[battery car]

Last week I took delivery of my Touring. So far I am loving it. Here’s my question, in a few months I plan on taking the Auto Train to Florida. It’s about a 250 mile trip to the train station, how should I approach this so there is enough battery reserve to start the car when we arrive in Florida?

 

[Cruiter]

The manual recommends using HV whenever you're driving faster than city speeds or for distance driving. If you start off in HV mode, the engine will generally maintain higher than 50% in the battery. If it falls below 50% and you want to bring it up a bit, use HV+charge. If you want to read everything go to page 16 in the link http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/OM/AH/ATRW1818OM/enu/ATRW1818OM.PDF
Enjoy

Last week I took delivery of my Touring. So far I am loving it. Here’s my question, in a few months I plan on taking the Auto Train to Florida. It’s about a 250 mile trip to the train station, how should I approach this so there is enough battery reserve to start the car when we arrive in Florida?

 

[firsthonda]

I really don't understand the question. The car does not start the way a conventional car does. The car has two types of batteries. One is the high voltage battery that propels the car and the other is a 12 volt battery that cars have been using for 100 years (in the 1950s they switched from 6 volt to 12 volt). They only thing the 12 volt battery does is boot up the Clarity's computer. Once the cars computer boots up the high voltage battery (Chevy called it the traction battery) propels the car and also keeps the 12 battery charged. The only way the car will not start (it is more accurate to call it boot up) would happen if the 12 volt battery to boot up the cars computer, and the only way that you can drain the 12 volt battery is to let it sit in your driveway for a few months or it can also happen if you leave the headlights on and forget to turn off the car.

This is just my opinion based 3 years of owning a volt and driving close to 2,000 miles on my Clarity. I have driven the car for almost 2,000 and I haven't used more than a few drops of gas.

I would like to hear a reason for not leaving it in EV all the time other than the manual said so. If you leave it in EV the computer will run the car occasional to keep the ICE lubricated. The car is so quiet the ICE could be running and you will not know it . I noticed that the gas gage had not moved since I got the car so I pulled into a gas station to verify that the fuel gage was working. I filled up and all I could squeeze in was 0.04 gallons of gas which too me meant the the Ice was burning off a few ounces of gas occasionally.

I asked this in another thread I started with out many responses. I asked why people bought and electric hybrid. My goal was to bur as little gas as possible. so far it seems to be working which I verified by trying to add gas at about 1,500 or 1,700 miles and only being able to fit 0.04 gallons.

If most of your trips are less than 55~60 (I normally get 58 to 62 miles on a charge) You should be able to drive 6. to 12 month before you add gas.

So I would really like to learn the reason why anyone would use any gas when they could go for months without needing gas...

By the way the Volt is programed to burn off off a tank of gas if you haven't used gas in a year. The Volt tank is pressurized to keep the fuel fresh but after a year you probably are going to want to burn it off by driving the car and adding fresh gas.

 

[Cruiter]

There are many good questions here I had to research and all answers are available in the link provided

http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/OM/AH/ATRW1818OM/enu/ATRW1818OM.PDF

Starting on page 11 it speaks of the different modes and as you read on explains in laymen's terms how and when to use the different ones.
While you can have a preference and use whichever one you like, reading and heading the instructions will give you the best economy for the driving conditions present for each driver.
Understanding how a PHEV is different from the previous hybrids will help a lot in knowing which mode (EV, HV, HV/Charge, Sport) is best.

In short, this will work for most of us. If driving in municipalities where speeds are less than highway speeds and trip distance (round trip) will be less than 20 miles than EV is the most economical. If your distance is longer and/or highway speeds are involved than starting out in HV will run the ICE (internal combustion engine) enough to 'maintain' a high charge on the batteries. If you are traveling cross country for a few hundred miles, than when the battery condition falls below 50% if you select HV/Charge, the battery will come back up to slightly over 50% if you drive far enough. On a cross country long drive your MPG will probably be in the mid-low 40's unless you drive over 70mph. If so, you'll get there slightly faster but it will use more gas.

Everyone has different driving conditions so a better understanding of the way the system is designed to work will offer the best economy for everyone. With the differences in routes, distance, and speeds, we will all get a different set of numbers but can operate the car to get best under each set of conditions.

I've owned three Lexus hybrids prior to the Clarity. I have 3800 miles now and think this is the best design for the money currently available.

I really don't understand the question. The car does not start the way a conventional car does. The car has two types of batteries. One is the high voltage battery that propels the car and the other is a 12 volt battery that cars have been using for 100 years (in the 1950s they switched from 6 volt to 12 volt). They only thing the 12 volt battery does is boot up the Clarity's computer. Once the cars computer boots up the high voltage battery (Chevy called it the traction battery) propels the car and also keeps the 12 battery charged. The only way the car will not start (it is more accurate to call it boot up) would happen if the 12 volt battery to boot up the cars computer, and the only way that you can drain the 12 volt battery is to let it sit in your driveway for a few months or it can also happen if you leave the headlights on and forget to turn off the car.

This is just my opinion based 3 years of owning a volt and driving close to 2,000 miles on my Clarity. I have driven the car for almost 2,000 and I haven't used more than a few drops of gas.

I would like to hear a reason for not leaving it in EV all the time other than the manual said so. If you leave it in EV the computer will run the car occasional to keep the ICE lubricated. The car is so quiet the ICE could be running and you will not know it . I noticed that the gas gage had not moved since I got the car so I pulled into a gas station to verify that the fuel gage was working. I filled up and all I could squeeze in was 0.04 gallons of gas which too me meant the the Ice was burning off a few ounces of gas occasionally.

I asked this in another thread I started with out many responses. I asked why people bought and electric hybrid. My goal was to bur as little gas as possible. so far it seems to be working which I verified by trying to add gas at about 1,500 or 1,700 miles and only being able to fit 0.04 gallons.

If most of your trips are less than 55~60 (I normally get 58 to 62 miles on a charge) You should be able to drive 6. to 12 month before you add gas.

So I would really like to learn the reason why anyone would use any gas when they could go for months without needing gas...

By the way the Volt is programed to burn off off a tank of gas if you haven't used gas in a year. The Volt tank is pressurized to keep the fuel fresh but after a year you probably are going to want to burn it off by driving the car and adding fresh gas.

 

[battery car]

I ask this because I am worried if I put my clarity on the train with a low high voltage battery it won’t start upon my arrival in Florida. In the Honda manual it states that the high voltage battery charges the 12 volt battery. My prior experience with hybrids was with a work car that was a Ford Fusion hybrid. Every few weeks that car was not able to start because of a dead battery, and this experience has left me a little worried for long trips. I guess I will drive in HV mode to preserve the battery so I can be assured of a start.

 

[Cruiter]

It should be fine. They come from Japan with a partial charge and get shuttled around around a lot before getting to the dealer. Your manual says how to jump start it as well. My dealer didn't even have a level II charger yet. Just drive it in HV/charge before turning it over.

I ask this because I am worried if I put my clarity on the train with a low high voltage battery it won’t start upon my arrival in Florida. In the Honda manual it states that the high voltage battery charges the 12 volt battery. My prior experience with hybrids was with a work car that was a Ford Fusion hybrid. Every few weeks that car was not able to start because of a dead battery, and this experience has left me a little worried for long trips. I guess I will drive in HV mode to preserve the battery so I can be assured of a start.

 

[stanigu]

I would like to hear a reason for not leaving it in EV all the time other than the manual said so. If you leave it in EV the computer will run the car occasional to keep the ICE lubricated. The car is so quiet the ICE could be running and you will not know it . I noticed that the gas gage had not moved since I got the car so I pulled into a gas station to verify that the fuel gage was working. I filled up and all I could squeeze in was 0.04 gallons of gas which too me meant the the Ice was burning off a few ounces of gas occasionally.

If you've driven the Clarity with run down battery, you'd know why. Engine gets terribly buzzy since it has to do all the work..I found the experience very unpleasant.

Right now, unless I'm 100% certain I won't drive beyond the EV range in any given day, I always engage the HV mode on the freeway to preserve charge, and use the EV mode in the city traffic. You can't really tell that ICE is running at freeway speeds.

 

[firsthonda]

If you've driven the Clarity with run down battery, you'd know why. Engine gets terribly buzzy since it has to do all the work..I found the experience very unpleasant.

Right now, unless I'm 100% certain I won't drive beyond the EV range in any given day, I always engage the HV mode on the freeway to preserve charge, and use the EV mode in the city traffic. You can't really tell that ICE is running at freeway speeds.

It should be impossible to do to the high voltage battery (often called traction battery)

I bought my car that was 56 miles away and did not have a full charge (the dealer that was 4 miles away from me was a crook)

If you run down the traction battery the computer will always hold two bars of energy in reserve so unless the computer is mucked up or there is something you are doing wrong it should not be possible to go down to zero bars. My normal range is between 58 and 62 miles so I with the two exceptions I mentioned I have never use the ICE so far in the 1,950 miles I have brought my car home. I have friends coming over from NJ on Wednesday and if time permits I will let them test drive my car on a long trip. If we are able to get down to two bars I expect the ICE to. propel the car without a problem and the traction should use the two bars in reserve to assist the ICE as needed.

I mentioned this in another thread but it's worth repeating. I am amazed that the ICE in the Honda is smaller than a Harley and yet it is 5 times heaver than a Harley

 

[Walt10410]

Hello, New to PHEV and have the following question.
I drive 4 miles to highway then 39 miles around 60mph then 1 mile to the office. Live in Houston TX so have warmer winters but very hot summers. No snow or ice. (I won't drive in these conditions)

1) Best to start in HV mode to warm engine, then when up to highway speed switch to EV. Let car turn on ICE as it decides?
Want to get the most mileage from the battery while making the car last a long time.

Thanks for your input.

 

[pascoclarity]

Hello, New to PHEV and have the following question.
I drive 4 miles to highway then 39 miles around 60mph then 1 mile to the office. Live in Houston TX so have warmer winters but very hot summers. No snow or ice. (I won't drive in these conditions)

1) Best to start in HV mode to warm engine, then when up to highway speed switch to EV. Let car turn on ICE as it decides?
Want to get the most mileage from the battery while making the car last a long time.

Thanks for your input.

I would leave it in EV till you get to the Highway then go to HV for the 60 mph then back to EV to the office. If you can charge at work I would leave it in EV the whole trip.

 

[Walt10410]

Thanks, I am able to charge at the office for free. I like free. Thanks

 

[pqdad]

I would leave it in EV till you get to the Highway then go to HV for the 60 mph then back to EV to the office. If you can charge at work I would leave it in EV the whole trip.

For me my commute is 12 miles total about 50/50 mix between city and highway. So I usually just leave it in EV the whole time. Now if I had to go 39 miles on the highway I would probably leave it in EV until I get fairly low in battery (20-40%) after that I would put it on HV but ONLY if I could charge up at the office. If there wasn't a charger at work then around 40-50% I would switch from EV to HV so that I conserve battery until i get home to charge that way at some point fairly near home I would turn off HV. All this is based on things I have read that it is best to keep the battery level between 20 and 80% to extend life of lithium based batteries.

Bottom line just enjoy the car and try not to worry too much about using NO gas or on the other hand extending the battery life too much just enjoy driving!

 

[Walt10410]

thanks to you both. I will follow your advice, I am driving for economy and for battery life to extend the life of the the car. I will be buying next week, going to pick up base model.

 

[dwheat17]

Well this is interesting and it is not clear in the manual:

The system offers three different propulsion sources: You can drive with the electric motor, the gasoline engine, or both the electric motor and the gasoline engine (hybrid). Under most driving conditions, the system automatically selects an appropriate propulsion source based on the current driving needs.

You may also choose to use the propulsion sources as follows:
● EV - While driving in city traffic or at slow speed.
● HV - During highway driving at high speeds.
● HV Charge - To charge the High Voltage battery while driving.

=====================
The section of the manual is ambiguous to me.

It says, "under most driving conditions, the system automatically selects an appropriate propulsion source based on the current driving needs."

However, there must be a reason that there is an HV Charge option or even an HV option.

I assume if you were to driving long enough to run out of batter (say 75 miles), you might do the following: on the freeway travelling at normal speed you would want HV or HV Charge so that when you get off the freeway you would be able go the last distance on the battery.

I know this have been hashed through all ready, but what does everyone think? It would also be great to get an answer from Honda.

 

[Walt10410]

I would use HV CHARGE if I have mountains ahead or city driving coming up and I have driven on the highway and batteries were low. We don't have mountains so I tried HV CHARGE once to make sure it worked. Going to work, 50 miles mostly highway, I stay on EV most of the way and then charge at work for ride home, mostly on EV. Computer handles ICE just fine for me. Enjoy your clarity, I have using fuelly app to track mileage, 123mpg average.

 

[dwheat17]

Oh where can I find the fuel app?

 

[Walt10410]

fuelly.com or search fuelly on the app store. both work for me

 

[Claire Greene]

All this is based on things I have read that it is best to keep the battery level between 20 and 80% to extend life of lithium based batteries.

Bottom line just enjoy the car and try not to worry too much about using NO gas or on the other hand extending the battery life too much just enjoy driving!

Best advise I have seen in this forum and should have been the tagline for this car...."No worries, just enjoy"For the first 2k miles of my ownership i ENJOYED the car and simply got in, start the car, push DRIVE, release parking brake, enjoyed the quiet effortless driving, turned off the car and that was it. I never worried about what button did what but I did push alot the button just to feel what it will do and how it will affect the car. It's only now past 2k miles that I understand the reason and start using EV, HV for it's intended purpose.The manual couldn't have been more clear about leaving the buttons alone and just let the computer do all the figuring out "under MOST driving condition". Of course the computer can't predict if you're on a long trip and there's a mountain pass coming up while you're on zero EV miles so as the driver you need to use the HV charge which is the worst button to use because it gives the worst gas mileage.
To give you an idea of how complicated and sophisticated this car is, the manual you have in the glove box that came with the car is really a quick reference guide. The real owner's manual if any of you out there are really interested in learning about your car is almost 600 pages long and you can order one for free within 6 months of your Clarity purchase date.
As sophisticated and complex this car is i think the designers struck a good balance of simple operation for folks like me who just want to get in and drive and for nerdy folks who like to push buttons and play with the car systems.
As for keeping the lithium ion batteries kept between 20% and 100% it's already built in the design so no need to worry about it the car does it automatically. (just like in the Volt)
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