Remote Start on Prius Prime

will you not be plugging in and pre heating?

 

The dealer bribed you to buy a Prime?

I'm living in the wrong state.

 

Remote AC will precondition the vehicle to the climate control setpoint, so yes. (The caveat being if the vehicle is extremely cold, it may be too cold for the heat pump to work, and remote AC will not start the ICE to heat the vehicle. If that's the case, remote AC won't work.)

Here's the manual's documentation on it: http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM47A88U/pdf/OM47A88U.pdf#page=509

 

Most likely, yes.

 

sounds right. people have had remote starter issues here, but i don't know if they are oem. i think you need a separate fob, but if it's just from your house in the morning, no big deal. i don't have personal experience.

 

I just got the only one in the state!

 

Congrats, don't forget to change your vehicle in your details.

 

Congrats, sakozar! Although it's not the ONLY one in the state. I've seen John's in person.

Mine is about 2 weeks away now. What color is yours and do you ever come down to the cities?

 

Thanks for the reminder!

 

Yes, I get down to the cities a couple of times per year. I have the gray metallic premium and I just got a red advanced. Sorry I didn't answer you sooner, I haven't been on chat for a while.

 

Another Minnesota 2 Prime family! And I have yet to see one in the wild.

 

I was reading through your post recently, and noticed that you have both the gray and the red prime's. I am deciding between the two colors and wondered if you have any comments?

 

It took me a while reading through the Owners Manual to figure out that "Air Conditioning" means both cooling and heating in Toyota-speak.

 

Toyota means HVAC. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
(Humor) The not included "R" for refrigeration-freezer accessory you supply locally and is only available in selected regions.

 

It's a Japanese thing and should be translated a little better for non-Japanese speakers.

エアコン (eacon) = air conditioning is more specific than クーラ (ku-ra) = cooler, which is what most people in the US would call an air conditioner.

エアコン is typically a wall-mounted unit used to cool a room in summer and heat a room when it's cold outside. In the Kansai area (western Japan, Nara-Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe), the summers are very hot and humid, but winners are relatively mild and it doesn't snow. Almost all heating/cooling is done in a room by room basis since power is really expensive.

Toyota City is not far away, it's in Aichi Prefecture, just outside of Nagoya.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

The above owners manual applies to a Prime.

The owners manual for my 2012 Prius Plug-in Advanced does not have these instructions. But does operate the AC no Heat pump that I can see.

"Before leaving the vehicle Check the temperature setting of the air conditioning system. The Remote Air Conditioning System will operate in accordance with the temperature settings of the air conditioning system."

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM47818U/pdf/OM47818U.pdf

 

The built-in factory remote start that comes with the prime will start your car in HVAC mode. It has a very good advantage if you do this while plugged in at a public of work charger, as it will heat/cool your cabin on that plug work, and won't touch a much more then a tiny drop of your changed EV battery power.

The factory key fob has a limited range, so it is not great for trying to remote start your car from your office. Its also only a 1-way remote, meaning you will have no idea if you were in range or not. Or if the car successfully started or not.

Getting a 3rd party remote start solves both these issues, but brings its own list of side-effects. The worse being that if your car is plugged in and you try to start it with the long-range remote, it will likely report a successful start, BUT you'll get to your plugged-in car only discover that remote start did not activate the HVAC mode, or the engine, or the heat pump, or the EV battery and only served to drain your 12volt battery for no good reason. If you are not plugged in, however, it will work fantastic and some even offer up to 3 miles of RF fob range. You can even go so far as to add on the cell phone extension, allowing you to remote start your car with your smartphone from anyplace so long as you and the car both have a cell signal. One big pisser tho, when you go out to your nice warm or cool remote started car, it will turn off when you open the door. Letting out your heat/cool with the door open and the car off kinda moots the point a bit. Plus you have to carry both your factory smart key fob and the 3rd party one at the same time.

Someone should invent a solution for all this nonsense, shouldn't they? Well, it's a good thing I did!

https://youtu.be/C0Y_tmcuLzI