Congratulations Clarity owners

It does?

 

Yes crazy. Just when the sun is highest in the sky, and we expect the most power to be generated, photovoltaic panels lose some power generation capability due to the ambient temperature. It can be significant too, like 20%.

 

Like you, it will probably sweat.

 

From my experience with the Volt, summer temperatures (yes, even in a garage in Michigan) can prolong charging time, particularly with 120V. This, because the car has to run its A/C compressor to cool down the battery while it's being charged.

 

We have not seen another Clarity here in Southern Oregon, but that's not surprising. We had to lease ours up in Eugene, 180 miles away. It's the nearest dealer that carries the BEV version. We've had it less than a week and are quite happy with it so far. Now, if we could just get the HondaLink app to work...

 

Our garage is like an oven from June to September - better at least get ventilation going this year.

 

My previous car, a Ford Fusion plug-in and my partner's car a Chevy Volt both reacted strangely in 100 - 122 degree heat. When parked in the HOT garage, there was always a fan on when both cars were plugged in. I assume the cars were cooling off the lithium batteries. Even when the cars weren't driven, the heat in the garage reached temps of over 100 degrees and the fans went on. Both cars drove a bit sluggishly as well in the heat. The engine was on all the time even when there was full charge. Hopefully, the Clarity won't have issues. I had a Ford C-Max plug in before the Fusion and it was the worst in 115 degree heat. Sounded like it was ready to explode on the freeway. Other friends who have hybrids such as Prius have similar issues in Palm Springs heat. I think even gas vehicles struggle in very hot climates?

 

I wonder how many States have Claritys? They told me mine was the first in SC. I'm in Beaufort County.

 

I live in Phoenix. In the summer time, outside temp is often 110-120F, and in my garage it's probably 120-140F. I guess the concern is over the life of the battery, because the rest of the car should be like any other cars. As I am curious about that, I was searching on the Internet for data that shows the differences in the life of the batteries for cars in hot climate versus in other cooler climates. There are some articles saying that the life of a battery in hot climate like Phoenix AZ "should be 5 to 10 years less" than that of a battery in cold climate like Minnesota; however, none of the authors of those articles offers any data or background that back up their claims.
I have friends and coworkers here who own and operate either a plugin or hybrid car with Li-Ion batter packs, most of them have over 100K miles on their cars and way over the course of 5 years. One of my coworkers bought a used Lexus RX450h with 100K miles on it in 2014, his car is doing fine today. My neighbor has a Prius with over 175K miles on it and it's working fine on the original battery.
Honda doesn't make their own batteries, they all get the battery from an OEM, just like Toyota, Ford, or GMC. I have a little faith in the life of battery in my Clarity. What do you think?

 

Temperatures here in Palm Springs have been reaching up to 110° right now. So far, my Clarity has performed flawlessly. No straining or struggling or noise like my old Ford Fusion plugin or C-max plug-in. The only thing I do hear occasionally is the fan running in the garage while charging. I assume it's cooling the batteries. Honda hit a home run with the Clarity. I will post again when temperatures hit 120° or higher. Last year the highest was 124°. It was nasty!!

 

I don't know how long LI batteries will last in temperatures between 110 and 124, but the Prius didn't start using LI batteries until 2015 or 2016. Before that they used Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries. The 2014 Lexus also used Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries.

 

The Clarity uses active battery cooling, it can use engine coolant to cool the battery to some extent, so it should do better than EVs without that (Nissan Leaf). Your only worry is to drive it as it was intended and hope any issue shows under warranty. Battery has an 8 year 100,000 mile battery warranty in most places (maybe more in CA).

 

Here is some information about prolonging LI battery life. The maximum charge for a LI cell is considered to be 4.2 volts. Info I saw about the Honda Clarity battery indicated its maximum charge was somewhere between 3.5 and 3.9 volts per cell (don't remember the exact number but it was somewhere in that range). By not charging it to 4.2 volts some KWh is lost but the battery life is much extended especially at high temperatures.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

 

And here is a report that was created in China where the Clarity batteries were built.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.909.5556&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

I have a feeling you'll be posting again tomorrow, then. It's 93ºF here today, we're on the coast, and it's supposed to be even 10-15º hotter tomorrow! Stay cool out there in the desert!

 

I've seen two other Clarities (what's the plural of "Clarity"?) in the wilds of Indianapolis. Another white one like mine and a modern steel metallic.

Funny story. Had to take my wife's Acura to the dealer the other day. As we were walking to my car, all the Acura service reps were asking "what kind of Honda is that?" When I told them what it was, they seemed quite impressed and wondered if Acura might get a similar PHEV model in the future.

 

It's been brutal here in Midland, TX with more 100 plus days in May and June than not. We don't have low off hour rates on electricity, but I've set mine up to charge at 4:00am when the inside temp of the garage generally drops into the 88-92 range...

 

It's warm and welcome in Phoenix

 

Well, Palm Springs almost made it to the magic number today at 119ºF. It was 113ºF here just a few miles from the ocean.