Friday, August 10, 2018

OhmConnect - Saving the Environment and Making Money In Process

Sadly I only discovered OhmConnect in May. And it turns out a couple of coworkers were using it for a while. I wish I knew about it sooner.

OhmConnect pays you not to use your electricity once in a while. I was skeptical at first, but got over $100 in July and on track to make even more in August. And for context, my electric bill in July was $85. So by not using electricity for 1-2 hours 2 times a week in July, not only did I offset my entire electric bill for the month, but was $15 ahead.

And I expect to make more in August. For example, I made $55 for two events (they call them Ohm Hour) in one week.

Check it out here: Ohm Connect (get $10 to start). You will get $10 also to get started.

Inaccurate Trip Computer in 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In

While Honda got many things right with the 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In, there are a few glaring mistakes. The first one is the trip computer (and the MPG display).

It seems it doesn't take into account the electricity use, so when I run on electricity alone, I get 199MPG displayed. And if the HV mode is used or the gas engine turns itself on, the MPG goes down but not nearly enough. It still shows numbers like 146 mpg. Only if you use the "trip" mpg readout and make sure to reset your trip meter (e.g. "trip A") one the engine fires up, do youget somewhat reasonable numbers, such as 40-50 MPG driving at steady 70 mph.

And the "distance to empty", which has the EV and HV part has a definitely wrong HV number. It should account only for gas and with the 7-gallon gas tank I expect to see a maximum of 7 gal x 60 mpg = 420 miles at the most optimistic estimate. But mine shows 716 miles right now, which would mean I would be getting 100 MPG running purely on gas. Madness.

Honda needs to fix this. It is completely unacceptable and is not rocket science.

Selecting a Trunk Liner for 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In

A month ago I bought a 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Touring. Whenever I buy a car, I immediately buy a trunk liner to avoid grocery and other spills from becoming stains and smells.

There just was one problem this time. The factory/OEM trunk liner is expensive, at $100+, which is expected and not really a problem. But unlike the previous Honda liners I bought for a couple of different Accords, the trunk liner for Clarity is the same for all three variants: Hydrogen Fuel Cell model, Electric (BEV) and the Plug-in. And because the former two have bigger humps in the forward portion of the trunk (to hold the hydrogen tank or extra battery) than my plug-in, the liner is too small for my use. It covers only the rearmost portion of the trunk.

In order to cover the entire floor of the trunk, including the raised front portion, I needed a properly-sized liner. And seems nobody makes Clarity-specific liners. I checked the usual suspects, including WeatherTech. And in the end, I decided to get a universal liner and trim it as needed.

WeatherTech universal liner listed as fitting Clarity on their web site would have been too small. And it is pricey. So I got another liner from Amazon, which only required trimming the two corners with scissors, It is thick enough to be sturdy yet thin enough to protect the walls of the trunk a little. And it has spikes on the bottom to prevent the liner from sliding around. Here is the liner (click on it to view it on Amazon):

It did smell like oil for a few days, but now the smell has faded. Very happy overall. It doesn't slide and the cost was much lower than what I expected or was prepared to pay.