Does anyone have audio of "angry bee" sound?

P

ProspectiveBuyer

Member
I haven't bought the car yet, but would like to hear what this "angry bee" sound that people have mentioned sounds like? Also interested in hearing the noise which occurs at low speed and when the battery is depleted. Did any of you notice this during your test drive prior to purchase?
 
I don't have an audio but the angry bees is the sound when at low speed and no charge; I don't think they are 2 different things.

I have to say though that I took my son's 2008 Civic to work this morning and, I swear, it is actually louder than the Clarity when the hive's been disturbed (which I've learned, thanks to the knowledgeable and helpful folks in this forum, apparently only happens when I let the charge fully deplete and am driving around town). I think I had just become accustomed to the super quietness of EV around town such that on those couple instances where I ran out of charge and the HV came on, complete with bees, it was such a big noise level change from basically silent EV mode, that I probably made more of it than necessary. Driving an ICE this AM reminded me just how loud and rough they are and I am not looking forward to my ride home in it. On the other hand my son will a blast in the Clarity today, no doubt in Sport Mode!

As a little trial yesterday while driving around town, I had about 40% battery and I hit the HV Charge button to see how the bees were and ....nothing! I could hardly tell a difference from the EV I had been in. So it seems that in the past when I have been bothered (greatly) by the bees, I believe I had been out of charge totally. So if I can avoid the bees by keeping it to say no less than 3 bars on range then I will be very close to 100% in love with the Clarity. And given that I have been averaging 60 around-town-miles per full charge lately here in NH, that shouldn't be hard to do :-)

We are going on a long trip this weekend so if we deplete charge and if we hear the bees, I'll tape it for you.
 
The angry bees sound is when the engine will run at full revs. It is really weird because it doesn't matter how fast the car is going so it seems like something is wrong. Think of a small ICE car pulling a trailer up a steep hill and how hard the engine would be running. Now imagine the engine running that hard while stopped at a stoplight with no trailer. That is the angry bees sound. But it also can't seem to be reproduced on demand, either. Putting it in hv charge mode doesn't guarantee it will happen. It only happened with our car once and that was back in January. It's possible I may never hear it again.
 
I posted a youtube video of a Honda Fit at full throttle (doing the 1/4 mile).

The thread is "Test Drive on Clarity with little charge"
 
loomis2 said:
The angry bees sound is when the engine will run at full revs. It is really weird because it doesn't matter how fast the car is going so it seems like something is wrong. Think of a small ICE car pulling a trailer up a steep hill and how hard the engine would be running. Now imagine the engine running that hard while stopped at a stoplight with no trailer. That is the angry bees sound. But it also can't seem to be reproduced on demand, either. Putting it in hv charge mode doesn't guarantee it will happen. It only happened with our car once and that was back in January. It's possible I may never hear it again.
Click to expand...

2 months 2000 miles ....no bee’s.... no gas either.... oh well... Love my Clarity!


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
Yes, here's my video of it (around 16s in), the sound is kind of dampered due to the mic of my phone but it's a lot higher than just normal engine rumbles.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Woqc7B7aciUEaAS0XpiGlguaaQj4Jyor

On my clarity, it seems to happen from time to time on HV mode in local (stop sign stop light traffic) and it doesnt just happen during low battery.

There seems to be a variation in the cars made or the settings they are set as.
It seems the normal behavior should be a quiet drive on HV mode while there is still battery left. While some people report no revving/bees in their Claritys while others (like me) have heard the sounds often.
 
Chooch said:
I don't have an audio but the angry bees is the sound when at low speed and no charge; I don't think they are 2 different things.

I have to say though that I took my son's 2008 Civic to work this morning and, I swear, it is actually louder than the Clarity when the hive's been disturbed (which I've learned, thanks to the knowledgeable and helpful folks in this forum, apparently only happens when I let the charge fully deplete and am driving around town). I think I had just become accustomed to the super quietness of EV around town such that on those couple instances where I ran out of charge and the HV came on, complete with bees, it was such a big noise level change from basically silent EV mode, that I probably made more of it than necessary. Driving an ICE this AM reminded me just how loud and rough they are and I am not looking forward to my ride home in it. On the other hand my son will a blast in the Clarity today, no doubt in Sport Mode!

As a little trial yesterday while driving around town, I had about 40% battery and I hit the HV Charge button to see how the bees were and ....nothing! I could hardly tell a difference from the EV I had been in. So it seems that in the past when I have been bothered (greatly) by the bees, I believe I had been out of charge totally. So if I can avoid the bees by keeping it to say no less than 3 bars on range then I will be very close to 100% in love with the Clarity. And given that I have been averaging 60 around-town-miles per full charge lately here in NH, that shouldn't be hard to do :)

We are going on a long trip this weekend so if we deplete charge and if we hear the bees, I'll tape it for you.
Click to expand...

Update: Sorry, but we went on the long drive this past weekend and we experienced no bees at all, despite running the battery all the way down to 2 bars and driving around hilly VT back roads where I really thought I'd be able to get an audio of them. We even dared to put it in HVCharge on the highway and still no bees sound, it just purred along nicely in every mode we tried all weekend. In the past when I tried HVCharge one time, I thought the car was going to explode from the revving but this time it was seemless and in less than an hour on the highway we got back 57% EV range without using much gas. I was impressed.
I just watched DC2's video which shows exactly the sound I had heard a couple times before and it brought back terrible memories- I swear I've been traumatized by the bees! Sorry I can't help figure out the hows and whys of the bees; I am just hoping they continue to stay away. Loving the Clarity even more now.
 
DC2 said:
Yes, here's my video of it (around 16s in), the sound is kind of dampered due to the mic of my phone but it's a lot higher than just normal engine rumbles.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Woqc7B7aciUEaAS0XpiGlguaaQj4Jyor

On my clarity, it seems to happen from time to time on HV mode in local (stop sign stop light traffic) and it doesnt just happen during low battery.

There seems to be a variation in the cars made or the settings they are set as.
It seems the normal behavior should be a quiet drive on HV mode while there is still battery left. While some people report no revving/bees in their Claritys while others (like me) have heard the sounds often.
Click to expand...
I think the ICE is trying to charge the battery for best efficiency, which means higher rpm & full throttle.

How about freeway cruising?
 
The only time I can hear the engine running is when the car is stopped. I can also hear it when I stomp on the accelerator hard which I rarely do.

One day I was pulling out of a parking space along a street where I had parallel parked. I looked for cars coming and didn't see any. I started to pull out and there WAS a car coming so I pushed all the way down on the pedal and the car shot out of the parking spot. The car did a great job of getting me out of trouble, and I could clearly hear the engine.

The ICE may kick on and off on the freeway in HV mode but I can't tell if the engine is running or not. I often pull up the display on the touch panel so I can see if the engine is supplying power or not when running in HV mode.
 
Roy2001 said:
I think the ICE is trying to charge the battery for best efficiency, which means higher rpm & full throttle.

How about freeway cruising?
Click to expand...
In my experience, bees-wise you usually don't hear it on the highway. The revving only occurs when you stop at a light or stop sign and try to accelerate from 0-30 mph and go again.

Chooch said:
Update: Sorry, but we went on the long drive this past weekend and we experienced no bees at all, despite running the battery all the way down to 2 bars and driving around hilly VT back roads where I really thought I'd be able to get an audio of them. We even dared to put it in HVCharge on the highway and still no bees sound, it just purred along nicely in every mode we tried all weekend. In the past when I tried HVCharge one time, I thought the car was going to explode from the revving but this time it was seemless and in less than an hour on the highway we got back 57% EV range without using much gas. I was impressed.
I just watched DC2's video which shows exactly the sound I had heard a couple times before and it brought back terrible memories- I swear I've been traumatized by the bees! Sorry I can't help figure out the hows and whys of the bees; I am just hoping they continue to stay away. Loving the Clarity even more now.
Click to expand...

Recently, even at really low battery <20%, the bees-like revving has reduced. I'm not sure why. Perhaps the car's algorithm adjusts the longer it is driven?
 
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