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I wonder when running the heater on high how it effects the range the car can travel.
Levi
"there's no such thing as a free lunch" if work is being done, it takes energy to do it. ( heating air is considered work)
but with that said, the temp range that most people would feel comfortable doesn't change that much.
running the defroster though, hmmm while crawling along in a heavy snow storm, that might be a measurable effect.
My son has a Tesla Model S and the heat works well. Using the iphone app he can even pre-heat the car, so it is comfortable to get into, even on cold days or pre-cool it on warm days. Yes, this uses battery and reduces range. This, however, also warms up the batteries, making them more efficient. When cold, the car does not use much regenerative braking, thus warming up the batteries helps to improve range by allowing more power from regenerative braking. i am sure that it is still a net loss, but every bit helps.
Cold weather significantly reduces the range. In the summer he can easily drive the 160 miles to my house, but in the winter that would be cutting it very close. There is a supercharger about 40 miles before my house and in the winter he stops there for about 30-45min for a full charge. While charging they can still run the heat, or cooling, and since wifi came with the car, they can watch movies on netfix.
I frequently deal with Lithium Ion batteries in remote control aircraft and I can tell you it is imperative that proper safety precautions are taken. These are the same type in Teslas. You can almost guarantee a fire if there is damage to any cells. In addition you must assume a fire hazard when charging so fireproof/heat proof pouches, containers and charging stations are de rigueur. I know of some people who have had batteries ignite in trunks of cars or even charging cordless drills on the workbench and thus burning down the garage/shop.
I have seen videos of one of our aircraft in LAX being loaded with a pallet of these batteries. The pallet was just outside the baggage compartment. Video records a loading truck nicking the edge of the battery package. In 20 minutes the entire thing erupted in flames. Fortunately it could be moved from the aircraft and the plane was not damaged.
https://www.insidelogistics.ca/techn...report-111625/
There was a 747-400 freighter transporting Lithium Ion batteries in the middle east that suffered a catastrophic fire from a battery runaway fire. The two pilots and aircraft did not make it.
I suppose it is your time when it is your time. Frankly, I would not be thrilled about being trapped in any vehicle after a crash. I have seen plenty of gasoline vehicles on fire and I always hope everyone escaped the flames. Burning alive, like the anesthesiologist is Florida, is a real nightmare for me. Even the police officer trying to extract him could not because there was no power to the exterior electric door latch.
Energy use is energy use and there's only so much on board in the form of petrochemicals in conventional cars or batteries in electrics. Heat is a byproduct of combustion in conventional cars so is "free" -- heck we discard most of it even in winter -- but AC requires additional energy to run in both cars and there's little by-product heat in the electricals.
The heated/cooled seats in my Ford use thermal electrical devices with fans not engine heat or compressor AC. Have no idea their power efficiency but they work well. Heating and cooling an electrical car is much more of an engineering challenge than a standard car. Not sure how the Teslas work and still consider them a novelty for folks with excess disposable income or who want to make a "statement" with their daily commute car the only use I'd consider.
Many of the PCs we're all typing on have a thermal electrical cold plate sitting on top of the CPU chip and many are additionally liquid cooled -- yep they need additional power and fans to get the heat out of the box. I swear I can heat my office with my HP Z820 workstation.
