Heavy noise of ICE engine in winter

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Having recently replaced the 12V battery a capacity reading will be inaccurate for several months. If there hasn’t been a noticeable decline in actual EV range or a dash display indicating a problem with the HV battery, it would be reasonable to conclude that that the HV battery capacity is above the warranty threshold.

The issue here is operating a PHEV with a depleted traction battery. It’s the nature of the beast and is a situation that should be avoided. Keep some charge on the battery or put it in HV+ to restore some charge while driving.

As much as I am a fan of the PHEV idea, having owned 2, the reality is they’re more of a PITA.
 
Landshark said:
Having recently replaced the 12V battery a capacity reading will be inaccurate for several months. If there hasn’t been a noticeable decline in actual EV range or a dash display indicating a problem with the HV battery, it would be reasonable to conclude that that the HV battery capacity is above the warranty threshold.

The issue here is operating a PHEV with a depleted traction battery. It’s the nature of the beast and is a situation that should be avoided. Keep some charge on the battery or put it in HV+ to restore some charge while driving.

As much as I am a fan of the PHEV idea, having owned 2, the reality is they’re more of a PITA.
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Why is it a problem with PHEV but not say Accord Hybrid
 
The Accord Hybrid is commonly referred to as a Mild Hybrid. It uses a relatively small battery to run a motor that adds some power and occasionally completely propels the car for short distances. The engine keeps the battery charged between about 40-80%. It won’t become fully discharged unless something goes wrong. Even if it did, its contribution to the whole operation is minimal, so you may not even notice. The battery in a PHEV is much larger and plays a more significant role. When it becomes depleted the performance of the vehicle can be significantly impacted.

The Clarity and our Jeep 4xe both default to a battery depleting mode upon start up. I suspect that most, if not all PHEV’s operate similarly in order to meet a MPG claim. Neither the Clarity or Jeep offer an alternative to the default mode that I’m aware of or wouldn’t require some type of software hack. It’s a first word problem for sure. I don’t care for problems, first world or otherwise, so the solution is to buy conventional ICE vehicles or mild hybrids.

FWIW: our Jeep 4xe PHEV has been parked outside the garage, at a distance from other buildings, because we received another recall notice that the battery may spontaneously combust. We dealt with the same issue a year ago and the solution was a software fix, which not surprisingly didn’t work. Now they’re going to attempt another software fix or possibly a battery replacement. Once done the car will be sold and replaced with a mild hybrid from Toyota.
 
Landshark said:
Have you had an opportunity to drive the car in cold temperatures with a charged HV battery to see if the issue has resolved?
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When the battery is charged and ICE engine is used there is no noise.

When you are driving and battery drains to zero and ICE engine kicks in, the noise is unbearable. If this was a feature of Honda PHEV, they should have addressed it by keeping min battery charged.

Its stupid to constantly look at battery levels and switch to HV manually.
 
JKroll said:
Its stupid to constantly look at battery levels and switch to HV manually.
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I agree. The good news is that you now have a solution to avoid the undesirable driving characteristics.

An option to automatically start in HV, or in the case of our Jeep, e-Save, would be a welcome convenience. I speculate that environmental or emissions regulations prohibit manufacturers from including that option. Stellantis/FCA/Dodge/Ram/Jeep has been threatening to build what they called a Ramcharger pickup truck that operates in a completely different manner and would theoretically eliminate the annoying habit exhibited by most other PHEV’s, as discussed here. Given the current market and geopolitical conditions we aren’t likely to see that vehicle for a number of years, if ever.
 
I think it will come to light. Scout is touting their Harvester package as the most popular edition, offering the same generator range extension.
According to the order tracker thread on a Scout forum, over 80% are chosing the range extended variant.
Ram would be missing out on a large market if they don't. I know they pulled their PHEV line, but it was the reverse approach... ICE with Electric assist. Not electric with generation from combustion.
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I'm still a PHEV or extended range EV fan. For me it is practical to reduce the number of vehicles (or maybe only have 1 vehicle) to own, maintain and insure. I mean 100% of the EV owners I know, keep more than one vehicle for long trips. They all keep at least one gas or diesel vehicle.

I could achieve this same thing with an all-gas or all-diesel vehicle, but you then lose fuel savings. Totally agree about the mild hybrid advantage in terms of striking a balance between having some fuel savings and nothing too odd ball. But a mild hybrid is less savings for my commute which is 100% electric. I sometimes go 2 months without buying gas.

The only downside that surprised me about Clarity so far is the insurance cost. In my market, the cost is about double the cost of my Toyota Tundra, and hasn't gone down over the years. All of my gas vehicles have gotten less expensive to insure over the years. That is not the case with Clarity, when my cost has actually risen slightly now in year 7+ of ownership. I'll reach 8 years in September of this year.

PS: I have not yet encountered anything catastrophic with PHEV touch wood. If something occurs to make the car unusable say in year 11, my opinion may change. My last Subaru 2003 model year purchased in 2002 was expensive to operate and maintain, but it lasted me 16+ years, and still on the road today (given to a family member). By expensive I mean we had two head gaskets replaced at $4k ea and the 4cyl Subaru outback wagon always got around 18mpg.
 
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Dan Albrich said:
I could achieve this same thing with an all-gas or all-diesel vehicle, but you then lose fuel savings. Totally agree about the mild hybrid advantage in terms of striking a balance between having some fuel savings and nothing too odd ball. But a mild hybrid is less savings for my commute which is 100% electric. I sometimes go 2 months without buying gas.
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Fuel savings varies by region and with fluctuations in gas prices. It worked for us while in Oregon with $4/gal gas and $.12/kWh electricity which was even less for us since we had some solar offset. The east coast has electricity rates that are 2-3 times what they are in Oregon and gas is $2.50 a gallon. For at least 4 months out of the year (winter) EV range is reduced by 30-40% which makes it more expensive to operate on electricity.

Even in your situation the savings probably doesn’t add up to that much. Maybe not even enough to pay for the higher insurance rates. It looks like gas in Oregon is less than $3 and I know Pacific Power was raising rates on a regular basis a couple of years ago. Seems to be all the rage with electricity providers these days. The SUV we’re looking at gets 34-38mpg and seats 6 comfortably, 7 in a pinch. The Jeep gets 24mpg at best and seats 4-5. When we have relatives visit with children we have to take 2 vehicles. That’s not fuel efficient. And the insurance on the Toyota will be less than the Jeep.

We’re also a 2 driver household, which may be more common than a 1 driver household. Just a different perspective to think about.
 
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