Climate control running heat only with no A/C

[ufo]

I don't if anybody noticed and/or discussed in any other tread before but I discovered that when you run Climate control in heating and turn off A/C, it still heats and you don't loose any EV range. So it looks like PHEV chops a portion of EV range only if A/C (or A/C compressor) is on. Come summer time when cooling is needed there is no getting away from loosing some of EV range but in Winter you can have heating without loosing any EV range. I don't know if it makes any difference with PHEV models without electric heating. I have electric heating.

It is actually bit bizarre, PHEVs with electric heating using battery to heat should loose some of its range! Models without electric heating would use only ICE for heating and to run A/C compressor so why do they loose EV range when Climate Control is run in heating mode !?!?! In fact same should be valid for cooling unless it uses electric motor to run A/C compressor. But that would be silly because ICE is running already to provide heat so logical approach would be to use ICE to run the compreesor too. It is so much wasted energy if ICE is runing to heat PHEV and drive battery being used to run electric motor to run compressor!?!

 

[jaapv]

And how would you run the AC in EV mode if it had no electric motor?

 

[user 258]

Hi
sorry, it isn't like that. It is simply that Mitsubishi didn't (probably because it would be hard to be accurate) reduce the estimated EV range with the heater on. It can use upto 4KW which is a lot of power and if the electric heater is used much it will significantly reduce your EV range.
Kind regards
Mark

 

[jaapv]

Plus that the car supplements electric heating with ICE heat and as that depends on the driving it is impossible to estimate the amount needed.

 

[ufo]

And how would you run the AC in EV mode if it had no electric motor?

Simple, just like any other ICE vehicle, use ICE to run A/C (compressor). You could be still running in pure EV mode while ICE is running only to supply power to A/C. PHEV does this for heating any way if you don't have electirc heater i.e. while it is running in pure EV mode in city driving ICE runs to provide heat. Even it does the same if you have electirc heater and outside temperature is too low (below -5 ~ -10) because electric heater is not sufficient in such cases. I've seen so many people complaining about this on this forum.

 

[ufo]

Hi
sorry, it isn't like that. It is simply that Mitsubishi didn't (probably because it would be hard to be accurate) reduce the estimated EV range with the heater on. It can use upto 4KW which is a lot of power and if the electric heater is used much it will significantly reduce your EV range.
Kind regards
Mark

That doesn't make any sense; everything on range calculation is approximate any way. Why wouldn't they factor the consumption of electric heater? I am not claiming that electric heater does not affect EV range at all but it looks like it is not that great. I don't think it would consume 4 Kw, you can bring a room 3 by 3 meters to boiling point with a 2 Kw electric heater if run continuously on full power. It looks like it is the A/C compressor is the main power guzzler.

 

[user 258]

Hi
sorry, it isn't like that. It is simply that Mitsubishi didn't (probably because it would be hard to be accurate) reduce the estimated EV range with the heater on. It can use upto 4KW which is a lot of power and if the electric heater is used much it will significantly reduce your EV range.
Kind regards
Mark

That doesn't make any sense; everything on range calculation is approximate any way. Why wouldn't they factor the consumption of electric heater? I am not claiming that electric heater does not affect EV range at all but it looks like it is not that great. I don't think it would consume 4 Kw, you can bring a room 3 by 3 meters to boiling point with a 2 Kw electric heater if run continuously on full power. It looks like it is the A/C compressor is the main power guzzler.

The car reduces the anticipated range when A/C is on because you choose if the button is pressed or not. The car decides when to switch the heater on totally on its own and as Jaapv said it may well decide to run the ICE so the expected range would either be totally wrong or wildly fluctuating depending where the heat came from.

It is a 4KW electric heater. Mitsubishi say so and I have verified with the power use on trip screen. No one said it would run at 4KW continuously. I would expect if it was that cold then the algorithm that the car uses would decide it needs to run the ICE to provide the heat, at least initially. The A/C is (from tests I've done) likely 2KW maximum.

A/C simply moves the heat from inside the car to outside with a heat pump. Using the heater converts the electrical energy to heat energy rather than moving it so is less efficient.

Batteries don't do very well in cold climates due to the double whammy of losing range and providing sufficient heat for comfort. That's just how it is.

Kind regards,
Mark

 

[jaapv]

Indeed, addition the battery has an independent climate system to keep it in its optimum temperature range.