Clarity EV charge has dropped

  • Thread starter Thread starter campton1
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 108
  • Views Views 19K
I'm right there with you. In April when I expected the car (we live in Redding) to start showing increased EV Range it dropped. Now, pretty much ignoring the ambient temperature, the car is averaging 41 miles of EV Range, both estimated and actual. At this time of year I'd expect 48-53 miles of EV range. I took the car to Crown motors but they gave me the same story; that the car is behaving normally. Something is wrong and I fear when cold weather returns the car won't be able to serve us 100% in EV as it has the past two winters.

The Honda dealer dumped data from the car which shows the Battery Capacity is at 49.6. I understand a new battery would measure about 55. This is a 10% drop in battery capacity. I do not believe this is normal. I'm stuck without recourse at this point.
Since then I've been recording charge data in an excel chart. Its not good. My car dropped to the 38-41 EV Range and has not returned to "normal." I know there is a lot of data on this chart. The Red is the ambient temperature. The Blue is EV Range after the battery shows fully charged. the green is a running average. The two blue peaks toward the left were after 500 mile road trips. As you can see through more than a year the car averages about 40 miles of EV Range. Yes it drops as the ambient temperature drops but it never returns to the 45-50 mile range.
upload_2020-6-4_13-36-32.webp
 
Since then I've been recording charge data in an excel chart. Its not good. My car dropped to the 38-41 EV Range and has not returned to "normal." I know there is a lot of data on this chart. The Red is the ambient temperature. The Blue is EV Range after the battery shows fully charged. the green is a running average. The two blue peaks toward the left were after 500 mile road trips. As you can see through more than a year the car averages about 40 miles of EV Range. Yes it drops as the ambient temperature drops but it never returns to the 45-50 mile range.
View attachment 8541
There is another thread where we are looking at battery a different way. https://insideevsforum.com/communit...g-android-app-car-scanner-from-0vz-only.8708/

Instead of using something as variable as EV range, we are looking at the voltage reported via OBDII, correlated with % battery. This thread includes some graphs of what we've seen. It would be very interesting to see what the data from your car or others with battery issues. It would give a better basis of comparison and measuring on an ongoing basis. Very little cost for the ODBII sensor - around $15, and around $5 if you pay for the pay version of the scan software.
 
Hi joetheneekeeper,

Yes, the highways were mostly empty during the Covid quarantine, however I did mostly local, short trips.

Apparently, my experience is not isolated. Reading through this thread, it appears many others have the exact same concern.
 
Hi joetheneekeeper,

Yes, the highways were mostly empty during the Covid quarantine, however I did mostly local, short trips.

Apparently, my experience is not isolated. Reading through this thread, it appears many others have the exact same concern.
Getting the battery capacity test described in the PDI document is the only way you can determine if your battery is the problem.
 
Getting the battery capacity test described in the PDI document is the only way you can determine if your battery is the problem.
What do you think about checking the KWh required to charge the battery from zero EV range? It is easier than going to the dealer.

If the result is over 12 KWh, do you think that is accurate enough to save a trip to the dealer?
 
What do you think about checking the KWh required to charge the battery from zero EV range? It is easier than going to the dealer.

If the result is over 12 KWh, do you think that is accurate enough to save a trip to the dealer?

There was a thread on this some time ago. I liked where it was heading. It does seem logical that the average of measurements of charging energy for 0 miles EV range to full would be a good measurement of the health of the battery.
 
There is another thread where we are looking at battery a different way. https://insideevsforum.com/communit...g-android-app-car-scanner-from-0vz-only.8708/

Instead of using something as variable as EV range, we are looking at the voltage reported via OBDII, correlated with % battery. This thread includes some graphs of what we've seen. It would be very interesting to see what the data from your car or others with battery issues. It would give a better basis of comparison and measuring on an ongoing basis. Very little cost for the ODBII sensor - around $15, and around $5 if you pay for the pay version of the scan software.
I'll stick with the EV range. I already have a Bluetooth ODBII sensor and app but I can check the EV Range right here from my smartphone. With the ODBII sensor I would have to go to the car and turn it on to get the voltage. The EV Range is what is most important to me. I've found it to be fairly accurate.
 
Last edited:
Kentucky Ken wrote on an earlier post on this forum, “... warranty covered replacement when the battery degrades to less than 36.6 Ah. The original capacity is ~55 Ah so we get a battery replacement under warranty after losing ~1/3 of our capacity or range. Note that the car will NOT throw a diagnostic code for this. The only way to know is to go to the dealer and have them check the Battery Pack Capacity signal with their i-HDS.”
 
I'll stick with the EV range. I already have a Bluetooth ODBII sensor and app but I can check the EV Range right here from my smartphone. With the ODBII sensor I would have to go to the car and turn it on to get the voltage. The EV Range is what is most important to me. I've found it to be fairly accurate.

Probably nothing wrong with using the EV range figure as a rough estimate. But you should probably remove the outliers (*cough* the 500 mile trip*cough*) in your data (or compare with and without) before you use it as a surrogate for a true capacity test. Those outliers have the potential to skew your data making it look more severe than it really is.
 
Back
Top