L2 20 amp charger for my Volt. Both these have 25 ft charging cables which makes them perfect for my home uses. For the road I use the Clarity's charger (either car) and if needed, a 40 ft 10 gauge x 3 strand all weather extension cord.

Hi Obermd,

Do you get 47 miles range on EV after fully charged with your non Honda charger?

Thanks,
ND

 

[EV Nerd]

My local Honda dealer said that I need to have the orginal Honda Clarity charger to get the full 47 miles range in EV mode.

Is that true???

I have just bought a 2018 Touring model and I was unable to get the EV range above 35 miles range when used Megear 2021 Gen2 Level 1 and 2 charger.

Please let me know if I need to get the OEM Honda Clarity level 1 charger to get the 47 miles range for EV mode.

Thanks so much for your help,
ND

Time for you to find a different dealer. You know, one that actually knows what the heck they're talking about.

There's nothing magical about the Clarity's OEM evse. I've used four different EVSEs on my '21 Touring, a mix of L1 and L2 (some do both), and the car exhibited the usual variation of miles on its Guess-o-Meter (GOM).

It appears that you may have an unreasonable expectation of what your GOM says after charging. It's a guess, and is based on your driving style during some amount of previous miles driven, as well as temperature. In winter, you can expect to lose 10-20% (or more!) of your range, depending on where you live. In really cold climes, losing 50% of range isn't unheard of. HVAC use becomes a large factor in energy use in really cold climes.

During cold weather, and if you drive with a lead foot, 35 miles isn't really all that bad. I'm in So. CA, and I routinely lose at least 10% range during winter in every EV I've driven. I also can get 50 miles of range in the summer, if I choose to be careful. I usually don't choose to.

Wait 'til summer, and drive like there's an egg between your foot and the go-pedal, and it's possible you'll see 47 miles on the GOM, or at least perhaps achieve 47 miles in actual EV mode driving. Think hypermiling. Note that the GOM is notoriously inaccurate.

If you're concerned about the state of your battery pack, there are tools you can buy that will allow you to see their health. Less than fifty bucks can buy you a Bluetooth reader for a smartphone, and an app to interpret the data. There are other threads on these fora to tell you how.

 

[RickH]

My local Honda dealer said that I need to have the orginal Honda Clarity charger to get the full 47 miles range in EV mode.

Is that true???

I have just bought a 2018 Touring model and I was unable to get the EV range above 35 miles range when used Megear 2021 Gen2 Level 1 and 2 charger.

Please let me know if I need to get the OEM Honda Clarity level 1 charger to get the 47 miles range for EV mode.

Thanks so much for your help,
ND

I have had my 2018 Clarity Touring about 7 months now. I doubt the type of charger makes a difference but I don't know for sure. I have found that after driving a lot of freeway, mostly on HV, the next morning after charging all night my guess-o-meter reads about 38 miles of EV range. If I do a lot of stop and go city driving, mostly on EV, it will show more like 45 miles the next morning. I'm sure a 3-4 year old battery will not be 100%, and as has been said, temperature affects the battery quite a bit. Regardless, you are going to love your Clarity!

 

[2002]

It's always helpful to measure actual EV miles since that is what really counts, not the estimate. The only way to find out your actual EV range is to start with a full charge, make a note of the odometer reading, drive until EV miles reaches 0, then subtract the two odometer readings to obtain the actual EV range. It doesn't have to all be done on one trip, but it's important that during the test to drive EV only no HV, and do not charge the car again until after the car reached 0 EV miles.

An easy way to do this is to reset one of the trip odometers after charging. The trip meter button is located behind the steering wheel in between the + and - brightness controls for the dashboard lighting. Press and hold the trip meter button to reset either trip A or trip B whichever one is displayed at the moment. Even easier is to go into Settings on the infotainment screen, go to Vehicle/Meter Setup/Trip A Reset Timing (or Trip B) and change the setting to "When Charged". That way it will automatically reset that trip meter to 0 whenever you charge the car, making it even easier to track actual EV miles.

After you have done this a few times you will be able to get an idea how accurate the EV range estimate is that is displayed on the dashboard. You will probably find that sometimes it's fairly close, other times it can be way off. That's because as mentioned by others it is basing its estimates on recent drives. But it has no idea what our upcoming drives will be like. Eventually you will start to learn what type of EV range that you get on the highway, in the city, and in different temperatures, that way you can better interpret what the guess-o-meter range is indicating.

 

[Nhat_dam]

Time for you to find a different dealer. You know, one that actually knows what the heck they're talking about.

There's nothing magical about the Clarity's OEM evse. I've used four different EVSEs on my '21 Touring, a mix of L1 and L2 (some do both), and the car exhibited the usual variation of miles on its Guess-o-Meter (GOM).

It appears that you may have an unreasonable expectation of what your GOM says after charging. It's a guess, and is based on your driving style during some amount of previous miles driven, as well as temperature. In winter, you can expect to lose 10-20% (or more!) of your range, depending on where you live. In really cold climes, losing 50% of range isn't unheard of. HVAC use becomes a large factor in energy use in really cold climes.

During cold weather, and if you drive with a lead foot, 35 miles isn't really all that bad. I'm in So. CA, and I routinely lose at least 10% range during winter in every EV I've driven. I also can get 50 miles of range in the summer, if I choose to be careful. I usually don't choose to.

Wait 'til summer, and drive like there's an egg between your foot and the go-pedal, and it's possible you'll see 47 miles on the GOM, or at least perhaps achieve 47 miles in actual EV mode driving. Think hypermiling. Note that the GOM is notoriously inaccurate.

If you're concerned about the state of your battery pack, there are tools you can buy that will allow you to see their health. Less than fifty bucks can buy you a Bluetooth reader for a smartphone, and an app to interpret the data. There are other threads on these fora to tell you how.

Thanks so much, EV Nerd for your clarifiation. I agreed that 35 miles for EV range is not bad, however, if Honda said the EV range is 47 miles then it should have some disclaimer or explaination to why we lost the miles. 47 miles range was the reason for my buying this Honda Clarity instead of one of the the Prime car by Toyota. Regardless, I am happy with my Clarity after accepting the limitation by this EV range. Thanks again!

 

[EV Nerd]

Thanks so much, EV Nerd for your clarifiation. I agreed that 35 miles for EV range is not bad, however, if Honda said the EV range is 47 miles then it should have some disclaimer or explaination to why we lost the miles. 47 miles range was the reason for my buying this Honda Clarity instead of one of the the Prime car by Toyota. Regardless, I am happy with my Clarity after accepting the limitation by this EV range. Thanks again!

I'd be willing to bet that there was a footnote or some-such on that "47 mile" claim in the Clarity advertising. That's the case on other EVs I've driven, too. It pretty much amounts to "Your Mileage May Vary" or YMMV. That has certainly been true for ICE vehicle mileage claims for the last hundred years or so.

The Prius Prime will suffer from the same reduction, based on weather and usage.

 

[obermd]

Hi Obermd,

Do you get 47 miles range on EV after fully charged with your non Honda charger?

Thanks,
ND

Every time. First, the charger is actually in the car somewhere (I haven't traced the cables so I don't know the exact location). The device/cable that your dealer is saying is a charger is really an EVSE, Electric Vehicle Servicing Equipment and consists of a GFCI circuit, heat sensing wall plug, and some control circuitry to communicate with the car's charger. EVSE/car communications are defined by the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) who reference the NEC (National Electrical Code) for some of their definitions. For a good overview of EV charging, watch

.

 

[ClarityDave]

The device/cable that your dealer is saying is a charger is really an EVSE, Electric Vehicle Servicing Equipment and consists of a GFCI circuit, heat sensing wall plug, and some control circuitry to communicate with the car's charger.

And don’t forget there’s a contactor (big relay) inside the EVSE which closes when requirements are met to allow the voltage from your house to flow through the EVSE and into the car. For this reason you should not worry that the J1772 plug is ever ‘hot’ when not plugged into the car. And you’ll never be worried about an electrical arc when plugging or unplugging it because it will be dead. The contactor only engages when the J1772 plug is plugged into the car and the required “handshaking” is complete.

 

[EV Nerd]

And don’t forget there’s a contactor (big relay) inside the EVSE which closes when requirements are met to allow the voltage from your house to flow through the EVSE and into the car. For this reason you should not worry that the J1772 plug is ever ‘hot’ when not plugged into the car. And you’ll never be worried about an electrical arc when plugging or unplugging it because it will be dead. The contactor only engages when the J1772 plug is plugged into the car and the required “handshaking” is complete.

Yup. On most EVSEs, you'll hear the contactor drop out with a loud "clack" if you pull the trigger on its handle before removing it from the receptacle on the vehicle, while it's actively charging.

 

[4sallypat]

Thanks so much, EV Nerd for your clarifiation. I agreed that 35 miles for EV range is not bad, however, if Honda said the EV range is 47 miles then it should have some disclaimer or explaination to why we lost the miles. 47 miles range was the reason for my buying this Honda Clarity instead of one of the the Prime car by Toyota. Regardless, I am happy with my Clarity after accepting the limitation by this EV range. Thanks again!

Hate to say it but if you were relying on 47 miles per charge in the real world, 365 days a year, you will be disappointed.

Factors that affect your range:
Weather (cold = lower range due to battery chemistry)
Cabin heating (uses EV battery)
A/C
Jack rabbit starts
High speed driving
Uphill drives
Driving with windows down
Lack of coasting & paddle shifting

@Nhat_dam in reality your location, driving style, and use of cabin heating will dramatically affect your range.
In contrast, my geographical location (southern California) and warm weather all year, makes my '18 Clarity get an average of 50-65 miles per charge everyday.
Sometimes in the summer, without A/C use, I will get 70 miles per charge!☺

So if you "average" everyone's range you will see that 47 miles per charge is an AVERAGE...

Come live in Southern California where we don't experience winter like snow and ice in other parts of the country....

Even after 40,000 miles and over 3 years - my '18 Clarity still gets the same miles per charge since day one which makes me happy that the battery is well designed and built to last.

 

[Nhat_dam]

Hate to say it but if you were relying on 47 miles per charge in the real world, 365 days a year, you will be disappointed.

Factors that affect your range:
Weather (cold = lower range due to battery chemistry)
Cabin heating (uses EV battery)
A/C
Jack rabbit starts
High speed driving
Uphill drives
Driving with windows down
Lack of coasting & paddle shifting

@Nhat_dam in reality your location, driving style, and use of cabin heating will dramatically affect your range.
In contrast, my geographical location (southern California) and warm weather all year, makes my '18 Clarity get an average of 50-65 miles per charge everyday.
Sometimes in the summer, without A/C use, I will get 70 miles per charge!☺

So if you "average" everyone's range you will see that 47 miles per charge is an AVERAGE...

Come live in Southern California where we don't experience winter like snow and ice in other parts of the country....

Even after 40,000 miles and over 3 years - my '18 Clarity still gets the same miles per charge since day one which makes me happy that the battery is well designed and built to last.

Thanks 4sallypat... I wish I could move to the warm climate like in CA but I lived in North Texas thus have to accept my fate.

I was able to get 40 miles per charge yesterday with my careful driving and utilize the regenerative braking feature. So, I'll use that driving habbit from now on to get the EV range at 40 or more if I can.

Thanks for your info and advise,
ND

 

[2002]

Thanks 4sallypat... I wish I could move to the warm climate like in CA but I lived in North Texas thus have to accept my fate.

I was able to get 40 miles per charge yesterday with my careful driving and utilize the regenerative braking feature. So, I'll use that driving habbit from now on to get the EV range at 40 or more if I can.

Thanks for your info and advise,
ND

Just so we understand, do you mean that you were able to actually drive 40 miles on a charge, or do you mean that you were able to get the estimate shown on the instrument panel to show 40 miles estimated EV range? Either one is fine, and certainly obtaining the estimate is easier than tracking actual EV miles. But it helps if you specify which one that you are referring to when quoting range otherwise we don't know.

 

[EV Nerd]

Just so we understand, do you mean that you were able to actually drive 40 miles on a charge, or do you mean that you were able to get the estimate shown on the instrument panel to show 40 miles estimated EV range? Either one is fine, and certainly obtaining the estimate is easier than tracking actual EV miles. But it helps if you specify which one that you are referring to when quoting range otherwise we don't know.

Absolutely! There's a reason that the range display on the dash is called a "Guess-o-Meter" (GOM). We called it that even in the heady days of the GM EV-1s, over twenty years ago, and the name stuck.

 

[Nhat_dam]

Yes, 40 miles on a single charge.

 

[Nhat_dam]

I used the B trip meter to see how much miles per charge in the last few days. Yesterday was the first time I got to 40 miles. The trade off is that I cannot press hard on the pedal anymore. Driving on the right lane and be prepared to use the hand pedal for regenerative braking and accelerate with care.

 

[Nhat_dam]

Not fun driving that way for sure but I wanted to see how much i can gain in EV Range with a full charge. Lesson learned, my Honda dealership does not know the answer for they don't service Honda Clarity enough to know since we lived in North Texas. To get to 40+ mile per charge your driving habbit has to change and with the right traffic condition also. Regardless, I am extremely happy with the purchase. We are so happy with Honda Clarity, my wife is trading in her Lexus to get another Honda Clarity this Saturday.