How to Improve the Clarity

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David Towle

Well-Known Member
Had my car 1.5 months, thought this would be a fun thread. Here are improvements, some of which should take just software mods, that i would like to see on the car.

1. I started using the heater in EV mode and my mpg plummets, not a surprise. What I would like to have, is a Heat-EV mode where the car uses the ICE only when needed to maintain cabin temperature. When its on of course the ICE will also power the car and charge the battery, but it would only stay on as long as required for heat. The rest of the time, even up hills, would just be electric. The electric heater would be locked off in this mode. Could probably be implemented to go on with a long push of the Sport or Eco button.

2. Its annoying sometimes that there is no mode with no regenerative braking. I would like to be able to give the right paddle one pull and have it go into this mode for maximum coasting. It should also stay in this mode until you give a pull on the left paddle.

3. Have snap in panels to go over the jacking point in the holes in the sills to keep out all the leaves and mud that now pile up in there. I hate to pull the sill covers off but I think they'll have to go eventually as they are now.

4. The plug in hybrid badge on the cover of the receptacle is ugly and should not be there. Has anyone tried removing this with a hair dryer? (Worried about warping the whole door.) The one on the back is fine but its enough.

Let's hear what you think of my ideas and what else you have! thanks, Dave
 
David Towle said:
Had my car 1.5 months, thought this would be a fun thread ....

4. The plug in hybrid badge on the cover of the receptacle is ugly and should not be there. Has anyone tried removing this with a hair dryer? (Worried about warping the whole door.) The one on the back is fine but its enough.

Let's hear what you think of my ideas and what else you have! thanks, Dave
Click to expand...

Good ideas all. As far as 4 goes:

I removed both front emblems (on charging door, and the matching location on R). Used a heat gun set on low. Uneventful. Looks much better.




Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
David Towle said:
Had my car 1.5 months, thought this would be a fun thread. Here are improvements, some of which should take just software mods, that i would like to see on the car.

1. I started using the heater in EV mode and my mpg plummets, not a surprise. What I would like to have, is a Heat-EV mode where the car uses the ICE only when needed to maintain cabin temperature. When its on of course the ICE will also power the car and charge the battery, but it would only stay on as long as required for heat. The rest of the time, even up hills, would just be electric. The electric heater would be locked off in this mode. Could probably be implemented to go on with a long push of the Sport or Eco button.

2. Its annoying sometimes that there is no mode with no regenerative braking. I would like to be able to give the right paddle one pull and have it go into this mode for maximum coasting. It should also stay in this mode until you give a pull on the left paddle.

3. Have snap in panels to go over the jacking point in the holes in the sills to keep out all the leaves and mud that now pile up in there. I hate to pull the sill covers off but I think they'll have to go eventually as they are now.

4. The plug in hybrid badge on the cover of the receptacle is ugly and should not be there. Has anyone tried removing this with a hair dryer? (Worried about warping the whole door.) The one on the back is fine but its enough.

Let's hear what you think of my ideas and what else you have! thanks, Dave
Click to expand...
Using the gas engine to simply heat the cabin is a very, very, very, very bad idea. The gas engines in these cars are too efficent.

My Sonata plugin does that and uses a gallon of gas or more every twenty miles simply to supply heat to the cabin. Frankly, I hate the car because of that, and it totally defeats the purpose of having a plugin hybrid.
 
Using gas engine for heat is the way Hyundai/Kia have implemented their Phev. I do not remember which auto show but I remember the company rep mention, heat is the most electricity consuming item as against cooling/any other accessory. Hence their design would yield very low electric miles on an already 30 mile Phev. So they chose the gas engine to supplement.
 
One possibility is to bump up the ICE to 2 litres. There's enough room under the hood to do that. With that, they could add a more powerful traction motor because combining the battery (charged) with a bigger engine, the Clarity could likely generate over 250 hp and over 300 lb ft of torque (the Accord Hybrid generates 212 hp with the 2 litre engine and tiny battery). It'll be a rocket. Besides, a bigger ICE would provide more power when the battery is depleted. Currently, it's way underpowered when the battery is depleted. The downside of a bigger ICE is slight reduction of range and HV mpg with a heavier engine on board.
 
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For heat to maintain the engine would need to run all the time. Shut heat off while driving outside on a 10F night. Temp plummets and comfort suffers within 60 seconds. So I don’t agree that would be a good feature. Even with reduced range the point of the car is to leave the engine off...you can still do 30 mile commutes on electric with heat on. And if it doesn’t make the distance then he engine turns on and all is well. I have no desire for it to turn in earlier than needed just for heat.

IMO the car just needs to have a stronger motor to allow faster acceleration....it’s just not sporty enough to attract masses and styling is a bit wierd. An extra 50 hp would go a long ways. Also embrace electric drive and get rid of the “fake fast idle” making the car creep when you lift foot off brake. They are mimicking a gas engine here with no point.

More than anything else is though?

I think they should make it into a pickup truck. And no I’m not kidding.

Also DEALER TRAINING. My purchase experience was so lousy for this car (all 3 dealers I visited) because salespeople know nothing, all cars on all lots have dead batteries, no dealers here have fast chargers, and there seems to be zero interest in Honda’s part to actually sell these cars from the dealer side. Most just essentially tried to talk me out of it and buy an Insight or Accord Hybrid instead. Still debating if I should have listened to them lol. I mean this car is nice and all, but it’s simply bland. Appeals to an aging demographic (like me....not normal lol) who still kinda like floaty quiet sedans, and offers nothing for younger people who don’t usually want that. It really shouldn’t have been an underpowered sedan if they wanted to create excitement about the tech. Should be a sporty hatchback, small SUV, or something different than what the Clarity is. Sedans are dying, it’s all over the news. The car is just too dang practical. And that doesn’t sell cars in today’s market.
 
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David Towle said:
2. Its annoying sometimes that there is no mode with no regenerative braking. I would like to be able to give the right paddle one pull and have it go into this mode for maximum coasting. It should also stay in this mode until you give a pull on the left paddle.

Let's hear what you think of my ideas and what else you have! thanks, Dave
Click to expand...

OK. I'll bite. Why do you want to disable regenerative braking? Isn't that always beneficial?

Here's my list.
1. Radio on/off/volume knob!
2. Add a real button like Climate for Audio. The responsiveness of the touch screen is way too slow for the radio controls.
3. Reorganize all the buttons to the left of the steering column. Put all of the ones that open something together and change the others so that they are activated and deactivated the same way (short *or* long press) and with or without lights.
4. Change the word "MAIN" to turn the ACC and LKAS on and off.
5. An EV only mode.
6. More visible location for the USB plugs.
 
PHEV Newbie said:
One possibility is to bump up the ICE to 2 litres. There's enough room under the hood to do that. With that, they could add a more powerful traction motor because combining the battery (charged) with a bigger engine, the Clarity could likely generate over 250 hp and over 300 lb ft of torque (the Accord Hybrid generates 212 hp with the 2 litre engine and tiny battery). It'll be a rocket. Besides, a bigger ICE would provide more power when the battery is depleted. Currently, it's way underpowered when the battery is depleted. The downside of a bigger ICE is slight reduction of range and HV mpg with a heavier engine on board.
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Wonder if they'll do that for the rumored PHEV Pilot?
 
I don't get how a bigger ICE will help with acceleration since we only have a single gear (think 6th gear) that connects to the drive wheels at speeds above 45mph.
 
Engine Drive mode is not for acceleration (even though that's the only time the Clarity can deliver 212 horsepower). If you stomp on the accelerator in Engine Drive mode, the clutch will disengage and drop back to HV Drive mode, where only the traction motor's 181 hp is available. A larger engine would have to be accompanied by a larger starter motor/generator and a larger traction motor to increase the i-MMD hybrid's acceleration. Everything gets bigger, everything gets heavier. I believe Honda got the balance just right.
 
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insightman said:
Hypermilers know that sometimes you can coast forever on a long down-slope. You don't want regen ruining the joy of coasting just to add a few watts to the battery's charge.
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I understand. I used to attempt hypermiling, but it's way too tedious, exhausting and requires too much concentration for me. Wouldn't putting the car in neutral accomplish what Dave wants?
 
Randy Stegbauer said:
3. Reorganize all the buttons to the left of the steering column. Put all of the ones that open something together and change the others so that they are activated and deactivated the same way (short *or* long press) and with or without lights.
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This! It's baffling to me that the car has a trunk release, gas release, and a BLANK PLACE WHERE A BUTTON SHOULD GO on the door, and yet the charge port release is put under the wheel next to the buttons to turn off lane departure and emergency braking.

I'm used to it now, so it doesn't really matter in my day to day routine, but it's bizarre to me that they didn't put the charge port open button next to the other buttons that open stuff!
 
I like the idea of using ICE for heat, but as the poster mentioned, making it an option (and not hard-wired). It gives the user the chance to specify how they want it. Now if a user does this and finds it burns a lot of gas and they don't like that, they can put it back. I can see some cases where I want to keep the electric charge as much as possible in order to facilitate a quieter ride.

Not sure if possible to do via software, but if one could optionally limit RPM high to limit high pitched revving. Again, I'd make this optional as not everyone cares. i.e. to my ears, the high pitched RPM sound of the gas engine is more annoying than a conventional car. This makes our car sort of a wolfman in that it normally is quieter than any car I drive.

I've said this one before but permit one to select HV and leave it in HV mode across restarts. I'd just make the setting (whatever it is) persistent. Users could still opt for what they like. If you like and use EV exclusively so be it. Select EV and leave that. If you on long trip and want HV for each start for a few days, let the car automatically stay in HV.

My last car was a 2003 Subaru hatchback that we drove for 16 years (only owners). I miss all wheel drive a little, the hatchback itself, and the rear wiper. Oddly even though the Subaru had 16 gallon tank and not cheap to operate, did have longer range (i.e. max about 400-460 miles).

Overall I really love the car. Best I've ever owned by far. I love how quiet it is. And although I don't call myself an environmentalist, I really like knowing I'm doing zero emissions sometimes for weeks at a time. (My in-town driving doesn't require burning gas at all).

-Dan
 
Emanuel Green said:
and yet the charge port release is put under the wheel next to the buttons to turn off lane departure and emergency braking.
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Yeah I accidentally disabled something yesterday when blind opening the charge door when I got home... luckily all that stuff re-engages on car turning on but thought it was funny anyway

My biggest pet peeve is... I want wireless android auto. Its annoying having wireless charging and bluetooth but have to hardwire for nav and better music integration and everything else... bluetooth + audio queues doesn't seem to work at all "phone not supported" so I always seem to forget my phone in the car since its the only time i have to plug something in...

The wireless / satellite reception also seems pretty poor with SiriusXM
 
neal adkins said:
Can you post some pics?
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I took a picture but can't post it, how do you post on this forum? None of the buttons seem to get the picture with the post. My pics come thru as HEIC format, that may be the problem, but don't know how to change.

Anyway it looks much better, the charge door becomes much less noticeable with that thing removed. It took me a little more work than expected, most of the glue tape stayed attached to the car and had to be picked off especially on the right (metal) side, then cleaned up with acetone. You can also seem some shadows still in the paint but I think they will blend in with time.
 
craze1cars said:
For heat to maintain the engine would need to run all the time. Shut heat off while driving outside on a 10F night. Temp plummets and comfort suffers within 60 seconds. So I don’t agree that would be a good feature. Even with reduced range the point of the car is to leave the engine off...you can still do 30 mile commutes on electric with heat on. And if it doesn’t make the distance then he engine turns on and all is well. I have no desire for it to turn in earlier than needed just for heat.
Click to expand...

I don't agree at all, my previous car, a BMW 328, had a setting where you could get heat out of the engine for 15 minutes after turning it off. It had an electric water pump that would circulate the hot engine water over that time and the heat would start fading at the end but was still usable. Obviously its a bigger engine but I'm sure the Clarity could do it for 5-10 minutes.
 
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