Hi All!
I just got my 2022 Tuscon PHEV and have some questions, but this thread has been awesome in answering many, so I’ll try not to repeat.
1) does anyone leave their block heater plugged in all night and if so, do you notice it heats up and switches to EV mode sooner because the engine is warmer already?
2) I’m in Winnipeg and it’s been absolutely freezing, like weeks of -20 or colder as the high. At night, the vehicle is in my non heated garage, which sits at about -8 to -10 c. I can only get to EV by shutting off the heat (as others have noticed). Are there any tips other than things like drive side only, heat at auto 19 low fan, etc that haven’t been listed here yet? I didn’t hit EV once on my 15 KM drive today even after warming the vehicle for 10 mins in the garage (-10)
2) any way to know how often the car is running hybrid without watching the motor output screen?
3) for those in cold climates like mine and who have had the vehicle for a while… what months or temps did you notice it not taking long for the ICE/cabin to heat sufficiently so that the EV went on almost right away?
as we have really cold winters and really hot summers (dealership tells me the AC also runs of ICE which means hot days replicate the issues on very cold days visa-vis pulling HVAC from the ICE) I want to assure myself this purchase was still worth it!!
I'll try and answer some of your questions. I'm not mechanically adept to explain the finer details, but,
1) Did you have a block heater installed at the dealership? I don't have one, but I would love to install one, but my dealership said there were no block heaters for a PHEV. I did take down a part number from this forum and ordered the part, but I have not heard back from them. Everything I have read said you should only plug in your block heater about 2-3 hrs before starting the car.
2) I'm in Ontario where we have only had a handful of days/nights below -20,, my Tucson is parked outside in driveway. The only hint I can give is to run the car for 10 minutes before leaving, then once the cabin is not freezing, turn the heat off. The heated seat and steering wheel is usually enough to keep warm, especially for a short 15 km drive. The car should immediately switch to EV when the heat goes off.
3) On the screen to the right of the instrument panel should show HEV, Auto and EV whichever is active.
4) From my experience, I've only had the car since November, it takes about 30 minutes to warm the car up enough to then turn the heat output down and run on EV when selected