How far without a charge

If you start with a full charge and a full tank of gas, the best you could hope for is ~50 miles out of the battery and ~300 miles from the gas (7 gallons x 42 mpg). That is 350 total. You need another 150 miles to make your 500, so that means adding approximately 4 gallons of gas somewhere along the way.

If your journey will be done at 70+ mph, then you will not do as well as the above estimate.

In any event, it will likely require 1 fillup along the way.

 

Yes. Just remember to put the car in HV mode after each stop. We’ve done 700 miles in a single day on several occasions, over 2, 4000+ foot passes and the battery gauge only dropped 2-3 bars. The car could probably go 3000 miles and not deplete tha battery. If a charge is necessary just use HV Charge.

 

IME, 42 mpg is being a bit too pessimistic. I usually average 45+ over mixed interstate and highway driving on 600 mile trips, starting with a full battery and HV mode all the way.

 

Some forum members report that they never plug in their Clarity PHEVs. The Clarity works like an Accord Hybrid if you never plug it in, but the engine in the Clarity is not as powerful as the Accord's engine, so you won't have as much power to pass or climb hills after you use up the energy you added by plugging in your Clarity (or by using the Clarity's HV Charge feature).

As @Landshark wrote, the Clarity's HV feature can stretch your EV power a long way. HV runs mostly on gas, then taps into the battery only when you (or the car's brain thinks you) need it. As you drive, HV works to keep battery charged to about the same level as when you pressed the HV button.

Also, the Clarity's most efficient highway mode, Engine Drive mode, can kick in only when you're driving with HV. Engine Drive mode connects the engine through gears to the front wheels, which is more efficient at highway speeds than generating electricity to power the traction motor that otherwise drives the front wheels by itself.

 

Just curious - was that 45+ calculated or what the car told you? I ask because the car’s algorithm is consistently about 12% optimistic.

On a N GA to S FL round trip, here was my calculated vs the car’s estimate (the left column was simply miles traveled divided by gals used):

 

Gary K

Below is a link to a post which details a 1600 mi trip on one charge which may help.

https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/charge-loss-in-hv-mode.10129/page-2#post-117610

Good luck!

 

I have done long trips. NY to DC. I would do a full charge, start the trip in EV mode, use up about a quarter or 1/2 of charge and switch to HV mode. You dont want to drain the batt completely before switching to HV mode. You do want some juice in the batt to avoid the angry bees and to provide an extra punch for changing lanes and acceleration.

 

I just did a 1200 mile road trip starting out with a fully charged battery. No problem at all, as long as you keep filling the gas tank. Even in HV mode, depending on the terrain, the EV numbers can drop. I used the HV Charge mode periodically when EV miles approached 10 miles.

 

We’re on a quick vacation along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The motel owner said he didn’t mind if we charged overnight for 2 nights, so we did:



Most of the trip in HV mode regardless, which is fine.

Yesterday we woke up to fog at our motel in Buchanan, VA, but climbed out of it for this view:

 

The Clarity mileage figures on the dash are an estimate of past performance. They are in the ballpark when you drive either solely on HV or solely on EV. When you run the car using both, the car does a poor job of estimating, and becomes even more inaccurate. Don't get hung up on the numbers. Just enjoy it.

P.S. Nice photo, but the car looks better with tinted glass.

 

Thanks.

Each and every summer since 2019 window tinting has been on our wish list. Maybe next year!