Best driving modes for 200 mile round trip

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Cali65

Cali65

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I am heading to Solvang, CA this weekend travelling roughly 70 miles north on the 101 frwy & 32 miles on the 154 highway through the mountain pass.
I will most like likely not charge the battery while there and so I am wondering if my 1 charge of estimated 50 miles will last the round trip if in HV mode and whether sports mode will have much impact on battery charge remaing.
If it is a hot weekend then the AC might be turned on too.
So, the question is how should I drive in order to make it back without charging.....Only concerned because of the drive up n over the 154.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Inside EVs mobile app
 
I don't find the AC impacts battery life much.
What I do for trips over the EV range is use EV until the EV range shows about 1/2 charge remaining. Then I switch to HV. If I drop off the freeway I'll use EV for city driving, gas station stops, or hamburger stops. Then back on HV when I rejoin the freeway. If you don't push the car, stay in the 60-70 mph range it shouldn't draw down the charge much on the battery. That trip doesn't involve a lot of hills. When on the return trip I'll stay in HV until I get closer to home and swtich back to EV when the EV Range estimate shows that I can make it the rest of the way on electric only.

Many people swear Sport mode doesn't impact mpg or EV Range. I have a hard time believing that. Every time I've tried Sport mode I end up kicking the ICE on. I would think, being in HV mode, the car would decide to use the engine a bit more than not. The car will switch from ICE to EV even when in HV mode.
 
Thank you for the response.
My plan was to not drive in EV mode until the return drive and use up remaining EV miles closer to home.
Goal is to avoid ICE and I want to enjoy the drive with occassional sport mode and AC if it is hot and still have some EV miles remaining to get me home.
 
Definitely you will make it if you drive on HV the whole trip. I've already made a longer trip including 30 minutes of climbing a big hill for a ski resort.

Just be sure that you don't forget to switch to HV after you stop for rest or gas, and definitely do not start climbing with your battery depleted (two bars) or you will experience loss of power.

I do a daily 70 miles round trip conmute, and when I use the car in HV (permanently), battery last for arround 4 days.

Enjoy your trip in the car, it's a really good experience.
 
Another opportunity to promote my low-tech HV button image that you can print, cut out, and tape over the D button to remind yourself to activate HV after every stop on long trips. I tape just the top edge so I can flip it up to press the D button.

upload_2019-3-27_23-52-15.webp
 
You should be fine. I’m located about 45 minutes north of Solvang, and have traveled to Riverside and back in HV and had most of my charge remaining. Yes there’s that uphill part when you first get on 154, but remember you’ll get some of that back again when you go back down. Other than 154, it’s pretty flat and I found that HV maintains well in those circumstances.
 
Cali65 said:
Thank you for the response.
My plan was to not drive in EV mode until the return drive and use up remaining EV miles closer to home.
Goal is to avoid ICE and I want to enjoy the drive with occassional sport mode and AC if it is hot and still have some EV miles remaining to get me home.
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I recommend doing exactly as you propose.

You’ll get full enjoyment out of the car, have plenty of charge on hand for the entire trip in the off chance your plans change in some way and you decide to use up some EV range midway thru due to traffic problems or urban side trips, and your final fuel and electric usage will be within 50 cents of anyone else’s plan. We do at least one 200+ mile trip every week in our Clarity, and several MUCH longer than that, and have done it multiple ways. I can confidently say they all work perfectly fine. Fornhebkost part, simply saving EV for the remaining home stretch to get it close to zero as you pull into the home charging station is super easy and effective. Actively messing with the driving modes is greatly overthought in this forum. It just doesn’t matter that much, except for the select few who seem to have defective Clarities here. Feel free to set the car wherever you prefer and simply enjoy the trip!
 
Craze1

I'd love to get more information from people that drive over 200 mile trips. Yes, I understand this may be overthinking, but there are some basics...

Do you switch to HV with a full battery? Do you notice what percentage of the time you are in 'gear mode'?

Do you feel ambient temperatures affect the operation of the car? Have you driven many miles below 20F?
 
For newbies, here’s how we handled a 1,600 mile road trip in our Clarity.

https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/our-florida-trip-report.4980/

In general for shorter trips beyond EV range , we just use up some percentage, maybe 50%, of the battery, in EV mode. That usually results in about 20-25 EV miles remaining. Then exclusively HV mode until about 20 miles of our destination, then switch back to EV mode, assuming we can only overnight charge there. Otherwise, just hold onto our EV miles.
 
jdonalds said:
I don't find the AC impacts battery life much.
What I do for trips over the EV range is use EV until the EV range shows about 1/2 charge remaining. Then I switch to HV. If I drop off the freeway I'll use EV for city driving, gas station stops, or hamburger stops. Then back on HV when I rejoin the freeway. If you don't push the car, stay in the 60-70 mph range it shouldn't draw down the charge much on the battery. That trip doesn't involve a lot of hills. When on the return trip I'll stay in HV until I get closer to home and swtich back to EV when the EV Range estimate shows that I can make it the rest of the way on electric only.

Many people swear Sport mode doesn't impact mpg or EV Range. I have a hard time believing that. Every time I've tried Sport mode I end up kicking the ICE on. I would think, being in HV mode, the car would decide to use the engine a bit more than not. The car will switch from ICE to EV even when in HV mode.
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I have not been able to start the ICE in Sport mode when driving around town or on acceleration entering highways. I don't need to floor the accelerator however for any of my driving so I am sure it can happen. But using Sport under the conditions I describe really enhances the driving experience for me.
 
Don't run the EV down. Put in HV at the very start of the drive and don't go out of HV until you are close to you destination. I drive over the mountain passes in Colorado to get to Denver, I run 250 miles in HV and put in EV only when I have reached the city traffic. I would also recommend using sport along with HV, it gives more power over the passes.
 
stacey burke said:
Don't run the EV down. Put in HV at the very start of the drive and don't go out of HV until you are close to you destination. I drive over the mountain passes in Colorado to get to Denver, I run 250 miles in HV and put in EV only when I have reached the city traffic. I would also recommend using sport along with HV, it gives more power over the passes.
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@stacey burke, I do the same thing with similar excellent results with no angry bees or loss of power ever.

One thing though, I don’t think Sport give any more power than non Sport. I think it just remaps the pedal so you need less pedal force/travel to get the same power. (And of course in EV, it will call for engine start before the detent.)
 
Also, with gas so relatively inexpensive these days, if you do accidentally leave a gas station and forget to push HV, do not be afraid of HV charge to recover back up to whatever that level is (58%?), or some other lower level. It probably is a good idea to keep some EV bars more than 2 (which is zero), no one seems to know the right number, but having a little EV energy in reserve is probably a good idea.

I don't want to derail the thread on Sport mode, however I think there are some parts of the pro-sports people's thoughts that get lost in the discussion. For example, (and, maybe this is helpful for a trip) if you are using adaptive cruise control (ACC) on the highway, say doing 73 mph and you come up on another vehicle doing 65, ACC starts to slow to 65 if you get to whatever your gap distance is (1 to 4 bars). So, you decide to pass staying in ACC. As you get into the adjacent lane, if in "eco" mode, the Clarity very -slowly- increases in speed back towards 73 (eco has its place, but in this case, call it turtle mode). On the other hand, if you drive ACC in Sport mode, on passing, she (he) takes off, and passing in ACC is a snap in rabbit mode. Of course that uses more energy in sport mode. Increasing the speed of a relatively heavy vehicle faster, definitely takes more power and energy!

Now the off-thread part is simply that some folks find that can drive in sport mode comfortably and conveniently without many significant or unwanted engine starts. There, many of us think you can get comparable efficiency, mostly dependent on driver style. (Clarity eco or normal foot, lead foot, sport disliking foot :) vs, Clarity sport gentle control [it is different]). I think that's the part where we can go crazy. Just do what feels safe, right, and enjoyable for you. Lately, I have been playing in eco (to get max EV), then shifting to sport at times for power events, with a little one pedal"ish" driving in 4 chevron sport regen on occasion.

Honestly, the car runs fine in "Normal" mode [eco not on] without touching anything, I just like playing with the buttons. [I liked pressing elevator buttons as a kid too :) ]

For the trip, probably best to still do the HV thing with some reserve EV on the highway trips.
 
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KentuckyKen said:
@stacey burke, I do the same thing with similar excellent results with no angry bees or loss of power ever.

One thing though, I don’t think Sport give any more power than non Sport. I think it just remaps the pedal so you need less pedal force/travel to get the same power. (And of course in EV, it will call for engine start before the detent.)
Click to expand...

I guess we really don't know for sure yet (i.e. the thread on hp), however it does seem that re-mapping the ICE turn-on start point is a big part of it (the lowest in sport).

The important different for those coming from Chevy Volt, is that when we said just remap the go pedal in Volt, literally, it is just the amount of EV power for a given go pedal position (because ICE does not come on that way in Volt, so, just by changing the pedal mapping in Volt, there is no "additional" power available in normal).

By contrast, even if Clarity is just a "re-map" including a lower ICE on point (which it may well be), there may still be more power -EV plus ICE- available in Clarity. Others still think there might also be different algorithms or parameters used in sport mode in addition to just remapping with the lower ICE on point, we just don't know yet. [edit - I see what folks are saying, coming from Volt, EV plus ICE is more power, maybe already in Clarity HV mode, it's just the faster response time.]

[As an aside, Volt is lighter, more nimble, and may have more EV power, so the remapping there is not a knock, it's just different.]
 
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KentuckyKen said:
@stacey burke, I do the same thing with similar excellent results with no angry bees or loss of power ever.

One thing though, I don’t think Sport give any more power than non Sport. I think it just remaps the pedal so you need less pedal force/travel to get the same power. (And of course in EV, it will call for engine start before the detent.)
Click to expand...
I don't know if it gives MORE power but it has a quicker response when you need power. I won't drive ACC without using sport - either in EV or in HV... so for trips it is HV with sport all the time.
 
ClarityBill said:
Craze1

I'd love to get more information from people that drive over 200 mile trips. Yes, I understand this may be overthinking, but there are some basics...

Do you switch to HV with a full battery? Do you notice what percentage of the time you are in 'gear mode'?

Do you feel ambient temperatures affect the operation of the car? Have you driven many miles below 20F?
Click to expand...

Sometimes I switch to HV with full battery, sometimes I wait. Doesn’t really matter. I am in gear mode quite frequently if speeds stay below 75 mph and there is no headwind. If over 75 or at 70+ with headwind it goes in and out of gear mode at times because the load is too high and the engine needs toneev more to maintain charge. I have found zero operational or performance differences at any air temp or any state of charge. Obviously battery lasts longer in warm weather is all. Yes I’ve driven far at cold temps...well below 20f. Engine just runs all the time. Mpg remains decent, high 30s near 40. In warmer temps low 40s.

I drove this car on a 4,000+ mile road trip across the country last fall, including mountains and flatlands. Charged 4 times. Mostly I just left it in HV mode. Worked just fine everywhere.

And I’ve never pushed a button just to climb a hill, or mountain. I let the car rev when it chooses to. It’s good for the engine. Short started engines and extensive low rpm running encourages sludge and moisture buildup. Listen to it sing and enjoy the sound of the bees...it’s doing it at times for its own health.
 
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Cali65 said:
Thank you for the response.
My plan was to not drive in EV mode until the return drive and use up remaining EV miles closer to home.
Goal is to avoid ICE and I want to enjoy the drive with occassional sport mode and AC if it is hot and still have some EV miles remaining to get me home.
Click to expand...

I did the same trip a month ago. Took off with full charge and full thank. Drove on EV until getting on the 101 (5 miles), all the rest on HV. Was planning to recharge on an advertised CheckPoint or whatever is called charger on a lot there but it was "out of network", nonoperational or whatever. On the trip back there was a total jam on 101 so navi took me through rural byways and across a mountain range until getting into the 118 but I was able to get back to Northridge without refueling, which I did next morning. I even put Sport mode for a little while while climbing the mountain. I switched HV off when leaving the highway. It took quite some charge back when going downslope but I don't recall exactly how much. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
 
Thank you for all the responses....great info & verification of how I have been driving and planned to for this trip.
I think I will use more Sport this trip and probably more often overall if it works better with AAC which I like using, but pick up after slowing down is not great on Eco mode.
I have only put on 1,300 miles on 3 months of ownership and used just a little over 1 1/2 tanks of gas.
 
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