Stale Gas

The tank is pressurized to limit the effects of gas aging. It should be good for a year (and if the engineers were smart, they did what the Volt does, and have it run to use the gas occassionally). I'd probably not worry yet.

 

Is the fuel in your tank 10% ethanol gas? If so, I'd add some Sta-bil to it.

I run 100% gas in my Clarity... 100% gasoline should remain good for over a year without any additional stabilizers.

 

Not necessary. The car knows what to do with old gas. It will burn it fine and hurt nothing. If it really bothers you, drive in HV for the next week to burn it out, top it off, and repeat every 6 months so you know the gas in it is never old.

 

I've read that 100% gas is hard to find in many states, especially in New England. In the southwest, it's widely available at many stations, but at a premium cost of ~.20 cents higher than E10. I paid $1.49/gal for 100% gas when I purchased it last week. E10 currently $1.29.

 

Well, now you're just bragging

[Edit: I truly don't get out much anymore. I was thinking it was still above $2.00 around here. Gasbuddy has set me straight]

 

Its not just hard to find, its illegal in Connecticut and many other states. Except racing gas ta $5 a gallon or whatever.

 

As one who drives 95% in EV with looong stretches between HV trips, I can say with certainty that the software does not behave like the Volt. The Volt is programmed to not let a tank of gas get more than what seems to be about one year old. As in it will run the ICE to burn it up whether you wont the ICE to run or not. The Clarity will, however, run the ICE periodically in what the manual states to be a System Check but these are infrequent and very short (just enough to warm up to operating temperature) and will not burn up enough gas over a year to lose a single bar on the gas gauge.

For most all of us, the small 7 gallon gas tank will be used frequently enough to never get stale. However, for the very few of us that drive predominantly in EV, the gas can stay in the tank for a long time. Because I am not comfortable with gas sitting around for more than 6 months (even in a pressurized system), I add Stabil to my tank. It’s cheap insurance and while you can argue about how much it’s needed or helping, it’s not doing any harm. And by the time any ill effects like varnish show up, it will be too late to do anything about it. So for us mainly EV and not so often HV drivers, I feel it’s better to be safe than sorry. Since I didn’t take any out of town trips this last year, I forced myself to run in HV (and gasp, tried HV Charge for the first time) just so the gas would not be older than one year.
It’s also because I tend to keep my cars a long time. I hope one day my Clarity will feel like @insightman ’s old Insight and get a Viking funeral and big send off when it finally is no longer viable to keep on life support.

 

Hey, the guy who bought my 13 year-old gen-1 Insight said it was the nicest one in his collection of 3 (which, of course, is not a reliable metric). No Viking funeral required. Still, I didn't think it was appropriate to keep as a daily driver anymore because Honda has stopped stocking some of its parts and the production run was too small to attract aftermarket manufacturers (although there are companies that offer rebuilt A/C compressors, etc.). The car was reliable, so I wasted my money on the $1200 Hondacare extended warranty. Still I bought an extended warranty on our Clarity PHEV.

I don't use Stabil; I go through about 3 tankfuls of ethanol-free gas a year, but that gas usage happens mostly in the winter. I fully charge my battery all the time, too. I'm just assuming the car is going to work without babying. That might be a mistake, but I tell myself that's what Honda expected (in lieu of telling myself I'm lazy).

 

I agree with your method of burning up the gas, I've never seen any proof that Stabil does anything.