heating cost

[Brownp16]

As we move towards winter and mornings are getting chillier....can anyone tell me approximately it will cost to run the heater in the car.
I normally get to and from work on battery only, but will need some heat before long. I'm interested to know how much fuel is being burned when the engine is running to create heat in the interior. I'm assuming that it is less than needed to drive the wheels??
thanks

 

[jaapv]

Which type? I have the one with electric heating and if I do not preheat it will cost me 5-8 km in range

 

[jkh112]

If you have a version without electric heating then when the engine is started to provide heat it will also drive the car so you will not use electric power, when the heat is no longer needed the engine will switch off and the car will then use electric drive.

 

[Ozukus]

Having a GX3h since December I would say the following from practical experience on say a 25 mile journey.

Driving on an empty battery - Obtain about 40-45mpg
Driving on a full battery with heating on - Obtain about 70-80mpg

So it's more efficient but you still do use fuel, but still better than my old Yaris 1.4d that only got 60mpg average.

Cheers

 

[maby]

It's a fairly complicated equation that will take into account your speed really. The heater draws up to 4kw depending on the temperature outside and the full battery is about 10kwh - so the heater could run your battery flat in around 2 and a half hours without the car moving at all. If you consider the claimed EV range of around 30 miles and you are driving at 30mph, then you'll run the battery flat in an hour. In that time, the heater running at full power would draw 4kwh - 40% of the battery capacity and hence reduce your range by more than 10 miles. Obviously, the heater will not be running flat out all the time unless the temperature is very low, but equally the EV range drops off quite a lot as the temperature drops. Since the power drain of the heater is time dependent rather than speed or distance dependent, it should have less effect on range as you go faster since you can travel the same distance in less time - but the EV range reduces as you go faster too!

 

[anko]

Hang on. The heater takes 4 kW continuously during pre-heating. Yes. But when driving (or as soon as you turn the car on), it all depends on outside temperature and requested temperature. It is very likely that power consumption will drop dramatically after a while, compared to the 4 kW during pre-heating. So, no I don't think the heater would be able to drain the battery in as little as 2.5 hrs.

 

[maby]

Hang on. The heater takes 4 kW continuously during pre-heating. Yes. But when driving (or as soon as you turn the car on), it all depends on outside temperature and requested temperature. It is very likely that power consumption will drop dramatically after a while, compared to the 4 kW during pre-heating. So, no I don't think the heater would be able to drain the battery in as little as 2.5 hrs.

I did qualify my comments - yes, two and a half hours would be extreme - but my point is that the power consumed by the heater is dependent on time, not speed or distance and hence the impact on range will be inversely proportional to speed. If you are able to cruise at a steady 40mph, then the impact will be a lot smaller than if you are crawling along in a traffic jam averaging 10mph since more of the charge will end up in the engine and less in the heater by the time the battery has gone flat.

 

[anko]

I did qualify my comments -

You are right. You did

 

[PeterGalbavy]

I bought a GX3h as I didn't want or need any of the options *except* the electric heater. As others suggested, I will have to eat the cost of burning dinosaurs for a while in winter, but is not going to add up to the £100/month difference in lease costs! (Just my annoyance at not being emissions free on the road).

 

[duetto]

we have the lower model and notice a significate drop in petrol when the heater set at 25c, it just drinks the fuel. recently had a campervan and the blown air heater ran off the fuel and despite toasting a larger vehicle in heat hardly noticed any drop in fuel, cannot fathom out how such an advanced car has such a dreadful fuel consuming heater.

I often wonder if the phev is still in beta stage a good car but needs so many minor improvements that are annoying.

 

[maby]

we have the lower model and notice a significate drop in petrol when the heater set at 25c, it just drinks the fuel. recently had a campervan and the blown air heater ran off the fuel and despite toasting a larger vehicle in heat hardly noticed any drop in fuel, cannot fathom out how such an advanced car has such a dreadful fuel consuming heater.

I often wonder if the phev is still in beta stage a good car but needs so many minor improvements that are annoying.

I don't think it's fair to compare a blown air heating (Eberspacher?) with hot water heating driven off the engine cooling circuit. The Eber in our boat will run all day, keeping it toasty warm on a couple of litres of diesel.

Also, set to 25c, it must be like a sauna! I get criticised by the fuel economy nuts round here for wanting mine at 20!

 

[greendwarf]

we have the lower model and notice a significate drop in petrol when the heater set at 25c, it just drinks the fuel. recently had a campervan and the blown air heater ran off the fuel and despite toasting a larger vehicle in heat hardly noticed any drop in fuel, cannot fathom out how such an advanced car has such a dreadful fuel consuming heater.

I often wonder if the phev is still in beta stage a good car but needs so many minor improvements that are annoying.

Under what circumstances?

Do you mean that when running the ICE to drive the car, i.e. burning petrol anyway, the consumption goes up significantly when you use the heater, as well. That doesn't sound right.

Or do you mean that when in EV mode the use of the heater fires up the ICE which uses a lot of petrol just to provide heat. That sounds right because in a normal car the heat from the ICE driving the car is a "free" waste by product.

You also don't say whether you are also using the aircon with the heater as this will either deplete the battery quickly in EV mode or will add significantly to your consumption because you will be adding to the engine load to provide the electricity for it, over and above that for the drive motors.