Nissan had it figured out in 2010.
Any manufacturer that can't figure it out today knows less about electric cars than Nissan did 14 years ago.
Warm an EV before driving off?
- Thread starter Shel_B
- Start date
Any manufacturer that can't figure it out today knows less about electric cars than Nissan did 14 years ago.
I turn the climate control on 5 minutes before I leave if it’s cold. It will warm the car up and the seats and wheel are set to “Auto” so they’ll come on as well. I don’t think much else needs any warming prior to driving. I haven’t had it in any ice/frost/snow situations yet.
This is my thought process. Sure I can preheat it for better range while still plugged in, but I just can’t see the point of heating it solely off of battery when some will happen from driving anyway. All I want is the cabin to be warm and that takes less than 2 minutes most of the time.
Also I’ve only seen regen reduce. All that means for me is that it takes a bit longer to stop, but it’s still regen braking at a reduced rate. It feels like coasting in a normal car at worst at high speeds.
I remote start mine while in the office in the morning preparing the days work
Auto climate heats/cools as needed, and the rear defrost comes in as temperatures fall
If it's plugged in, it uses shore power
Otherwise, I get in it and go
Minus however long it takes to buckle up and get Android Auto fired up
Auto climate heats/cools as needed, and the rear defrost comes in as temperatures fall
If it's plugged in, it uses shore power
Otherwise, I get in it and go
Minus however long it takes to buckle up and get Android Auto fired up
That's because there's no greater efficiency from allowing a vehicle to just idle compared to letting it go to get it up to operating temperature. But EVs and plug-in hybrids have the advantage of drawing power from an external source, and that's inherently more efficient than drawing the power from the battery. Perhaps I don't live in a cold climate, but I'd think the outdoor EV power supplies I've seen around here could also be found in colder climates. Something like a Tesla Destination Charger or the free Level 2 charging setups I've seen in parking lots and garages would be ideal.
What would be ideal with ICE vehicles in cold temperatures would be a block heater given enough time to preheat the coolant. I've even heard some claims that 30 wt oil would be acceptable in almost any vehicle spec'ed for 10W-30/5W-30 as long as the coolant is preheated before starting in colder temperatures. And there have been some cars with an insulated coolant reservoir to give it a head start.
They do... when plugged in. I'm thinking when I'm at work, or heck, went to the ___ for a couple hours. Dead of winter here, most cars are just shy of stone cold after a couple hours. Maybe the batteries will stay warm longer than a car engine block.
Heh, just realized, I actually encouraged my daughter to get into the habit of starting the car and then coming inside for a few minutes. Set it to defrost and let it start to soften the ice. She warmed up to that idea very quickly as she hates the cold. I'd explain how the remote start works on that vehicle, except I think she's getting a different car before long (and I don't know how it works anyhow).
Yeps people can enjoy nice climate control while it gets charged…
The ability to remotely warm up a car has been around for a while, but obviously doing that with an ICE has its disadvantages since heating with the engine is inherently inefficient. When driving it's just waste heat. But when just starting it up to warm it up, there's no useful work being done by the engine.
I'm thinking that it might be different as EV chargers become more common. Maybe like how common outlets for block heaters are in some areas, although I've heard they're often timed to reduce power use.
The fluid in the reduction units, diffs, etc, Id still get up to operating temp.
Solar panels aren't making magic at 0600...do they have to bring on a NG powered surge capacity plant for you to do this?
They just kill a few extra salmon at the hydro dam.
All this talk about warming up... I just get in, flip the lever up to reverse and go.
Of course cold means long pants and maybe a hoodie...
I wouldn't know how to warm it up.
Of course cold means long pants and maybe a hoodie...
I wouldn't know how to warm it up.
Not that my family has much need to do it, but it's easy enough to warm up the cabin with the Tesla app.
This is all I do. I can't recall a single time that I've used the scheduled departure for the car to properly prepare the drivetrain. Seems like a waste of energy otherwise to me.
I’ve helped set it a few times, but it doesn’t do much for someone with an inconsistent schedule. But we live in a rather hilly area, so theoretically maximizing regenerative braking effectiveness would be a plus. My parents go down a 12% grade most times that they drive.
Your's uses a full-synthetic ATF and mine a 70W GL-4 gear oil, which is much the same as far as gears and bearings are concerned. Unless you're hearing a gear whine when starting off there's really nothing to worry about. In the 5 years I've been following H/Kia forums no one has ever reported a gear reducer failure from driving too fast in cold weather. There are quite a few unrelated Kona/Niro reducer bearing failures however due to a small design mistake present in the outgoing gen-1 models.
Good questions. The battery management system knows what the battery power limits are and those numbers can be read over OBD on H/Kia EVs.
Generally every EV will have a means to heat the battery, usually a resistance heater of some description in the coolant loop and using that of course is accompanied by a small to moderate loss of range. In my Kona that option kicks in at under -5°C (23°F) and is called Winter Mode. Ironically I have this feature and don't need it while Konas sold in the US 2020-2023-ish were not always equipped and certainly can use it. The new model just out now will have it and you can use it to preheat for slightly faster DC charging as well.
For cooling, either a coolant loop to ambient air is used or the AC in extreme conditions.
Certainly if you're drag racing you'd want a certain battery temperature to ensure maximum power is available but for street driving you may not even notice when it's limited.
Right, sometimes I forget that you have winter over there. I'm not sure if the Kona can do the battery in the preconditioning phase.
While I don't think it would die if I didnt, it still feels like the right thing, lol!
There's only 2 ways to get heat in an EV battery: take current from it or put current into it. So you either have to drive or charge, in practical terms. a heated seat or 2 turned to high won't do enough