Another thing about electric cars

[williamwright]

Presumably the battery capacity drops with age and usage. That's another variable then. Dare I put the heater on? Shall I try to drive without the headlamps on? etc etc.

Bill

[Paul]

The heating is a lot.

4300W

30-35% of range.

But the testing was not done well, and so there are some caveats in that number. It will be that bad, if you leave the car on flow-thru, and you do short trips from one mall to another mall while shopping. The short trips case causes the car to warm up from the outside-low temperature to the cabin-target-temperature, for each short trip. If you do highway driving, with the car set to recirculate instead of flow-thru, then the result could differ. On a long trip, the wastage number will be somewhat lower. We don't know the average power needed to maintain the steady state cabin temp.

The people writing the article, wanted material for a magazine article. They weren't exactly scientists interested in nuances.

The headlights are nothing, compared to the heat. The incandescent on your ICE car, is replaced with LEDs on the BEV. The incandescent would be 60W and 75W, while the LEDs would be 8W and 10W or so to make the same light. Small potatoes compared to 4300W for cabin heat.

*******

Here's a fun article for you. The driver was using a Bolt.

It shows there is an issue with charging from the lowest level of charger, and that is, that the charger can't keep the battery pack warmed to a good level for later. You would be leaving the cable connected, just so the battery could be kept at a good temperature.

For a person in a cold climate, it looks like you should be a home owner and not an apartment dweller. As then you can fit a charger worthy of winter conditions. Or alternately, just drive your chariot into a heated garage. You can keep your gas car out in the driveway or parked on the street.

Paul

[Tim+]

Most new EVs employ heat pump technology which greatly reduced power consumption over simple resistive heating. Range is still impacted in winter but the difference is nearer 10% than 30-35%

Tim

[mm0fmf]

Sensible electric car owners pick models with heated seats and heated steering wheel as that is a small load and enables the heater to be used less.

A colleague who has a Tesla 3 makes use of the programmed heating whilst on charge feature during the Winter. He has a 25mile commute so using the heater on the way home is not an issue with a 300mile range car. But as it is on charge overnight, he has it programmed to run the heater whilst still connected. That means even though it is parked on his drive over night, when he was ready to leave for work, it was already warm and any ice had melted.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I have a friend who has an electric car, VW I think, and it has heated seats as well. I never really understood heated seats, must be one of the most wasteful ways to heat things up. Brian

[alan_m]

Just fit a diesel heater

100s of listings on Ebay so possibly a popular item with electric car owners :)

Battery capacity:-

[Dave Liquorice]

Last three cars have had heated seats. Don't like them, even the current car with two heat seatings. The lowest still makes your arse and back hot and sweaty and don't do anything for feet, knees or hands. What do you have to do, wear long johns and gloves?

[Chris Green]

Much less wasteful than trying to heat up the whole car interior surely.

Heating something that one is in contact with is a very effective way of using a small amount of heat. Motorcyclists use heated jackets and there certainly isn't much spare electricity available on a 'bike.

[Bob Eager]

I love mine, simply because my back can be very stiff first thing in the morning. The heated seat does wonders; I start off on the top setting (3) and move down to 2, 1 and then off.

[charles]

You've obviously not had them in a car.

[nothanks]

The heater certainly hammers the battery on my PHEV but the trick is to use the app to pre-heat while plugged-in, this warms the battery and the car. Alternatively, ensure the ICE is running at the start of a trip and then switch to electric when everything has warmed-up. To use a quote from Sir Humphrey: buying a pure EV at the moment is a "courageous decision" and it will be many years before I feel that courageous.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

on 29/11/2020, Brian Gaff (Sofa) supposed :

If you must heat electrically, then they are very efficient, heating the person rather than the cabin.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Not so. On a petrol car etc, they get up to heat very quickly - far quicker than the coolant driven heater. And since they only heat your bum, quite an efficient way of doing things.

[Dave Liquorice]

Fairly Nuff. No doubt with the cabin heater running as well. Try driving for an hour when it's cold without the cabin heater. I actually quite like to feel my feet and fingers.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

mm0fmf used his keyboard to write :

I have a very efficient diesel, which needs lots of miles to get to temperature, especially when it's cold. It is fitted with a diesel burning 'night heater'. When it is really cold, I fire the heater up 20 minutes before setting off - engine and cabin are warmed, before I need to get in to drive it.

[Dave Plowman (News]

My current car is the first I've had with them. Love them. Real boon until the car heater gets going. Low setting doesn't make you sweaty. Full would if you left it like that.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Dave Liquorice pretended :

I find seat heaters quite effective. Your body has the ability via the blood stream, to spread warmth in one part of your body, to the rest of your body.

[Tim Streater]

+1

They are the best way to get warm quickly in a cold car. They don't have to be on for very long.

[fred]

I love heated seats but would also like a heated steering wheel as my fingers take a long time to warm up but my present car has an app that allows me to preheat the interior and I rarely use the heated seats now. There's more rubbish talked about electric cars and range. The simple way to use an electric car effectively is to keep topping up the battery when possible and not treated it like a petrol engine and run the tank low before refilling it. Also if embarking on a long journey research it first, establish the location of charging stations and plot the route accordingly around all high power charging stations and make allowance for any that may be occupied or not working. A good app will tell you this. The low power ones are useless unless you anticipate staying near one for a long period of time. I think the Tesla stations should be available to all even if they charge more for non Tesla cars Personally I have a BMW i3 rex which has a small motor bike engine which is used to recharge the battery when it gets too low and means as long as i can get to a petrol filling station I'm not going to be stuck and I could even carry a gallon of petrol if I was anal about it. The article in yesterdays Guardian high lighted this. The problem there lay with the users lack of knowledge on using an electric vehicle.

[Andy Burns]

I don't really care if it warms my bum, but I love it heating my lower back, I don't use it instead of air heating ...