New owner with EV range concern

fotomoto said:
The OP wants to know the capacity of the battery. This is best measured by Honda and their amp rating
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I agree that measuring the input energy for a full charge has some validity. But many do not have EVSE's that measure and report input energy.

But - By far, the best way to know the battery capacity is to query this value from the vehicle. This is exactly what Honda does (usually for a fee, and you may have to educate them how to do it).

As mentioned earlier, we no longer have to rely on Honda to provide Battery Capacity... You can easily do it yourself with a low-cost OBD2 adapter (~$30) and a Smart Phone. You need to be careful to get the 'right' OBD2 adapter. All the details as to how to do this can be found here:
https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/budget-battery-capacity-readout.10531/

Forum members have been sharing capacity data via a shared spreadsheet.
 
MrFixit said:
I agree that measuring the input energy for a full charge has some validity. But many do not have EVSE's that measure and report input energy.

But - By far, the best way to know the battery capacity is to query this value from the vehicle. This is exactly what Honda does (usually for a fee, and you may have to educate them how to do it).

As mentioned earlier, we no longer have to rely on Honda to provide Battery Capacity... You can easily do it yourself with a low-cost OBD2 adapter (~$30) and a Smart Phone. You need to be careful to get the 'right' OBD2 adapter. All the details as to how to do this can be found here:
https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/budget-battery-capacity-readout.10531/

Forum members have been sharing capacity data via a shared spreadsheet.
Click to expand...

I have ordered the Vgate iCar pro and downloaded car scanner. I may reach out to you with any questions as I've never messed with hooking into an OBD and getting any readings. Thanks!
 
As Tek Freak says- range will depend a lot on if you live on a hill. i'm likely 1600 feet from the valley floor. When the car was brand new, I rarely saw the rated range of 47 miles. Typical for me in ideal conditions was about 43. It's gone down a bit, and I'm in perfect summer conditions now, and I see about 40 EV estimate miles on a full charge. The "hill" factor is definitely more significant than any other (or even combined other) factors. In my case my commute is 100% 25 miles an hour, no freeway, easy. I tried driving in econo mode and limiting the costly stuffs. No matter, hill kills range period. But that being said, probably the next thing that gets you is the cabin heater which isn't a problem in summer. And yep, if I lived on the valley floor I'd likely see some more EV range. Luckily, it doesn't really matter. I used to burn a lot of gas, and now I burn a little.
 
@MrFixit just a quick personal note of thanks.
MrFixit said:
I am firmly convinced that there are just too many variables associated with EV range, while battery capacity is much less ambiguous.
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As my first or second post here, I wrote a ridiculously long, pedantic (I don't even know what "pedantic" means) explanation for the folly of trying to relate battery and fuel levels to driving experience and range estimates. I'll try to be more like you next time. Short, clear, and to the point.

-Matt
 
Thanks for the kind words, and welcome to the Clarity Forum Team !!

I have a 2018 Touring too, and I think you will enjoy it as much a most of us do.
As you have discovered, there is a wealth of information here, and we all have a common goal to share knowledge about this remarkable machine.
 
The very, very, very first thing I learned from this forum, before buying the car was to get the bluetooth ODB reader, the Android app, and check the BATTERY CAPACITY. The true story is a bit more convoluted than that, but my short version is good enough. And OMG do I love that shared battery capacity spreadsheet. A goldmine. That's when I knew I would adore joining y'all.

At this point I have a few trivial questions, so maybe I'll set up a new thread instead of hijacking this one!

-Matt
 
On last charge my EV range guess o meter now has gone to 47.4 from the 40.8 that l started with when I bought the car. I also received my first comment at a gas station today. "Bet you don't have to put much gas into that do you"...
 
@MrFixit , it has been a while since the OP's first post. He had just bought the car used and it was showing 40.8, causing him some concern. Since then, he has driven it himself and has got the GOM back to 47.4 and checked the battery capacity. You are right that he has no issues with the car, it seems.
 
Robert_Alabama said:
@MrFixit , it has been a while since the OP's first post. He had just bought the car used and it was showing 40.8, causing him some concern. Since then, he has driven it himself and has got the GOM back to 47.4 and checked the battery capacity. You are right that he has no issues with the car, it seems.
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@Robert_Alabama,
Sorry, I misread @18ClarityPLUG post, and thought his GOM went back down again...
I deleted my errant post. Thanks !
 
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Very curious about high mileage cars. My 2018 just hit 70,000 mi. For the first 3 1/2 years I did mostly freeway driving from Palm Springs to LA constantly. I averaged around 45 mi on a full charge. THe past 6 months I've been driving locally - no freeway. I started averaging 36 mi full charge then recently it dropped to 30 mi/full charge. I assume it has to do with high mileage. The car has been great and I'll probably keep it till the wheels fall off cause it's paid for. Curious what other high mileage cars get on a full charge.
 
@Valente I'm super-impressed that you made it 45 miles on EV with freeway driving. Seems like when I hop on the freeway I can see the EV range estimate falling rapidly in real-time -- though, admittedly, I haven't tried to track range during those kinds of trips. But I find myself thinking, "If there was just some way I could brake for a bit and get some regen..." like stop and go traffic!

-Matt
 
Valente said:
THe past 6 months I've been driving locally - no freeway. I started averaging 36 mi full charge then recently it dropped to 30 mi/full charge. I assume it has to do with high mileage.
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I’d recommend having the battery capacity measured. If you’re only getting 30-36 miles at anything less than 80mph, assuming you’re in toasty So Cal, you may have a battery issue.

High mileage, alone, isn’t necessarily a significant factor in regards to battery condition.
 
One thing I learned after buying a 2018 Clarity is the heater requires about the same amount of power as driving the car an average of 25 mph. If you set the temperature at 72 degrees and drive the car early in the morning when the outside temperature may be in the high 60's, the heater is going to run until the inside of the car reaches 72 degrees. That can cause your EV mileage to be greatly reduced.
I find it works best to get the max distance on a charge to set the temperature to minimum and turn off the climate control if it is not needed. If I want fresh air, I turn the climate control back on and turn off AC. If I need a little heat, I use seat heat.
 
bpratt said:
One thing I learned after buying a 2018 Clarity is the heater requires about the same amount of power as driving the car an average of 25 mph. If you set the temperature at 72 degrees and drive the car early in the morning when the outside temperature may be in the high 60's, the heater is going to run until the inside of the car reaches 72 degrees. That can cause your EV mileage to be greatly reduced.
I find it works best to get the max distance on a charge to set the temperature to minimum and turn off the climate control if it is not needed. If I want fresh air, I turn the climate control back on and turn off AC. If I need a little heat, I use seat heat.
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Yes I wish there was an option for clean air only, no cooling/heating/temperature adjustment. I have mine set somewhere around 65-68 because thats avg temp around here but wish I could tell it not to run the heater/ac and just give me fresh air.
 
dnb said:
Yes I wish there was an option for clean air only, no cooling/heating/temperature adjustment. I have mine set somewhere around 65-68 because thats avg temp around here but wish I could tell it not to run the heater/ac and just give me fresh air.
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There is an 'option' to do this. It is not the most straight-forward, and requires multiple steps.

On the Climate screen, the A/C has 3 modes ("ON", "OFF", and neither). You have to explicitly turn it OFF with that button. That alone is not good enough however... You need to also crank the temperatures all the way down until the display reads "LO". Otherwise the heat may come on. If you crank the settings to "LO" without explicitly turning the A/C to "OFF", then it will run the air conditioning full-tilt which is not what you want. But when you have the A/C set to OFF and the temperatures set to LO you will get fresh outside air. Also make sure you are not set to recirculate...

Maybe there is an easier way, but this is all I have found and I know it works.
 
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