Ready to buy - battery question

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Grant

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Hello, all

I am fairly certain I am buying a Clarity in the next week or so, and I am pretty excited to be going partially gas-free!

We are looking at getting a leftover 2018, as in my (broader) area at least, there are a fair number of them and there seems to be some amazing value available if one is willing to 'eat' a model year in terms of depreciation/resale.

The one dealership we have been to that has these, where we ended up test driving... It was clear that nobody is testing them, and the sales staff doesn't really know how to sell them even. I don't know a ton about the car, but I am pretty sure it was equal too more than the sales guy I had. Anyhow, my question is how concerned should I be about buying one of these that has been sitting, charge-depleted, for who knows how long, in terms of future battery performance.

(I could be wrong, but I have a feeling some if not most dealers are not keeping these cars in charged, ready to go, shape. At the dealer we visited, the traction batteries were bottomed out, and none of the ICE starter batteries had anything either. They jump started one of the three eventually, and we drove it in straight HV, then asked them to charge it some while we went for lunch so we could try it as EV too, since driving on battery is kind of the whole point of buying one of these. They weren't even sure they could, but eventually found a guy from the shop who knew how and where to pull it in and charge it some.)

Just buy and rely on the warranty, in terms of battery concerns? Or is there anything specific I should have checked? Also, will the selling dealer do all updates and bulletins and such prior to delivery, or do I need to follow up with my local dealer? (Buying from some distance since my mostly rural area has zero stock of these.)

Any other pointers or things you think I should know pertinent to my purchase are welcome as well.

Thanks in advance for any insights,

Grant
 
Grant said:
Thanks in advance for any insights
Click to expand...
Insights from @insightman:

Have you looked at the Pre-Delivery Inspection document? Many dealers don't. Make sure they insert the rubber plugs in the holes under the Clarity where it's fastened down during shipping--they come in the same plastic bag with the front license-plate mount. Make sure they lower the tire pressure to 36 psi--many dealers leave at the 50-psi shipping pressure. Make sure the EVSE (the cord you use to charge the battery) is included in its bag. Make sure they fully charge the car with their own EVSE (they're not supposed to use yours for actual charging after they verify it works OK) before you take delivery.

Following the 20-step PDI procedure, on the last page of the document linked above, there is information on performing a Battery Pack Capacity test. You should have them perform that test to verify the battery has been properly maintained. The dealer may try to tell you it's not part of the 20-step PDI procedure, but you should tell them you need to have a print-out of the results of that test. In a perfect world, the resulting number would be 55 Amp-hours. A Clarity HV battery under warranty will be replaced if it registers less that 36.6 Ah. Most forum members who get the results from this test report greater than 53 Ah.

Finally, have the dealer verify that all the Service Bulletin software updates (and the SB 18-090 hardware replacement of the Climate Control Unit) for your Clarity's VIN have been implemented.
 
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I would say you nailed it on the "rely on the waranty" part. Some folks have had the dealer do a test on the ev battery to make sure its capacity is in good order. It would be nice to have known the actual state of charge the battery was before the charge. Many have saw the same thing with the cars not being charged and no knowledgable people at the dealerships. Be sure and check the tire pressure before you leave the lot. Usually over inflated to 50 psi. Ive had mine about 10 months and really like it.
 
I'd lean toward a later production date in 2018. You can tell this by looking at the VIN number or the manufacturer sticker inside the door. Someone here may be able to give you better advice, but I would look for one maybe after September/October 2018 manufacture. That's probably about 17000 or greater VIN from what I remember. Again, maybe someone with better memory/more recent experience can nail down the VIN better or may have a different opinion on the date range preferred.
 
insightman said it well.

I love my car, but one of the downsides of the Clarity, which I did not fully appreciate until I purchased the car, is dealer support (or lack thereof). You are correct to be concerned about battery degradation; the dealers are simply clueless. If you have spent 15 minutes reading here, you know more than most of them. Insist on the test that insightman described and make it a condition of purchase. They can run a check by VIN on which service bulletins are not installed on the vehicle that you're looking at. 18-097 will not come up in the list-by-VIN but if they look at the SB by number they will see that it is applicable to all. 18-097 relates to public chargers; some folks have the issue and some do not, but I've seen no reports of problems caused by installing it.

So that you don't have to search the forum for it (it's posted several times) here's the list of service bulletins:
18-089: EVTC & 3-way Valve software update for DTC's P100C, P0010, and P26A3 (this replaces 18-079)
18-090: 6VT00, EVTC Failure Misdirection PUD
18-091: Driver Display Software Update (Mileage) (this replaces 18-069)
18-096: 6CW00, Emissions Warranty CD Product Update
18-097: Charging problems (sensitivity to power fluctuations at public chargers)
 
Here’s what my dealer supplied me with (after coaxing):

45207206905_5c90375183_z.jpg
 
Thank you all for the input!

I had already thought about the higher-VIN thing, glad to see some confirmation that it might make sense to do so, if given a choice. And thanks for the lists; they will help.
 
Robert_Alabama said:
I'd lean toward a later production date in 2018. You can tell this by looking at the VIN number or the manufacturer sticker inside the door. Someone here may be able to give you better advice, but I would look for one maybe after September/October 2018 manufacture. That's probably about 17000 or greater VIN from what I remember. Again, maybe someone with better memory/more recent experience can nail down the VIN better or may have a different opinion on the date range preferred.
Click to expand...
A very small percentage of dealer websites have photos of the VIN plate in the door jamb, from that I was able to get a small sampling of different manufacturing dates:

22992 11/18
21454 10/18
19874 10/18
19299 9/18
19197 9/18
17310 8/18
14284 5/18
12230 4/18
 
I live in truck country where the market for plug-ins, hybrids, and cars in general is poor. We bought our 2013 CMax Energi in 2014 after sitting on the lot for a year with an empty battery even though they had an L2 charge station on the front lot. Nearly 5 years later, our battery is behaving no differently than the reports from other owners on the internets. So I had no reservations picking up a 2018 Clarity that had been on the lot for 7 months with only 3 miles. I'm more worried about the 12v honestly.

Now on the other end of the spectrum, not using an old battery and letting it sit for long periods of time (especially in the heat) can kill it. We had that experience with an 06 Prius.

The big variable to all of this is battery chemistry. Each one of the packs I just mentioned have different chemistries and metals making up the pack so it will always be a somewhat apples to oranges comparison.

YMMV
 
2002 said:
A very small percentage of dealer websites have photos of the VIN plate in the door jamb, from that I was able to get a small sampling of different manufacturing dates:

22992 11/18
21454 10/18
19874 10/18
19299 9/18
19197 9/18
17310 8/18
14284 5/18
12230 4/18
Click to expand...

That's a helpful list - thanks @2002

Mine is a December 2018 production date that I picked up in January 1 2019 - VIN ends in 23567

I specifically had to request the newest arrival as I did not want the CA red colored HOV carpool single occupant stickers that the dealers pre-order and pre-apply prior to purchase.
So they found one that was arriving which had no sticker pre-ordered and I got to apply for the newer purple HOV stickers which gives me an extra year....
 
4sallypat said:
Mine is a December 2018 production date that I picked up in January 1 2019 - VIN ends in 23567
Click to expand...
Thanks I couldn't find a 12/18. Mine is 11/18 and is VIN 23232 which isn't too far from yours so I am thinking mine was built in late November. I am guessing the 2019's started production in January or maybe late December but I don't have any manufacturing dates yet for 2019. The VIN numbers in 2019 reset to 0 or at least a low number and the 10th digit changed from J to K, like this one JHMZC5F33KC000801
 
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