When do you fill up?

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Aaron

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I....like most of us....am a fairly new clarity owner.
Running a vehicle with little gasoline is bad for the engine, bad for the fuel system, bad in general. Our gas tanks are pretty small however....7 gallons?
I can't get to work and back on a single charge so I must use some fuel.....
I'm wondering..... when do people put gasoline in their vehicles?
I'm thinking.....50 miles gas range? That would be roughly 1 gallon of gas left in the tank?
What are people thoughts?
 
First, instead of using up the electric range and letting it force HV mode, put it in HV mode from the start. Your MPG in HV mode will be significantly (as in ~20%) better if the battery has a good charge still in it. This is important. Pretend the battery is your only gas tank, and avoid letting it run empty, unless you're emptying it right as you arrive at a location where you can recharge.

For what you asked, just ignore the estimated range. Fill it up just like you would any other vehicle, i.e. when the gauge/bars show the tank is getting low on gas.
 
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I fill up when I am at half tank. I live in Canada and I can not take chances. In Winter time Battery performance goes down 33%,so play safe.
 
Do what now? :D

I'd say fill up whenever its convenient for you once you are around 1/3 to 1/4 tank left.

Can you charge at work?
 
I fill up when the Low Fuel Indicator LED comes on (yes, the Clarity PHEV has one--see Owners Manual, page 23). It warns you there's only about a gallon left in the tank. That gallon gives me more than 30 miles to steel myself for the dreaded visit to a gas station.
 
Fill up whenever. I get same MPG with or without charge in battery (HV or normal). The car won't run the fuel pump dry. As others say, waiting for the light is a good plan.
 
We like having the tank full. Normally it just stays full for 5 to 6 weeks as we stay in town. If we do drive a longer distance and use some gas well refill even if we only need a gallon. To us the gas engine is a backup for EV.
 
petteyg359 said:
First, instead of using up the electric range and letting it force HV mode, put it in HV mode from the start. Your MPG in HV mode will be significantly (as in ~20%) better if the battery has a good charge still in it. This is important. Pretend the battery is your only gas tank, and avoid letting it run empty, unless you're emptying it right as you arrive at a location where you can recharge.

For what you asked, just ignore the estimated range. Fill it up just like you would any other vehicle, i.e. when the gauge/bars show the tank is getting low on gas.
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I'm wondering if this information is accurate. There was another thread like this and some comments that implied that it didn't' really matter how you do it. For example, my commute is 70 miles round trip and I have the option of doing it on HV on the way there and electric on the way back. Or, I could use Sport mode (which uses a bit of the ICE) round trip. Or I could use the electric all the way to work, and on the way back I could deplete it to 3 bars before going to HV for the rest of the way. I'm not sure that any of this makes a big difference and I'm not even sure how to test it out? I suppose that in all of these 3 scenarios I would be depleting my entire initial EV charge of 47 miles. Therefore, the only parameter that is changing is how much HV range I expend on each of the options ie: how much actual gas I'm using. I can try this out and report back.
 
I've had two or three times where I've been able to compare low-battery hybrid with full-battery hybrid. Granted it's anecdotal and driving conditions were not identical, but it's the difference between 40 mpg and 50 mpg for me.
 
One of my life goals is to minimize number of trips to gas station. This would be true even if burning fossil fuels were not destroying the planet. My wife often wants to fill up at half tank and I just shake my head. Having said that, I try not to let the gas gauge get too close to empty (if the low fuel indicator comes on, I cut it too close). I'm also in the camp of switching to HV before the battery gets close to empty (assuming you are not going to charge again before battery runs out) and then switching back to ECON (EV) just in time to use up the battery before reaching your charging destination. I don't know if battery charge level affects gas mileage (interesting possibility argued above) but I am convinced that the ICE runs more smoothly and predictably if there is more than minimal charge in the battery. All this works for me only because most days I drive fewer than 10 miles and I only have to use ICE for occasional long trips. I consider myself very fortunate to be in that situation.
 
MikeB said:
I try not to let the gas gauge get too close to empty (if the low fuel indicator comes on, I cut it too close)
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Running out of gas is a worry only if you have depleted the battery because it can otherwise get you to a gas station. Hondas typically have a gallon or so left when the light comes on, so unless you're more than 30 miles from a gas station when the low fuel indicator illuminates, you'll be OK even if the battery IS depleted.
 
We go for weeks without using any gas. On trips (like 370 miles yesterday) when we get home we will refill the tank ASAP. It's just a comfort thing to have a full tank.
 
We drove 10 months on Honda's gas, the last 2 months of that time with just 2 bars on the gas gauge. My wife didn't like that, considering it brinkmanship. Then we went on a 500-mile trip and were amazed by the extra power available in HV Mode. My wife says I've had my thrills, but it's her car, so now our tank is usually full or almost full.
 
insightman said:
Running out of gas is a worry only if you have depleted the battery because it can otherwise get you to a gas station. Hondas typically have a gallon or so left when the light comes on, so unless you're more than 30 miles from a gas station when the low fuel indicator illuminates, you'll be OK even if the battery IS depleted.
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Agree. Perhaps my threshold for filling up when I have some battery reserve will change as I get used to driving a PHEV on longer trips.
 
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