nlagnew wrote:planet4ever wrote:Den wrote:But at -20C it uses 3kW even in ECO mode, and about 2kW at -10C. So there is no such 1,5kW limit.
Thanks for the correction. It's never been cold enough where I am to see that. The lowest I've seen when driving is about +3C, and at that temperature or higher (without preheating) it starts at 4.5kW in D, but at 1.5kW in ECO. Ah, the sins of extrapolation!
Ray
When it is between +20 and +30F (-6 to -1C) and I'm driving in ECO mode, my heater takes as much as 4.5kW. I have never seen the heat use as little as 1.5kW -- it might eventually get down to only using 2.5kW once the cabin is a bit warmer. I only drive in ECO. On short trips, or when temperatures are above 40F (4.5C), I don't bother with heat. Last Friday, when we had an ice storm, I needed heat in order to keep the ice from forming on the windshield. Without it, I was looking out of an increasingly small window on the windshield. It used 4.5kW, in ECO.
We need to draw the distinction between the "heater" and defrosting. When the defrost button is pushed the heater will draw 4-5 kW regardless of whether the car is in D or Eco, until the heater bottle is warmed up, at which point the power draw declines. That is a safety issue, I presume. However, when just cabin heating is selected, driving in Eco is supposed to limit the heater draw (unless the temperature is set to 90ºF, according to others here):
• When the vehicle is in the ECO position, the climate control operates in the ECO mode which reduces the power consumption.
LEAF manual, page 4-13
It has been some time since I experimented with this since I rarely use the heater except for defogging/defrosting. My recollection was that it did work that way. So, when you say that the "heater takes as much as 4.5kW", my guess is that you are talking about using the defroster, right?