THINKING OF BUYING HONDA CLARITY PLUG-IN HYBRID

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powersurge

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Messages
1,743
Location
Long Island, NY
I'm in New York, and drove the Honda Clarity Plug-in. I thought it was great.

Anyone have thoughts of jumping the "Leaf" ship for a Clarity? Like me....

Actually, I will keep my 15 Leaf. I was looking to add a 2018 Leaf, but got attracted to the 40 mile/ ALL ELECTRIC range of the Clarity.
 
There is a Clarity Plug-in at work and it has issues with charging from L2 EVSEs. The same EVSE will work one day, and fail to charge the next (sometimes it won't charge at all, or it starts charging than abruptly stops after 5-10 minutes). The owner says it is much more likely to successfully charge after it has sat parked for a few hours. He's reported this to Honda and they imply they have a fix in the works for this problem.

Other than that, with the 10K combined state+fed rebates/credits here in MA, the Clarity seems like a steal since you are getting the near equivalent of the high-trim Accord for much less.

The downside is that it's still a hybrid, and a complicated hybrid at that.
 
I drove it and I liked it. However, here in GA, we no longer have state incentives for EVs. I was quoted over $700/mo. for a 36 month/12,000 mile zero down lease and they didn't seem at all interested in haggling. Great car, though. I would definitely choose it over a LEAF, Bolt or Volt if the money works.
 
We bought a Clarity in February. Now we have over 2000 miles. This week will be the second time will pump gas, for a longer 1000 miles round trip.

With the warm weather I have seem 54 miles EV range. That is the same but practically more than my 2011 Leaf.

I never had problems charging at home using the 7 year old Blink at 30A. The Blink has a new contactor and cable+connector.

I did see a charging error at a public Volta station. I changed station to another Volta and charged fine. The check "engine" light cleared it self in 24 hours. We probably charged 5-7 times at public stations.

As for complexity, it might be the simplest hybrid. Electric motor always connected to the wheels just like an EV. Generator always connected to the engine like a backup generator. A single clutch for engine to wheels like a regular ICE. All the electronics to control how and where power is going, but that is not the kind of complexity I am woried about.

We love it. But the 2011 Leaf gets more daily usage now than when we had two Leafs.
 
I was also interested in the 2018 Leaf, but switched to the Clarity PHEV. My commute was going to be challenging for the Leaf and that is without battery degradation happening. We still have and love my wife's 2013 Leaf. But the flexibility of the PHEV to drive most miles on EV and go as far as I need using gas is really nice. When we go somewhere that is in range of either, we take the Clarity as it is so much nicer.

I got my Clarity in mid February and now have 3,300 miles on it. Due to my commute, I've had to put in more gas than Camasleaf. I'm just over 31 gallons, so running just over 100 miles per gallon on my combined driving. However, this is still about 1/5th the amount of gas I used in my ICEV for that commute. If your commute fits within the 47 mile range, you can probably go without gas at all until you want to do a road trip. And even then, you will get good mpg.

The Clarity is very roomy and comfortable. Being larger than most other 'affordable' BEVs and PHEVs, it has a smoother ride, which is nice considering how bad our California roads are. The build quality seems excellent.

I do expect the Clarity will cost quite a bit more for maintenance. At 5 years and 35,000 miles, our Leaf has less than $300. But the Clarity will have all the usual ICEV requirements and costs. And the complexity of this did prompt me to go ahead and get the extended warranty where I didn't do that for the Leaf.

I haven't had any of JLV's problems with charging it. It has worked fine on my home's Scheider EVSE. Also, I've charged about half a dozen times at a couple places, mostly EVGO but there was one Blink. Haven't had any problems. I don't have data to indicate if I'm lucky or if JLV has an odd ball bad one.

If you go this route, be sure to check multiple dealers as pricing/attitude varies quite a bit. In So. Cal., there are some very high volume, deep discount Honda dealers who will compete for the sale.
 
jlv said:
camasleaf said:
As for complexity, it might be the simplest hybrid.
https://www.wired.com/story/honda-clarity-hybrid-powertrain/

Don't worry about all the buttons, just push the green button and drive.

When I said it is simplest I was thinking about some early hybrids that had three clutches. In my mind mechanicaly and electricaly the Clarity power drive makes most sense. Let the computers determine the optimum mode, or for fun try different modes.

What I did driving a long know road was to push and hold the HV button to charge the battery about 3 minutes before going uphill, and again just before the hill to stop the charging mode. The tought was to have electrons for the EV to help the ICE. I got 56 mpg on a 150 miles 65 mph trip starting battery empty. Not bad for a car this big. Same road oposite direction starting with the battery charged and doing 75 mph I got 72 mpg.
 
Joe6pack said:
I drove it and I liked it. However, here in GA, we no longer have state incentives for EVs. I was quoted over $700/mo. for a 36 month/12,000 mile zero down lease and they didn't seem at all interested in haggling. Great car, though. I would definitely choose it over a LEAF, Bolt or Volt if the money works.


I too drove and liked the Clarity PHEV. Coming from a Ford Fusion Energi it would have been a good upgrade in range, but alas ran into the same issues with incentives from Honda here in VA. I.e none. If I just lived across the Potomac in MD they were giving $6000 in lease incentives which would have made it affordable. Due to this I ended up test driving the new Leaf and it met all my criteria so I ditched the Clarity and went for the Leaf.
 
Congrats on the new Leaf. I believe both are excellent choices. Sorry to hear that in your location the extra financial incentives weren't there for the Clarity. But both cars should work well.
 
Got a Clarity a month ago, replacing a Subaru Outback that was always finding new and expensive ways to break down. We already have a '15 Leaf. So now we have 2 cars that work as all-electrics for our commutes and local driving, plus a roomy family car for longer trips that gets almost 20 mpg better than the car it replaced.

We've had no problems plugging in at home, work, or at other public stations. It's a bigger car than I'm used to, with a very cushy comfortable ride. No complaints at all in the admittedly small sample size of 1 month of driving. With no bigger long-range BEV in our price range, one of the big draws for me was the 47-mile AER, which guarantees an all-electric commute even in the winter - something that would be iffy at best with other similar-sized PHEVs (Outlander, Pacifica, Fusion, Sonata etc).

Got a lease with good incentives: $7500 price reduction, plus $2500 MA state rebate. Residual is under $16k so if we still like it in 3 years it will be an affordable option.
 
DarthPuppy said:
Congrats on the new Leaf. I believe both are excellent choices. Sorry to hear that in your location the extra financial incentives weren't there for the Clarity. But both cars should work well.

Thanks. I'm enjoying the Leaf a lot. Taking a little getting used to all the options but a very nice car. My wife has a 2016 Leaf SV so not a totally new experience but what is new is no longer having an ICE powered car in the household.
 
Ooh, nice to hear about the 100% EV households. While we've now changed 2 of the family's ICEVs out with electrified of some form, we are still a long way from an ideal allocation. We are the most advanced in our little subdivision so I do feel good about that. But still room for improvement. When each ICEV comes due for replacement, I will continue to lean toward electrification. But the next replacement is not likely to happen for a while - our Toyota hybrid will probably endure for a good bit longer.
 
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