Heater performance, cold weather range, overall winter drivi

[jimbo69ny]

I am thinking of selling my PIP and buying a Rav EV. I live in central NY and for 6 months out of the year we unfortunately are blanketed in snow and have to deal with freezing cold temperatures. I hate thinking about it but its only 3-4 months away!! Aaaagh!

So, if I do find a Rav EV and have it shipped here, what can I expect for cold/winter weather driving? I have heard there were issues with some of the early heaters. Should I avoid older model year vehicles?

Thanks for your input!

 

[mikegerard]

You'll have less range in the winter. In the summer I get about 3.3 miles/kWh. In the winter it was as low as 1.8. Multiply by 35 kWh (standard 80% charge) and I get 115 miles in the summer and 63 miles in the winter. This winter was unusual with very cold temperatures. Our driving this winter was mostly short trips which means the battery did not get a chance to fully warm up. If we took it on longer trips we probably would have seen better numbers. We also always used the heat and made sure we were comfortable.

I'll pm you to get you some more info.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/svolmjnqu4ec67o/2014-07-28 16.41.21.png

 

[TonyWilliams]

Wow, I'll bet that's with no preheat either. Just short range, cold car winter operations!

Generally, if you're concerned about range in cold weather, use the car's timer to preheat the cabin for 20 minutes prior to the time you select, which will also heat the battery from shoreline power if you are still plugged in.

Both those heaters, cabin and battery (there are two) will have a huge surge of power consumption to do that off the battery, hence your extremely low short distance range. If you drove farther, the battery and cabin would warm and the power consumption would drop.

 

[jimbo69ny]

How is the performance of the cabin heater? I know toyota had issues with the electric heater in the preproduction Plug in Prius and thats why they opted for a traditional ICE cabin heater in the production PIP. I hate being cold and I hate that the ICE has to kick on in my PIP for a 5 mile trip to the grocery store when I have 13 miles of range. Every time the ICE turns on in the PIP it HAS TO go through its warm up procedure. So a short trip to the grocery store, which totally could be done on EV alone, nets me about 20 MPG. It is my biggest issue I have with my PIP.

 

[miimura]

The cabin heater works well once you convince the car you are serious about wanting to burn that energy. You have to set it to Normal mode, turn off the A/C, set the air direction to the upper vents, not just the floor, and push the temp setting high enough. Then, it will really blow hot air into the cabin. It really eats through the battery though. Running the Pre-Climate while the J-Plug is connected is the way to go if you need the range.

If you're willing to wear a jacket and gloves, the seat heaters work pretty well. Too bad there is no steering wheel heater.

There have been a notable number of heater failures though.