I sure have the sense that if I drive around with the heat off, my mpgs go up. I've been leaving the fan "OFF" until things warm up some, and it can easily go into EV, if applicable. I've also been turning the fan On and Off-like if I'm too cold, lol, there's an uphill-turn on, because the engine's going to be generating excess heat anyway; turn off in an EV situation or if I'm warm enough, lol again. I do have the ability to see what the coolant temperature is, but I haven't been using it. Can I leverage that somehow? As in, keep the fan Off unless temp is above X? That value might change though, depending on what the car feels like doing. Unrelated, but I've been coasting when safe to do. It coasts very well. Any other economy tips, especially for winter?
FWIW; I'm pretty sure your heat pump is rotating anyways - since it's probably trying to heat and/or cool your traction pack. It's under ECU control; so why freeze for a few extra drops of gas - especially at today's prices. I'm too old for that and you can't take it with you...
did the hev get a heat pump as well? when i had mine, heater use reduced mpg's substantially, depending on ambient temp and our comfort zone. seat heaters and steering wheel help a lot, but there's nothing you can do about the other cold weather mpg killers
No heat pump in the hybrid. Pretty sure the HEV battery is still cooled with air from the cabin. Unless it is a short trip, I'd just leave the heat on. Though I'll wait until the coolant is fully warmed up. The reason being is that these auto systems will reduce the heat output once the cabin reaches the set temp. Then any penalty from pulling heat from the coolant is reduced. Turning the heat on and off could result in more heat pulled from the engine, as the cabin cools during the off portion.
My strategy is to turn the heat on pretty soon after getting started, but leave it very low - to where the fan is on the low side, and then slowly raise the temperature as the car and cabin heats up - like 1-2 degrees every 5-10 minutes. Also, if you have them, turn on the heated steering wheel and heated seat - my understanding is that they use the 12v, but I am no expert and could be wrong on that.
Isn't the gen5 traction packs mounted external to the car's cabin and cooled by Freon? Electronic heat pads will automatically turn-on to warm the battery.
That is so for the Prime/PHV. The hybrid is like the previous gen, under the rear seat with vents to the cabin.
Alas, no. When I walk in the afternoon, I point that big solar collector (the windshield) towards the sun.
