Heat pump, and remote AC, but no preheating???

That's a pretty angry 4th post. How cold exactly does it get in Seattle? There are a lot of us in "real" cold that find the seat heaters very useful.

That being said, I agree with you that they probably should have put a small resistance heater in this thing. They can't be that expensive.

 

On the plus side, I believe heat pumps use less energy than resistance heaters. And they said it works down to -15 C. That would cover you in Seattle. But ya, no pre heating is a bummer.

On another plus side...I imagine the Tesla Model 3 will be cheaper than this thing.

 

i wanted pre heating as well. are we sure it isn't there? maybe they just haven't mentioned it.

 

The gen1 Volt required being plugged into a level 2 home charger in order to preheat the car cabin. The draw was probably too high for cabin heating and charging for a standard 15 amp outlet. The Prime has a smaller battery than even the gen1 Volt, and can fully charge from an outlet in under 7 hours. The majority of buyers aren't going to shell out the extra money for a faster charger for the sake of cabin preheating. So the low cost to Toyota of having the feature would still likely be a wasted cost.

 

maybe, but quite a few pip owned have L2, and a lot of the ones who don't might be cali hov sticker 'i don't plug in' types.
L2 is going to be even more convenient with a 2 1/2 hour charge vs 5 hours. overnight is one thing, but 22 mile range frequently needs recharging for many of us. especially in weather when you want the heater, 22 miles becomes 15. then turn on your heat pump and see what happens.

 

GM's survey of Volt owners showed over half that responded just used the wall outlet. That was a factor in the decision to not use a larger onboard charger. The L2s can be had for under $500, but wiring needs to be run for it. Granted, I would also install it with plans for future plug ins, too. Toyota though needs to balance options and costs against what they expect to actually sell.

 

but it may be the case with 50 ev miles, that they don't need much recharging during the day. what does chevy say about keeping the battery full all the time?

 

make sure it's upgradeable, or able to handle what your thinking of in the future, unless it would be less expensive to just replace it some day.

 

looking at japanese info, it seems you can set climate control to work via mobile phone and also pre-set it in vehicle on that big screen.

トヨタ 新型プリウスPHV | トヨタ自動車WEBサイト

 

don't forget, toyota calls the entire hvac system 'air conditioning'.

 

If you don't mind the range loss, no reason any plug in can't pre-condition the cabin when not plugged in. If plugged in to a standard outlet, owners should allow time to charge and then precondition, because I suspect the car won't be able to do both at the same time very well if at all.

Car heat pumps were probably too pricey at the time of the gen1's release. With more models using them, that cost should have come down some in the intervening time.

I don't know if GM says anything about full charge, but as a PHEV the Volt likely has a larger buffer for protection against sitting fully charged in the heat than a BEV would.

Charge cycles are also another influence on battery life. All else being the same, a 40 mile plugin that uses the full 40 miles each day will inflict less battery abuse than a 20 mile plugin that charges up a second time to cover the same trip.

Disclosure, I am of the opinion that ICE PHEVs should try to avoid using public chargers. With limited chargers, and short range BEVs, I think it is better to leave the charger space open for a BEV that might need it to get home. You got an ICE, use it. If you got to the point where it didn't burn any gas, it will end up burning it just so fresh gas can be added. Might as well burn the gasoline and get useful work out of it at the same time.

Some EVSE units don't have to be hard wired in. Amazon has some that simply plug into a 15-40(an RV one) outlet. That's the fastest home charging a Tesla can use without having twin onboard chargers.

 

Yeah that would be an amazing option especially for me living in Canada.

 

The reason GM recommends keeping the Volt plugged in is because the HVAC will turn on if necessary, to keep the battery in its happy zone. There have been times on really hot days, where I walked by the car and the A/C compressor was running to cool the battery.

 

Living in the far Southwest Corner of the US has some obvious advantages as far as climate control goes. We get a few weeks of 30-40ºF mornings - in January/February. While heated seats help, it doesn't really warm up the interior. So in areas where there is really cold weather for 4-6 months a year, I can empathize with your frozen interiors. I think a heat pump will help - but at what price is probably the real question. Time will tell.