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Winter Range & heater options..

7.8K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  Jim55  
#1 ·
With my 400 mile weekly night-time roundtrip I make it comfortably in the summer (200 miles mostly motorway). Now the trip temperature average is 3 Degrees, I am struggling to make 200 miles.. can just make it if drive around 60 mph and its not raining & no headwind. My question is (for the tech boffins!): if I turn off the A/C and use the heated seat will that save any significant battery use? What settings are the most energy efficient for the heater?
My next option is to drive at my normal 73 mph and put in a stop.. not something I really want to do. Traffic is really bad at the moment which I put down to people not wanting to use public transport because of covid.. or maybe just delighting in being able to go out.. so my 3hr 15 minute journey has become over 4 hs because of road closures, traffic and crashes. Frustrating.. started looking at Tesla Long Range etc.. but.. love the Jag so don't want to go there.
 
#2 ·
Your usage is right on the mileage limit for the winter range of the ipace…. But maybe possible with a bit of adjustment.


hopefully I’m not offending by “teaching to suck eggs” here!

do you set up the preconditioning of the battery ? Jumping in and cold starting is not good. Preconditioning will really help. Especially with efficiency in that first 20 miles.

how much of the trip do you do in Eco mode? Yes you will lose or limit some ac/heat/other functions but once up to temperature in the cabin and say 50 miles into your journey eco mode should gain you another 20-50 miles depending on driving style. You also won’t notice the reduced ac/heat once you are up and running.

just a couple of obvious things but you may well be doing this already.
 
#3 ·
Precondtioning and Eco will help but 200ml is a marginal distance in winter, for peace of mind I would stop for top up and a coffee for 20mins somewhere on the journey.
 
#4 ·
I would try driving at 63 as the increase in your journey time will be a lot less than stopping to recharge. Also I think their is a function on the Infotainment system that models the impact of doing without the air con and heated seats and also think is shows up on the remaining range as you switch on and off the various functions - is is certainly available on one of the Jaguar internet sites. I can remember playing with them when the car was new (and indeed before purchase...) but that was two and half years ago and the memory fades.....
 
#5 ·
Thanks S60r: Yes I tried the pre-condition last week: strangely it reduced the 100% charged to 96% charged, but did not alter the GOM range of 233 miles which remained the same - so hard to work out if it helped or not! Why the pre-condition drains the battery when it is plugged in is a mystery - seems counter productive. I always drive in Eco mode for this journey so no gains there!
The 63 mph will do it I guess, but it is hard to adjust to motorway driving at that speed but with good music, podcasts and radio that might be the only solution: agreed that it is saving time over stopping and charging - also extra costs as I charge for free at work and solar at home.
I am thinking of buying a 1KW under floor heating panel and have that come on under the batteries 1 hour before leaving and maybe I'll get pre-conditoning and 100% charge!
 
#6 ·
On the original question: Cabin heating at around 0°C outside temp will consume about 1kW. At 73mph that will eat up around 6 miles of range.
Seat heating consumes less than 100w, so has an insignificant impact on range.
But only seat heating is uncomfortable. I cannot imagine that you bought a luxury car to sit for 7 hours in near freezing temperatures... If it is damp outside your windows will anyway mist up and require you to turn on the AC. You can turn the cabin heating down a few degrees with seat heating, that will in total help a little.

It all seems like a lot of effort all to avoid a quick top-up underway... You will NOT be faster by driving slow and avoiding a charge.
200 miles at 60mph will take 3h 20mins. The same distance at 73mph takes 2h 44mins.
That is a difference of 36 minutes.

Adding the extra ~16kWh or 20% SoC takes in my experience 12 minutes. Maybe 15 minutes if you charge starts a a higher SoC.
But even with a few minutes added to pull over, it is a clear win.

As for preconditioning: it helps a lot. Like 10% of range. The GoM does not take that into account, sadly.
  • It increases your effective battery capacity available. Colder batteries have less capacity because the chemical process runs slower. Adds something like 2kWh
  • It significantly reduces the internal resistance of the battery. Saves half a kW or more (if more acceleration/deceleration) at motorway speeds. This loss does not show in the consumption as it happens in the battery itself. For one trip of around 3 hours: 1.5~2 kWh
  • The heat in the battery will help the heat pump warm the cabin more efficiently. Saves a half kW or more, so for one trip of around 3 hours: 1.5~2 kWh
  • Starting with a warm cabin instead of drawing the power needed from the battery will save another couple of kWh
  • When you pull over to charge, the charging will go much faster - maybe twice as fast.
If it makes you leave at 96%, that seems uncommon (in my experience sometimes I have 99% SoC, usually 100). Experiment a bit with setting the departure time earlier or later than when you effectively leave. Anyway, you still make a significant net profit.

Some other tricks to gain a few percent:
  • Take care choosing your tyres. "A" label for efficiency vs C label will decrease your motorway consumption with 3 up to 4kW or about 1kWh/100 miles.
  • Take care of your tyre pressure. It drops when it is cold. Keep it at least at the specified 2.5bar/36psi (always measure cold). Increase it to 2.8 (max 3) bar/ 40-43psi will decrease your consumption with about 1-1.5kW
 
#7 ·
Thanks Grunt - very helpful specific tech answer! All in all I am leaning towards finding the perfect cafe/charger (open at 6am) on the A303 and another on the M4/M5 to do exactly as you say. Better for bladder control, range anxiety and coffee refill - and I can drive normally: the slow option is not appealing. I'll have another go allowing an hour for the pre-condition - I think I had it at 1/2 hr so maybe it will come back up to 100% if I allow an hour..
 
#8 ·
I'll have another go allowing an hour for the pre-condition - I think I had it at 1/2 hr so maybe it will come back up to 100% if I allow an hour..
It seems you are not doing it properly... You should set the departure time from the car (or from the app, if it is enabled in the car).
The car must be charged at 100% and plugged in.
4 hours before departure, the car will gradually heat the batteries. That takes about 3 hours. Then, from 30mi's before departure, the car will heat up the cabin, to be cosy when you leave... With 100%SoC, or maybe 99%>
 
#9 ·
Ok.. I think the issue was that I use the Ohme charger set to "only charge at 5p per KW" so it switches off at 4.30am and I leave at 5am.. hence the 96%. I'll switch off that function Monday night and hopefully I will have the 100% or near. Thanks!
 
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#10 ·
Grunt: Just curious.. do you know how many KW the pre-conditioning takes from the charger?
 
#11 ·
Yes set the preconditioning as per grunts instructions…

for info… the Tesla requires a full precondition before it will allow ludicrous plus mode…. my last drive in the model x of my friends was 50 minutes long and at no time were we able to utilise it. Preconditioning takes a very long time and is obviously greatly affected by ambient temps.

the benefits it gives to power and in your case efficiency of using the power are massive.


it’s another subject but Tesla should be made to report their performance figures correctly as the fastest modes aren’t achievable without Huge planning!


good luck with your experimenting…. I think you will have no problems in the summer but winter will be right on the limits…..I wish Jaguar did what my old jeep did and shut down 4 cylinders for economy…. It would be fine to run off the rear 200hp motor on a cruise or greatly reduce the power output to elongate range.
 
#12 ·
I agree: with all that LR technology you'd think it would be easy to have at least a manual switch to go into 2WD which would increase range by quite a way on a motorway... but with everything auto these days, probably an insurance company would legislate against any choices left to the driver! I've had he car a year - summer range was fine other than road diversions causing one or two range anxiety moments! The good news is that the car seems to consume almost zero power in lengthy traffic jams, which shows that wind resistance and road friction are what really drains the battery..
 
#14 ·
There would probably be some logic in selling a 2wd IPace, lighter and cheaper with a better range, having a switchable twin motor, still has the weight and drivetrain drag, in practice it would achieve no more than economical driving would.
 
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#16 ·
200 miles with 60mph (with traffic 50mph average) = 4 hours
200 miles with 73mph (with traffic 60mph average) = 3 hours & 20 mins

So drive time you save 40 minutes, deduct 30 minutes for a 25 minute charge and you still arrive 10 minutes earlier without any range anxiety or less AC. Driving faster and making a charging stop is almost always faster unless there is a big detour for the charge, a charging queue or only 50kW chargers available.

I have no actually experience but consensus on what I read is indeed that using seat heating is more efficient than AC heating. Unless it is really wet and multiple people in the car I barely ever use AC - tend to have fan on 2 or 3 with 20 degrees and pre-condition the car. That tends to keep the car warm and the windows clear.
 
#17 ·
My son has an Audi eTron and was trying to commute at the limit of range and since the cold weather arrived was having to top up on the way home each day, which was costing him up to about ÂŁ10 per day. I suggested he pre-condition his car before setting off in the morning and evening and he now arrives home with about 20-30 miles to spare each day and no charging accept at home.

I find that pre-conditioning my I-Pace dramatically affects the battery drain during the first 20-30 miles and as I've now retired most of the journeys in a day are short with small gaps in between. By pre-conditioning in the morning the battery drain for a complete succession of short trips is almost the same as the drain in the summer.

My car typically won't allow pre-conditioning to be set within 30 mins of departure and if left connected overnight will be ready when required at 100% SoC.
 
#18 ·
The IPace has 2 heating systems, a high voltage electric heater made by Borg Warner and a Heat Pump which is supposed to be much more efficient.
it seems to be the electric heater that is failing, why is the heat pump not functioning to heat the cabin, does anyone know how the two systems integrate.
 
#19 ·
I find that when I set the pre-conditioning timer from within the car, the battery and passenger cabin are prepared ready for the required departure time, with the car hard/software making allowances for the then current external weather conditions.