[GraceGreek]

Hello, I use my Clarity as a relatively local commuter car. But need to drive between Dallas and Austin, approx. 200 miles. Anyone gone that far in hybrid mode? I know I can always stop for more gas, but I don't even know what my MPG will be at 75 mph. Thanks,

Apologies for duplicate post, I'm new to this and put in wrong section previously.

 

[Madmartigen]

Hello, I use my Clarity as a relatively local commuter car. But need to drive between Dallas and Austin, approx. 200 miles. Anyone gone that far in hybrid mode? I know I can always stop for more gas, but I don't even know what my MPG will be at 75 mph. Thanks,

Apologies for duplicate post, I'm new to this and put in wrong section previously.

Sorry, I replied to your original post, see that one.

 

[EV Nerd]

You should get about 40 mi/gal. At least, that's what I get in my '21 Touring. Do note, that this is strictly on gasoline, after depleting the battery.

 

[obermd]

Take a look at 2018 Clarity PHEV Hunting Colorado Waterfalls.

 

[tommyboy]

relatively flat terrain you should get 42mpg at 75 if no wind. I use cruise control extensively. I set the following distance at 2 bars.

 

[masood55]

I drive regularly between North Bay Sanfransico and SoCal(500 Miles).
Like others said around 40 mpg and it is in Hybrid mode. I always try to keep at least 10 miles of all-electric range, it seems to run much smoother that way

 

[Mike M]

Hello, I use my Clarity as a relatively local commuter car. But need to drive between Dallas and Austin, approx. 200 miles. Anyone gone that far in hybrid mode? I know I can always stop for more gas, but I don't even know what my MPG will be at 75 mph. Thanks,

I drove my 2018 Clarity from Phoenix, AZ to Oklahoma City last year with no issues. I unfortunately forgot to put into Hybrid Mode after the first gas stop in Holbrook, AZ and drove the rest of the way to OKC and back to PHX with no Electric charge (this was before I knew about Hybrid Charge mode). For the entire trip, I averaged 50.3 mpg (per the Trip log). I drove anywhere from 75 to 85 on interstate the majority of the way and stopped about every 200-250 miles to fill up.

 

[EV Nerd]

I tend to keep about 50% of battery, using HV mode, when going to Paso Robles from HB on the 5. That lets me go over the Grapevine with zero worries, at whatever speed is appropriate for traffic. I forgot, once, and let the battery deplete, and had to join the trucks in the right lane in HV+ until it got some juice back in reserve. The Clarity PHEV needs some EV for going over passes. The ICE can't seem to keep up at 70 mi/hr, but boy, it screams while trying to!

 

[Bill B]

I'm in the middle of a trip from Illinois to Arizona and back. We're in San Antonio right now. I like HV Charge mode and alternate it with EV. Use EV to about 5 miles available then recharge with HV Charge. Make certain that you plan ahead and have EV in town. If you don't have EV remaining, use HV only with no charge in town. We drove from Tucson to SA at 80 mph and it charged downhill really well. EV nerd is right for mountains. Maintain some charge and don't start a charge from 0 going up a mountain.

 

[EV Nerd]

I'm in the middle of a trip from Illinois to Arizona and back. We're in San Antonio right now. I like HV Charge mode and alternate it with EV. Use EV to about 5 miles available then recharge with HV Charge. Make certain that you plan ahead and have EV in town. If you don't have EV remaining, use HV only with no charge in town. We drove from Tucson to SA at 80 mph and it charged downhill really well. EV nerd is right for mountains. Maintain some charge and don't start a charge from 0 going up a mountain.

I wonder if cycling between ~10% SOC and ~60% SOC by using HV+ and EV modes in the Clarity yields better gas mileage than just letting it manage itself? It was surely the case in my '11 Volt on road trips. With the Volt, I suspect that the higher ICE revs in Mountain mode (as it tried to put 10 miles more SOC margin back into the battery) put the engine closer to the peak of its power band. Could be the case in the Clarity, too. Unfortunately, like in the Volt, you'll have to put up with more engine noise due to the higher ICE revs.

Sounds like a good experiment to do, on a road trip.

 

[obermd]

I wonder if cycling between ~10% SOC and ~60% SOC by using HV+ and EV modes in the Clarity yields better gas mileage than just letting it manage itself? It was surely the case in my '11 Volt on road trips. With the Volt, I suspect that the higher ICE revs in Mountain mode (as it tried to put 10 miles more SOC margin back into the battery) put the engine closer to the peak of its power band. Could be the case in the Clarity, too. Unfortunately, like in the Volt, you'll have to put up with more engine noise due to the higher ICE revs.

Sounds like a good experiment to do, on a road trip.

My 2017 Volt shows no measurable difference when I use Mountain Mode to recharge the battery vs. just letting the battery run to 0% SOC and then driving as a hybrid. This is over two 4,000+ mile road trips. It'll be interesting to see how the Clarity handles this same trip.

 

[EV Nerd]

My 2017 Volt shows no measurable difference when I use Mountain Mode to recharge the battery vs. just letting the battery run to 0% SOC and then driving as a hybrid. This is over two 4,000+ mile road trips. It'll be interesting to see how the Clarity handles this same trip.

I would actively keep track of the SOC in my '11, and manually turn on Mountain Mode when EV battery SOC got down to about 3 miles of remaining range. Over the next 15 miles or so, Mountain Mode would add about 10 more miles back into the battery, then I'd switch back to normal EV mode and deplete SOC back down to 3 miles or so. Repeat. The ICE would run at significantly higher RPM while running, and would be pretty loud, comparatively. I figured that the GM engineers had made a trade-off for noise versus efficiency, and chose a quiet ride over having the ICE screaming every time it was on, rather than just during Mountain Mode.

It required great vigilance to keep switching back and forth, but heck, what else was I going to do on the flat and straight 5 freeway north of the Grapevine. Doing this would typically gain about 4 mi/gal on gasoline. Not a lot (~10%), in the scheme of things, but I took it as a challenge.

 

[obermd]

I would actively keep track of the SOC in my '11, and manually turn on Mountain Mode when EV battery SOC got down to about 3 miles of remaining range. Over the next 15 miles or so, Mountain Mode would add about 10 more miles back into the battery, then I'd switch back to normal EV mode and deplete SOC back down to 3 miles or so. Repeat. The ICE would run at significantly higher RPM while running, and would be pretty loud, comparatively. I figured that the GM engineers had made a trade-off for noise versus efficiency, and chose a quiet ride over having the ICE screaming every time it was on, rather than just during Mountain Mode.

It required great vigilance to keep switching back and forth, but heck, what else was I going to do on the flat and straight 5 freeway north of the Grapevine. Doing this would typically gain about 4 mi/gal on gasoline. Not a lot (~10%), in the scheme of things, but I took it as a challenge.

Your 2011 Volt is closer to the Clarity's drive train than my 2017 Volt. It might work in the Clarity as well then.

 

[EV Nerd]

Your 2011 Volt is closer to the Clarity's drive train than my 2017 Volt. It might work in the Clarity as well then.

GM changed the Volt's drive train for the refresh?

 

[obermd]

GM changed the Volt's drive train for the refresh?

Major changes to both the hardware (two electric motors as opposed to one) and software.

 

[Bill B]

I don't know anything about the Volt but it sounds like Mountain mode is much more aggressive for adding charge than the HV+ setting. On my trip to AZ from central Illinois I tried a comparison of the HV/HV+ modes. Going across Illinois on HV+ and Missouri on HV. Adjusting for some initial EV charge when we left home the mpg was pretty comparable and the HV+ may have been better. Both of these segments were similar. Slight rolling road, not much net change in elevation, IL speed about 75 and MO about 70. After that elevation and speed varied a lot so I kept to using HV+. In AZ we encountered 5% grades for 10s of miles at a stretch. The note about starting an upgrade section with a good EV reserve is a good one. It helps the ICE avoid a very angry roar. How long a the CA grades? And how steep?

 

[EV Nerd]

I don't know anything about the Volt but it sounds like Mountain mode is much more aggressive for adding charge than the HV+ setting. On my trip to AZ from central Illinois I tried a comparison of the HV/HV+ modes. Going across Illinois on HV+ and Missouri on HV. Adjusting for some initial EV charge when we left home the mpg was pretty comparable and the HV+ may have been better. Both of these segments were similar. Slight rolling road, not much net change in elevation, IL speed about 75 and MO about 70. After that elevation and speed varied a lot so I kept to using HV+. In AZ we encountered 5% grades for 10s of miles at a stretch. The note about starting an upgrade section with a good EV reserve is a good one. It helps the ICE avoid a very angry roar. How long a the CA grades? And how steep?

IIRC, large sections of the Grapevine are a 6% grade. Recognize that once HV+ boosts the EV SOC back up to about 60%, it drops back to simple HV, and the car tries to keep it at that SOC. The Clarity PHEV will not switch back to HV+ by itself.

 

[jzchen]

Our Clarity has made it to Las Vegas and back once, about 250 mi, in a day trip. It is currently there in Las Vegas since Wednesday, and is set to make the trek back tomorrow, to LAX specifically, then back home.

Notes- Against warnings here I have the pressures down at 31.0 or 30.5 PSI. (To back my decision my cousin was over one day wit his S2000 and we were looking at his worn rear tires. He shrugs saying he puts the recommended 36 PSI. It was the exact same center tread worn down outside inside edges still good. I told him he could try 33 PSI.

My wife is there in Vegas with the Clarity for the BTS concert. She is not very observant when it comes to car warning indicators, and has told me of one issue she had. (Car left with about 10 mi from full electric charge and full tank of gas). She noticed 7 mi range left before realizing she needed to make a stop for gas! I think she was already around the strip. So I guess she was driving FAST to burn up all that electricity and gas for roughly 250 miles.

My advice, glance at the instrument cluster every once in a while, the car does fine on long trips just kind of short on range...

 

[ericmiles]

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[EV Nerd]

Our Clarity has made it to Las Vegas and back once, about 250 mi, in a day trip. It is currently there in Las Vegas since Wednesday, and is set to make the trek back tomorrow, to LAX specifically, then back home.

Notes- Against warnings here I have the pressures down at 31.0 or 30.5 PSI. (To back my decision my cousin was over one day wit his S2000 and we were looking at his worn rear tires. He shrugs saying he puts the recommended 36 PSI. It was the exact same center tread worn down outside inside edges still good. I told him he could try 33 PSI.

My wife is there in Vegas with the Clarity for the BTS concert. She is not very observant when it comes to car warning indicators, and has told me of one issue she had. (Car left with about 10 mi from full electric charge and full tank of gas). She noticed 7 mi range left before realizing she needed to make a stop for gas! I think she was already around the strip. So I guess she was driving FAST to burn up all that electricity and gas for roughly 250 miles.

My advice, glance at the instrument cluster every once in a while, the car does fine on long trips just kind of short on range...

I plan to carry a five gallon can of gas in the trunk, on road trips. I've got a 2" receiver on my '21 Touring, and have had a receiver-mounted 2'x4' cargo platform for years. I'm afraid that five gallons of gas on the cargo platform would make a dandy theft target. All it would take is a portable drill, and a clean bucket.