New to EVs and charger

C

CFMSN

New Member
Just took possession of a green Clarity (Touring) in Tampa Bay area. Still less than 100 miles.

Need to do some electrical work for charging and contemplating going with Level 2. Anyone BTDT? I know that recommended min of 32amp but wonder if 40amp has any advantages or disadvantages. Any recs on brand? Thanks for any responses.

I've just scanned messages so far and will spend more time over the next few days learning more about the car.

Later,
C
 
Not sure 40 is better than 32.

We went with the JuiceBox Pro 40. For us level 2 is great as we can recharge mid day in about an hour most days. That way we are driving about 30 miles in the morning, then start out with a full charge for afternoon and evening drives.
 
If you want the fastest charge you will need something that can charge up to 32amps. I have the Juicebox 40 pro. I dont need the 40 amps but we see getting a full EV in the future and it was cheaper than the chargepoint at the time. I like the connectivity and energy reporting a wifi device provides.

With the Clarity, the charging rate from the level 2 charger is at around 7.2kWh and remains constant until near full charge. The ampacity charge rate does fluctuate based on the incoming voltage. Right now in summer with every house having AC on our voltage can be between 230 to 245volts. This puts the ampacity at just under 32 amps at 230volts.
 
One way to look at it is: If I buy an EVSE rated for 40A but I routinely only put 32A through it, maybe it will last longer. Additionally, buying an EVSE rated higher than your current car is some hedge against what your next car will charge at (most likely higher).

That being said, I personally have not installed the L2 EVSE for our Clarity PHEV because I find that I have never needed to charge it in 2 hours. Overnight has been adequate for us and we don't have a variable electric rate that would drive me to keep the charging within a narrow window. Use the 120V charger for a month and then make your decision whether to put in L2.
 
I just installed a 50amp outlet and am using a custom made open evse charger. I could make my cord longer and I also have he ability to plug in other items when need be. My camper, a stove for powder coating, and my welder.

Now back to the charger, I bought it when I had a Volt. So when I moved to the Clarity I had th extra capacity. I'll have enough capacity for my next vehicle as well. Point is, the charger in the car is currently the limiting factor. When you go higher the car should be able to detect what the ability of the charger is and limit to that. Because of my longer cord, I have mine set to auto detect 40 amps.
 
Ok, I am a newbie and have one nagging question about charging: Does one void the warranty, or is it even possible to charge at the super-fast charging stations (Level 3) in a Clarity? All of my research says that, according to Honda, there exist absolutely no charging options other than the Level 1 and 240v/32amp Level 2. I know there are folks who are using 40-amp circuits at home, and all the charging maps out there show Level 3 quick charge stations, but can I use them?

Thanks to the more knowledgeable members of the forum for shedding light on this for me.
 
Sloanhoo said:
Ok, I am a newbie and have one nagging question about charging: Does one void the warranty, or is it even possible to charge at the super-fast charging stations (Level 3) in a Clarity? All of my research says that, according to Honda, there exist absolutely no charging options other than the Level 1 and 240v/32amp Level 2. I know there are folks who are using 40-amp circuits at home, and all the charging maps out there show Level 3 quick charge stations, but can I use them?

Thanks to the more knowledgeable members of the forum for shedding light on this for me.
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With 220V at least 32A and 110V you have all you can use to charge the Clarity.
 
I don't find we need faster charge times. We are both retired but have a young son we take, and pickup, for school. The round trip is 25 miles, so 50 miles a day just for school. Then we make side trips adding about 5 miles, and there are evening events which might involve 10-15 more miles. Some days are 70 miles in all. But we return home between trips. Have a sandwich, a cup of coffee, relax for a short while, and the car is charged for the next trip. Yes it does take 2 hours and 15 minutes for a full charge but it is quite rare to need a full charge with our driving pattern. Usually an hour, or hour and a half, is enough to push it back to 100% charge. Even in the winter when we're only getting 35 miles of EV range we can still drive for weeks and weeks without the gas engine coming on.

We put on over 1,500 miles / month. We have driven outside of our EV range a few times in 2019 because our adult children and grandchildren live just outside our EV round trip range. We've put on about 5,000 miles in 2019 with a total of just over 10 gallons of gas. Tomorrow we plan to take a 578 mile trip to attend a grand-daughter birthday. Good thing we have a PHEV so we won't have range anxiety or long battery charge times. This car is perfect for us.
 
jdonalds said:
I don't find we need faster charge times. We are both retired but have a young son we take, and pickup, for school. The round trip is 25 miles, so 50 miles a day just for school. Then we make side trips adding about 5 miles, and there are evening events which might involve 10-15 more miles. Some days are 70 miles in all. But we return home between trips. Have a sandwich, a cup of coffee, relax for a short while, and the car is charged for the next trip. Yes it does take 2 hours and 15 minutes for a full charge but it is quite rare to need a full charge with our driving pattern. Usually an hour, or hour and a half, is enough to push it back to 100% charge. Even in the winter when we're only getting 35 miles of EV range we can still drive for weeks and weeks without the gas engine coming on.

We put on over 1,500 miles / month. We have driven outside of our EV range a few times in 2019 because our adult children and grandchildren live just outside our EV round trip range. We've put on about 5,000 miles in 2019 with a total of just over 10 gallons of gas. Tomorrow we plan to take a 578 mile trip to attend a grand-daughter birthday. Good thing we have a PHEV so we won't have range anxiety or long battery charge times. This car is perfect for us.
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So what you are saying is I need to chill out and enjoy the breaks in the rat race that recharging can provide me, as well as my car? Good advice. Looking at others’ strategies for longer trips, I have found a couple charging stations at places we would normally take a break anyway. I imagine all this public charging anxiety will melt away once we have actually done it.
 
Sloanhoo said:
So what you are saying is I need to chill out and enjoy the breaks in the rat race that recharging can provide me, as well as my car? Good advice. Looking at others’ strategies for longer trips, I have found a couple charging stations at places we would normally take a break anyway. I imagine all this public charging anxiety will melt away once we have actually done it.
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You basically learn that you are going to drive on gas for a road trips. That is after all what this car is designed for. There are not enough level 2 charges outside of California to make electric road trips a possibility even ignoring the drive for maybe 1 hour charge for 2-3h reality.
 
I find that there are two types of public chargers, free and very expensive. It is generally cheaper to burn gas than use the more expensive public chargers.
 
I have found one that IF you come close to fully deplete the Clarity AND precondition you can get it down to 14c a kWh with a $2 session charge. But I was a bit rude and camped at the charger about 45 minutes after charging completed due to being in the middle of dinner :( that though is when I fired off preconditioning. They were not at all busy and had several open though at least but I still felt a little bad.
 
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