My Clarity eats up 12V batteries

2018 with 38k. OEM battery just literally died last month. But I do a LOT of in-car parking (sitting at Stanford University, where I live next door to) but with the car on. I mistakenly had done Acc when I first got the car and discovered how fast Acc drains the battery off. Also sometimes I use the car as portable A/C space easily running it 2-3 hours parked. I wonder if that causes any issues on the 12v battery.

 

In READY mode the car is fully powered and ready to drive. You can sit parked and run climate control just as you do when driving the car. The HV battery will charge/maintain the 12V battery via the DC/DC charger. If you do this until the battery gauge reaches 2 bars, the engine will eventually start and continue to cycle on and off in order to maintain the battery SOC at 2 bars. This will continue until the car consumes all of the gasoline in the tank.

In Accessory or On mode the 12V battery could be deeply discharged. Per the manual, the car will power down after being in Accessory mode for 30-60 minutes.

 

Point conceded. I'm incorrectly saying "EV-only," I think I need to find the correct wording to describe the state where the car will say EV, and not HV. This occurs, for example if I just get in and drive, or if I've been in HV mode, and tap the HV button once. I also realize the car will enable the gas engine on its own for several circumstances (the easiest being an undisciplined driver pressing the gas peddle past the detent, going down hill with full charge, or maintenance mode). But for all practical matters this "EV" setting is what I am trying to describe. Since I tend to leave the visual of the car with the battery and gas engine shown, its the case when the engine isn't involved at all (at least per the visual), which is at least 99% of my daily driving.

 

Seems smart to me. I'd do the same thing, especially now that you can run with the car on "READY." I love that the car can do this for a long time (i.e. with full ev charge seems like forever) without running the gas engine.

If you me, just be careful not to walk away with car left on which i have done.

 

It’s just EV Mode. It is the default start up mode. As you’ve noted, certain events can trigger the ICE to run when EV is enabled. In my experience, when the ICE is running the EV light is not illuminated.

 

We call this "drive in movie mode". Very nice to use in all weather at the drive in if your DRL are off (you can do that if you start and don't move IIRC) and with a blanket over the dash. Absolutely no drain on the 12v