Review on Clarity mileage in HV mode with depleted battery

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PHEV Newbie

Well-Known Member
Interesting review here. He got 50 mpg in HV mode. I suspect that was combined driving. He commented on how slow acceleration is with a depleted battery, much slower than in EV alone. In other words, never drive with a depleted battery if you want normal performance out of your Clarity. It's a dog in HV mode with a depleted battery.

 
Well, all I can say is that I tried this once and got much better results. I let the battery deplete to 0 EV range and the car entered HV automatically. On rolling hills with no passengers and at speeds of 55 to 60 mph with the ac on, the car drove perfectly fine. I had no loss of power and it seemed to accelerate normally. And I didn’t get the angry bees high reving and in fact could just barely tell the ICE was running. I got all possible power flows and even off the highway for a mile to my driveway, the ICE Was hardly noticeable. However, I would not want to try that heavily loaded, at very high speeds, at high altitudes, and/or up a steep hill.
To me, my Clarity is perfectly well behaved and I’ve never once heard the angry bees. Even on a long trip with a steep hill climb, the engine only reved up to a very moderate mid range, kind like my old truck down shifting. Not objectionable at all, but that was with a goodly amount of charge. I have no idea why some get such poor results.
 
No, that's not combined mpg.

I get 51 mpg (4.6 l per hundred km) when driving in HV mode, counted from when i activate HV mode.

At least that's what the car reports. I don't know how accurate it is.
 
Like Kentucky Ken, I have actually done this many times...literally thousands of miles in HV mode with depleted battery, and never have had a loss of performance or acceleration.

I can only assume the tested car had some sort of defect.
 
Mine feels slightly sluggish when in HV even with a full battery when starting from a stop... but I'm not sure if its actually slugish or just because of the noise it makes makes me not push hard on the accelerator.

Crusing on the highway its not loud but accelerating (on ramp to highway or from stop) its angry and revs high.
 
victor_2019 said:
No, that's not combined mpg.

I get 51 mpg (4.6 l per hundred km) when driving in HV mode, counted from when i activate HV mode.

At least that's what the car reports. I don't know how accurate it is.
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Oh, sorry. I was unclear. On "combined" meant city + highway driving. I forgot that term could mean battery + gas for us PHEV owners. I regularly get over 50 mpg in HV mode (no battery depletion) on country roads going 55-60 mph. On the interstate going 75 mph, it drops into the lower 40's. Speed makes a big difference. But the same is true in my ICE car but that mileage is far, far worse under any situation.
 
PHEV Newbie said:
Oh, sorry. I was unclear. On "combined" meant city + highway driving.
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well, my 4.6 liters/100 km was for mostly highway. I took a trip and switched to HV mode on the highway. I'd say 80% was on the highway and 20% on small roads, but on the highway I stick to 60-65 mph (100 km/h mostly, sometimes 110)
 
So, I went on a long drive the other day. 240ish miles round trip. I started out with full EV and a full gas tank. Upon returning, I went to the same gas station and topped off the tank which was 5 gallons. I drove through some mountains, had 4 people in car, and used AC. Miles driven divided by gallons used equaled 46MPG. The car said 50MPG. During several steep climbs I briefly switched to EV in order to give the motor a break, it was really working. I was basically in HV the entire trip. Car did well but I hate making that little motor work so much going up mountains.
 
Thanks for the data. Could we know your speed and how steep the grade was? And if you had a way to measure it, how much charge was required to get back to a full SOC?
Four people is a well loaded Clarity so it doesn't surprise me that you got more engine noise than I got with just me as the driver on a hill climb. My experience was just a midrange engine sound. I wish Honda had given us a tachometer.
 
KentuckyKen said:
Thanks for the data. Could we know your speed and how steep the grade was? And if you had a way to measure it, how much charge was required to get back to a full SOC?
Four people is a well loaded Clarity so it doesn't surprise me that you got more engine noise than I got with just me as the driver on a hill climb. My experience was just a midrange engine sound. I wish Honda had given us a tachometer.
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Around 7.5 % grade in some areas. The mountains are about 11 miles long. Plus it was over 100 degrees. Speed going up mountain was 60ish. I cant remember how long it took to charge back up. But the last time I made that trip is when I bought the car. I drove it home, down to zero charge, and it took almost 14 hours to fully charge. It was between 100-105 in my garage while it was charging so some of the current must have went to power the fans.
 
The fan was running a lot of the time when I recharged yesterday in our hot garage on a 75-degree day and it went from 0 EV miles to EVSE shut-off in just 2:03 on 240 VAC (the fastest ever by 2 minutes). Perhaps the fan has more effect on 120 VAC charging, but I suspect your much hotter environment caused the Clarity to charge at a slower pace.
 
KentuckyKen said:
Thanks for the data. Could we know your speed and how steep the grade was? And if you had a way to measure it, how much charge was required to get back to a full SOC?
Four people is a well loaded Clarity so it doesn't surprise me that you got more engine noise than I got with just me as the driver on a hill climb. My experience was just a midrange engine sound. I wish Honda had given us a tachometer.
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Around 7.5 % grade in some areas. The mountains are about 11 miles long. Plus it was over 100 degrees. I cant remember how long it took to charge back up. But the last time I made that trip is when I bought the car. I drove it home, down to zero charge, and it took almost 14 hours to fully charge. It was between 100-105 in my garage while it was charging so some of the current must have went to power the fans.
insightman said:
The fan was running a lot of the time when I recharged yesterday in our hot garage on a 75-degree day and it went from 0 EV miles to EVSE shut-off in just 2:03 on 240 VAC (the fastest ever by 2 minutes). Perhaps the fan has more effect on 120 VAC charging, but I suspect your much hotter environment caused the Clarity to charge at a slower pace.
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that's good info. I just found out that my power company gives a rebate ($500) for EVSE level2 installation. Anyone know if $500 would cover the bill?
 
hamr4267 said:
Around 7.5 % grade in some areas. The mountains are about 11 miles long. Plus it was over 100 degrees. I cant remember how long it took to charge back up. But the last time I made that trip is when I bought the car. I drove it home, down to zero charge, and it took almost 14 hours to fully charge. It was between 100-105 in my garage while it was charging so some of the current must have went to power the fans.

that's good info. I just found out that my power company gives a rebate ($500) for EVSE level2 installation. Anyone know if $500 would cover the bill?
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It varies a lot - based on location etc. Do you have 200A panel? How far it is, etc...

Also make sure the charger qualifies - if it’s the power company, most likely they would want a charger that they can control so that it would work during off peak only
 
Ohliuw said:
It varies a lot - based on location etc. Do you have 200A panel? How far it is, etc...

Also make sure the charger qualifies - if it’s the power company, most likely they would want a charger that they can control so that it would work during off peak only
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Not sure about the panel but my house was built in 2007. From their website these are the requirements:
Electric vehicle supply equipment (EV charger) must be Level 2 (240V) and utilize the SAE J1772 charging plug or Tesla’s High Power Wall Connector and be UL- or equivalent listed. Chargers with greater capacity will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Chargers must be wall- or pedestal-mounted. Chargers must be designed for electric vehicles that are DOT-approved for highway application.
 
As @Ohliuw says, your location (labor rates), length of wire run, and lack of capacity in your breaker panel requiring additional work will affect the price. I hope you’re not in California as all reports are that installations are sky high there compared to my area.

I would first suggest you check that you have 2 adjoining empty spaces in your breaker box and measure the length of the wire run to where you want the outlet. (Not a straight line, but up the wall across the attic and back down for example.)
Then get rough estimates over the phone but don’t mention the words EVSE, charger, solar, electric car as they will almost guarantee higher prices. Just say you want a 40 Amp (assuming a 32 A Level 2 EVSE) outlet in your garage for a dryer or welder. Even better if you know the plug configuration to tell them.
Normally a 32 A EVSE uses a 40 Amp breaker with 8 gauge wire unless the run is unusually long or your trying to future proof. You can price these 2 items and an outlet at your local big box store to get an approximate idea of how much the materials are and then keep from being over charged.
Many have saved hundreds by not asking for anything related to EVs.

And finally if you’re a DIYer, you can save a lot by fishing the wire between the outlet and breaker box, leaving some extra at the box and just paying an electrician their 1 hour service rate to hook it up. This way you don’t come into contact with any live components and you have a licensed electrician sign off on it. I did this and bought the breaker for $10 plus $40 of wire and $80 for an electrician’s so it was less than $150. It only took him 30 min to hook it up. (Yeah, my middle name is cheap)
 
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