[DomJ]

This morning I preheated the car as per usual but through the wet bleary window I couldn't tell if it had started, so I repeated the process assuming it hadn't. I guess this extended the preheat to 20mins as when I went out to the car it was still humming away and the lights were on.

Can you cancel the preheat remotely? I wouldn't mind but Friday is my only commute I can do purely on electric but I had a 5 mile penalty from the charge not being replenished, meant a very cold drive not using the heater! (16 mile journey has left me with just 50% battery )

 

[h8ten]

Nope, the only way to cancel a preheat is to go out and power up the car.

 

[HandyAndy]

My take on this is that doing a pre-heat is putting energy into the car, so if you're 5 miles short on range, want to depart now, there's actually no point in cancelling the preheat. If you do, and put more range in the battery instead, you're only going to take extra energy out of the battery once you start driving, as the HV battery will be colder, and the cabin colder, so both these will use more power. 6 & 2 3s I reckon. If you're happy to cancel preheat, get the range up, and drive the trip with hat & gloves on and no cabin heating set, then maybe, just maybe, you'll save a penny or so. Is it worth it?

If I do need to burn some petrol, in this weather I'll use the petrol stage to heat the cabin really hot, then turn off fan (& so the heating) when I flip to electricity, that way I don't use the battery to heat the cabin at all afaik, maximising my leccy miles. Then back to petrol just as my toes turn to ice ...

 

[DomJ]

My take on this is that doing a pre-heat is putting energy into the car, so if you're 5 miles short on range, want to depart now, there's actually no point in cancelling the preheat. If you do, and put more range in the battery instead, you're only going to take extra energy out of the battery once you start driving, as the HV battery will be colder, and the cabin colder, so both these will use more power. 6 & 2 3s I reckon. If you're happy to cancel preheat, get the range up, and drive the trip with hat & gloves on and no cabin heating set, then maybe, just maybe, you'll save a penny or so. Is it worth it?

If I do need to burn some petrol, in this weather I'll use the petrol stage to heat the cabin really hot, then turn off fan (& so the heating) when I flip to electricity, that way I don't use the battery to heat the cabin at all afaik, maximising my leccy miles. Then back to petrol just as my toes turn to ice ...

I usually find on a normal preheat I get in the car say 15mins after the preheat ended and the charger has replenished the battery again the car is still plenty warm, I just stick the seat heater on and can stay warm enough for the 35min journey.
As for is it worth saving pennies in petrol? Absolutely not, but there is something satisfying about not using the ICE, makes me feel like I have a proper BEV!