Questions/Issues on new Plugin Hybrid

[dnb]

1) Max range when 100% charge shows as 41 miles. Is that normal or is something up with my battery? Max range is supposed to be ~47 but is part of that due to the recharge from breaking? Seems low to me, but my main commute is under 30 so its been fine. Just wasn't sure what other people see as their max range on electric. My kids get a kick out of watching it increase 1 mile when it charges while coasting / breaking

2) I've had it happen 2 or 3 times now (1 month ownership) where the car will not use any electric even when set to Econ mode and HV off. Normally the blue (electric) meter fills about 80-90% of the spedometer, but it will be 100% white and use gas, even though I'm at 100% battery and in econ mode.

I'm not sure what is causing it, but I'm thinking it might be related to the climate control as it seems to happen only if I've pre-warmed the car (while plugged in). I also turn on the heated seats (love em!) almost all the time right after starting, but it might play a part I'm not sure...

Has anyone else seen this problem? If I swap to HV I can get it to show a 20% or so blue bar which disappears quickly when accelerating so I end up burning some gas when it should be 100% electric. Toggling sport mode on/off, HV on/off (holding will say its fully charged), and econ off/on won't seem to reset it, but it does show up properly the next time I start the car after parking for a few minutes.


Overall I'm loving it, 700+ miles and besides a big roadtrip its been all electric. Filled up the tank (6 gal or so) today for the first time.

 

[jdonalds]

The EV arrange estimate will vary. It is computed and will vary based on ambient temperature plus your previous trip driving habits. In our case we pay a penalty because our last two miles home involves a bit of a hill climb. So our estimates are usually low. Fortunately when we leave home we benefit from the same Hill, losing no power for the first few miles.

 

[dnb]

The EV arrange estimate will vary. It is computed and will vary based on ambient temperature plus your previous trip driving habits. In our case we pay a penalty because our last two miles home involves a bit of a hill climb. So our estimates are usually low. Fortunately when we leave home we benefit from the same Hill, losing no power for the first few miles.

Ok cool thanks , my normal drive is very light on traffic / city and mostly all highway so that is probably why. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't an old battery left uncharged at the dealer or something since 41/47 seems pretty low, but makes sense if its already calculating based on previous trips.

Have you seen my other issue where the electric part goes unused and it tries to use only gas?

 

[JCEV]

41 is about right as the weather gets colder and I see you are using your heated seats so it may end up around 35 to 40 in winter and 50 to 55 in summer. AC uses much less power than electric heat. You may get the engine to turn on if you have full battery and go down a hill and try to use Regen. I try to only use Regen braking after ive driven 5 miles or 8km . I'm at 3800 km and have only used 12 litres or 3 Gallons. Simply amazing car ain't it? Welcome

 

[KentuckyKen]

The only way to know the health of your motive (17kW) battery is to have the dealer read the Battery Capacity Signal with their diagnostic computer. This is supposed to be done as part of the Clarity specific PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) per Service Bulletin 17-093 which is attached. The nominal value is 55 Amp hours. Anything significantly lower indicates a problem. I had mine checked and at 6 months it was 54.7.

 

[dnb]

Simply amazing car ain't it?

Yep really loving mine! . Glad the electric range is normal Only issue now is the random only gas usage even though battery is fully charged.

This is supposed to be done as part of the Clarity specific PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) per Service Bulletin 17-093 which is attached. The nominal value is 55 Amp hours. Anything significantly lower indicates a problem. I had mine checked and at 6 months it was 54.7.

Ok yeah mine says 54(.1?) on my PDI paperwork they gave me, kinda hard to tell because they wrote a bit over

I did have the issue again from #2 again today, no pre-climate control, no heated seats, but it went to sport mode and left it there, a few seconds later the blue bar showed up covering most of the spedometer and it went to using electricity again... super odd, no one else has had this problem?

Econ mode -- but using full gas?

Set to Sport mode and now it uses electric?

Anyone have any clues on what might be causing this? Next time it happens I'll try swapping to sport mode again to see if that triggers it using electric again.

 

[KentuckyKen]

I think the 10 digit string of alpha-numeric characters is for the 12v battery. Also, any auto parts store will test your 12v battery for free and give you a print out.
Honda clearly states that the 17kW battery can be permanently damaged by not being charged for just 3 months. It’s health is measured by the H-IDS (Hoda’s Diagnostic tool) ans reports a “Battery Capacity Signal”
The nominal value for a new one is 55 Amp hours. I bought my Clarity in Feb before the new pre Delecery Inspection (PDI) ( Service Bulletin 17-093) came out. So I had to return and get this measured (mine was 54.7) and get the 4 body plugs installed and the tires set to correct psi.
Attached is the SB 17-093 for the new PDI so you can see what they are supposed to check for you. I showed it to my service advisor and he had never seen it but cheerfully agreed to take care of anything in it that had not been done at the original sale.

 

[dnb]

Well had the no electric issue again twice today both driving from home and then back home.

I'm not sure what to do about it, doesn't sound like anyone here has experienced it so not sure whats going on...

Swapping to sport mode didn't fix it either, I'm not sure if its a timing thing where it wants to be in ICE only mode for a while or what.

 

[lanb]

Well had the no electric issue again twice today both driving from home and then back home.

I'm not sure what to do about it, doesn't sound like anyone here has experienced it so not sure whats going on...

Swapping to sport mode didn't fix it either, I'm not sure if its a timing thing where it wants to be in ICE only mode for a while or what.

Has it been a month or so since the gas engine ran before you started seeing this behavior ?
Could be the gas engine is going thru its system check mode ?
or
check out this thread for various scenarios when ICE comes on
https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/clarity-system-check.1090/

 

[danomite]

dnb-if you accelerate hard so that the power meter indicator goes past the blue bar the EV mode turns off, power meter goes all white, and the engine runs for a while even if the car is stopped and even if the battery is full. If you keep driving without accelerating hard things go back to normal eventually. Definitely a weird moment the first few times it happens. My guess is that they want the engine to keep running until it reaches operating temp and moving parts are all lubed.

 

[dnb]

Has it been a month or so since the gas engine ran before you started seeing this behavior ?
Could be the gas engine is going thru its system check mode ?
or
check out this thread for various scenarios when ICE comes on
https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/clarity-system-check.1090/

I'll check that thread thanks

It has been about a month since I bought it yeah, and I've only used ~30 miles gas since then and about 500 miles total EV only (loving it!). So yeah it might just be needing to do some stuff, just kinda annoying to burn through gas the last few days while on a full battery.

dnb-if you accelerate hard so that the power meter indicator goes past the blue bar the EV mode turns off, power meter goes all white, and the engine runs for a while even if the car is stopped and even if the battery is full. If you keep driving without accelerating hard things go back to normal eventually. Definitely a weird moment the first few times it happens. My guess is that they want the engine to keep running until it reaches operating temp and moving parts are all lubed.

Usually it happens when I'm barely accelerating at all. One of the times this was 100% the case as I was testing the acceleration while turning onto a freeway and did go into the white and then yeah the whole bar went white for the rest of the drive home (few minutes).

If its normal its fine with me, just burned through 20m gas the last few days while at full charge so annoying but if it will stop and go back to the normal blue soon no prob, just want to make sure there isn't something wrong with the car / electronic issue

 

[V8Power]

I think the 10 digit string of alpha-numeric characters is for the 12v battery. Also, any auto parts store will test your 12v battery for free and give you a print out.
Honda clearly states that the 17kW battery can be permanently damaged by not being charged for just 3 months. It’s health is measured by the H-IDS (Hoda’s Diagnostic tool) ans reports a “Battery Capacity Signal”
The nominal value for a new one is 55 Amp hours. I bought my Clarity in Feb before the new pre Delecery Inspection (PDI) ( Service Bulletin 17-093) came out. So I had to return and get this measured (mine was 54.7) and get the 4 body plugs installed and the tires set to correct psi.
Attached is the SB 17-093 for the new PDI so you can see what they are supposed to check for you. I showed it to my service advisor and he had never seen it but cheerfully agreed to take care of anything in it that had not been done at the original sale.

It say battery will be replaced under warranty if capacity drops below 36.6 Ah (8 yrs/100,000mi)