Any tips for cold weather driving

[Raza]

1. I did not preheat the car prior to driving. You brought up a good point. I want to have your and OTHERS views as if this has helped in the driving range to preheat the car or not..... and how much has it helped. How long to preheat for 30, 20 and 10 F weather out there

I can't speak to that cold, but I can offer the following suggestion/data points:

1) As difficult as they are to use, if you have a regular schedule, use the Climate Timer. You set your departure time and the car figures out all on its own what time to start the preheat.

2) The other day when I manually preheated in the low 40's, after just 5 minutes the cabin was pretty toasty (it was a last minute trip and I didn't have time to do much preheating). If you're not currently preheating, then I would just start at say 10 minutes at 30 degrees and fine tune it from there.

As for your sound, you said it sounded like the slow-speed VSP but at higher speeds. That's curious to me because at higher speeds the sound of the wind on the car is louder than the VSP sound anyway, so either the sound you are talking about is louder than the VSP (in which case you should probably take it in to get it looked at) or maybe it's just more windy in your area.

Thanks for your detailed reply! I did not use climate control. Is there a difference if I remotely start the climate control through my phone versus going into the car, turning it on and then start the climate control. Which one takes more energy?

It was kinda worse than VSP sound except it made just during the last two days - no wind so I know it is not a wind noise.... I will see if it continues to make that sound... I did not have this issue prior to two days ago when it has been above 32F till then.

 

[Raza]

As for your sound, you said it sounded like the slow-speed VSP but at higher speeds. That's curious to me because at higher speeds the sound of the wind on the car is louder than the VSP sound anyway, so either the sound you are talking about is louder than the VSP (in which case you should probably take it in to get it looked at) or maybe it's just more windy in your area.

I've certainly heard a sort of "jet whine" from mine recently, around 40-50 mph. It seems to happen when the car is cold, and is definitely louder than wind noise. My ears aren't terribly good, so if I can hear it, it must be real. My uneducated guess has been bearings in the motor or drive train. The sound disappears after I have been driving for a while, so I have imagined that lubricating grease, or whatever, has warmed up and started, er, lubricating better.

Ray

Same here Ray.... So the question now is how long does the car have to pre-heat for that annonying noise to go away... It does become profound as I have some small hills that I have to climb and man it bugs me. It did not bug me till now when the temps were not that bad... We are in the start of jan and it is just getting cold here

I am trying to find out if it is better to just pre-heat by remotely starting the climate control or by turning the car on and let the climate control run... which is faster for the Leaf to warm up...

Raza

 

[Raza]

As for your sound, you said it sounded like the slow-speed VSP but at higher speeds. That's curious to me because at higher speeds the sound of the wind on the car is louder than the VSP sound anyway, so either the sound you are talking about is louder than the VSP (in which case you should probably take it in to get it looked at) or maybe it's just more windy in your area.

I've certainly heard a sort of "jet whine" from mine recently, around 40-50 mph. It seems to happen when the car is cold, and is definitely louder than wind noise. My ears aren't terribly good, so if I can hear it, it must be real. My uneducated guess has been bearings in the motor or drive train. The sound disappears after I have been driving for a while, so I have imagined that lubricating grease, or whatever, has warmed up and started, er, lubricating better.

Ray

You are likely hearing the inverter or noise that is in the electrical system when the 12V battery is low and charging not a mechanical noise. I can hear this at times depending on electrical loads. All these noises people mention are likely from the inverter, this keeps getting mistakenly reported as an issue with the car.

Hmm... this will be an easy thing to check. I can plug in my Escort radar detector (9500 ix) to the cigarette lighter outlet. It has a voltage display so I can find out if that is an issue. However, when I am charging overnight, would not the Li-ion batteries would be charging the 12V battery. I just bought the car in December so is it not unusual that the 12V battery is running low so quickly?


i am going to drive home in few minutes back to home (it is around 8 pm so it will be good to check the volts on the battery)
Raza

 

[kmp647]

There is a difference. Use the climate timer to preheat each morning or initiate preheat thru the iPhone app

Do not go out to the car and turn it on.
Set your car up so it finishes charging within 1 hour of your departure time
Set climate timer to your usual departure time
Charge to 100% if needed for your commute

Use seat heater and heated wheel
Trickle charge at work if possible and pre heat , but for a very short period using the L1 cord

Pre heat for long periods on L1 can reduce your available charge and range as pre heats eats more juice than the wall can provide.

If you trickle at work you can be warmer on the way home , just use auto on the climate and set to 65
On cold days if you have extra range

If you don't have it , then you live with heated wheel and seat

 

[Raza]

There is a difference. Use the climate timer to preheat each morning or initiate preheat thru the iPhone app

Do not go out to the car and turn it on.
Set your car up so it finishes charging within 1 hour of your departure time
Set climate timer to your usual departure time
Charge to 100% if needed for your commute

Use seat heater and heated wheel
Trickle charge at work if possible and pre heat , but for a very short period using the L1 cord

Pre heat for long periods on L1 can reduce your available charge and range as pre heats eats more juice than the wall can provide.

If you trickle at work you can be warmer on the way home , just use auto on the climate and set to 65
On cold days if you have extra range

If you don't have it , then you live with heated wheel and seat

Thanks.... I have not gotten the L2 charger as it is on backorder through Home Depot. I thought I would be able to install it before I got the Leaf but that did not happen..... I am not worried as my commute to work is less than 7 miles. So right now, I am okay with L1 charger... I do go once a week to Safeway / burger King with my family so we have a free L2 charger where it does juice up for 2 hours we are there in that shopping compex.

So, here are some more questions
1. With L1 charger, if the pre-heat is on..... with the L1 charger supply enough juice to the car such that it does not take away juice from the batteries... or does the juice needed for the pre-heat is more than what L1 charger provides?
2. What is the significant difference between remotely pre-heating versus me going out and turning the car on and starting the climate control? Where is the battery drainage?
3. Unforuntately, I teach at the college and have to park in the parking lot and there is no place to charge via L1.

So far, I did not need to use the climate control as the seat warmner and heated steering wheel was sufficient....

My main gripe is the noise the car seems to make... which apparently some are suggesting that will go away with pre-heating... That noise over 30 mph is way too loud and did not do over 20 F.... It has been cold for the last two days... Today, it was around 13.... and I did notice again that in the eco mode, even coasting downhill or applying brakes, Leaf was not regenerating power that it seems to do very quickly at higher temperature.... Almost half of my commute, the car is regenerating as my commute is not only short but there is almost zero traffic!

Raza

 

[kmp647]

My commute is 32 miles each way 64 rt

With a commute like yours..... Leave the heat on auto 68 use seat heaters
Drive however you want, charge to 80%

not much to worry about

 

[lpickup]

Is there a difference if I remotely start the climate control through my phone versus going into the car, turning it on and then start the climate control. Which one takes more energy?

The difference is when you remotely start it or use the timer, it's set to 77 degrees (despite the fact that the owner's manual has a typo that's repeated throughout it that says you CAN change it (they mean that you CAN'T change it). If you walk out to the car and turn it on manually you can set the temp to whatever you want, so it will use more or less energy depending on whether you set it higher or lower than 77 degrees.

Tonight I was riding home in the ICE (my son lost the key last night so I had to go retrieve it tonight). I had to run an errand, so 5 minutes before we got home I had him pre-heat the car for me from his Android, and the car was plenty warm when I got home. Outside temp was 40 at the time and the car was not even plugged in. So in my opinion it warms up pretty fast, but the temps around here are not really down to the numbers you are talking about. But it's a datapoint nonetheless.

 

[Raza]

As for your sound, you said it sounded like the slow-speed VSP but at higher speeds. That's curious to me because at higher speeds the sound of the wind on the car is louder than the VSP sound anyway, so either the sound you are talking about is louder than the VSP (in which case you should probably take it in to get it looked at) or maybe it's just more windy in your area.

I've certainly heard a sort of "jet whine" from mine recently, around 40-50 mph. It seems to happen when the car is cold, and is definitely louder than wind noise. My ears aren't terribly good, so if I can hear it, it must be real. My uneducated guess has been bearings in the motor or drive train. The sound disappears after I have been driving for a while, so I have imagined that lubricating grease, or whatever, has warmed up and started, er, lubricating better.

Ray

You are likely hearing the inverter or noise that is in the electrical system when the 12V battery is low and charging not a mechanical noise. I can hear this at times depending on electrical loads. All these noises people mention are likely from the inverter, this keeps getting mistakenly reported as an issue with the car.

Thanks... so here is the answer... I parked the car around 8 am at the College and went to work... Went back at 8 pm and plugged in my radar detector in the cigarette lighter without turning climate control or any lights on. The radar detector read 11.6 volts.... So I am now interested also to find out what other Leaf owners are seeing when it comes to the juice on their battery after the car has been parked for about 8 to 10 hours.

Raza

 

[Raza]

18F this morning and I still have 4 battery temp bars; also "coqui" sits outside all night. No range problems though, Raza.

Thanks.... Any noise you hear when you drive past the 30 mph where VSP should kick off in that temp.

 

[Raza]

It hasn't been cold enough to resume experiments but so far (down to the mid 20's) the following has helped a lot in the northwest climate:
1. charge to 80% the night before, set preheat timer early enough in the morning to finish charging right before you need to go (I don't know how much outside temperature effects charging/heating time yet). Using preheating to heat the core of the car, not just the cabin air while also warming the battery while topping off the charge seems to make a sizable difference in range.
2. if having trouble with fogging, dry the car out with several extensive preheats followed by opening all doors and venting all air out of the car once warm and humid... repeat this until no fogg forms inside the car while preheating. having a dry car is key to managing fogging windows without using power defog, which cools and dries the air, which then needs heating again. using power defog and heat together seems to be the biggest range killer.
3. set mode to foot defog and manually turn climate control off (confirm by seeing "climate control off" on the screen, don't hit any buttons after that or it can turn right back on. keep the energy screen up to monitor that nothing is accidentally turned on.
4. Drive in foot defog mode/climate control off from the beginning of the drive until the car gets cold, then use on/off button to turn climate control on with fan set in one of the lower ranges with AC off, power defog off, setting temp to something moderate like 68. toggle the on off button to conserve heat even more when you don't need it.
5. practice hyper milling so that you know how to do it when you have to, it can really help, especially in cold whether. When I need to extend the range, I drive within 2-3 bubbles of the power meter and generally try and maintain 4.0 or greater on the MPkW dash screen. easy acceleration and gentle breaking are key.
6. If range is critical, hit the trip odometer at the beginning of the trip and modulate energy use/driving habits so that the sum of the miles driven and GOM remain above the target destination distance. Over time you can judge what MPkW you need to maintain to go a given distance.
7. do not count on there being much if any range beyond the Very Low Battery Warning in cold whether and or climbing hills.

While using the above techniques I've gone from Silver and down near 3,000 to Platinum ranked at 835 in the region... not that that means much, but the difference in applying the above habits vs not doing so has meant a near doubling of my range vs driving without thought to efficiency with climate control set to auto. Most of us don't need to pay such close attention to habits and max out the range but it's nice to know it's possible to still get 80+ miles out of the car even in the mid 20's. I'll be seeing how this holds as it gets colder, that is if we ever get winter back in the northwest.

Thank you George for the very detailed answer. I will definitely do that. Two quick questions for you
1. Do you hear the noise past 30 mph if the car was not pre-heated. My 2012 seat warmer and heated steering wheel has worked for me so far... so right now, I am only worried if I need to have the car pre-heated to get rid of the driving noise. Some one suggested that maybe 12 V battery is low..but I checked it like an hour ago and it read 11.6 volts via my radar detector from my other car.
2. I am curious if I am heating the car, why does the AC light switch on? Just for curiosity, does it warm up the car faster with AC off or on. I have set it to 75 tonight just for the fun but I will bring it back to 68 as you suggested....
3. I have had no problem with fogging so far.. but thanks for the tip.. I know I will need it when the temp hits almost zero here!
4. Did you notice that the car does not do a good job of regnerating energy while coasting downhill or when brakes are applied in cold temp. On my way back home tonight, the temp was around 25 and it DID regenerate much more than in the morning in the same route when it was 13 F. I have about the same uphill and downhill to and fro and I see regeneration on both ways.... but I did not see yesterday morning and today morning when we were in teens (temperature)

Raza

 

[Raza]

Is there a difference if I remotely start the climate control through my phone versus going into the car, turning it on and then start the climate control. Which one takes more energy?

The difference is when you remotely start it or use the timer, it's set to 77 degrees (despite the fact that the owner's manual has a typo that's repeated throughout it that says you CAN change it (they mean that you CAN'T change it). If you walk out to the car and turn it on manually you can set the temp to whatever you want, so it will use more or less energy depending on whether you set it higher or lower than 77 degrees.

Tonight I was riding home in the ICE (my son lost the key last night so I had to go retrieve it tonight). I had to run an errand, so 5 minutes before we got home I had him pre-heat the car for me from his Android, and the car was plenty warm when I got home. Outside temp was 40 at the time and the car was not even plugged in. So in my opinion it warms up pretty fast, but the temps around here are not really down to the numbers you are talking about. But it's a datapoint nonetheless.

Cool.... I did not know that there was difference. I tired pre-heating remotely with my Android phone but did not know that it was at 77 F. I went to the car ... and it does not show the temp when remotely activated.. I was under the assumption that it was at whatever I set it before turning the car... I have not had to use the pre-heating but I know I will have as the temps go down. The only reason I am thinking of pre-heating is to see if the noise driving over 30 mph goes away..... however, your answer helps as I am sure that I will be pre-heating soon anyway!

Raza

 

[Raza]

14F this morning at my house. Left the leaf at home (outside snow covered and plugged in)

took my trusty honda element today , trying to get to 100,000 miles (I am at 99,400!)

wonder how long it will take to drop to 3 battery temp bars ?

where is that battery temp chart anyway?

Good question... I am interested to know too.... what does pre-heating remote draw in terms of juice?.... Is 5 minute pre-heating the same as driving 5 miles on the eco mode? Any linear relationship? Of course, I am assuming that pre-heating is done while the car is not plugged in via L1 or L2 charger....

 

[lpickup]

My 2012 seat warmer and heated steering wheel has worked for me so far

That's great that this works for you. I have never liked heated seats, but am quickly getting used to them. And the heated wheel is just awesome! But I've found that my lower legs/feet do get cold when using only those, so my solution is to put the climate control on a relatively high temp aimed only at the feet. It warms it up pretty quickly and then I can turn the fan down to just maintain that temp.

I am curious if I am heating the car, why does the AC light switch on? Just for curiosity, does it warm up the car faster with AC off or on.

This is a controversial subject! Others may have different theories, but here is what I think: The AC light means that the AC compressor unit is running, which happens automatically when you have the climate control in AUTO mode. Most people associate AC with "cooling" but when you are running it while heating, basically what it is doing is dehumidifying the air which is helpful for avoiding fogging in the winter. It does draw a little more power, but not much. I don't believe it affects the rate at which the car heats any.

However, as I mentioned above, when I do turn the heat on, I don't really want it in AUTO mode and deciding where to direct the warm air automatically (the main reason for putting it in AUTO in the first place in addition to controlling fan speed) because as I said the seats/wheel do an adequate job of keeping my upper body warm. So what I do is turn AUTO off by turning off AC and hitting the MODE button to foot only and adjust the fan speed myself based on how cold my feet are. I believe that the car will modulate how much energy is being supplied to the heater based on what the TEMP setting is, so for my purposes this is automatic enough. I think overall this is going to use less energy than a full blown AUTO because I am limiting the heating to just the lower part of the cabin (of course warm air will rise, so it's not perfectly efficient).

Did you notice that the car does not do a good job of regnerating energy while coasting downhill or when brakes are applied in cold temp. On my way back home tonight, the temp was around 25 and it DID regenerate much more than in the morning in the same route when it was 13 F.

The battery temp will affect the amount of regen you get, but another possibility, particularly if you are charging to close to 100% is simply that you won't get ANY regen on a full battery. You can tell how much regen you are going to potentially get by looking at the "bubble meter". When you see a double circle to the left of the "neutral" bubble, that amount of regen is presently available to you. If it's only a single circle, it's not available to you. When you are close to 100% charge, because the battery cannot take any more charge, you may only see a single double bubble to the left. As the battery warms up and drains its charge, you will get more and more double bubbles and get more regen. So if you leave home on a full charge, you won't get as much regen as you will when you return home at night and the battery is more empty.

 

[Raza]

My 2012 seat warmer and heated steering wheel has worked for me so far

That's great that this works for you. I have never liked heated seats, but am quickly getting used to them. And the heated wheel is just awesome! But I've found that my lower legs/feet do get cold when using only those, so my solution is to put the climate control on a relatively high temp aimed only at the feet. It warms it up pretty quickly and then I can turn the fan down to just maintain that temp.

I am curious if I am heating the car, why does the AC light switch on? Just for curiosity, does it warm up the car faster with AC off or on.

This is a controversial subject! Others may have different theories, but here is what I think: The AC light means that the AC compressor unit is running, which happens automatically when you have the climate control in AUTO mode. Most people associate AC with "cooling" but when you are running it while heating, basically what it is doing is dehumidifying the air which is helpful for avoiding fogging in the winter. It does draw a little more power, but not much. I don't believe it affects the rate at which the car heats any.

However, as I mentioned above, when I do turn the heat on, I don't really want it in AUTO mode and deciding where to direct the warm air automatically (the main reason for putting it in AUTO in the first place in addition to controlling fan speed) because as I said the seats/wheel do an adequate job of keeping my upper body warm. So what I do is turn AUTO off by turning off AC and hitting the MODE button to foot only and adjust the fan speed myself based on how cold my feet are. I believe that the car will modulate how much energy is being supplied to the heater based on what the TEMP setting is, so for my purposes this is automatic enough. I think overall this is going to use less energy than a full blown AUTO because I am limiting the heating to just the lower part of the cabin (of course warm air will rise, so it's not perfectly efficient).

Did you notice that the car does not do a good job of regnerating energy while coasting downhill or when brakes are applied in cold temp. On my way back home tonight, the temp was around 25 and it DID regenerate much more than in the morning in the same route when it was 13 F.

The battery temp will affect the amount of regen you get, but another possibility, particularly if you are charging to close to 100% is simply that you won't get ANY regen on a full battery. You can tell how much regen you are going to potentially get by looking at the "bubble meter". When you see a double circle to the left of the "neutral" bubble, that amount of regen is presently available to you. If it's only a single circle, it's not available to you. When you are close to 100% charge, because the battery cannot take any more charge, you may only see a single double bubble to the left. As the battery warms up and drains its charge, you will get more and more double bubbles and get more regen. So if you leave home on a full charge, you won't get as much regen as you will when you return home at night and the battery is more empty.

I had heated seats in my Lexus so I am used to them. I do turn them high so it keeps some part of my body warm..... The only drawback with heated steering wheel is that sometimes it does turn off and then comes back on... I am sure that there is some delay before it turns on... that is not the same with heated seats though... I am surprised with the heated seats and wheels, I do not see any change in range....

Thanks about the AC information. since we are in the cold wather... when I was playing with it on the way back.. I just kept it off.... I agree with you.. I do not like the Auto mode. but some one did suggest that Auto mode keeps it at 77 I believe. I have not used the climate control as the seats and wheel have done the trick for me... My commute is not that long any way.. It is about 7 miles (with backroads where the max speed is 35 to 40 mph)....

With regards to regen, you do raise good point... However, my car was not fully charged.... When I left home yesterday morning, it has range of 80 miles.... I did not charge it last night.. so when I left today, it had a range of 56 miles... both on Eco mode.... so the batteries could have been charged.... Today morning, it was 13 F and it barely regenerated on the same route.... On the way back, the temp was 25 F and it did regenerate much better... not all the way better but much better. Now, with both morning and return trip, I did not do any pre-heating..... so the cold temp does effect regeneration.... since my commute is so small, I do not know if I keep driving, lets say in teems (below 15 F), how long would it take for regen to work "normally" providing climate control is off.....I know it is more than 10 to 12 minutes as that is when my commute to work ends I will have to wait for weekend to venture into that one !!! Since I teach in college, I did not take the Leaf since I got it on Dec. 17th. as we have been off till Jan 2 for the winter break... I do have to commute to 35 miles for my kids Sunday school.... so we will have the answer on Sunday.... the nice thing about 2012 is that it does have rear heated seats so I can have my kids toasted up without the climate control on

 

[Caracalover]

18F this morning and I still have 4 battery temp bars; also "coqui" sits outside all night. No range problems though, Raza.

Thanks for your reply! Did you pre-heat the car before driving? I am not sure what people mean by pre-heat? Does that mean start the climate control remotely through my phone or does it mean to go outside, start the car up and run the climate control?

Raza

Either use the phone or set the timer for pre-heat to start itself, before you leave at a set time. There is also a priorty setting, so choose charge or pre-heat as priorty. If you choose pre-heat, it may draw some power from the battery, and if you choose charge but usually charge to 80% you will gain charge (11 bars instead of 10) while pre-heating, or at least that is what seems to happen for me.

I don't think that you can pre-heat the car by starting it and letting it run, since the car has to be unplugged to start it.

You are welcome for the reply

 

[abasile]

Even at lower charge levels (roughly three or four charge bars), I've seen modest limits on regen if the battery is cold, i.e., after "cold soaking" in 20ish temperatures. This is to protect the battery, as it can't accept charge as quickly in the cold.

 

[TNleaf]

<snip>

So, again, the climate control was off. I am concerned about the noise it made even above 30 mph today..

Raza

Raza/anyone else speculating on the sound,

I have noticed a very unnerving sound as of recent. It is NOT a normal sound from the LEAF and it is NOT my VSP (I have it turned off).

It was 18F here today and never got above 40F, so I'm certain it has to do with the cold, as I have not heard it other than when it's below freezing.

I took a video of the sound today, but the quality on wasnt the best and it was hard to pinpoint the sound in my video. I'll attempt another video tomorrow.

Recap:
Occurs at 18F-35F
VSP is OFF
Climate control is OFF
Radio is OFF
Occurs loudly at low speed (below 30ish).
Occurs while in N coasting, while under power and while regenning.

One curious thing I noticed was that the pitch/magnitude changes when I am regenning/foot is off accelerator.
Scenario: flat surface going 20 mph less than 10kW on energy usage, sound occurs. I ease off the accelerator and show slight regen, speed is about 15mph, and the pitch of the sound changes. I wonder if the sound is coming from bearrings/gears from the wheels to the motor?

Again, I will try to get a better video. I plan to contact a dealer about it if it continues.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Two major factors affect your range in cold weather:

1. The amount of energy used to heat the cabin. Just using seat and steering wheel heat (not climate control) saves oodles of power if you need it, but your feet get cold. You could use a 12 volt, waterproof, carbon fiber motorcycle seat heater under the pedals to warm you feet area for only 4 amps of power. The high setting will have a constant range between 120°F to 125°F. The low setting ranges between 110°F to 115°F. 1 Pad 9"x15"
Pad is approximately 1/32" thick. Length can be trimmed to any size with any scissor, width cannot be trimmed and has to stay at 9"... $70.

http://69.94.77.153/product/carbon_fiber_dual_temp_waterproof_single_pad_seat_heater_kit_sil-03.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As has been suggested, preheat the car with your climate control timer, or the iPhone app, or on the Internet at Carwings.

2. Temperature has a profound effect on the amount of available power the battery has, and how much regen it can accept. A battery at 10F could have a 30% drop in available power (21kWh available at 70F might be 14.7kWh available on a full charge at 10F. For example, if you can average 3.6 miles/kWh driving with the heater on, your range in the LEAF might be 3.6 * 14.7 = 53 miles on a 100% charge.

How would you know what the battery temp is? You don't. The temp gauge is just about as worthless as the GuessOmeter. But, if the car has been sitting in the cold for 8 hours, you can guess that the battery is at the ambient air temperature. If its been in a garage at 50F, your range will most likely be aligned with the 50F data (10% battery capacity loss) even if the outside air was much colder. 30F battery would be 20% loss in available capacity. That 600 pound battery, densely packed in an airtight (and waterproof) container will not quickly heat or cool to the ambient temperature.

So, in summary, any heater usage will be reflected in your miles/kWh average, and battery capacity is a factor of battery temperature. Range is simply your miles/kWh multiplied by available battery power. Don't use the climate control for longest range, and do whatever you can to keep the battery pack warm before launch into the cold.

Bon voyage.

 

[lpickup]

The only drawback with heated steering wheel is that sometimes it does turn off and then comes back on

This is normal. When the wheel reaches a certain temp (I think it's 68 degrees) it shuts itself off until it cools down a bit and then turns back on. The owner's manual leads me to believe the seats do not work that way as it recommends turning them off if there is not someone actually in the seat to absorb the heat, and also advises on using seat covers/blankets that may insulate the seats and cause them to overheat.

but some one did suggest that Auto mode keeps it at 77 I believe.

No, this is just when using the Climate Control timer or remote climate control. Using AUTO in the car will maintain temp at whatever temperature you have it set to.

the nice thing about 2012 is that it does have rear heated seats so I can have my kids toasted up without the climate control on

It appears to me (actually my kids) that the rear seats are heated on the seat bottom only, so you'll have to make sure they are wearing nice warm jackets if you are going to rely only on the rear seat heaters.

 

[lpickup]

Either use the phone or set the timer for pre-heat to start itself, before you leave at a set time. There is also a priorty setting, so choose charge or pre-heat as priorty. If you choose pre-heat, it may draw some power from the battery, and if you choose charge but usually charge to 80% you will gain charge (11 bars instead of 10) while pre-heating, or at least that is what seems to happen for me.

This is not exactly what that setting means. If you have have charging set as the priority, it means the climate control timer will simply NOT fire unless you have a certain battery level (I think 80%). If you have climate set as the priority it just means that it will fire regardless of your state of charge. If you are using both timers anyway, the easiest thing to do is just have it set up so your charging completes before you'll need the climate control anyway and then it doesn't really matter.

If it's cold enough, you'll draw power from the battery while pre-heating regardless of what priority you have set (again provided you have at least the 80% charge you need if you've chosen charging priority). The heater can draw more than the 3kW than the charger supplies so you'll have a net drain on the battery until the cabin warms up.

I don't think that you can pre-heat the car by starting it and letting it run, since the car has to be unplugged to start it.

You can turn the climate control on by putting the car into "ON" mode (push the power button twice without touching the brake).