Any of you genius electronic or IT guys working on connecting the Clarity to the Amazon Echo? I've searched the IFTTT platform (https://ifttt.com/) for any applets or services for Honda but no joy. And the Alexa app doesn't have any skills for Honda either. There are many cars that ae Echo ready but it seems Honda is lagging behind. Here's what you can do with the Echo and a Tesla: get charge status get car status get climate status get location set driver temperature to 72 set passenger side to 73 start charging stop charging honk the horn flash lights turn climate on warm up my car cool my car turn climate off stop climate stop heating stop cooling how warm is my car how cold is my car dude where's my car where's my car get ready to take off go into hyperdrive how far can I drive how far can I go whats your name switch cars set charge limit to 85 percent start charging to 90 percent whats the charge limit lock the car get air quality https://www.amazon.com/Nikhil-Kapur-EV-Car/dp/B01MU8Q80L/ref=sr_1_28?qid=1558886282&s=alexa-skills&sr=1-28 Tim
I wonder how many fewer Teslas would have sold if they lacked those features and how many additional Clarity PHEVs would be sold if the car included those features? To put it another way, how much EV range do those features add? That's the factor most people cite when considering the purchase of a BEV or PHEV. It will be interesting to see what features Honda's brewed up for their upcoming Europe/Japan-only Honda e to set it apart from the less-expensive BEVs with greater range against which it will be competing for sales.
Hmmm.......using Alexa for non-driving functions from that Tesla list is reasonable (providing privacy and security concerns are acceptable), but I see no utility for driving functions. For example, when I need the horn, I need it NOW, not after I say a command and all the electronic communications hook up to honk it. For driving functions, it seems like it would be much preferable to have the car directly recognize voice commands and not have an Alexa intermediary.
I suspect honk horn and flash lights are intended to be used from the app on your phone to aid in locating the car in a parking lot ... though if they’re intended to be used while driving, I’d love to see “switch cars” in action.
Just to be clear, I didn't use the Tesla features as some kind of benchmark for the Clarity vs Tesla. I only used them because it was the only car I found with the features mentioned. IMO voice commands regarding the non driving features would be better and faster than working your way through Hondalink.
