GaslessInSeattle
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 6, 2011
- Messages
- 1,566
So it's a little hard to be sure, but it looks like I'm seeing a pretty big drop in efficiency with the colder whether. Just a month ago or so I was seeing 4.6 MPkW and within the last few weeks it has dropped to 3.8. I've been reading threads that suggest others are seeing quite a drop to, then it hit me to pay attention to the energy info and I noticed that climate control was eating up quite a bit of juice all of a sudden. During the summer I was mostly using the fan only, by turning off the AC and keeping the temp down to 60, using neither AC nor the resistive heater most of the time. Now that it's going below 60 outside and in the cabin, it appears that the heater is coming on and chewing up juice with no way to stop it without shutting off the fan. From what I've read and from a few failed attempts on my own, it appears that there is no way to run the fan without the heater kicking in if the temperature is below 60. It appears that someone at Nissan has overlooked how one might want air movement without any climate control. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I hope I am, but this is no small deal. there will certainly be circumstances where I am willing to "bundle up" to get the extra distance during the winter. The loss of range due to the effect of cold on the battery is a matter of chemistry and I can accept that but adding insult to injury and forcing the use of the heater on me is unthinkable. Maybe I'm borrowing trouble from the future and this will turn into another paper tiger, but I can imagine getting low on juice and having to turn off climate control only to have the windows fog so badly I can't drive... a bit of air circulation can make this managable but none could turn this into choosing between being able to see and a dead battery. It does not make sense to me that we are given ways to control so many things but not the one thing that can deteriorate range the most, the heater!
Are other experiencing this frustration?
Maybe Nissan can easily allow the temperature selector to go below 60 with a new firmware update or something. As I've read in other threads, a simple on/off switch for the heater would be very nice.
Are other experiencing this frustration?
Maybe Nissan can easily allow the temperature selector to go below 60 with a new firmware update or something. As I've read in other threads, a simple on/off switch for the heater would be very nice.