Just got my Clarity Plug-In a couple days ago and I have an efficiency question

[MrFixit]

Dan:

I have been through the process of an intentional 12V battery disconnect. As I recall, there are numerous ominous-sounding warnings / failures. I was worried that it was messed up, but I could drive, and after maybe a mile or-two, all of the messages / calibration warnings cleared up. After things cleared, I did initiate a TPMS calibration (not sure if needed, but no harm doing one).

When you say stuck initializing, do you mean that it is not able to drive? I assume you tried just powering down, then up with the normal START button (I may have had to fiddle a few times until it was sufficiently initialized to where I could drive)... If you can drive, your messages / warnings will likely resolve.

 

[MrFixit]

I just saw your follow-up...

Please report back as to whether you got lucky, and resolved the decaying charge in HV by doing this. I will cross my fingers for you !

 

[Dan Albrich]

And yes, just the message "System Initializing... Drive Carefully" then the other messages sort of flip from one to the next. I was concerned because I left it on for awhile hoping it would complete (stationary, in park, in my driveway). Got tired of waiting. Plugged in the car inside my garage and went to bed. In the morning same messages- which is why I got concerned. Anyway, driving a bit cleared them.

So after reboot, good initial results:
- The car immediately went from 32 estimated EV range to 41.
- I drove 230 miles this weekend. The first ~130miles going from Eugene to the coast (Yachats) in HV mode the whole way. The estimated EV range did drop in HV mode, but instead of hitting zero (which has been my usual) it preserved EV range of 33 in the first 130 miles. That's never happened before. So yes, lost some EV range while driving in HV mode, but it didn't got to zero as it always had before. Wonderfull not having to hear angry bees for a change.
- On the way home, the next 130 miles, I did also lose some EV range in HV mode but nothing like in the past. i.e. from about 33 miles EV range down to about 26 miles EV range, I then went to EV only mode last 30 miles to preserve gas. i.e. i knew I'd hit zero but not for long.

Other notes:
- The main big difference I see since reboot, and my wife confirms, we've literally never seen the HV mode gear in the center indicating the engine is driving the wheels. Never, not even once since we bought the car. It now does this routinely when driving around 50 or more MPH. i.e. I see the gear icon engage, and stay engaged for periods of time. I also now see it flip in and out of the gear mode frequently.
- The infotainment screen now auto-dims. It never did that before. Maybe this is just a scewey setting we had before but its nice to see the auto-dim. I didn't realize the car could do that.

So far, the reboot has been all good. Thanks again Kentucky Ken. Hopefully this will continue and I'll have a more normal Clarity experience.

-Dan

 

[MPower]

I drove 230 miles this weekend. The first ~130miles going from Eugene to the coast (Yachats) in HV mode the whole way. The estimated EV range did drop in HV mode, but instead of hitting zero (which has been my usual) it preserved EV range of 33 in the first 130 miles. That's never happened before. So yes, lost some EV range while driving in HV mode, but it didn't got to zero as it always had before. Wonderfull not having to hear angry bees for a change.
- On the way home, the next 130 miles, I did also lose some EV range in HV mode but nothing like in the past. i.e. from about 33 miles EV range down to about 26 miles EV range, I then went to EV only mode last 30 miles to preserve gas. i.e. i knew I'd hit zero but not for long.

Congratulations! This is the type of behavior that I have experienced, except for very energy arduous driving when the EV range takes a bigger hit--mountains on snow covered roads, etc. I hope all stays well for you.