Does Toyota make an engine-block heater for the 2017 Prius Prime plug-in?

Yeah, my car is outside. I have tried preconditioning climate control with remote AC up to 4 times (40 min), but when temp is below 10F, heat pump did absolutely nothing. On one day, during my 30 min commute with heat set at 70F Auto, I measured the cabin temp. The ambient tem pas 6F to start and of course the cabin temp was equal to that. It raised from 6F to 18F during 30 min of the morning drive. EBH may not help the heat pump inefficiency during the ride, but at least at start-up the heating should be bit quicker, I hope.

 

Slightly off-topic, but only slightly: has anyone tried using a block heater to prevent ICE startup on the Prius PHEV, so that EV mode can be used without the ICE starting? I know that the heat must be turned off. The idea is to be able to run a quick errand or two (about a 3-5 mile trip) in EV mode without using the ICE. This has become a more appealing option since our 2013 PIP has developed a pernicious rough ICE start/idle issue.

 

My impression was the external air temperature set the control law behavior. This was because after warming the engine from a late night/early morning trip, if the air got cooler, the cold weather control laws took over. So I would start by spoofing the external temperature sensor.

Bob Wilson

 

The manual appears to say that it's coolant temp, and 0C/32F is the cutoff for staying in EV mode.

 

Mine was a 2017 Prius Prime so things may have changed. GOOD LUCK!

Bob Wilson

 

It was 14F this morning. Made it 18 miles in EV before the HV mode kicked in as the battery was depleted. .

EV runs well below 32F .
Heat pump good down to about 14F I believe

2018 Prius Prime