Climate Control: Heating Capacity and Impact on Range?

[mikeright]

I would like to know your experience with the climate control regarding…
1. Heating capacity
2. Impact on range

Regarding the first point i have the feeling that its capacity of heating is very low. Even trying at 30 degrees and max speed I don’t feel the heat that I achieve from any other cars.

However, simply turning it on reduces the range by 10-15%, depending on the temperature.


i will appreciate if you can share your experiences to discover if i have an issue or it is like it is.

Thanks in advance!

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[Petzi]

I would like to know your experience with the climate control regarding…
1. Heating capacity
2. Impact on range

Regarding the first point i have the feeling that its capacity of heating is very low. Even trying at 30 degrees and max speed I don’t feel the heat that I achieve from any other cars.

However, simply turning it on reduces the range by 10-15%, depending on the temperature.


i will appreciate if you can share your experiences to discover if i have an issue or it is like it is.

Thanks in advance!

what car are you talking about?

 

[Petzi]

however
”AC” is only for cooling

 

[krissrock]

however
”AC” is only for cooling

no, the "a/c" option is for the compressor...that will turn on every time if you don't manually turn it off.
It dries the air, so it depends on the weather if you want it on or off...

however, I think the heating stuff takes a lot of energy. SOmetimes, i'll have driven 4-5 miles and i'll notice the range has dipped by 15+ miles... This is just the nature of the beast.
The temperature seems to slighter lower than my other ICE cars..like instead of keeping it on 80* as i would in my audi, i keep it on 84* in the Macan...

 

[Wivenhoe]

Do you get any heat when you select Eco Plus - if so is it enough with seat heating once the cabin is up to temperature ?

 

[Petzi]

no, the "a/c" option is for the compressor...that will turn on every time if you don't manually turn it off.
It dries the air, so it depends on the weather if you want it on or off...

however, I think the heating stuff takes a lot of energy. SOmetimes, i'll have driven 4-5 miles and i'll notice the range has dipped by 15+ miles... This is just the nature of the beast.
The temperature seems to slighter lower than my other ICE cars..like instead of keeping it on 80* as i would in my audi, i keep it on 84* in the Macan...

you are right.

 

[PrudentOcean]

I think the concern about energy consumption from resistive heating is overblown. I have a small space heater in my office and when that is in ECO mode it draws a measured 900 watts. If you run that for an hour it would consume the equivalent of two to three miles of range. And in a space as small as the interior of a car it would be quite hot.

 

[krissrock]

what temperature is it in LA?

you're still in the 40's, 50's and 60's....
It was a couple weeks of highs in the teens here. Like 17 degrees..! Lows close to zero!
It takes a good amount of energy and time to heat a cabin and all things in it to a comfortable temperature...

 

[PrudentOcean]

Where I'm at the lows are currently in the upper 40s and the highs around 60.

It shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes to warm the cabin to a comfortable temperature, and once that is reached the energy consumption for heating should drop substantially. Even if the heater continued to run at the highest setting for an hour, it wouldn't cost more than a couple of miles of range.

 

[Wivenhoe]

When I test drove a 4 for a couple of hours, if I turned the Eco Plus on then the reported range improved by 30 miles. Turn it off and range dropped by 30 miles. This is why I was wondering if enough heat was produced on Eco Plus to maintain a reasonable temperature. I asked the sales guy and he said Eco Plus did produce enough heat and air to keep the screen demisted.

 

[mikeright]

There is no info about what ECO PLUS does neither in the manual nor the app.
I asked my dealer and they don't have any info too.
Besides the behaviour is totally different from Taycan where you can set the temperature in eco mode (at least It is what they told me).

I tried several times and in my case it is not enough to keep the cabin heated (0ºC - 8ºC outside).

On the other hand, as other users said, I feel that I need more degrees in the temperature than other cars to feel more or less the same.

And yes, definitely the range impact is huge. Just try modifying step by step the temperature and you will see how the range drops. And then turn off the climate control system... you will get back huge range.

 

[W1NGE]

I would like to know your experience with the climate control regarding…
1. Heating capacity
2. Impact on range

Regarding the first point i have the feeling that its capacity of heating is very low. Even trying at 30 degrees and max speed I don’t feel the heat that I achieve from any other cars.

However, simply turning it on reduces the range by 10-15%, depending on the temperature.


i will appreciate if you can share your experiences to discover if i have an issue or it is like it is.

Thanks in advance!

It very simple, any part of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation & Control) will sap the battery and in particular the HV heater for the cabin climate control.

When stationary, set bring up the AC display and set to say 21C then change the AC setting from AC to ECO to OFF and each time watch what happens to the estimated range. On a full battery this can be 10+ miles (on the Taycan at least). Repeat with different temperature settings to see the effect. Over a journey therefore the HV heater consumes a lot of energy depending on settings.

 

[Yves]

Heating on, 50km less range, eco plus about 20km less range. Eco plus is just to keep windows fog free it does not really heat (sometimes it does but not reliable / minimal guess it keeps heating when I switch from heating to eco plus).

 

[LivingTheDream]

One important thing to be aware of… The Macan has a heat pump. This will consume less energy to heat the car than would a resistive heater. As such, they’re a great technology to have in an EV.

The only catch is that they do not work well below a certain temperature. Does the Macan have a resistive heater that kicks in below a certain temperature? Sorry, I can’t answer that one.

 

[PrudentOcean]

The heat pump will also not be effective when first getting in the car and trying to heat up the cabin. It's great for maintaining a warm temperature with little energy cost.

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