Woeful mistake by Toyota Prius Division

The car is always going to burn gas to get the block up to temp.

Any other heat source you have will reduce gasoline usage.

If that other heat source is cheaper than gasoline, you're really winning.

 

Does the block heater NOT have a thermostat built in to it ?
If so, leaving it plugged in all night should only cost extra pennies......if that.

Leaving it plugged in ALL the time the car is not in use in a moderate climate seems OCD to me.
But that would be rather minor compared to some of the Prius obsessions reported here.

 

It doesn't have a thermostat. It tends to plateau around +30C, at least in my locale/experience. Still, I wouldn't leave it on for a protracted time, thinking it might be getting overly hot right at the unit. I do sometimes leave it plugged in overnight, but on the timer: set so it kicks in about 2 hours before take off time.

 

True. The Prius trim One was designed for fleet (primarily rental) car sales. Remote Start would add cost with no value to those customers.

 

(Edit) Oops, just realized that this refers to the block heater and not the car itself.
But somebody did recently claim that the CAR didn't have a thermostat.....right ??
Maybe not.

This is just a guess but:
With a computer controlled, electrically operated WATER PUMP, there really is no need for a conventional thermostat because that just restricts the water flow so that the block heats up faster.
You could theoretically accomplish exactly the same thing by leaving the water pump OFF or running very slow until it warms up.
That would effectively be an "electronic thermostat".

 

Remote start can kill if activated by mistake in a garage with a car in it that's attached to a house. No thanks!

 

Maybe that is why remote starts were not widely deployed until modern emission controls very sharply reduced CO poisonings? That is no longer a reliable method of suicide.

But these emission controls are not yet reliable enough to fully abolish the accidental deaths from garage seepage. That is why everyone with an attached garage should have CO detectors in the house, even absent remote start.

And it may also be worthwhile somehow checking air infiltration from garage to living space. There is a wide variety of unhealthy and toxic emissions from items commonly stored or appliances installed in garages. Proper garage ventilation, and air infiltration control into the occupied building envelope, are important but very often ignored.

 

I would like a remote button that would turn on an electric heater to heat the car up.. or a/c in hte summer..
so yea i'd like remote start.. hoping it wouldn't run the ICE.

 

Remote start systems are all or none. You either start the entire hybrid system or nothing, and once started the computer gets to decide whether or not the engine runs.

And it will run. The electric heaters in the c are small. They help a little, but 90% of the heat you feel comes from burning gasoline. It's a similar story with air conditioning- the system can run off the hybrid battery, but only just for a few minutes before it needs the gas engine to run and generate electricity.

 

true.. I heard the car likes to warm the ICE too.. maybe the best option would be to run a plug and a space heater in the winter..