I'm about 3900 miles into a road trip and today I decided to drive to the top of Pikes Peak. Note: if you decide to do this, make a reservation... I took info when I turned onto the Pikes Peak Highway, not at the entry gatehouse. Odo: 29163 miles Range: 166 miles EV range: 16.4 miles Elevation: 7450 ft (from My Elevation app) Normal mode, HV Charge selected for drive up. Peak. Odo: 29182 miles Range: 127 miles EV range: 12.8miles Elevation: 14115 ft Back at original reading spot. Odo: 29201 miles Range: 170 miles EV range: 56.3 miles Elevation: 7450 ft Sport mode, EV for drive down. Lots of paddle action to keep speed where I wanted it. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
I'm sure the engine was working hard on the way up, but since you were successful in maintaining some EV range I assume you didn't have to contend with the Angry Bees?
Did you happen to note the battery charge level as displayed on the dash when you got back to the starting point? Was it fully charged? Driving downhill in EV gives us a distorted EV range estimate, because we are covering ground while increasing the amount of energy that is stored in the battery. That’s not sustainable, but the car isn’t capable of figuring that out.
I did. It was about 2 bars from full. On the drive up, the power meter seldom dropped below half and much of the time was in the solid white arc, occasionally the thick solid white arc. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
Note: I am being a complete smartass, and I am not trying to offend anyone The issue is obviously an error with the Clarity's range estimates. I lived at the foot of Pike's Peak in Manitou Springs for a few years- absolutely beautiful part of the country!!!! Wow-contact the press!!! I think that we've solved the energy crisis and global warming!!! The Clarity is a perpetual motion machine, as it returned to the starting point with more total range that what he began with. It began with 166 miles of total range and returned with 170 miles. We could create an enormous Honda Clarity and continually climb and descend Pike's Peak and simply collect the extra energy after each lap
And thanks for the post!!!! I have always wondered how much ev range going down Pike's Peak would give. I have wondered that since the day that I bought the car. I would be too much of a chicken putting it through the angry birds for so long on such a climb
I doubt the Clarity gained energy. The EV and total range estimates are notoriously inaccurate. The SOC values before and after the Pikes Peak climb will tell the true story. However, there is a mine on the top of a mountain in Europe. The owners use an electric truck to carry the ore down the mountain. The trip down, loaded with ore, recharges the battery more than enough for the trip up, unloaded. So, just one initial charge is needed! This is very cool.
That works because the truck is much, much heavier on the descent. This additional weight greatly increases the regen braking power that is put into the dump truck. The Clarity would actually be a little lighter on the descent, due to gas being burnt on the way up. What could increase the overall range would be to pick up passengers or fill the Clarity's trunk with heavy stones from the summit of Pike's Peak. This could give you more range than you started with without breaking the laws of thermo. It COULD. I am not 100% sure that it actually would due to the inefficiencies in the regen braking system.
