Can one of you Clarity experts explain this?

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KentuckyKen

KentuckyKen

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i charged o/n w 110v charger to auto charge stop. Next day left home (1006 on odo) on EV/Econ and within a quarter mile the ICE came on at low rpms. Stopped car, turned off within less than 4 min, and on restart could reenter EV/Econ mode and drive off with usual behavior for rest of day. I noticed that info screen showed at one point ICE was charging HV battery (foot off accelerator), and power meter was all hashed white not blue. Also noticed loss of 2 miles on HV range.

Here’s what I don’t understand:
-I don’t think it was because regen had to have ICE operation because HV battery was full since there are no hills involved and I was driving sedately.
-and I don’t think it was Service Mode since the ICE had started on its own just 7 days/168 miles beforehand with no reason to that I could tell.

However both times happened very close to home when leaving with a full charge. But that’s just like I’ve done every day for for 6 weeks without this happening.

So any ideas on what’s going on?
 
I'm not by any means an "expert" on the Clarity; in fact, I've never driven one. However, based on discussions here I think what's happening is the car is turning on the engine to warm up the battery pack. That would explain why it comes on at the start of your drive when there doesn't seem to be any need to provide power.

You might take note of the temperature wherever you park the car, and see if there's a correlation between low temps and the car running for a few minutes at the start of the journey, but not later. On warmer days, that shouldn't happen.
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Thanks Pushmi-Pullyu.
The ambient temp was 44F one time and 57F the other. Car sat outside so battery was cold soaked slightly lower than than those temps. Doesn’t seem that low that it would need the ICE.
Any further ideas?
 
I have observed this very behavior yesterday. I feel it is the battery temps. It stopped doing this shortly though.
 
Pushmi-Pullyu: The US market Clarity has no battery heater.
Are you suggesting that it will run the engine to exercise the battery?
 
dstrauss said:
@KentuckyKen - I think it is just now running in fear from your avatar - that's all...o_O;)

Seriously, I don't think there is ANY rhyme or reason to most of this behavior in our Clarity's - other than the system software thinks the ICE needs to be fired up...
Click to expand...
Thanks dstrauss. I think you were the one that said it best: We don’t have range anxiety; we have ICE anxiety.
I just have to let go and enjoy the drive. On a positive note, I have never gotten the “angry Bees” revs. Not on highway or local drives. Must be because it’s not hilly here and I accelerate normally.
 
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KentuckyKen said:
Thanks Pushmi-Pullyu.
The ambient temp was 44F one time and 57F the other. Car sat outside so battery was cold soaked slightly lower than than those temps. Doesn’t seem that low that it would need the ICE.
Any further ideas?
Click to expand...

*Shrug* It's your car, you know more about your circumstances than I do. I was suggesting what I thought was the most likely cause, but that doesn't mean I'm right. :)

But do keep in mind it's going to be the temperature at the core of the battery pack, which may be warmer or colder than the ambient outside temperature. The thermal mass of the battery is going to keep it from heating up or cooling down as fast as the air outside. If you have sufficient interest, you might want to check on what the overnight low temp was for your area. I use the Weather Underground website, but you may have your own favorite source for weather records.

It would be helpful to know exactly how cold the core of the battery pack has to be before the (American version) Clarity PHEV will use engine heat to warm it up. Anybody know what that temperature is?
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