Welcome aboard and congrats on the Clarity ownership!
Here are the answers you posted:
1. Charging is optional - as long as you have fuel in the small 7 gallon tank, you are good to go. It helps to increase your miles by having a charged EV battery. At public L2 charge stations, your Clarity should fully charge within 2-3 hours if empty. You can stop the charge anytime you wish - just disconnect the charger from the car.
2. Driving it on the city streets with Eco and EV are the best way. When the EV battery runs low, it automatically switches on the gas engine to recharge and drive the car. This switchover is automatic. Pure EV driving is most efficient in bumper to bumper traffic as the coasting & brakes help regenerate power back into the battery. If you drive on high speeds for distance, it's best to switch to HV mode (hybrid) manually (press once). Then if you are running low on EV charge and want to recharge the battery a bit while driving in HV mode, press and hold the HV to enter the "HV Charge" mode where your gas engine will also charge the EV battery.
3. The best way to tackle a long drive would be to map out where you want to stop for recharging (if possible). If you don't plan on stopping to recharge, I did the LA to Sacramento drive recently and got about 420 miles per full charge & tank of fuel. On the city driving before the freeway, I used EV only. Then when I got on the freeway at sustained speeds over 50 MPH, I switched on HV mode which was the most time it spent. Once I got off the freeway, I switched back to Eco EV mode and saved fuel. I did manage to get a full charge at my destination at a public county charge station for free (took 2 hours) using my Charge Point app on my phone.
Take the time to sign up different apps on your mobile phone: EV Go, Charge Point, Blink, and my favorite locator app: PlugShare.
Feel free to ask us more questions as this car is definitely high tech and there are still more ways to gain EV miles out of this wonderful car!
Here are the answers you posted:
1. Charging is optional - as long as you have fuel in the small 7 gallon tank, you are good to go. It helps to increase your miles by having a charged EV battery. At public L2 charge stations, your Clarity should fully charge within 2-3 hours if empty. You can stop the charge anytime you wish - just disconnect the charger from the car.
2. Driving it on the city streets with Eco and EV are the best way. When the EV battery runs low, it automatically switches on the gas engine to recharge and drive the car. This switchover is automatic. Pure EV driving is most efficient in bumper to bumper traffic as the coasting & brakes help regenerate power back into the battery. If you drive on high speeds for distance, it's best to switch to HV mode (hybrid) manually (press once). Then if you are running low on EV charge and want to recharge the battery a bit while driving in HV mode, press and hold the HV to enter the "HV Charge" mode where your gas engine will also charge the EV battery.
3. The best way to tackle a long drive would be to map out where you want to stop for recharging (if possible). If you don't plan on stopping to recharge, I did the LA to Sacramento drive recently and got about 420 miles per full charge & tank of fuel. On the city driving before the freeway, I used EV only. Then when I got on the freeway at sustained speeds over 50 MPH, I switched on HV mode which was the most time it spent. Once I got off the freeway, I switched back to Eco EV mode and saved fuel. I did manage to get a full charge at my destination at a public county charge station for free (took 2 hours) using my Charge Point app on my phone.
Take the time to sign up different apps on your mobile phone: EV Go, Charge Point, Blink, and my favorite locator app: PlugShare.
Feel free to ask us more questions as this car is definitely high tech and there are still more ways to gain EV miles out of this wonderful car!