A tale of HV and EV.

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by Timothy, Oct 14, 2019.

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  1. Timothy

    Timothy Active Member

    Just a story, no issues or questions.

    At the end of March we added a Volt to our Clarity and so buying gas has become very rare. However, this weekend we took the Clarity on a longer trip to the Mountains of NC to hike and visit my wife's parents. I'd almost forgotten what a nice touring car it is. We easily made it out there on the gas in the tank. In the days that we'd taken this trip in solely ICE cars, there was an exit we always aimed for because the gas is cheaper. Now that we buy so little, a few cents a gallon doesn't seem worth the effort of planning where to gas up. But old habits die hard and so I wanted to go to our customary exit on the way home.

    The issue was that we had a total range of 97 miles. Home was 117 miles and the gas station I wanted to hit was 90. My wife was dubious. I told her I wanted to try, but not to worry, because I would give up and gas up anywhere available if it became clear that we would not make it. We had 66 HV and 31 EV miles. I started out on HV as one of our goals was to use up as much old fuel as possible in order to have fresher gas in the take.

    My wife suggested that I no let the HV miles get below 10 - 15 miles. So of course I settled on 10. While driving from 66 miles of HV down to 10 we lost five miles of range (i.e., the I used 56 miles of range going only 51 miles). Giving up was looking like the best plan. But I told my wife I wanted to give EV a chance before giving up. After all we had 31 miles of EV, so we'd have plenty of options. I knew if the range kept dropping that my dream was over.

    Once we had been on EV for a while, it was clear that we were now gaining miles. After about 20 miles on EV we'd gained back almost all we'd lost on HV. It was looking like we might make it to the gas station without even using gas again. The highway did get hillier and so the gas went back on just before the exit. We hit the exit at 9 miles of range left and pulled in front of the pump with 8 remaining. Victory.

    I bought 3 gallons.
     
    megreyhair, Agzand, Sandroad and 2 others like this.
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  3. MrFixit

    MrFixit Well-Known Member

    Didn't you want to fill up so you knew how much gas you really had left in the tank with the reported 8 miles remaining?
    That will be an exercise for your next trip to NC !!
     
  4. Timothy

    Timothy Active Member

    My need to go the my "usual" station shows that I am somewhat obsessive, but not that obsessive. Also that station has a Dairy Queen, so there's that. It's more important for us to keep just a little gas in the tank as it makes it easier to keep it somewhat fresh.
     
  5. Here’s where I was expecting you to tell us that your EV range had increased by 10% from simply adding a volt to the Clarity.

    I’ve learned that when the boss says it’s time to get fuel, it’s time to get fuel. Makes for a much more pleasant evening.

    As far as fuel going bad, if you do not expect to use most or all of the 7 gallons in a 6 month period, adding a fuel stabilizer would be something to consider. If you don’t use the fuel in a year, I’d suggest dedicating a period of time once a year to burn the old fuel. Just run in HV.

    I keep mine above half. I’d rather have the range on hand in the event of an unforeseen circumstance.
     
  6. DaleL

    DaleL Active Member

    The Clarity fuel system is, like all new cars, well sealed. Moisture from the air cannot get into the tank, except during fueling. The fuel gets sloshed around when the car is driven, which prevents separation and settling. Here in Florida, I buy gasoline for my generator prior to a hurricane. I have found that in tightly sealed gas cans, with stabilizer, the gasoline easily lasts two years. I haven't risked going beyond that. After Dorrian turned out to be nothing, I used up my two year old gasoline that I bought before hurricane Irma in my Clarity and CR-V. I encountered no issues with either vehicle.
     
    fotomoto likes this.
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  8. The only caveat is that auto fuel gradually loses octane as it ages. Probably not an issue with most modern car engines with some sort of knock detection, but older/simpler engines requiring a specific fuel grade may be less tolerant of the decreased octane.

    But to reiterate, very unlikely to ever be a problem with our Clarity’s.
     
  9. Timothy

    Timothy Active Member

    Originally we didn't really worry about the age of the fuel in our Clarity (we still don't worry about it a lot). However, our Volt recently forced us to to add gasoline. We hadn't fueled the Volt since we bought it in March. The Volt has an engine maintenance mode like that in the Clarity. That was the only time we used fuel in the Volt. The Volt also has a fuel maintenance mode which pretty much turns on the ICE until you add enough fuel so that the average age of the fuel goes below a certain point (I think one year). We let the Volt get nearly empty in this mode and then added two gallons. The fact that Honda engineers thought that old fuel was enough of an issue to add a fuel maintenance mode made us think we might as well keep the Clarity fuel on the fresher side as well (the fresher side might just mean under six months old). This might be overkill, but on the other hand, it's easy to do.

    But this was not a story of new fuel v old fuel, it was a story of the excitement of losing then gaining range on the open highway. Achieving one's goal. Getting a Blizzard.
     
  10. DaleL

    DaleL Active Member

    That is true. According to Shell, "A key aspect of gasoline stability is vapor pressure." "If stored in a vapor tight container the vapor pressure can be maintained for long periods of time." "Octane stability is greatly affected by the storage conditions. Proper storage can preserve octane for years but improper storage can reduce octane and degrade fuel within weeks." https://www.sunocoracefuels.com/tech-article/octane-stability-high-octane-vs-low-octane-fuels

    There are a number of variables involved with gasoline. First is the quality and actual octane of the gasoline which is pumped into the fuel tank. 87 octane fuel has a minimum octane of 87 but usually is a bit higher. It is the least expensive fuel and the least refined (stable). Also, because it starts at just a little over 87 octane, it has the least margin for octane loss. The Clarity fuel tank has to be considered a very vapor tight container. Eventually the gasoline in a Clarity fuel tank might lose enough octane to cause problems. If a person is worried about that happening, premium gasoline would make sense.

    As to my using two year old "generator" gasoline, I did leave out a couple of details. First, I only added one or two gallons to the fuel tank. Second, on EV power I went to my local gas station a fueled with an equal or greater amount of premium gasoline.
     

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