It has been believed for some time on these forums the Honda clarity PHEV traction battery could my output 121 HP by itself (electric only mode). However, if you calculate the HP represented by each notch on the power gauge (their are 8), and assuming the power gauge is telling the truth (manual states it only represents how much power the electric motor is outputting but that obviously isn’t the case because in engine drive mode it doesn’t make the power guadge go to zero, a charge position, or power when lightly accelerating at high speed, so I believe it represents the total system hp), and is perfectly linear (not a given) at the notch that the blue area ends is ~161 hp (slightly more than notch 6), the same as the all electric clarity. This is interesting because the clarity electric is using a different battery AND electrical motor according to the service information. By the 7th notch we are at 185 hp and Requires the engine to be on to achieve it (ECVT mode, engine and battery powering traction motor)(Honda says the traction motor makes 181 hp max), after that the line thickens and we are into the area that under no conditions it could achieve more power in ECVT mode, so it must be in engine drive mode, with the traction motor assisting. The engine makes 103 hp at 5500rpm. The engines lock up clutch connects the engine to the wheels at a gear ratio of 2.757. Meaning with 18 in wheels at 106.8 mph the engine would be directly outputting all 103 hp directly to the wheels. Combined with the electric motor (cant output as much hp because of field weakening but that’s totally above my head) it would get a total system hp at 106.8 mph, the max hp the car can possibly deliver to the wheels. This would also line up with my observations that when I floor the car it won’t ever go to the 8th notch, so I believe if I were to take the car to 106.8 mph I would get the needle all the way to the 8th notch. FYI I am terrible at math so I may be wrong, and this is my first post so the formatting is terrible.
