Gasolene heater

I am unsure how it works with your Tesla (I know you say it has a great heater so I imagine you don't need to "pre-heat"), but pre-heating on 120/240 at the lower current draw is pretty much not worth it. If it is really cold outside I will pre-heat the Volt. It seems to me it does more to heat the battery than the actual cabin. Even on 240V/15A it will drop your range as the electric heater pulls 7.7kwh. This is where the PiP will be awesome. Since it goes through a cat warmup anyway you will have the waste heat.. The heater in my 11' Prius is awesome! So I am sure the PiP with shortened warmup time will get warmer even faster. I know by the time I turn my Prius on, and select my radio station I already have warm air coming out of the vents, and by the time I go 5 miles I am nearly sweating...Where as the Volt you pre-heat, it will be maybe 1 or 2 degrees above ambient. Start driving down the road, by the time I go 5 miles it will be "warm," and by the end of the journey it will be warmer (all with the electric heater mind you). It also reduces my possible mileage from 4.2mi/kwh to around 1.8-2.0mi/kwh. So no, you guys do not want an electric heater. Far better to use the gas engine for that, and save your battery juice for the road.

 

we had the first 1960 corvair monza coupe to ever come to boston when i was 16. to this day i remember that within 30seconds there was heat from the gas powered heater. i believe they discontinued it the next year. but we loved it

 

The gas heater became optional on the Gen 1 'vairs for a short time.