Can you turn off the climate control?

Papa T

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I tried to search through the forum, because I figured this has been asked before, but is there a way to turn off the climate control system. Or, alternatively, if I want to save as much energy as possible, how do I go about setting heating and air to use as little as possible?
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GoGoGadgetMachE

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I tried to search through the forum, because I figured this has been asked before, but is there a way to turn off the climate control system. Or, alternatively, if I want to save as much energy as possible, how do I go about setting heating and air to use as little as possible?
the documented way to turn it off is to use the climate control button to the right of the volume knob to get to the full control view and turn it off there:

Ford Mustang Mach-E Can you turn off the climate control? 1617103766958


that's also where the E-Heat button lives, the vent selection lives, etc.

you can also manage it by messing with the fan speed by opening up the fan speed control to the left of the volume knob:

Ford Mustang Mach-E Can you turn off the climate control? 1617103831222


then sliding around and getting it to turn off (I admit I'm not sure exactly how).

The former is what you're intended to do, I think, but I honestly keep forgetting that button is there, so I do it the latter way and feel just a little dumb each time. As soon as I learn the climate control button is there, it will be sorted.

one of the requested OTAs by a few folks is for the "Auto" button to not have three settings (high, medium, and low fan speed) but four (the same three plus "off") which would mean to turn the system off you'd just tap Auto until it was off. That would match my expectations as well, although I can't completely explain why I expect that given my memories of experiences in past cars. ?‍♂
 

SteelMach

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It's seriously well hidden like they don't want us to find it.

Hidden to the right of the physical volume knob is a snowflake/heat symbol with a subtle ^ above it. Press that, and the full climate menu pops up, where you can turn the blower off, or the A/C off, or the PTC off.
 
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Papa T

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Thanks, guys. Good instructions. I definitely was having a tough time finding it. Crazy thing is, I’m pretty sure I had been in there before, but I was missing the power button on that screen.
 

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Re the slider method, you sometimes have to tap the Off that pops up below the slider. It isn’t as easy as it should be. Agree with the idea to add a one-tap Off button to the main screen when the climate control is on. That’s the nice thing about screens - they are dynamic.
 


eStang

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one of the requested OTAs by a few folks is for the "Auto" button to not have three settings (high, medium, and low fan speed) but four (the same three plus "off") which would mean to turn the system off you'd just tap Auto until it was off. That would match my expectations as well, although I can't completely explain why I expect that given my memories of experiences in past cars. ?‍♂
Trying to toggle the "Auto" button to an "Off" position was literally the first thing I tried to do. IMO, It is silly to have On/Off buried in a pop up screen.
 

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Can someone explain the e-heat to me like I'm 5? I've been setting a temp and keeping auto at medium. But started playing around with a/c and circulating button. What is the e-heat button and should it be on or off for me? Also why is it called e-heat? Isn't everything technically e? E-A/C E-defrost e-Radio?

I'm a little disappointed in the temperature settings buttons. It's a little more complicated than what it needs to be in my opinion. The auto to me doesn't seem super responsive.
 
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dbsb3233

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Can someone explain the e-heat to me like I'm 5? I've been setting a temp and keeping auto at medium. But started playing around with a/c and circulating button. What is the e-heat button and should it be on or off for me.

I'm a little disappointed in the temperature settings buttons. It's a little more complicated than what it needs to be in my opinion. The auto to me doesn't seem super responsive.
I agree that it seems less intuitive than it should be.

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that some heat will be extracted from the battery coolant circulation. So if it's like 55F outside and you only need a little heat, that may be sufficient without E-Heat (after having driven a while). But if not enough, E-Heat (resistive heating) is needed. It'll warm things up fast, but at a significant energy cost.

I haven't figured out if AUTO is smart enough to manage all that for us. Meaning, if we leave E-Heat on, will it only use it when actually needed? Or is it always heating when on, just with low fan?
 

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I agree that it seems less intuitive than it should be.

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that some heat will be extracted from the battery coolant circulation. So if it's like 55F outside and you only need a little heat, that may be sufficient without E-Heat (after having driven a while). But if not enough, E-Heat (resistive heating) is needed. It'll warm things up fast, but at a significant energy cost.

I haven't figured out if AUTO is smart enough to manage all that for us. Meaning, if we leave E-Heat on, will it only use it when actually needed? Or is it always heating when on, just with low fan?
Yeah that's a great question. You'd think auto would be smart enough to figure that out and maximize energy usage for us, but I'm going to keep mine off anyways.
 

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Can someone explain the e-heat to me like I'm 5? I've been setting a temp and keeping auto at medium. But started playing around with a/c and circulating button. What is the e-heat button and should it be on or off for me? Also why is it called e-heat? Isn't everything technically e? E-A/C E-defrost e-Radio?

I'm a little disappointed in the temperature settings buttons. It's a little more complicated than what it needs to be in my opinion. The auto to me doesn't seem super responsive.
E-Heat is the heat version of the A/C button.

The A/C button inhibits the compressor to save energy. The E-Heat button inhibits the PTC to save energy.

Basically, if you want to save some extra watts, you can game the controls.

One example would be a very mild spring/fall day - if it's 65 degrees outside, and you have the HVAC set to 70, the PTC is going to heat coolant up to 150 degrees or whatever, and crack the door to let a little bit of that 65 degree airflow path go through that 150 degree heater core, and mix back together to net out to 70... but if you turn E-Heat off, it won't try to heat at all . It's a way to say "car, my comfort is less important than my energy use."
 

Rocky29670

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E-Heat is the heat version of the A/C button.

The A/C button inhibits the compressor to save energy. The E-Heat button inhibits the PTC to save energy.

Basically, if you want to save some extra watts, you can game the controls.

One example would be a very mild spring/fall day - if it's 65 degrees outside, and you have the HVAC set to 70, the PTC is going to heat coolant up to 150 degrees or whatever, and crack the door to let a little bit of that 65 degree airflow path go through that 150 degree heater core, and mix back together to net out to 70... but if you turn E-Heat off, it won't try to heat at all . It's a way to say "car, my comfort is less important than my energy use."
So if I want efficiency over comfort do I have e-heat on or off? You guys are making this pretty difficult for a 5 year old to comprehend.
 

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So if I want efficiency over comfort do I have e-heat on or off? You guys are making this pretty difficult for a 5 year old to comprehend.
E-Heat on = Heat
A/C on = A/C

E-Heat off = No Heat
A/C off = No A/C

Mix and match to your preference.

Gas cars have the A/C button for the same reason, to save fuel. They don't, however, have a "Heat" button, because heat is free, it's a waste product. EVs need to use electricity to make the heat, hence "E" Heat.
 

eStang

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So if I want efficiency over comfort do I have e-heat on or off? You guys are making this pretty difficult for a 5 year old to comprehend.
From the manual:


Switching the Electric Heater On
and Off

Press the button to switch the
heater on and off. The heater is
switched on by default.
Note: Disabling the heater will extend the vehicle's range.
Note: This button is disabled in some
climate control modes.
Note: This button will not turn off the
climate control system.
 

dbsb3233

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From the manual:


Switching the Electric Heater On
and Off

Press the button to switch the
heater on and off. The heater is
switched on by default.
Note: Disabling the heater will extend the vehicle's range.
Note: This button is disabled in some
climate control modes.
Note: This button will not turn off the
climate control system.
That's typical owners-manualese - clear about the obvious parts, but totally devoid of any help on the nuances.

Obviously turning off E-Heat will prevent E-Heating and save battery. (An owner's manual "Duh".) The real question is what exactly happens when it's on (i.e. is it drawing power all the time under Auto? Just when needed? All-on, or just on enough to use only a few watts when that's all that needed and more when needed?). It would be terribly disappointing if it's so dumb as to be drawing max power every second it's on when it's 58F outside as versus 28F outside. Or ANY power when it's 78F outside.

I think it's smart enough to have at least some automatic variability when turned on, as I usually have E-Heat on all the time (so far) and my miles/kWh is much better when it's 60F out than what it's 30F. But I don't have enough history with it to say 100% for sure yet.
 

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There are 4 main factors to the climate control: how much the circulating fan is blowing (including not blowing at all), the vents out of which the air is circulated, how much heat is added or removed from the air being circulated, and finally a setting to allow outside "fresh" air in or not.

When you turn on the "auto" modes (low/med/high) the car uses the temperature you set to decide all 4 of those factors on its own. Otherwise, you can override the environmental controls in the fan/env menus (you decide how hard the air comes out of which vents) so the temperature you select just tells the car how much heat to add or remove from the circulated air.

Sometimes you are comfortable with the inside air temperature and just want the air circulated without having to guess what that temperature is, so you can tell the car not to use the A/C or e-heat.
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