Gas on to heat car - does it defeat the purpose

As I said earlier, if the outside air is dry then point it towards the windshield.

 

Talking about "commutes" only is missing the point. Many if us have to take short trips to run errands, even though the commutes are longer.

 

Made it back home with 79 MPG, used up all EV miles.

PiP was parked outside (9 deg F) for 9.5 hours. When I started, gas engine fired up like a regular Prius would. I checked if the cabin heat was on, nope. The battery was too cold to operate in EV mode but it was not in HV mode neither. It is in blended mode where ICE would be the primary power source and battery power would blend when ICE efficiency would not be hurt.

I took the opportunity to defrost the ice built up inside the windshield. After that I left and once the ICE shut down after reaching operating temp, I was in the real EV mode.

I turned off the cabin heater after a while so ICE would not come back on. I drove the rest in full EV, until battery depleted.

I saw a Volt while I was in EV. His gas engine was running, looking at tailpipe. Not sure if he had cabin heat on or it was due to mandatory behavior.

This is the first time I felt the heated seat at HI felt like it was on LO.

 

Amazon.com: 12 volt car heater

 

If you read the reviews of these heaters (except the Lasko, which is the 120 volt heater I mentioned above) you'll see that they are just inadequate to the task. I think it will take either a 120 volt heater/inverter setup, or a 12 volt heater that puts out at least 2500 BTUs of heat - and I haven't seen any of the latter type.

 

If you mean 2500 btu/hour I very much doubt you will, since it would require 60 amps.

 

And yet they are sized for the much larger 12 volt baterys of cars with a starter. Even these puny heaters would need a Prius in Ready.

I think posters in this thread divide into those who understand how much electricity it takes to make heat, and those who want what they want, science be damned.

 

i'm no scientist, but from the 2 winter evidence on these boards, there is no current solution to this problem. did you see that one usb?

 

What a great idea! I never thought about a usb operated heater. Perfect! I know right were to plug it in! I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Sweet!

 

USB can provide 2.5 watts of power. There are no 2.5 watt heaters, nor would they do you any good heating your car.

 

i was talking to seawolf.

 

I see a circuit board and current going through it.

 

well said.

 

I think that you're mistaken. I spend more time explaining science to people here than I do anything else. What you mean is, apparently, "People who disagree with me are WRONG."

I've elaborated more on how to build a 12 volt heater, with independent power supply, in the Leaf forum. I'll copy it here later. Constructive criticism welcome. As for the rest...does this software have a user filter?

 

michael, i welcome your input and suggestions. please feel free to try something and report back here on the effectiveness. most of us are all talk and no action, but we'd love a cabin heating solution that doesn't fire the ice.

 

+1 I agree!

 

Thanks for the support. I'm going to start another topic with the rough outline of the heating system.

 

I think that if Toyota is going to relate to this issue (in next generation) it will be by a heat-pump rather than electric resistance heater.

 

<--- Yes if you click on my Avatar, you will see an option to ignore me on the right. It will still let me leak in when others quote me, sorry.

If you can't tell that a Leaf is a much different car than a PIP and has a much larger battery, it will be best to ignore me.

 

That would only help down to about the mid-20s though right? At that temp and above a heavy coat and a seat warmer does the job.