We're getting our first taste of winter here today, and an "auto expert" was on radio, saying that the most important thing you can do for the winter is to have a good block-heater and plug in your car. I disagree. I haven't used a block-heater for years, since I started using the proper engine oil; 0-W synthetics. The most important factor for winter in my opinion is a good ice-tire. I'm getting them installed at the dealer on Tuesday. Only once in the last 15 years have I had trouble starting my car as a result of not plugging it in. It was in the minus 40s one morning, and the remote starter on my '93 Ford Taurus gave up after 3 tries. I caught a ride to work, and when I went back to it in the afternoon, it started without a boost. I expect that the Prius won't have any trouble at all starting up in cold weather. With 0-W20 oil engine, I don't expect the motor-generator won't have any trouble turning it over and firing it up. If anyone has any experience with starting the Prius in extreme cold weather, please share.
I've got to weigh in, lol. We use our block heater year 'round. Yeah, right through summer. For me the reason is not start/nostart, just to accelerate warm up, by starting out with coolant temp already 20~30 C above ambient. It's going to get cooler here over the next few days, due to "arctic outflow" condition. Nothing like the prairies tho.
I had a bit of experience last spring when it was around -15 or so. The engine warmed up in about 3-4 minutes, thanks to the Prius exhaust heat recovery system.
Prius cars do very well in extreme cold: Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog » Trans-Siberian Railway 2013: Japanese imports in Ulaanbaatar
In addition to a small engine with light oil, folks should remember that the Prius has a far more powerful 'starter' (MG1) and 'starting battery' (the traction battery) than traditional cars. And that 'starter battery' has a far higher voltage, meaning that wiring I*R losses are a smaller fraction of the available voltage. More voltage actually gets to the motor, instead of being lost in the wires. It will take significantly deeper cold weather to prevent the Prius from cranking.
I don't go as far as Mendal and use a block heater all year around but I do keep the grill block, at least partly. I went all summer with 75% lower & 0% upper blocked. Now that winter is back it's 100% lower and 50% upper.
In the Prius and hypermiling world lots of folks use the block heater to enhance fuel economy. Sometime the electric usage doesn't pencil out but those hard earned mpg numbers stay higher. Coupled with grille blocking it can make a difference. Especially during high speed driving or very short commutes.
I used to block the grill when the engine temperature wasn't staying up, but my last few vehicles haven't needed it. Since I started using zero-grade synthetic winter engine oils, they maintain a low viscosity, even in very low temperatures, therefore I haven't seen the need to use a block heater.
Our electricity rate is 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour. The block heater takes 400 watts, and I aim for 2 hours usage. That works out to 6 cents per use. I think. We typically use the block heater before first start up of the day, and car usage is about 20 days out of the month. So, $1.20 per month?
I still find it unnecessary. By a long-term process of trial-and-error, I have concluded that it has no benefit.
Hey, I know, lol. I'm sure it's a case of one mans ceiling, another mans floor. Do you see a lot of block heater cords though, in driveways in winter?
One other thing I've noticed; most block-heaters don't work, due to the cord fluttering in the wind, breaking the wires inside. I keep mine tied-up and inside the hood, in factory condition.
Are they mandated in new vehicles in Alberta? Our daughter's car purchased in Ontario had one, never used. I've got ours attached to the slats of the lower grill opening. Zip tied in two locations, spaced a few inches apart. And it extends out just a few inches, not enough to touch the ground. I plug it into a cord that'll pull out straight and easy, so even if forgotten it won't be dragging. And yeah, it's the second cord, had to rewire once now...
Actually, in Calgary, it's illegal to string out a cord across a sidewalk, for those who park in the street. Most people just chance it, and if the car won't start, a mechanic will probably suggest an oil change to a winter grade. After that, it's not usually a problem. Now that I think of it, I don't see many cars plugged-in here unless it's it gets below -25.
Whether they're mandated or not, I'm not sure, but every dealer I know in Alberta won't sell a car without a block-heater.
That's the other thing; a lot of vehicles here have no block-heater cord, on account of driving away with it still plugged in. For some strange reason, most outdoor cords are very hard to plug into in cold weather because the plastic becomes very stiff. For that reason, I recommend adding a household cube-tap that's made out of hard plastic. It's not weather-proof, but it's a lot easier to unplug and plug into. When I lived in Montana, I bought a block-heater cord, which looked almost exactly what we used in Canada, but when it got below -30, it broke into a lot of pieces like dry spaghetti.
It depends on what benefits you are looking for. Competitive hypermilers are looking to harvest gains that most ordinary commuters don't find worth the time or effort.
It's fun to play that economy-game once in awhile, but not so much when it involves driving with no heat or a/c. I agree, there's probably a marginal benefit in warming up the engine with electricity compared to doing it by running the engine. However, at least 90% of the time, I find that a 5-minute warm-up is all I need before I get in and drive. The rest of the warm-up happens while I'm driving. It's simply not worth it to plug-in a block-heater, in my opinion.
They're already hitting us over the head with "polar vortex" lead in's for every news show today. Looks like maybe some snow for us late this week and or early next week Got the winter tires (Yokohama iceGUARD iG52c) mounted on their rims yesterday... might be installing them earlier than I planned!
I'd imagine that the Prius might be the only vehicle capable of being driven on the dark side of the moon.
