2018 Clarity EV Range Degredation @ 1k miles?

Thomas Mitchell

Thomas Mitchell

Active Member
I am wondering what is going on with my new Clarity. It used to show 47 miles EV range after a charge. Now it is down below 40. Car is charged overnight in the garage and garage temp is 45 degrees. I know
IMG_0190.webp
cold affects the range, but shouldn’t the car indicate full 47 mile range after a fresh charge?


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Thomas Mitchell said:
I am wondering what is going on with my new Clarity. It used to show 47 miles EV range after a charge. Now it is down below 40. Car is charged overnight in the garage and garage temp is 45 degrees. I know View attachment 3154cold affects the range, but shouldn’t the car indicate full 47 mile range after a fresh charge?
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The estimated EV range is based on recent usage. If your previous drive was with cabin heat on, then it will estimate your range as if that usage continues.

We're seeing 35 - 38 estimated EV range in the winter. In summer, we were seeing 50 - 60 estimated.
 
The range estimate is based on recent performance, ambient temperature is a factor, but larger is the use of the heater. My car sits outside here in NJ and I've been getting between 38 and 42 as an estimate each morning after my 45~ish mile round trip commute each day.
 
All EV forums:
Fall/Winter: Where did my range go? It was getting more miles last month?!?
Winter: hey look, I can wear this electric blanket with my seat heaters on and turn my main heater off and get some of my range back.
Spring/Summer: My range is magically back, I got 70 miles last charge, and so on :)

It takes time for people to learn how the cars are different.
 
Viking79 said:
All EV forums:
Fall/Winter: Where did my range go? It was getting more miles last month?!?
Winter: hey look, I can wear this electric blanket with my seat heaters on and turn my main heater off and get some of my range back.
Spring/Summer: My range is magically back, I got 70 miles last charge, and so on :)

It takes time for people to learn how the cars are different.
Click to expand...

And it really takes time to get used to the SWAG range estimation! I get that EV range varies by how the car is driven, climate, accessory use etc but the variations are far more extreme than a straight ICE car. I hadn't realized the range estimation was "smart" and figured previous use. Even in HV mode, it is not very reliable. We purchased our car in Salt Lake City and the range indicated we had plenty of gas to make the trip home to Fruita, CO with our battery empty at 2 bars. We drove in HV all the way. Just before the UT/CO border on I70, the the range estimation started dropping about 5 miles for every 2 or 3 driven and we finally drove about 5 miles on zero to the next gas station that was still almost 10 miles from home. Not very confidence inspiring! I know to play it more safe in the future.
 
FYI there is a service bulletin on the HV range estimation as it is a huge safety issue. Make sure that is done. It used to figure based on gas/electric mix, and not correct quick enough. If you see crazy HV range estimates over around 400 miles take the car to dealer and tell them the HV range is reading incorrectly.

It sounds like yours might not have the update.

No worries, we have all had to work through this, plug in hybrids are great for easing the transition :)
 
Thank you, I had just read up on the HV range estimation issue today and will be sure to get it updated next service. Will be keeping an eye on the oil change indicator too, as that is also apparently whack.
 
This week, over 3 days, I drove from VT to KS. When I left with a full battery, the EV estimate was 29 miles. (It was really cold.) The next morning after charging at my cousin's in central PA, it estimated 35 miles of EV. After I arrived and charged in KS, I was told that the full charge would take me 38.9 miles. We will see what happens when I do some local KS driving in all EV.
 
Thomas Mitchell said:
And it really takes time to get used to the SWAG range estimation! I get that EV range varies by how the car is driven, climate, accessory use etc but the variations are far more extreme than a straight ICE car. I hadn't realized the range estimation was "smart" and figured previous use. Even in HV mode, it is not very reliable. We purchased our car in Salt Lake City and the range indicated we had plenty of gas to make the trip home to Fruita, CO with our battery empty at 2 bars. We drove in HV all the way. Just before the UT/CO border on I70, the the range estimation started dropping about 5 miles for every 2 or 3 driven and we finally drove about 5 miles on zero to the next gas station that was still almost 10 miles from home. Not very confidence inspiring! I know to play it more safe in the future.
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I'm not sure about that range variation for ICE cars being so predictable. Our 2005 4Runner can get 20 mpg (ever so rarely) on the highway at 60 mph, flat and straight road. But average around town is only 13 mpg. As I watch the instantaneous mpg it drops into the single digits when easily accelerating in town. It's all over the place. The only thing that flattens the numbers out and has it averaging 13 mpg is the 20+ gallon gas tank.

With the Clarity I can beat the EV Range estimate by 10-20% most of the time, but turn the climate system on and I can only match it. It's best around town on 35 mph streets. It's hitting the freeway for about 7 miles of our 25 mile morning trip that brings the average down.
 
I think it's a lot of fun trying to out-guess the Clarity's guess-o-meter, especially when the penalty of coming up short means I'll have to use up a few ounces of gasoline using the engine to get home. The penalty is not completely pain-free because I suffer from engine-anxiety, but my engine-anxiety is certainly less stressful than the range-anxiety BEV drivers experience when challenging their guess-o-meters. Is AAA yet offering roadside assistance to BEVs with dead batteries?
 
insightman said:
Is AAA yet offering roadside assistance to BEVs with dead batteries?
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Obviously this is completely a rhetorical question for me, but it got me thinking. What do these guys do when they misjudge the range and find themselves stranded? I have run out of gas exactly once in my life, and it wasn't so bad to get to the nearest station and bring some back to pour into the empty tank. What would I have done if it had been an empty battery instead of an empty gas tank?
 
MNSteve said:
Obviously this is completely a rhetorical question for me, but it got me thinking. What do these guys do when they misjudge the range and find themselves stranded? I have run out of gas exactly once in my life, and it wasn't so bad to get to the nearest station and bring some back to pour into the empty tank. What would I have done if it had been an empty battery instead of an empty gas tank?
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A Tesla owner I was talking to who previously owned a leaf, said he misjudged his range in the Leaf and got stranded a few times. Called the tow truck. Expensive way to get stranded ;) I think now days AAA (at least in EV prone areas) has mobile charge units they can bring out to give you a boost, but that is slow.
 
Viking79 said:
(at least in EV prone areas)
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I like your phrase "EV prone areas"--I believe I live in one. I always congratulate myself for being such a good person when I drive past the ground-floor EV-charging spaces in the parking structure, leaving them available for mono-powered BEVs.

I found AAA does provide roadside assistance for BEV drivers whose range anxiety wasn't strong enough to save them. Does AAA put their most conversationalist drivers on this beat to help pass the charging time with the hapless, chargeless driver?

upload_2018-12-21_15-26-42.webp

What are these people talking about to pass the time?
 
insightman said:
I like your phrase "EV prone areas"--I believe I live in one. I always congratulate myself for being such a good person when I drive past the ground-floor EV-charging spaces in the parking structure, leaving them available for mono-powered BEVs.

I found AAA does provide roadside assistance for BEV drivers whose range anxiety wasn't strong enough to save them. Does AAA put their most conversationalist drivers on this beat to help pass the charging time with the hapless, chargeless driver?

View attachment 3162
What are these people talking about to pass the time?
Click to expand...
LOL, prone was probably a poor word choice :)

Yes, would be pretty boring without some sort of fast charger. L2 might be an hour to get where you needed to go.
 
Driving about 700 miles from Fruita, CO to Green Valley, AZ today I think I did find one way to extend range by switching from HV to EV when descending mountain grades. It’s pretty easy to regen a few miles on a descent without using any gas, especially using the paddles to control rate. I switch back to HV as soon as the grade levels out or rises again. It seemed like the engine would keep running otherwise. Averaging 45.3 mpg for the trip at mile 620. (Riding shotgun at the moment!)


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jdonalds said:
I'm not sure about that range variation for ICE cars being so predictable. Our 2005 4Runner can get 20 mpg (ever so rarely) on the highway at 60 mph, flat and straight road. But average around town is only 13 mpg. As I watch the instantaneous mpg it drops into the single digits when easily accelerating in town. It's all over the place. The only thing that flattens the numbers out and has it averaging 13 mpg is the 20+ gallon gas tank.

With the Clarity I can beat the EV Range estimate by 10-20% most of the time, but turn the climate system on and I can only match it. It's best around town on 35 mph streets. It's hitting the freeway for about 7 miles of our 25 mile morning trip that brings the average down.
Click to expand...

You make a good point, it is probably the limited tank size combined with limited battery capacity that makes the range estimation so fraught with variance. It’s just a learning curve in the end.


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Thomas Mitchell said:
Driving about 700 miles from Fruita, CO to Green Valley, AZ today I think I did find one way to extend range by switching from HV to EV when descending mountain grades. It’s pretty easy to regen a few miles on a descent without using any gas, especially using the paddles to control rate. I switch back to HV as soon as the grade levels out or rises again. It seemed like the engine would keep running otherwise. Averaging 45.3 mpg for the trip at mile 620. (Riding shotgun at the moment!)
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Click to expand...
On mine, I don’t have to switch off the HV on downhills. It automatically stops the ICE every time it regens. I just wish it would renter Engine Drive Mode quicker after the regen is over.
 
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