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Old 10-22-2010, 03:24 AM   #11 (permalink)
Ryland
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
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honda cb125 - '74 Honda CB 125 S1
90 day: 79.71 mpg (US)

green wedge - '81 Commuter Vehicles Inc. Commuti-Car

Blue VX - '93 Honda Civic VX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tumnasgt View Post
I'm surprised they didn't use the airconditioner on reverse for heating, seems like an obvious way to reduce power consumption.
What is going to kill their range in the winter is not the heater but the lack of battery heating, you come out ahead even if you use energy from the batteries to heat the batteries so they are closer to their ideal working temperature, ideally you would have a battery heater that draws power from the charging station but when that is not an option you are going to get more range with batteries warmed using energy from that same pack then trying to drive on a cold set of batteries.
If you just run the heater, lights, radio, wipers and all that other stuff you will cut a few miles off your range but most people will never notice even a 1,000 watt load of an electric heater in a car who's drive motor is pulling 10,000 to 20,000 watts or more at times.
Nissan is one of the few car makers that does not believe in battery thermal management other then a single fan inside the sealed battery box.

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