I am totally okay with lap blankets, and other warm stuff for unusual or emergency situations (which is just smart). But, short of eco performance driving for fun or sport, I think "needing" a lap blanket is about where BEVs start to lose. It's more personal driving needs (range, etc) as to what range is desired or needed. During my six months with Bolt, I had some really miserable winter driving experiences, where I went minimal to no heat, just to make it to the next charge station (in "D"). Then I sold it. I am hopeful that the bit of extra ID.4 range better matches my distance between charge stations. Sure wish it had a heat pump, maybe they will bring the heat pump to the U.S. in years to come.
That is why all the seats in an EV should be heated. We are so used to ICE vehicles - the reason they have plenty of heat IS BECAUSE THEY ARE SO INEFFICIENT. 75-80% of all the fuel they burn (on average) - is WASTE HEAT. Three quarters of the energy is wasted. That is abysmal.
The heated seats help, and so does the heated steering wheel. But eventually you get to the point where that isn't sufficient. You can keep your head warm with a hat of some sort, and I typically wear a coat in the winter so the torso stayed warm enough. For me it was my thighs where I really felt the cold.
Right, that sounds similar to my family's experience. The seat heaters in our two e-Golfs are fantastic, for both the seat, and the lower back is really good. With the direct heated windshield in the e-Golf, the thing we most often noticed getting cold is our feet - so a heated floor mat, maybe? Heat pumps are a big advantage when the temps are in the 20's and higher. Once they drop into the teens, they start to lose most/all of that advantage. Single digits (F) means their supplemental resistance heaters have to kick in. And battery packs often have to start heating themselves when it gets this cold. Preconditioning in the coldest weather is important. But EVs always start and work consistently in very low temps. ICE vehicles need preheating, too, and they can struggle or fail to work in low temperatures.
Hadn't thought of that. I wonder if such a thing even exists. If the car is in a garage and plugged in, you can "precondition". It runs the heat without running down the battery, and you can at least start out comfortable. And there were times when I was on a 50kW DCFC that I would also turn on the heat - it only draws another 2kW or so (on the Kona - don't know what VW is doing), and it makes it a lot more comfortable to sit there while waiting for the thing to charge.
Most EV heating units take 2-6kW to run, and it depends a lot on how cold it is. The heat pumps are on the lower end of this, and resistance heaters are on the upper end.
