New Honda survey

[PHEV Newbie]

I just completed a new online survey sent by Honda. They were very interested in how we use the various modes (Econ, sport, HV, HV charge), our opinions for which to keep and which to get rid of. They asked about the control buttons for the modes and ask what I thought of alternatives (like a single toggle). They even asked for suggestions for new modes. I suggested a mountain mode where we can ask the car to combine ICE and battery for max power. It sort of does that already in HV but I noticed that it will rely mostly on the ICE if your battery is below a certain point (seems like somewhere around half) even though there is plenty of charge to help out. Under that condition, the ICE will rev very loudly and not provide enough power for climbing. With a significant charge, the ICE purrs while taking a little from the battery and it just flies up like a sports car.

Hopefully, Honda might make little changes to the software to give us even better options for drive modes.

 

[weave]

It'd be nice if they support the car with new features via software upgrades -- even if it costs a reasonable amount.

 

[Michael Borquez]

I would like them to include a learn mode. Basically program the car to track your commute and after tell you the mode or modes to use to maximize efficiency. Or even cooler, let you preprogram your commute and the car automatically changes modes on its own.

We have GPS and all the sensors needed, it would be cool for the car to even suggest driving modes based on conditions as you drive.

 

[bfd]

I thought it was interesting, too. Seems like they're probably getting some grumbling about the number of driving modes and are looking for a way to simplify them. I suggested an dedicated EV only mode - since we have a dedicated HV mode already - though I have no idea why I'd use it over just driving the car. Ours rarely, if ever, uses ICE during normal driving - even at freeway speeds going up a grade. The car used one pip of gasoline (at least on the gauge) since the end of June. We drive somewhere every day, but generally no RTs are more than the range on EV.

 

[KentuckyKen]

I played around with this until my head hurt trying to fit all of Honda’s driving modes and power sources together coherently while preserving all the combinations and adhering to several explanations like those posted by @insightman and @Tahuna just to name a few recent posts.

I’ll offer this suggestion up before my head explodes:
1. Have one rocker switch that toggles between EV and HV with EV illuminated in green and HV in amber. Holding HV down would engage HV CHARGE like now and illuminate an amber “C”, perhaps around a central LED (or get fancy and have the EV, HV, and Charge back lighted with their color). So there would always be one of these lighted; either green or amber.

2. Then have 3 separate buttons labeled ECON, NORMAL, and SPORT and illuminated with green, blue, and red respectively. And set up so pressing any one of the three turns off the other two so that only one can be selected and illuminated at a time.

I would do the rocker horizontal and the three buttons vertical next to it which would be a great excuse to redesign the horrible wasted space, knee knocker wings. And it only requires one extra switch, the rocker switch.
Then you could explain it in the manual that all green is the setting for maximum savings and minimum ICE usage. Kind of like the submarine straight board shut is all green.
Blue is middle of the road and red is hold on to your hat!
And equally important would be redesigning the DDI to better show the driving modes and power sources which presently are located all over the place and not easily discernible.

So let the Clarity Brain Trust work the kinks out of this and see if we can get a consensus on what Honda should have put in the Clarity. And please check to see if this scenario will implement all he possible combinations. I’ve looked at it so long my eyes are crossed.

 

[Hi.Ho.Silver]

I was happy to see that they were actually soliciting input from Clarity customers. I suggested an EV only mode where the car would absolutely remain in EV until the battery reached a low charge I suspect the mode switches are confusing a lot of people and not helping sales. Of course, the untrained salesman probably makes it worse. This car is much more complex than the average car. I thought I had a good understanding until I discovered last week that I needed to manually activate LKAS to have it operate. Amazing how much better it follows the road than “lane departure” which is all I had been in fact using.

 

[Carro con enchufe]

I was happy to see that they were actually soliciting input from Clarity customers. I suggested an EV only mode where the car would absolutely remain in EV until the battery reached a low charge I suspect the mode switches are confusing a lot of people and not helping sales. Of course, the untrained salesman probably makes it worse. This car is much more complex than the average car. I thought I had a good understanding until I discovered last week that I needed to manually activate LKAS to have it operate. Amazing how much better it follows the road than “lane departure” which is all I had been in fact using.

Why do we need an EV mode? The car already defaults to EV.

 

[bfd]

Why do we need an EV mode? The car already defaults to EV.

Good question. I don't think people would be happy with the results. For example, stomping on the pedal in EV only would not trigger the ICE's extra push. And as always, people who want EV only should probably look more closely at the Clarity BEV - or a Tesla.

 

[Bas]

Having an EV only mode would prevent the ICE to come on accidentally. You just gave a little too much ‘gas’ - went into the white lines - and the next 5 minutes the ice is burning (some) gas. I like to mindlessly hit the pedal without anxiously watching if I’m getting close to the white lines.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

 

[lorem101]

If the detent in the accelerator pedal actually changed positions between normal/econ/sport to match up when the engine will start then we wouldn't need an EV only button.
I usually prefer to drive in sport mode and occasionally the engine will come on when I'm not careful. Not a big deal, definitely beats driving in econ mode

 

[Jwbj]

My Kia Niro phev has ev only. I have driven it at 80 mph. in ev only. But with a 26 mile range you don't go far.

 

[insightman]

My Kia Niro phev has ev only. I have driven it at 80 mph. in ev only. But with a 26 mile range you don't go far.

I was wondering how the Niro PHEV's efficiency compares to the Clarity PHEV. The Niro PHEV has a 8.9-kWh battery, vs the Clarity PHEV's 17-kWh battery. In sprited testing, Car & Driver went 41 miles on the Clarity's battery vs 17 miles on the Niro's. That gives the Clarity 2.4 miles/kWh vs the Niro's 1.9 miles/kWH. Using EPA numbers, the Clarity gets 2.7 miles/kWh and the Niro 2.9. The EPA rates the Clarity at 110 MPGe and the Niro at 105 MPGe. So getting 26 miles on the Niro's battery is pretty close to Clarity-level efficiency.

The Clarity weighs 4,059 lbs (Touring), vs the Niro's 3,441 lbs, thanks to the Niro's smaller battery. I'm certain the Clarity is more aerodynamic than the Niro's SUV-like profile.

Bottom line: The two cars' efficiency may be close, but 26 miles wouldn't be enough range for the trips we take in our Clarity (I can't compare the comfort level offered by the Niro PHEV because I've never seen one).