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Virgin Hybrid Owner. Few General Questions. Help

4K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  4sallypat 
#1 · (Edited)
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.
 
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#2 ·
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!
 
#3 · (Edited)
Thank you for your simple but detailed response. I guess we will rely on gas fuel for the most part since plug-in charging for two hours in a public place would not work for us. I learned this model is not enabled for fast charging.

Would audio and climate control still work on an empty electric battery running on gas? We recently hit two bars en EV battery and the app shows 9% driving = O miles so I'm getting range anxiety on how much will last. When Eco mode and electric battery depletes, does it automatically switch HV mode with no driver input and runs on gas? We just don't want to get stranded.

Welcome aboard and congrats on the Clarity ownership!

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.
Let me understand this. When users mention Eco mode refer equally as driving on EV exclusively? If so, is there a way to start the car from gas engine? How?

3. Thank you for the tip of maximizing fuel efficiency on longer driving trips. I'm still confused of the different HV modes. The pressing once and the other by holding for 5 seconds. What is the difference between those two?

Sorry that I'm throwing many things at once or if in the process I am repeating myself.

Thank you so much for explaining how this vehicle works.
 
#5 ·
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.
Recognize that the roadside charger services outlined specialize in DC Fast Chargers (DCFC) or Tesla Superchargers. The Clarity PHEV does not have a DCFC CCS Combo port. If you're going to use on-line tools like PlugShare to find available chargers, be sure to change the default setting filters to only show so-called "Destination Chargers", or "L2", or "Level 2" that have "J1772" outlets. The clarity only supports J1772 connectors. You can use a Tesla Destination Charger, with an adapter. (The adapters tend to be pricey. I've got one, and it works great.) There's no way to use a higher power Tesla Supercharger or a CCS Combo charger with the Clarity PHEV.
 
#12 ·
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.

I appreciate the people who kindly and directly responded to some of my questions. It really introduced me to understand better to some things that were confusing to grasp. I confess we're learning the new vocabulary and terms for this car system.

I would say it's safe to close this thread.
 
#15 ·
I appreciate the people who kindly and directly responded to some of my questions. It really introduced me to understand better to some things that were confusing to grasp. I confess we're learning the new vocabulary and terms for this car system.

I would say it's safe to close this thread.
Closing this thread.
 
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