When I first got my Clarity in September, I was able when charged to get the 48 miles advertised. In the past few weeks after I charge it (120v home charger that came with car), the display says 38 or so. I'm not sure where the 10 miles "went". Has anyone else had this issue? Thank you.
Clarity EV charge has dropped
- Thread starter campton1
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Robert_Alabama
Well-Known Member
Depending on your climate as to how much, colder temps are cutting pretty much everyone's range. This is coming from using heated seats, heater for cabin, and from cold temperatures reducing battery output. I live in Alabama and have seen this same 10 mi drop, although it has been from 55 in summer to 45 now.
Thank you. I'd expect actual mileage to be less in the cold (and 10% ethanol additives in the northeast), but what confuses me is that when I first get in the car and before I drive, that the EV mileage under a charged battery never reaches beyond the upper 30s on the dash display. I believe it used to do so, but maybe not?
Robert_Alabama
Well-Known Member
I am sure it used to be in the 40s. The EV expected miles shown changes based on recent history of driving. It projects EV miles based on actual EV miles in the past few trips...
That's fascinating. Ok. Thanks! Will look forward to more miles come spring.
This topic also is discussed in other threads, such as the one on Cold Weather Behaviour.
Rajiv Vaidyanathan
Active Member
After enjoying reported EV ranges in the mid 50s, my range is now in the high 20s!
A lot of it is the cold weather, but I think switching to snow tires also hit the range quite a bit as it started dropping immediately, even though temps were in the 40s.
Actual EV range has been between 21 (on a day when the high was in the single digits F) to 28.
A lot of it is the cold weather, but I think switching to snow tires also hit the range quite a bit as it started dropping immediately, even though temps were in the 40s.
Actual EV range has been between 21 (on a day when the high was in the single digits F) to 28.
MNSteve
Well-Known Member
This comment motivated me to do some Google-based research on whether you take a mileage hit with winter tires. The data out there is miles per gallon, but the effect is the same as our EV mileage. The results were fascinating. I found results that varied from people who claimed to get 11 miles/gallon less with winter tires to people who said that their mileage actually improved when they installed them. I couldn't find any data from the manufacturers themselves, which suggests that switching to winter tires probably reduces mileage. I suspect it's a much smaller factor for our EV range than temperature.
I attribute my EV range reduction to the effect of colder temperatures on the battery, the current drain of the Clarity's resistive heating devices, and the slushy stuff through which I must drive. My Nokian Hakkapeliitta snow tires probably can't match the fuel-efficient performance of the OEM Michelins, but they do say this:
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jdonalds
Well-Known Member
Yesterday we drove just over 70 miles and managed to do it all in EV. There were three trips 30, 15, and 25 miles with the ability to charge after the first and second trips, but not a full charge due to time. I believe we started the day with an EV Range estimate in the high 30s.
Today my wife said she started out with just 32 miles of computed range and ran out so had to use some gas. She traveled about 35 miles. She did use the cabin heater. This is the first time, in almost a year of driving the Clarity (will hit 20K miles next week), that we've used gas on our shorter daily trips around town. No big deal though. But like most others here we hope not to use gas unless we are on out of town trips. I'm sure glad we didn't buy one of the other PHEVs that are rated at 25-30 miles range which would drop into the teens in the winter.
The bigger killer for us is with longer nights, rain and clouds, and winter heating of the house our solar system just isn't producing much power. At peak we were sucking in 50KW from the sun most days, and charging the car along with supplying all of the house needs. Now we're lucky to get 20KW on full sun days and forget charging the car from the sun. So our around town costs went from $0 to $0.15 per kWh. Yesterday, driving 70 miles, which used 22,49kWh, amounted to about $ 3.37 of grid cost. The solar system only managed to produce 8.81kWh yesterday. Today it will likely be close to zero as it is raining all day.
Today my wife said she started out with just 32 miles of computed range and ran out so had to use some gas. She traveled about 35 miles. She did use the cabin heater. This is the first time, in almost a year of driving the Clarity (will hit 20K miles next week), that we've used gas on our shorter daily trips around town. No big deal though. But like most others here we hope not to use gas unless we are on out of town trips. I'm sure glad we didn't buy one of the other PHEVs that are rated at 25-30 miles range which would drop into the teens in the winter.
The bigger killer for us is with longer nights, rain and clouds, and winter heating of the house our solar system just isn't producing much power. At peak we were sucking in 50KW from the sun most days, and charging the car along with supplying all of the house needs. Now we're lucky to get 20KW on full sun days and forget charging the car from the sun. So our around town costs went from $0 to $0.15 per kWh. Yesterday, driving 70 miles, which used 22,49kWh, amounted to about $ 3.37 of grid cost. The solar system only managed to produce 8.81kWh yesterday. Today it will likely be close to zero as it is raining all day.
Yup. We were getting in the mid-50s during the nice weather, now we're lucky if we show 38 after a full charge. The Clarity really takes a hit in cold weather.
Richard_arch74
Active Member
Tell me about it. Here in Michigan we have had little sun this month. Our 8.3kw array has produced a whopping 221kwh for the month of November. We are still working off our credit balance with electric company but it is going fast.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Inside EVs mobile app
KentuckyKen
Well-Known Member
@jdonalds and @Richard_arch74, you guys just rained on my parade.
My 10.5 kW PV system is going up and set to go live (if utility and inspector show up on time) by Dec 10. You reminded me that I’m starting off in the worst part of the year production wise. So I’m not going to reduce my bills to zero until winter is over but then net metering should take care of winter in 2020. Sigh...it’s going to be a long winter while I wait for my meter to run backwards.
Sorry for high jacking the thread. Now back to EV instead of PV dropping.
My 10.5 kW PV system is going up and set to go live (if utility and inspector show up on time) by Dec 10. You reminded me that I’m starting off in the worst part of the year production wise. So I’m not going to reduce my bills to zero until winter is over but then net metering should take care of winter in 2020. Sigh...it’s going to be a long winter while I wait for my meter to run backwards.
Sorry for high jacking the thread. Now back to EV instead of PV dropping.
it may also be that you recently drove on the highway where EV is less efficient. the car averages your recent trip to guess your future milage. our estimate went up from 40-45 after driving locally for a few days even though it was ~36-40F both periods
Yes, I’m familiar with that averaging, but the recent trips have all been local, the same trips that were getting us in the mid-50s.
Unfortunately I think this is 100% related to temperature change and not the type of driving. My wife reminds me we saw the same behavior last winter even in local driving. It is what it is.
Thanks for this thread. I was alarmed that I’m now getting 44 miles of EV range when I was getting closer to 58 a month ago. I guess I’m hoping that the colder weather is the culprit rather than the failure of the battery. Only thing is that I’m in Southern California and it’s not *that* cold. Ugh.
jdonalds
Well-Known Member
We've had overnight temps in the low 30s F and our 100% charge is showing from 36 to 41 EV mile range. Staying in EV mode is a bit more challenging now and sometimes we can't manage to get a full recharge at home between drives. Yesterday we drove over 100 miles all in town in four trips and there simply was no way to do it all in EV. Great to have the engine for backup in these cases.
I'm so happy that we don't have one of the many other PHEVs that are rated at 25-30 miles. I can only imagine they fall into the middle teens in cold weather.
I'm so happy that we don't have one of the many other PHEVs that are rated at 25-30 miles. I can only imagine they fall into the middle teens in cold weather.
Richard L Powell
New Member
I am currently having the same problem. I used to get 48 miles on the display after charging. Lately, I've been getting 36 to 38. I live in Southern California, and the temperatures have not gone below 50 degrees, so I don't think it's temperature. The actual EV mileage that I get is usually close to the initial displayed EV mileage after charging. Ususlly I use Level-2, but I think I get the same problem with Level-1
I just did a factory reset to see if that fixes it, and I'm now charging with the Level-1 charger.
jdonalds
Well-Known Member
I believe it is the temperature effect. We bought in Dec 2017 and have seen the range be short, then long through the summer, now short again.