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New Member in Southern California

2K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  2002 
#1 ·
Thanks for the add...enjoying our Clarity but joined here to try to find out if anyone else notices a distinct lack of regenerative charging...I'll be looking at the archives to see. Even on a very long, very steep downhill I can't pick up even one bar on the battery charge level meter. Hmmmm...
Look forward to the discussions!

Marty "Maddog" Haynes
Orange County, CA
 
#2 ·
Welcome aboard Marty!

As for regen, you should change your front display to show EV miles - that gives you a quicker way to see how quickly regen charging happens.

The bars on the left display won't move much during regen - it's a total battery level indicator.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply...

Thanks...I'll try that, but I've also notice that the miles left on battery doesn't change, either. I also have a Honda Accord Hybrid (not a plug-in) and love it. I know it's apples and oranges, but I'm accustomed to seeing the battery charge bars go up...sometimes to full....on a long and/or steep downhill. I never see a bar increase on the Clarity even on the super-long, fairly steep Conejo Grade on the 101 here in California. Seems like I ought to gain at least a bar on that downhill grade.
 
#5 ·
Thanks...I'll try that, but I've also notice that the miles left on battery doesn't change, either. I also have a Honda Accord Hybrid (not a plug-in) and love it. I know it's apples and oranges, but I'm accustomed to seeing the battery charge bars go up...sometimes to full....on a long and/or steep downhill. I never see a bar increase on the Clarity even on the super-long, fairly steep Conejo Grade on the 101 here in California. Seems like I ought to gain at least a bar on that downhill grade.
To add to what SallyPat responded: Your Accord has a 1.3 kWh battery - the Clarity has a 17 kWh battery: You're not going to see the bars increase from regen. Even running in generator mode - in which Clarity is pumping power into the battery - the bars increase VERY slowly. On the 101 grade you mentioned, you'd need to be actively slowing Clarity in order to regen - so either by clicking the paddle, using cruise control or riding the brakes - otherwise Clarity would be coasting.
 
#4 ·
Make sure you are in EV mode and not in HV or HV Charge or Sport mode.

Also check to see if the ECO (flower) icon is also shown in EV mode.

Whenever I go downhill and engage the paddle shifter to slow down, the regen is large and I see the EV range miles increases.

Compared to your Accord hybrid, the Clarity has much larger battery pack and will not show bars change during regen unless you are going downhill for thousands of feet of elevation like going down the 50 Freeway from the NV mountains into CA.
The regen will not show on the left battery bars / charge level as it represents a 50 mile overall capacity. It would take over 5 miles of constant regen to make a single bar change.
 
#6 ·
Conejo grade is 7% I have been on it and you pick up speed pretty quickly if you don't brake or shift to lower gear on a standard car. So Clarity should definitely be doing a lot of regen whether in EV or HV mode just like your Accord. In fact potentially more because the Accord battery will fill up quickly whereas the large Clarity battery should allow a lot of regen. Just coasting will regen, you don't have to use cruise control or paddles or ride the brakes to regen. You can see this when slowing for a stoplight, just take your foot off the pedal and watch the meter and you will see it go slightly into regen.

You said that your EV miles don't change, which they definitely should going down that grade even if the bars don't change. The only reasons I can think of that it does not regen for you on that grade is if the battery is already nearly full, i.e. if you left home with a full battery and started out in HV and when you reached Conejo grade you still had a nearly full battery. Even if the battery is not completely full when you have a high SOC the system limits regen because regen charges the battery extremely quickly and generates a lot of heat which can be harmful to a nearly full battery. You can see something similar even when your battery is not full by using the paddles when you exit the freeway at high speed, attempt to set the paddles to four chevrons and it will blink and only display three chevrons. After you slow down more it will let you do four chevrons. It does this to protect the battery from excessive regen heat.

Anyway that's the only explanation I can think of, do you remember how full your battery was when you went down the Conejo grade.

And just in regular driving, do you ever see EV miles increase when slowing or going down a slight incline? Sometimes it just increases in tenths of a mile but it often should increase EV range by at least a mile.
 
#7 ·
The EV range is at zero when I hit that downhill grade and does not increase at all going down the hill.
Only if the battery shows SOME mileage on it...like if it has 12.2 miles range showing on EV it will gain a tenth or two when slowing down or going downhill....but once it hits zero it won't show ANY increase, no matter what.
 
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