Is cabin heat "free" if a Prime is in HV mode?

In the Gen 4 PHEV in HEV mode, you can turn off the heat pump by using the A/C button and keep only the fan running, which will utilize the engine-coolant heater core to warm the cabin. In fact, even with the fan off, you can still feel heat coming from the vents.

I don’t see why this should be impossible in the Gen 5 PHEV, but then they added refrigerant battery cooling, which could lead many Gen 5 PHEVs to the junkyard once the battery warranty expires, since repairs would be very costly. The Gen 6 RAV4 PHEV already uses engine coolant to cool the battery, so this refrigerant cooling system will remain unique to the Gen 5 Prius PHEV.

 

The current Rav4 plug ins also use refrigerant cooling. Other Toyota EVs might also use it, or use the AC to chill the blown air.

 

You mean the outgoing RAV4 PHEV. Well, Toyota is done with it. It will never use it again. When there is a leak, and it leaks easily, it costs $20,000 to fix it.

In my Gen 4 Prius Prime PHEV, the A/C didn’t even turn on once to cool the cabin for the battery.

 

The outgoing RAV4 PHEVs used refrigerant cooling for the HV batt, but the new gen RAV4 PHEV uses water cooling. (RAV4 HEV uses air cooling like always.) The Prius PHEV continues to use refrigerant cooling. It looks like the current BEVs(bZ/RZ) use water cooling. I don't know what the new BEVs(C-HR/Highlander/ES) are going to use, but I'm guessing water.

 

Don't most EVSls simply use coolant loops? And wouldn't a refrigerant loop be more expensive? If so it's hard to follow the logic.