Heater in an EV how good is it

[Les burrows]

Couple of weeks back it was a cold day and I was driving in my MG5 SR with my son he’s a ( Tesla model X driver ) has we where going along I turned off the heater for a short while trying to conserve the Battery.

After about 10 minutes or so, my lad said to me what’s wrong with the heater dad, I said nothing just trying to save some battery by only using it in short bursts, he said that’s the wrong idea you will use more battery by keep turning it on and off has the heater is coming in at full power every time you switch it back on and you know what, I think he’s right, he’s had 3 EVs over the last few years so knows a bit more about whats the best way to use them than myself maybe.
Anyhow today raining all day so stuck in front of the TV I came across these two videos on YT which I found very interesting and maybe they prove his point have a watch.
Les.

 

[Alb]

It isn't really an EV specific thing, just the laws of thermodynamics.

 

[Deleted member 7316]

Put the airflow to recycling rather than from outside. The system should still bring in some fresh air but the majority airflow will be from inside the car That way it only has to warm a small amount rather than all of it.

 

[Les burrows]

Put the airflow to recycling rather than from outside. The system should still bring in some fresh air but the majority airflow will be from inside the car That way it only has to warm a small amount rather than all of it.

Hiya I know that’s is right what you wrote,the problem with having it in recycling mode for more than a few minutes is missing up of the windows, especially when you have passengers in the car with you or it’s wet outside you need heat and airflow to avoid that or, the other way around it is to open the windows a little and then you can have rain water dripping into the car. No for me it’s recirculating button off most off the time.
After watching the videos above yesterday I was parked up for around 1 &1/2 hours waiting for the wife on a medical appointment, and I thought I would give it ago so left the car fully booted up in park, heater and aircon running on on auto at 20/21degrees so I then brought up the screen that’s shows the AMPs and watched it the amp rate never went above 5/6 and most of the time was around 2/3, also I used the seat heater a couple of times, when I started out on this experiment the car battery was showing 77% after the time an hour or so it was reading 76% and my range had dropped by about 3 miles but my was I warm windows where also nice and clear as well.
Les

 

[Lovemyev]

Using the heater with the recirculating button pressed, will close off the flap that allows outside air into the cabin.
It will warm the inside of the car more quickly because you are passing the internal air back through the heater box.
But you have to be aware that it will start to mist up the windows if you use it in this mode constantly.
When you see mist forming on the glass, release the recirc button to allow air flow from outside.
Using the heater in short bursts, is less effective.
The most amount of energy is consumed getting the cabin temperature up to a level that you are happy with.
When you reach a happy temperature, start deducting the demand for heat one click at a time on the heat setting.
This applies to the ZS EV ( Gen1) model of course with basic manual heating control.
The facelift model has a climate control system.
Of course if you are using ECO mode, this automatically reduces the amount of heat available to the cabin.