Rod Hewitt wrote:

"IMM" wrote in
:


How about heating the car in winter? This would be a traditional
electric element, which consumes a lot of power from batteries. The
car would probably need a layer of insulation to keep heat in and heat
out in summer. Do the batteries produce enough heat to heat the cars
cabin?


Last I heard, it sounded as if 'they' were going to add a small petrol
burner to provide heating. Apparently this was the most efficient/sensible
option, at least in the early days of such vehicles.

Perhaps we will get SEDBUK ratings on them as well as mpg equivalents?



The total power needed to run our car at - say - 30 mph, is about 5kW.
At least 5% of that is likley to be wasted as heat - say 250W. That is
potentially available to heat the car without losing anything.

I would not think that more than another 2-300W would be needed to heat
the car in any circumstances. So yes, there is enough energy. Maybe the
heater and/or aircon would knock the range down 20%, but it does that on
a normal car anyway.


Rod