ProspectiveBuyer
Member
I went on my first long-distance road trip (from Palos Verdes to Palm Desert) and while we made it there and back without incident, I wasn't thrilled with the car's performance. I started with a fully charged battery. I was hoping to make it to the halfway point (about an hour and a half drive to Riverside) and recharge while we stopped for a lunch break. But the freeway drive went through the charge much quicker than my normal commute to work, probably because we were on the freeway for a longer duration. I immediately noticed the change in noise and engine power when it switched over, even though my passenger didn't necessarily notice a difference. I'm more sensitive to changes in noise and handling, especially since I normally drive on a mostly full charge. Aside from that first full charge, we wound up driving the rest of the way on the internal combustion engine. I was worried about some of the steeper inclines, but it turned out to be more winding curves than steep inclines, so generally the car handled okay and didn't rev abnormally high. Once at the hotel, two of the chargers were down and the others were taken. I was able to charge at a local spot the next day. But noticed that the electric range was significantly lower than normal. Instead of getting 67 miles when fully charged, the car now only gets 57 at most. About a 10 mile drop in EV range. On the return trip, the same experience pretty much. Barely made it to Cabazon Outlet mall and was driving on internal combustion engine the rest of the drive home because the places we stopped had no available chargers. Now it's been a few days back home and still experience the reduced EV range after full charge. Has anyone else experienced this sudden drop in EV range after the first long-distance trip? Overall reaction: very disappointed in the Clarity's performance.