Came across this, though it's a few months old. Watched the camera work and the blue model looks good here.
Nice color! Tires are Bridgestone instead of Michelin. Has signal mirrors. Not much different than that. Fun video. Sent from my SM-N960U using Inside EVs mobile app
I wonder if the wiring harness is the same in our US models so we could get the signal mirrors to work and if we can even order them? $$???
Yes, would love the signal mirrors - have gotten used to them in the past 3 cars. I wonder if we can get the mirror caps that have the lights in them and maybe get lucky with pre-wiring has the connections ?
Probably about the same chance of having existing wiring for a DC Fast Charge port hiding under the fender on the passengers' side of the North-American Clarity PHEV.
Does the Japanese version have a larger battery ? How does the Japanese version get 100kM per charge ? It translates roughly to about 60 miles per charge...
Doubtful. Every mirror assembly we've ever received from Honda will have the turn signal lamps attached to the base Edit: 18 CR-V mirror
They just use a different test to rate the range. Driven the same in identical environmental conditions, it would travel the same number of miles in Japan as in the U.S.
If anybody's wondering what's being said: Their test driver's conclusion is that it's a really nice car: luxury-car-grade interior comfort; corners very well due to the low center of gravity; ride comfort that's #1 or #2 among Honda's lineup; no "Tesla-like wow" acceleration, but perfectly sufficient for everyday use, and in sport mode it's peppy and fun. He apparently didn't quite understand the drivetrain, since he mentions that on hard acceleration you're getting both ICE and electric motor acceleration (where in reality it's primarily just more power from the ICE going to the electric motors), but that was the only misconception I heard. Good to very good in all Japanese safety rating tests. There were few complaints in the +/- section at the end: The guy thought that the exterior styling was a bit too obvious (he didn't like the rear wheel wells, but it sounded to me like he preferred a really boring luxury car exterior), and the woman had the really odd (to me, anyway) complaint that even though it was a luxury car the interior storage spaces were too obvious (as in the cupholders, bins, and pockets were too visible). The Honda engineer they interview, Kio Shimizu(?), had a few interesting comments (though I assume these have been covered in English-language media as well, I don't follow that sort of thing at all). Asked why a sedan for the Clarity series instead of SUV (this was likely in part due to the fact that they're comparing it to the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV SUV, and Toyota's prototype FCV was based around the Highlander SUV platform), he said that they wanted to perfect their electric drivetrain (which is shared by all three Clarity versions), and nailing the classic sedan was the right starting point for that. Their thinking was that once they got that right, they could then expand to SUV or minivan platforms. It's harder to build an alternative fuel sedan well [due to more limited space], so they took up that challenge to start with, figuring if you can do that right it's easier to then move into more spacious, forgiving platforms. Asked why the FCV-BEV-PHEV trio, he answered that they are assuming that in the future there will be a base electric powertrain with a choice of fuels, so they designed the Clarity lineup around that idea. Regarding the EV vs. hybrid balance in the PHEV, he said that their goal was to have it drivable as a full EV for most daily use, rather than the undersized battery and electric motor of some PHEVs (guessing this was a shot at the Prius Prime), with the hybrid being an added bonus. They acknowledged the fact that while there are FCVs on the road in Japan, the BEV market is significantly behind the US, and that Honda is trying to use the Clarity PHEV as a volume leader to get a wedge in on that EV market in Japan, and to get around the lack of charge infrastructure. They also brought up the fact that while Europe has been going hard into EV Japan is behind on this; the engineer's defense was that he's been working on EV drivetrains for 20-some years so knows that they're in the game, and the Clarity PHEV is the proof. They discussed that all you need to do is remove the ICE and put a bigger battery in and you've got a prime BEV, but did not bring up or offer any explanation as to why the actual Clarity BEV version has such a pathetically undersized battery. (The real answer is that it's a compliance car, of course, and they don't expect to sell any.) The km/l and battery-only range specs are interesting to me; I didn't realize that the WLTC test method is that generous (one assumes that the Clarity is tested as a 3b vehicle, although it's not specified anywhere I saw). It probably isn't as wildly unrepresentative of driving patterns in Japan as it would be in the US (due to their being lower speed limits and less freeways there), but I'd still say it gives a far less realistic estimate of actual performance than US EPA ratings do. From the looks of it, the newer Japanese JC-08 standard is even more generous about battery-only range. What's weird to me is that the Clarity PHEV starts at about $50,000 in Japan, before tax. And there is no equivalent of the federal or state rebates available in the US that I'm aware of, so it's a really expensive car there. My brother-in-law probably would have been a prime potential buyer, but due to the cost he's hoping for a Japanese release of the Accord instead. I believe it's reverse-imported into Japan, so that may be why, but it still seems downright weird that it's that much more expensive. Also funny that they kept the start button on the right side of the steering wheel.
