Defrost without engine coming on

[zippoking]

So all winter that I've had this car, I always noticed that if you turn on the defrost when its below freezing the engine will run.  I assumed this was due to possible safety concerns of visibility and needing to get warm air fast.  Sometimes I notice that you can avoid the engine running when sitting at a stop light and not moving, but if you then accelerate the engine comes on, or sometimes it will just come on anyway after a certain amount of time.  Well today I thought about the vent only issue regarding the AC, and it turns out that if you set the temp to LO, it will not run the engine when defrost is on nor affect the battery range, I'm guessing because the compressor doesn't come on.  This won't melt ice off your windows, but I notice a lot of times in winter the windows just get foggy from me breathing, so this counters that and you can stay in EV mode only.  Seems to work in AUTO and EV only mode. 

 

This may still be colder than some prefer, but I like it!

[Russael]

Another way around it is to manually select 2 locations (eg. your feet and the windshield) with your climate set to your preferred temperature.  Do not push the actual defrost button since that uses both electric heat and the air conditioner and will force the ICE on.  Both of those systems together can eat >10kw of energy.

 

I dislike driving around in the cold.  I did it the first year and said screw it this year. :)

[Hybridbear]

Turning on defrost only will activate the ICE. Usually when I need to clear fog from the windows I turn on the heat to feet only. In most conditions that air movement clears the fog. If it doesn't I can then add defrost without making the ICE come on. Adding defrost does increase the climate control power consumption though.