HV Battery Capacity Update

S

Steven B

Active Member
Took vehicle to the dealer for the three service bulletins and asked them to perform the high voltage battery test so I'd at least know where it stood now, given that the test was not performed as part of PDI with other required actions. Current mileage 18.5k.

Assuming the battery capacity was at 55 Ah in Dec 2017 and knowing it is currently at 52.9 Ah, a linear projection would be that it would fall to the warranty replacement level (36.6 Ah) at the end of year 2029. Someone else may have the science to say what the capacity degradation curve looks like if linear is not a good assumption.
 
I babied my gen-1 Insight's battery--it lasted just 8.2 years (on an 8-year warranty), but Honda's learned a lot about batteries in 20 years. I'm just going to drive my Clarity and not worry about the battery. I top it off after a 10-mile drive. I let it go down to 2 bars (in my opinion, it should show 0 bars when EV range is 0) rather than use HV if I have just a few miles to go. The idea of charging to just 80% and never letting it go down to 2 bars seems too much like walking next to the cart to protect the horse from working too hard even though I put really good bearings in the cart's wheels and pumped the cart's tires up to 80 psi.
 
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insightman said:
too much like walking next to the cart to protect the horse from working too hard
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Thanks for the nice metaphor. As a city boy I've always wondered why putting the horse before the cart is such a proverbially bad idea. Now I have another horse and cart story to deal with!

WRT the substance of this post: With an EV that offers 200+ miles of range, it's fine to be conservative about how low to go and how high to charge. With a PHEV, every mile is precious, and so I happily start at 100% and end up at zero whenever the need arises.

PS: I've discovered that if I lose some weight I can achieve both battery and personal life extension simultaneously. Best deal ever.
 
No idea about the science behind it, but I remember reading on a Leaf forum that battery capacity takes a dip right off the bat but then settles down to a slower rate of degradation.
 
Steven B said:
Took vehicle to the dealer for the three service bulletins and asked them to perform the high voltage battery test so I'd at least know where it stood now, given that the test was not performed as part of PDI with other required actions. Current mileage 18.5k.

Assuming the battery capacity was at 55 Ah in Dec 2017 and knowing it is currently at 52.9 Ah, a linear projection would be that it would fall to the warranty replacement level (36.6 Ah) at the end of year 2029. Someone else may have the science to say what the capacity degradation curve looks like if linear is not a good assumption.
Click to expand...

That’s awesome. I have a few high level questions. In general what are your average summer high temps and average winter lows? How far is your average daily commute? What is your general DOD of the battery? Do you allow the SOC to go down a quarter, half, all the way. Do you always charge to full? Level 2 charge, stock charger or something in between.

I have been in the shop 3 times for the various service bulletin fixes and I can’t get the geniuses to give me the number. This last time they finally figured out how to pull it (after I told them how to) and when I returned to pick up the car and asked for the number, their response was “what do you want it for” My response was “it’s a part of the PDI, I would like an update every year or so...you know what, just forget it, I will take my business elsewhere”


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1) North Alabama weather conditions: https://www.weather.gov/hun/huntsvillenormalsandextremesdatabase
2) Garaged (Temp 35 to 80), charged 99% of the time with the stock 110V charger; charging starts approx. 1 hr after usage; usually just for overnight period.
3) 'Average' daily use is probably 25 miles total, but varies from 12 to 45.
4) General DOD is 45 to 50% by end of day.
5) In the winter, I found charging to 100% was ok (ICE would not start on first hard braking event) but last spring/summer/fall was micromanaging to stop short of 100% (usually 98-99%). With app broken and ICE again turning on in the warmer weather, I am letting it fully charge and shifting to neutral for first two braking events to avoid ICE engagement.
6) Just side note: my usual dealer who performed the HV Battery test was not the dealer I purchased it from (in Dec 2017, with the legislative threat of ending the tax incentive, I was frantic to find the color and trim as soon as available within the general area).
 
Steven B said:
1) North Alabama weather conditions: https://www.weather.gov/hun/huntsvillenormalsandextremesdatabase
2) Garaged (Temp 35 to 80), charged 99% of the time with the stock 110V charger; charging starts approx. 1 hr after usage; usually just for overnight period.
3) 'Average' daily use is probably 25 miles total, but varies from 12 to 45.
4) General DOD is 45 to 50% by end of day.
5) In the winter, I found charging to 100% was ok (ICE would not start on first hard braking event) but last spring/summer/fall was micromanaging to stop short of 100% (usually 98-99%). With app broken and ICE again turning on in the warmer weather, I am letting it fully charge and shifting to neutral for first two braking events to avoid ICE engagement.
6) Just side note: my usual dealer who performed the HV Battery test was not the dealer I purchased it from (in Dec 2017, with the legislative threat of ending the tax incentive, I was frantic to find the color and trim as soon as available within the general area).
Click to expand...
What is a PDI?
 
The pre-delivery inspection that is done when you originally purchase the car.


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Well after a lot of headaches with the dealership I finally got my battery capacity reading. After 13 months and 19k miles I am at 54.0ah. I’m really pleased considering the huge weather swings in Kansas City. We go from 100 degree highs for the month of August to 0 degree lows during February. For the record I took delivery of my car as soon it arrived from off the boat from Japan so I am sure that helped.


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I'm taking our Base into the dealer on Monday so they can run the battery capacity check. It appears to have been skipped at the actual PDI that was performed prior to delivery on March 30. o_O
 
I just had a service visit to my local dealer. Only 1 mile from my home, it's the dealer where I bought both my Clarity and my previous car, a 2014 Civic EX-L. Since several other items on the PDI were not performed (delivered with high voltage battery dead and body plugs not installed), I asked the service writer about doing the battery test as delineated in the PDI. He said he had never heard of such a thing but would speak to the shop manager and call me later. When he called, he said that doing a high voltage battery test was not something that they did and that they didn't even have access to that information from the vehicle. I informed him that he was wrong.

That afternoon when I got the email from Honda about my service experience, I gave them one star and related that both the service writer and the shop manager obviously didn't know anything about servicing a Clarity. I do wish that Honda would do a better job of training their sales and service staff on these cars.
 
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