LastTexasClarity
New Member
Have to drive about 600 miles round trip tomorrow. New to this Clarity PHEV thing. What is my best strategy? Will I be required to stop and charge somewhere along the way?
My First Long Distance Trip
- Thread starter LastTexasClarity
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jdonalds
Well-Known Member
No charging on long trips is the biggest benefit of a PHEV. Just treat the car like you would an internal combustion engine car. Put it in HV mode and add Sport. Stop for gas when needed. You can start out with the car fully charged, then switch to EV mode when you drive around town at your destination. Every time you turn the car off it forgets that you had HV selected so you have to remember to re-select HV.
Have a nice trip.
Have a nice trip.
I don’t think you’ll need to. It should be just a regular road trip. Since 600 is so much further than the battery range the battery shouldn’t be much of a focus unless you don’t mind stopping every 50 miles to charge for a couple hours. I haven’t done that long a trip but I think you just put it in HV mode when you hit the freeway and then stop to get gas half way thru.
I’m curious just because I haven’t tried it but why would you do Sport in HV rather than just HV? I’d assume the ability to do one pedal driving is a big benefit but other than that I treat Sport mode as kind of a fun gimmick. Thanks
MajorAward
Active Member
ACC seems quicker to respond in sport mode, particularly when returning you to your set speed after slowing down for traffic ahead of you. Another thing I will say about an extended trip, as I am on one myself right now, is don't forget to return to HV mode when restarting the car. I seem to have a real problem remembering to do this, and have ruined several MPG calculations because of it. It has been suggested to use a post-it note to remind yourself, and as clunky as it sounds, it does help.
fotomoto
Active Member
I took a 1300 mile trip on day 2 of ownership; no worries. Relax and enjoy your new car!
Typical advice is to keep about a 1/2 "tank" of battery while using HV mode on the highways and then EV in towns. It makes more sense/cents to charge from the wall but you can use the car to charge the battery by holding the HV button down for a couple of seconds till you see the display change to HV+. This will charge the battery to 56% (so about 1/2) if run long enough; gas mileage will drop since the ICE is doing double duty.
Dan Albrich
Well-Known Member
I agree with the others in this thread. The HV charge mode (long press HV) should not be necessary but it's good to know about. The typical reason one might need to know is if you forget to press HV, and deplete the EV range to 0. The car still works fine with EV = 0 but won't have as much power on hills, and is more pleasant to drive with some EV. So if you remember to press HV each time you start, you'll naturally retain enough EV for the whole trip. And the HV charge is an option should you forget (to press HV).
MajorAward
Active Member
I just returned home from a ten day 750 mile trip, and averaged 45.76 mpg in HV mode. Started with a fully charged battery, did not charge at all on the trip, and had 10 bars on the GOM at the last fill-up. This was hard, as I could have charged several times and used EV in the small towns, but I wanted to get a good sense of what HV mode had to offer in mixed driving MPG. I calculated using miles/gallons and then subtracting lost battery (EV miles), so was pleased with the results.
I'm done experimenting for a while, though. I think I'll just enjoy the car for what it has to offer in all it's different modes. Whether EV or HV, this is a very efficient vehicle.
If I’m in HV mode on the freeway and want to switch to all battery in town what is the sequence of buttons I press? It seems like I should just push HV until it turns off but I always have a hard time with that as I seem to only stumble into it. I don’t know if another condition needs to be met such as reducing speed or coming to a complete thought. I’ve gotten frustrated enough to pull over on the freeway and just restart the car to get it back to battery
MajorAward
Active Member
I never switch from HV to EV while still on the freeway, but wait for the exit ramp to local roads. I've only had to push the HV button quickly (just as you would to turn it on) to return to EV mode. Maybe I've missed something by not trying it at high speed on the freeway, but seems it should work the same.
craze1cars
Well-Known Member
HV button is a simple toggle switch. Press it once to turn it on. Press once again to turn it off.
Thats pretty much all here is to it...
Thats pretty much all here is to it...
When you toggle HV off what happens? My hope is that the blue arc on the speedo expands and I enter seamlessly into EV or mostly battery mode. What happens in my case is I shut of HV and nothing changes. I end up hitting some combo of HV and Econ and it eventually shifts over but I have no idea why. I am fortunate in that 90% of my driving is battery only so I’m not often switching.
The scenario where this usually comes up is at high freeway speeds where I’m playing with acceleration and accidentally engage ICE by accelerating too hard or hitting Sport to show someone the capabilities of the vehicle. Trying to get back to EV mode from either of these scenarios has been very difficult at higher speeds. I am wondering if, as Craze1cars stated, that it’s a simple toggle switch but maybe there’s some sort of additional speed or deceleration threshold must be met before the vehicle engages EV mode. Seems logical but I wanted to see if anyone else had played with it. MajorAward indicates he hasn’t had issues toggling at non highway speeds so I may need to try switching in different conditions. Are either of you at a dead stop before switching? I honestly don’t think I’ve had a smooth HV/EV switchover
The scenario where this usually comes up is at high freeway speeds where I’m playing with acceleration and accidentally engage ICE by accelerating too hard or hitting Sport to show someone the capabilities of the vehicle. Trying to get back to EV mode from either of these scenarios has been very difficult at higher speeds. I am wondering if, as Craze1cars stated, that it’s a simple toggle switch but maybe there’s some sort of additional speed or deceleration threshold must be met before the vehicle engages EV mode. Seems logical but I wanted to see if anyone else had played with it. MajorAward indicates he hasn’t had issues toggling at non highway speeds so I may need to try switching in different conditions. Are either of you at a dead stop before switching? I honestly don’t think I’ve had a smooth HV/EV switchover
MajorAward
Active Member
Under the scenario you described, sounds like you started the engine, and it warms to normal operating conditions before switching off. If that is happening, then the engine is protecting itself, and all is normal. Am I missing something, like the engine is already warm?
If you are driving in normal EV and the engine does come on because of acceleration, it is programmed to run for various lengths of time based on the situation that initialized the engine start. Pressing the HV button on and off will not change this. If you are NOT in that situation, and just driving in HV mode and toggle it off, the engine should stop running relatively quickly.
I should also state all of this is happening in SoCal in August so I don’t think it would have anything to do engine protection from cold temp.
Makes sense. Still trying to figure this vehicle out.
fotomoto
Active Member
Ryan, as others have pointed out, once the ICE starts it needs to warmup so the car is not letting you switch to EV (only) mode till the engine reaches operating temperature. The only way to stop this is to stop the vehicle and reboot (turn it off and on). Unless you can pull over immediately and turn it off, I highly suggest (biting the bullet) letting it warmup before switching back to EV so the oil gets hot enough to remove at least some moisture buildup that develops during cold engine operation; better in the long run, probably for the exhaust too.
fotomoto
Active Member
Unless SoCal is 190-220f, I don't think your local ambient temps have anything to do with engine warmup other than the length of time to reach optimal operating temps; all kidding aside.
Should also point out, that the ICE needs to get to optimal operating temps primarily for EMISSIONS reasons.
Makes sense. So I just did my commute to Anaheim. Ambient temps between 66-70 degrees and started with a full charge. From the moment I left the house to about 20 minutes later at highway speed with the ICE presumably warmed up to reasonable operating temps/conditions I noticed two things:
1. If I was in HV or EV mode operating on battery only and accelerated to the point the ICE was engaged I could count down between 2-4 seconds from beginning deceleration that a “EV Ready” notification would pop up and I could freely toggle between modes. This appeared to happen regardless of speed and engine readiness status.
2. The only time I noticed a delay was when I tried to switch from HV to EV while exiting the freeway even as I came to a stop. The only thing I observed different was I only had 15 mile range on my battery and it’s seems the HV mode was prioritizing charging the battery.
The 2-4 second delay could either be a software or switching delay or as others have mentioned something needs to cycle in the engine before switching. Just an observation on one trip if anyone is curious.
MajorAward
Active Member
I believe your Clarity is operating as designed. None of us have this car completely figured out yet, and in the end, we are all lab rats for Honda anyway