I'm picking up my Clarity soon, just wondering if there is any perceived loss of EV power as battery nears the last 10-15 miles\km. On a side note, has anyone installed the footwell ambient lights? Thanks!
I have not noticed any difference in pick up or pedal mapping in Econ EV between full charge and 5 miles or 3 bars remaining.
I suggest you type in angry bees in the search form and read what others have experienced. This should give you a very idea on how the car performs with the EV battery range depleted.
The voltage drops as the battery gets depleted with the biggest drop below 20% charge ( http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/lithium_based_batteries ). That's probably why Honda turns on the ICE at two bars and perhaps explains the "angry bees" after battery depletion and the poor HV mileage people get when riding on depleted batteries.
Well I can say that I’ve never heard the angry bees. Not after letting the battery completely deplete it’s usable charge and automatically start the ICE, not when selecting HV before complete depletion (and it held the SOC), and not on a steep long hill climb when it did rev up but only to a low hum. At no time did I ever experience a loss of power compared to normal. I agree that it’s best to enter HV on a long trip or short trip with mountains before you get to 2 bars. It gives the algorithm more freedom to cycle through its most efficient array of power flows. On a 250 mile trip with some significant hills, I started in HV with a full charge and only lost 3 miles of EV range and 1 bar and got 49 mpg with max speed of 70 mph.
I get the 'angry bees' at low speeds after battery depletion, but no noticeable loss of power. And, while there is still charge on the battery, I have never noticed any change in the way the car acts. If the battery runs out at highway speeds, it's very hard to notice the change to ICE. Even when I'm listening for it, it's pretty hard to hear over highway noise, which is totally dependent on the type of road. Even on quiet smooth pavement the ICE is not loud at speed.
There is no power loss until the battery is very low or cold. It will be visible on the dashboard as the length of the blue arc will shorten (the length of the blue arc represents the available power from the battery). In practice this means the engine will start slightly easier with the last few miles of range, especially if the battery is colder. I don't see the engine revving as a problem really, yes, it does it sometimes and it is a bit annoying, but it is what it is. I think the large complaint is people just aren't used to the car controlling the engine RPM instead of the go pedal.
