Cold Weather Performance - North American 2023

[Lon12]

Sorry but I don't know of any, even stationary high end heat pumps working well bellow -20C
Mine, at home is rated at -30C but really... bellow -20C is not so great and moreover at those temperatures it is definitely encapsulate in ice so...

My 2017 Leaf and Tesla Model Y have/had a heat pump. They make a lot of noise at -20 but continued to work fine.

I'm fairly confident that if anyone can make a heat pump for a car it would be Mitsubishi. They have built millions for home use.

[AndyInOz]

When you say running in EV mode, do you mean that you are making a selection to force the car to run in that mode?

[Lon12]

When you say running in EV mode, do you mean that you are making a selection to force the car to run in that mode?

Yes. It is very different from the previous model. You can select EV mode after pressing the start button without your foot on the brake. Most of the time this "ACC" mode will also let you turn on the seat heat, steering wheel heat, HVAC, etc. Then when you start the car it stays in EV mode. When the engine starts on its own because of the low engine temperature it does not cancel EV mode like I think the old one did.

[AndyInOz]

I'm wondering if 'EV mode' may be affecting the heater functions.

My version of the car has an 'Eco mode' which does also affect heating and cooling. (I think)

[littlescrote]

I'm wondering if 'EV mode' may be affecting the heater functions.

My version of the car has an 'Eco mode' which does also affect heating and cooling. (I think)

You can select in the menu system whether it does or not. IIRC I think ECO can only affect high or low cooling though, not heating.

[kpetrov]

Sorry but I don't know of any, even stationary high end heat pumps working well bellow -20C
Mine, at home is rated at -30C but really... bellow -20C is not so great and moreover at those temperatures it is definitely encapsulate in ice so...

My 2017 Leaf and Tesla Model Y have/had a heat pump. They make a lot of noise at -20 but continued to work fine.

I'm fairly confident that if anyone can make a heat pump for a car it would be Mitsubishi. They have built millions for home use.

Could they have additional electric heater working in tandem with the heat pump and Mitsubishi don't?
Looking at some technical schematics would be interesting if available.

[Lon12]

Sorry but I don't know of any, even stationary high end heat pumps working well bellow -20C
Mine, at home is rated at -30C but really... bellow -20C is not so great and moreover at those temperatures it is definitely encapsulate in ice so...

My 2017 Leaf and Tesla Model Y have/had a heat pump. They make a lot of noise at -20 but continued to work fine.

I'm fairly confident that if anyone can make a heat pump for a car it would be Mitsubishi. They have built millions for home use.

Could they have additional electric heater working in tandem with the heat pump and Mitsubishi don't?
Looking at some technical schematics would be interesting if available.

Yes maybe. But you would think that with the big gas burning engine you could use its heat to assist the heat pump if necessary.

[kpetrov]

My 2017 Leaf and Tesla Model Y have/had a heat pump. They make a lot of noise at -20 but continued to work fine.

I'm fairly confident that if anyone can make a heat pump for a car it would be Mitsubishi. They have built millions for home use.

Could they have additional electric heater working in tandem with the heat pump and Mitsubishi don't?
Looking at some technical schematics would be interesting if available.

Yes maybe. But you would think that with the big gas burning engine you could use its heat to assist the heat pump if necessary.

But the big gas burning engine is always available for hear if you want it!

The point is to be able to preheat the vehicle and not to use the engine in short trips.

[Lon12]

I guess the issue I have is that the car doesn’t let you know that it is turning the heat pump off or not even starting it. You only find out by how cold the interior is.
If I use the App to preheat the car it should tell me it can’t because of the low temperature.
If it turns off the pump while I’m driving let me know so I can burn some fuel to keep warm.

Another example of things that make you say “what?” Is the fact you can’t use the App to preheat the car unless the doors are locked. You send the request and it just fails with a message to read the manual for the many different reasons why it might fail. The App has the ability to lock the doors remotely. So why not just do that with the heat request or at least tell you that the doors are not locked?

[littlescrote]

I guess the issue I have is that the car doesn’t let you know that it is turning the heat pump off or not even starting it. You only find out by how cold the interior is.
If I use the App to preheat the car it should tell me it can’t because of the low temperature.
If it turns off the pump while I’m driving let me know so I can burn some fuel to keep warm.

Another example of things that make you say “what?” Is the fact you can’t use the App to preheat the car unless the doors are locked. You send the request and it just fails with a message to read the manual for the many different reasons why it might fail. The App has the ability to lock the doors remotely. So why not just do that with the heat request or at least tell you that the doors are not locked?

All of that requires programming and logic. Something Japanese manufacturers are pretty poor at throughout many industries. The culture is to do things manually. I've been constantly surprised through 30 years of working with them how much they still (generally) like to put data manually in a spreadsheet rather than automate the import from elsewhere using Excel's API (for example).