[4sallypat]

While most states are ordering their population to shelter in place / lockdown / stay at home orders, what are you doing during these times ?

I am finding while I work from home, more time for:

Family
Gardening
Cooking at home
Sunbathing (So Cal sun even in the winter)
Cleaning up the garage

Less time:
Driving
Commuting
Traffic
Shopping
Going to events


What is your list ??

 

[obermd]

A lot less time commuting. I've spent the last five years getting my company to a point where we can do 100% of our jobs (every single employee) from anywhere in the world so long as there's a good Wi-Fi signal.

 

[2002]

One change is that I am driving all electric now. Normally I use gas two or three times a week, but now that I only make needed runs to the store I do not need gas. In fact I don't even need to fill up the battery, I just keep it charged to about 60% and that's plenty.

 

[Kerbe]

Today was the first time the Clarity left home since last Tuesday: It was 82°F and sunny, so the AC was set to 74°F. Started with 32 miles of range, ran a little over five miles of errands around town and ended with 29.2 miles of range: I think of this as "practical magic."

 

[[email protected]]

covid 19 response

I have gotten out about 3 times over the last 2 weeks, just went to Walmart for groceries which is only about 3.5 miles round trip from my house. I have had my Clarity for 8 months almost now and spent less than $100 on gas and have about 3100 miles on it. I could have done better but wanted to actually run the ICE some to keep it active. Until the quarantine is over I probably won't be doing anything other than getting groceries. I'm retired so there's no pressure here.

 

[Kerbe]

I have had my Clarity for 8 months almost now and spent less than $100 on gas and have about 3100 miles on it.

Mine was 7 months on the 14th - with just under 9200 miles. Most of my driving is on interstate highways in HV mode - I've not kept track of the amount of fuel purchased but, from tank to tank on long drives, I'm averaging over 48 mpg. My EV range has been hovering in the upper 30s but, now that I'm only driving around town (30 mph speed limit) I expect that number to climb.

 

[4sallypat]

One change is that I am driving all electric now. Normally I use gas two or three times a week, but now that I only make needed runs to the store I do not need gas. In fact I don't even need to fill up the battery, I just keep it charged to about 60% and that's plenty.

Same here, the Clarity does not get to run on gas anymore due to the shelter in place order.

Shame when we start her up, it has over 55 miles per charge ready but rarely use 10miles.

We both are working from home so the car is our grocery getter now...

 

[mowcowbell]

I am enjoying clearer skies. With reduced ICE vehicle traffic, the sky is a much deeper blue.

 

[obermd]

I am enjoying clearer skies. With reduced ICE vehicle traffic, the sky is a much deeper blue.

This is occurring everywhere. All the more reason to push harder to migrate ground transportation to 100% EV.

 

[MPG+]

I am driving to many state parks these days to do some hiking, avoiding the busier ones. It's been wonderful driving locally and on the highways with much less traffic. Something happened yesterday that amazed me. I was on HV Charge, going 65 mph, and my HV range went to 0. I had over 20 EV range at the time, which was enough to get me to my favorite gas station, but the car remained in HV Charge mode, for the next 15 miles, continuing to charge as I watched my EV range increase. It finally changed from HV charge to EV at 28 EV range, and the message said it had reached maximum for HV charge. I guess there must have been enough gas left to do that, even though the HV range "estimate" said 0. Nice to know there's that cushion to fall back on.

 

[obermd]

I am driving to many state parks these days to do some hiking, avoiding the busier ones. It's been wonderful driving locally and on the highways with much less traffic. Something happened yesterday that amazed me. I was on HV Charge, going 65 mph, and my HV range went to 0. I had over 20 EV range at the time, which was enough to get me to my favorite gas station, but the car remained in HV Charge mode, for the next 15 miles, continuing to charge as I watched my EV range increase. It finally changed from HV charge to EV at 28 EV range, and the message said it had reached maximum for HV charge. I guess there must have been enough gas left to do that, even though the HV range "estimate" said 0. Nice to know there's that cushion to fall back on.

When a gas tank runs dry there's still gas in the fuel lines. This is what kept your ICE running after reaching "0" HV miles. This is the worst case scenario for a fuel pump - no gas in the tank to cool it but pumping air into the fuel lines to keep feeding the engine. I'm somewhat surprised your ICE didn't stutter after filling the tank - have you run in HV (Charge) mode since then?

 

[2002]

When a gas tank runs dry there's still gas in the fuel lines. This is what kept your ICE running after reaching "0" HV miles. This is the worst case scenario for a fuel pump - no gas in the tank to cool it but pumping air into the fuel lines to keep feeding the engine. I'm somewhat surprised your ICE didn't stutter after filling the tank - have you run in HV (Charge) mode since then?

The tank isn't empty at 0 HV miles, it's similar to E on other cars, E on fuel gauges is usually conservative so that it errs on the side of caution. People have reported driving their Clarity up to 30 miles in HV mode after reaching 0 HV. Now I am not saying it's a good idea to keep using gas past 0 because you will eventually run the tank dry. I am surprised that the system stayed in HV charge because that will run the tank dry even quicker.

One time I got down to about 2 HV so I was driving EV and I had plenty of EV range to get to a gas station so I didn't foresee any problems. Then I accelerated too quickly for a fraction of a second and ICE came on, and then of course it insisted on staying on to go through complete warm up. I helplessly watched the HV range quickly go to 1 and then 0 and ICE kept running well past that until it eventually warmed up and shut off. I knew the tank was likely not close to empty, but still it was a little unnerving. Once I realized it does that I now avoid going below about 10 HV no matter how much EV range I have. The fuel warning comes on at about 20 HV miles but I normally fill up well before that.

Some people say this is all a bunch of nonsense and that it's old wives' tales that running out of gas harms anything, that modern cars protect from this. Well they can't prove that to me and unless they are willing to pay for my new catalytic converter or a new fuel pump then I ignore those type of comments and I continue to believe that it is best to not run out of gas even if you do have EV miles to spare.

 

[obermd]

Some people say this is all a bunch of nonsense and that it's old wives' tales that running out of gas harms anything, that modern cars protect from this. Well they can't prove that to me and unless they are willing to pay for my new catalytic converter or a new fuel pump then I ignore those type of comments and I continue to believe that it is best to not run out of gas even if you do have EV miles to spare.

Modern cars use the fuel in the tank as the coolant for the in-tank fuel pump. Running the tank empty results in the pump running hotter - no coolant => no cooling. Whether or not this shortens the life of the modern fuel pump is an open question. I suspect it does but one or two instances won't make enough difference for most people to ever notice.

Unlike my Volt, the Clarity depends on having both the electric and gas motors available, which is probably why HV Charge will recharge about 40% of the battery. I know from experience that the Clarity needs both gas and electricity in the high mountains of Colorado. My Volt is perfectly happy running on either alone.

 

[lefty]

MORE:
* Worrying. Typically I don't worry about much, but with my 1st year Resident son working in an overflowing COVID-19 ICU and my wife also continuing to work at a health clinic...well, our family has more on our minds than usual.

LESS:
* Using even less gas than usual with our 2018 Clarity. Since there are no trips out of town, no need to ever use gas.