What's the source of the heater?

[shawn]

I assumed since there's no engine, an EV will generate heat right away when you turn on the heater but it took like 5 minutes of driving before I sensed warmer air coming in. Was hoping a benefit would be no longer having to wait for a warm engine but is this not the case with EVs?

. Try setting to max heat as shown. This setting heats up the interior in about 90 seconds (front vents open, fans on max and seat heat on helps get you through the 90 secs ).

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[seabird]

Further, I've never actually noticed heat build up in the battery while driving in cold weather, which could then be used to heat the cabin. Does not seem to be a credible scenario in this car.

There's plenty of heat buildup in the battery in cold weather--an hour's drive should get you +15-20C above starting temperature. But it's true there's no spare heat for the cabin when the battery is only 20-25C.

The only time in cold weather there would be waste heat to move from the battery to the cabin would be during and after DC fast charging, when the cooling fans kick in to extract that heat.

There is also waste battery heat in hot weather, but no one wants to heat the cabin in that case.