[Hypnoman]

I now feel justified to be on here, I look forward to hearing any advice or suggestions you can give me. I would like to ask my car has a heat pump but no electric seats... so how do I use the heat pump to get the best out of the car regarding range and in car heating. Look forward to all your thoughts and advice. Thx everyone good to be here. Bob

 

[Jayne]

Heat pump is automatic, you don't need to do anything. Just use the heating and/or aircon as usual.

Enjoy the car. I got mine April 2018 and still love it.

 

[Hypnoman]

Hi Jane thanks for the advice... will I be able to use the heater normally in the winter without it effecting the range? I wish it had heated seats but it doesn't, but the heat pump was hopefully the better option to have.

 

[f1geek]

It depends on how cold you are willing to feel. Heat pump is better than PTC to save range, but heated seats use almost no energy (lose 1 to 2 miles of range, typically). If e-Golf had a heated steering wheel, I could probably never turn on the cabin heat. But even in the SF Bay Area, there are plenty of frosty mornings and I am glad to have the heat pump to extend the range.

 

[Snax]

Ive noticed today in the hot weather that each notch on the air con deducts a couple of miles from the range; I had it on full briefly and lost 10 miles! Should just wind the window down I reckon.

my next trick is to air con the car whilst it’s still plugged in

 

[Hypnoman]

Hi Jane thanks for the advice... will I be able to use the heater normally in the winter without it effecting the range? I wish it had heated seats but it doesn't, but the heat pump was hopefully the better option to have.

It depends on how cold you are willing to feel. Heat pump is better than PTC to save range, but heated seats use almost no energy (lose 1 to 2 miles of range, typically). If e-Golf had a heated steering wheel, I could probably never turn on the cabin heat. But even in the SF Bay Area, there are plenty of frosty mornings and I am glad to have the heat pump to extend the range.

Hi f1geek excuse my ignorance but what does PTC mean?

 

[Tooks]

Hi Jane thanks for the advice... will I be able to use the heater normally in the winter without it effecting the range? I wish it had heated seats but it doesn't, but the heat pump was hopefully the better option to have.

Nothing is really free, but yes, your heat pump will be more efficient than the electric resistive heater that’s standard.

I’ve had mine for just over a year and 23k miles, no heat pump but winter pack and heated windscreen, but it’s a great car. It’s well built and just works, no fuss, and I will struggle to find anything to follow it for the price.

Enjoy it!

 

[Hypnoman]

Thx

 

[Jayne]

Your range does drop in winter compared to summer for a variety of reasons, which includes using the heating (also windy weather, rain with wetter roads, etc). As has been said, the heat pump is more efficient than just the standard resistive heating, particularly on longer journeys, although I'd struggle to define how long is "longer"

If you can, it's worthwhile using the car timer to warm up the car while it's still plugged in. Then all it needs to do from the battery is keep the car warm rather than heat it up in the first place, which is the bit that uses most power. Same applies in summer for cooling. You can either trigger it yourself from the app or set up one of the "departure times" in the car. I am on Octopus Go for electricity, so set two departure times in winter. One to charge the battery on cheap electric between 00.30 and 04.30, the other to heat up the car just before I need to go to work.

I am one of the few people who actually use their garage to keep the car in, it's much cooler in summer and warmer in winter. And it means I stay dry when I'm unloading the shopping!

I have the heat pump and winter pack, so have heated seats. But generally that just means I have the car temp set to 20 or 21 as well as a cosy bum. I made the decision that although I value efficiency, I also wanted a car that was comfortable. That doesn't include seeing my breath in front of me with the windows steaming up whenever I'm driving because it happens to be frosty outside.

 

[Ralkbirdy]

In the Ioniq, similar, the Air conditioning in summer reduces range more than the heat pump in summer, basically the same technology but one sends heat into the car the other sends heat out of the car. It is only a problem when you are operating at maximum range.

On long journeys, charge more often or go slower. I have a stretch from Carnforth to Dumfries which is over Shap and in winter I need to be careful with my speed to get there. Just do not rely on EH charge points on motorways msa for recharging, look for other CCS chargers like Instavolt and Polar.

 

[Jayne]

Just to illustrate my point about the initial heating up being the most energy intensive. Here's my house electricity use cooking a roast chicken dinner. First spike about 16.30 is heating up the Remoska (it's like a mini oven, but much more energy efficient), then it needed less power to stay at temperature to cook the hen. It was switched off just before 18.00. Other spikes are the hob and microwave.

To relate this back to the car, try not to worry too much when you turn on the heating (or cooling) and your range looks like it suddenly halves. It's just the car using a lot of power to get up to temperature, then as it needs less power for temperature control your range estimate will go back up again. If you can do the really energy intensive bit while the car is plugged in so much the better.

 

[tomb1963]

Hi f1geek excuse my ignorance but what does PTC mean?
[/QUOTE]

PTC means Positive Temperature Coefficient. It's a variable resistor whose resistance changes with temperature. In a heating circuit, the colder it is the more current it allows through to warm the cabin up quicker. They can also be used as re-settable fuses on electronic circuit boards: in the event of an over-current they heat up and there resistance increases stopping the flow of current until they cool down again.