The Chevrolet Volt has at its disposal the ability to thermally pre-condition the cabin using grid-supplied electricity while it is plugged in.
This feature is useful both in hot and cold days to turn on the AC or heat respectively.
In the Volt the owner can turn on the cabin HVAC either by using the remote smartphone app or via the MyVolt.com website.
The idea is to use grid electricity to heat or cool the cabin to avoid battery-stored power to do so once the trip commences. It uses more energy to get the cabin to the desired temperature than it does to maintain it there.
Pre-conditioning does require a bit of forethought to turn on the cabin HVAC in preparation for driving, something in paractice I often don’t remember to do. Programming it to happen automatically or being able to choose the temperature remotely would be useful features that do not exist.
A new study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) may provide more motivation to remember.
NREL engineer Robb Barnitt led a study in which researchers simulated the effect of cabin preconditioning on PHEVs and HEVs in various different drive cycles and ambient temperature scenarios.
“We knew that climate control loads would have an impact on CD range, but were surprised by the magnitude” Barnitt said. “We found that climate control loads can reduce CD range by 35%, but that thermal preconditioning can partially restore CD range.”
The study examined the effect of temperature and preconductioning on electric range for a 100 mile BEV (i.e. LEAF), a 15 mile PHEV (i.e. plugin Prius) and a 40 mile sreies PHEV (i.e. Volt)
In the case of the PHEV-40, using heat reduced range by 35.1% and using AC reduced range by 34%. Preconditioning with heat increased range by 5.7% and preconditioning with cooling increased range 4.3%.
In a pure EV range reduction from heating and cooling were similar, though the magnitude of increase through preconditioning was less. Range increase through preconditioning was highest in the PHEV15 where 19% was predicted.
You can read the entire study in detail here (PDF).
Moral of the story. Pre-condition your Volt.
Source (NREL) via (GreenCarCongress)





