Clarity, notes for former and present VOLT drivers

[Tiralc]

I'll add a few notes as I think of them, probably soon there will be other former and present Volt drivers who will add their comments and suggestions. Here are a few to start off.

If you were a VOLT "L" person, just go right to Clarity D, sport mode, and set four chevrons regen (after D, with four short tugs of the "-" selector paddle). If not equivalent, it's pretty similar to Volt L (maybe 85 to 90% of Volt L). (forget Volt sport mode, it's different in Clarity.) [BTW: This is not a good first mode for test drivers without one-pedal driving experience. Find a quiet road to practice first.]

But first, Volt/ELR drivers, DO NOT pull and hold either regen paddle expecting to engage regen like we do in the Volt or ELR! The Clarity regen paddles are only used to select the level of regen that you will be using.

Next, this is going to take just a little more effort for local - highway - local. Many of us started in the Volt with L local, and D highway. But, then we forgot to go to D highway, and eventually climbed into the Volt, pulled back to L, and that was that. If you wanted to save battery for the destination, you selected HOLD mode while still in L or D.

Now, you can get your L driving with sport, 4 regen. However, to get HOLD, once at highway speed (exact timing personal preference), change from sport to one short push of "HV mode". Now you hold the battery charge to what it was. At this point, you are effectively in VOLT D, hold mode. (yes, you can still play with the regen selector paddles for a little regen, but that's for another thread.)

Then at some point before or after your exit from the highway, simply go back to sport, 4 regen (four short pulls of the "-" left side regen paddle, like shifting gears).

Note, that you are in Clarity D the whole time. Eco, Sport, and HV are selectable modes of Clarity D.

I think it will become first nature with some practice.

The Clarity controls will be relatively easy to understand for most EV/PHEV/Hybrid technically inclined drivers, however, I suspect the Clarity regen selector paddles may be less clear for some. Also, I realized as I wrote this note why ICE vehicle operation is so relatively standardized by federal law ... (not saying we need that, just why there will be so many different ways that EV / PHEV controls are implemented)

 

[bfd]

And this is why PHEVs will continue to be looked at as "too complicated" for most new buyers.

 

[Viking79]

The Clarity is actually really non PHEV feeling for the most part. My wife warmed right up to it. She has never used the regen paddles. The worst part about it for usability is the infotainment system, which is common to all Honda cars.

 

[Tiralc]

And this is why PHEVs will continue to be looked at as "too complicated" for most new buyers.

yep, what Viking79 said. The blended braking provides a seamless transition from regen braking to friction braking. I think any reasonably good driver can just push "D" and drive and enjoy the car without any knowledge of the hybrid operation.

But, but for EV enthusiasts (particularly technical folks, men and women) there are still a number of features and buttons to play with for near endless entertainment.

 

[dstrauss]

And this is why PHEVs will continue to be looked at as "too complicated" for most new buyers.

I think this is where Honda has really excelled; you can just get in and "drive" exclusively in EV mode without even thinking about it. Former Prius owners, like me, will enjoy tinkering with all the options, but the regular driver can just leave it in D and drive like any other car. My wife, who didn't like the Prius sluggishness, slow response, and "weird" braking took to my Clarity like a duck to the pond.

 

[Ken7]

We were driving to meet a group of friends last night and I was surprised at a function of the car that didn’t work as expected. Our drive was about 40 miles and I wanted to arrive with about 10 electric miles left, for the purpose of pre-heating the car because of our single digit temperatures.

I thought that a press of the hybrid button would switch the car from electric to gas as it did on our Sonata PHEV. That didn’t happen, despite the center instrument panel indicating it was now in hybrid mode. Instead the car continued to run in electric mode as it did prior to me pressing the hybrid button. It was only if I long pressed the hybrid button to put in battery charging mode, that I was able to switch the ICE on.

Not sure what I’m missing.

 

[Tiralc]

I think I've seen something similar, where after one press of HV, I thought I was on engine only (present battery state in reserve), however, the battery continued to discharge (less battery bars). The manual seems to say that shouldn't happen(?). Our first bug?

Also, once I had to pull over and turn the car off, before I could get back to EV mode. Pushing HV did not seem to return to EV mode (I may have done some stupid sequence without realizing it, so not ready to say there is a problem for that one.)

 

[Viking79]

It has been too cold for me to test HV mode much, but it should act as hold mode. How long did you give it to start the engine? It is possible it won't hold above a certain state of charge.

 

[Ken7]

I started out at 34 miles (full charge for the 9F temp we're experiencing). At about 14 miles remaining, I hit the HV mode button and although the HV indicator showed up in the center dash, it never actually went into HV mode. This was obvious from the continued diminishing of the electric range listed. There was also no sound from the ICE, which would have been obvious at these temperatures (the ICE is not quiet at single digit temps when just starting up).

We were probably driving about 20-25 minutes at the time I hit the HV button.

 

[loomis2]

I had the same sort of thing today, but I had switched to Sport mode from Econ. I was expecting the line from blue to white on the speedometer display to change to show the new demarcation mark where it is supposed to switch from ev to gas but nothing changed. It did say SPORT on the display and the lights at the edges turned to red but I don't know if the car actually switched modes.

 

[bfd]

Don't know if there's a reason it won't hold at any charge level. On the other hand, if you double-click HV, you will put it into an HV Charge mode. In that one, there is a published 57% battery capacity limit to the recharging. I have tried that one out, but not to the 57% max limit. It adds charge fairly rapidly when you're driving at highway speed.