Hello Community,
We recently bought a 2018 Clarity Plug-In with the intention of fuel economy especially to save on gas. Without doing so much research and based on other driver's experience shared hybrid saved them on gas, we got this vehicle pre-owned certified at an authorized dealer in the Bay Area California. We are not experienced drivers, especially the new technology of fuel economy but we jumped to buy for the good price and condition compared to other models and makers available in this tight market. We will use it for personal use: errands 5 miles surrounds, working commute up to 30 miles each way, once in while weekends get away, and long trips once or twice a year.
The amount of information on how to use this car is overwhelming and sometimes confusing and takes a lot of a learning curve to drive. But I have a couple of simple questions if it was the right car or at least to maximize utility based on our situation.
First question: We don't have a garage or a private place to charge the car overnight. We will be relying on public charging stations. How often does it need to be charged? Is it safe for the car that the gas engine charge the electric battery (70% of the time) when the battery is empty or running low? I don't know if waiting two hours to charge would be ideal. Could you stop the charge at the time you need to take off?
Second question: We have driven the car on Economy mode (the tree green icon) and driving on electric. If the electric battery is dead, will it automatically switch to gas engine or do we need to manually switch to HV mode or any other mode? Will we be stuck in traffic if we don't act promptly? I heard there are two modes of HV: when you press once, and when you hold it for 5 seconds. What is the difference?
Last question: We will be planning to make a long trip from the Bay Area to LA. What mode does it need to be driven to get the 300+ miles range as advertised.
I know most of this has been covered, and sorry if opening a new post to answer these questions would be considered spam or duplicates to previous threads. Again the amount of new information out there is overwhelming. So far we love the car, it's a smooth drive and very fun.
We recently bought a 2018 Clarity Plug-In with the intention of fuel economy especially to save on gas. Without doing so much research and based on other driver's experience shared hybrid saved them on gas, we got this vehicle pre-owned certified at an authorized dealer in the Bay Area California. We are not experienced drivers, especially the new technology of fuel economy but we jumped to buy for the good price and condition compared to other models and makers available in this tight market. We will use it for personal use: errands 5 miles surrounds, working commute up to 30 miles each way, once in while weekends get away, and long trips once or twice a year.
The amount of information on how to use this car is overwhelming and sometimes confusing and takes a lot of a learning curve to drive. But I have a couple of simple questions if it was the right car or at least to maximize utility based on our situation.
First question: We don't have a garage or a private place to charge the car overnight. We will be relying on public charging stations. How often does it need to be charged? Is it safe for the car that the gas engine charge the electric battery (70% of the time) when the battery is empty or running low? I don't know if waiting two hours to charge would be ideal. Could you stop the charge at the time you need to take off?
Second question: We have driven the car on Economy mode (the tree green icon) and driving on electric. If the electric battery is dead, will it automatically switch to gas engine or do we need to manually switch to HV mode or any other mode? Will we be stuck in traffic if we don't act promptly? I heard there are two modes of HV: when you press once, and when you hold it for 5 seconds. What is the difference?
Last question: We will be planning to make a long trip from the Bay Area to LA. What mode does it need to be driven to get the 300+ miles range as advertised.
I know most of this has been covered, and sorry if opening a new post to answer these questions would be considered spam or duplicates to previous threads. Again the amount of new information out there is overwhelming. So far we love the car, it's a smooth drive and very fun.