Staying comfortable without draining efficiency

[electruck4x4]

Cold-weather comfort doesn’t have to mean blasting heat constantly, especially when driving alone.

What strategies have you found that balance comfort and efficiency for you and your passengers?


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[SteveInBend]

Warm clothes (maybe layered?), merino wool glove liners, lightweight beanie or toque.

 

[ndmiller]

Precondition vehicle before leaving is about the best thing you can do for both.

If you haven't preconditioned, efficiency won't begin until battery warms up on the road and that kills efficiency. I don't think heating the inside of the vehicle matters much at this point.

If you have preconditioned wear what kept you warm outside, inside the vehicle and turn down the heat to 60-65? I'm guessing comment as I always precondition, so am back to normal efficiency on my commute and don't have to worry about inside heating.

 

[CO Riv]

I never worry about efficiency and cabin comfort. The heating of the cabin is minimal battery drain, maybe 2 KWh during an hour's drive when your car itself is using 35 KWh just to drive the miles, and battery management during extreme cold is likely using significantly more energy than the cabin heating. Electric vehicles experience significant range loss in winter, but cabin heat isn't the main problem. Just charge a little more and keep a larger buffer for the remaining battery at arrivals. Whether you stay warm or not should not be what you worry about.

If you really want to limit "hot air blowing," wearing warm clothing and using the seat heaters and the steering wheel heater will make for a very comfortable trip. You could also do that in your home while watching Netflix, but how many of us do that for "efficiency"?

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