Recycle Heat Game

[AtomicInternet]

If it's cold and you're bored while using BlueCruise on the highway, play the recycle Heat game. The HVAC will constantly switch to fresh air for optimal defrost, but if you keep up with flipping it to recycle it saves a significant amount of energy. Heating already hot air takes a lot less power, you just have to keep turning it on. I went from 44% climate use with fresh air to 30% spamming recycle button on the same 15 minute trip.

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[kdonnel]

Why? To save 25 cents? Seems like it makes for an unsafe driver to be distracted by constantly having to interact with Sync.

When I first got my Bolt EV I was hyper aware of energy usage. I participated on a forum much like this and made sure I set all settings to minimize energy usage. I had a bad case of range anxiety.

The unintended consequence was that my wife despised driving the car in the winter because one of the settings that minimized energy usage, ensured that the windows fogged up.

She is so much happier with the car working as designed. The windows never fog up.

When I went back to look at energy usage, I found no appreciable savings between foggy windows and clear windows.

 

[RickMachE]

Fun tip - switch from Auto mode to vents or floor, and it won't turn off recycle...

 

[AtomicInternet]

Why? To save 25 cents? Seems like it makes for an unsafe driver to be distracted by constantly having to interact with Sync.

When I first got my Bolt EV I was hyper aware of energy usage. I participated on a forum much like this and made sure I set all settings to minimize energy usage. I had a bad case of range anxiety.

The unintended consequence was that my wife despised driving the car in the winter because one of the settings that minimized energy usage, ensured that the windows fogged up.

She is so much happier with the car working as designed. The windows never fog up.

When I went back to look at energy usage, I found no appreciable savings between foggy windows and clear windows.

To save range. if BlueCruise is driving for me why is pushing a button distracting? I'm not your wife, and everyone on this forum isn't either. Ignore my post if it upsets you, or just go to my profile and click "ignore", then you'll never see my upsetting words again.

 

[kdonnel]

To save range.

I don't think you are going to increase your range as much as you think for the hassle and probable loss of comfort.

 

[AtomicInternet]

I saved 14% energy usage during a 15 minute drive on recycle with no comfort consequence. According to RichMachE, if I take it off auto I don't even have to push that button. I'm not understanding why this is confusing for you. 14% is not insignificant.

 

[kdonnel]

I saved 14% energy usage during a 15 minute drive on recycle with no comfort consequence. According to RichMachE, if I take it off auto I don't even have to push that button. I'm not understanding why this is confusing for you. 14% is not insignificant.

A 15 minute trip used how much energy? 14% of a small number is a small savings.

It is not confusing, it is that my experience over the past three years is that I have found I would rather just drive the car than try to micromanage efficiency.

99% of my driving involves me returning home before needing to charge. It really doesn't matter if I save 3-5kw of electricity a day in the winter in the long run. Living in Georgia with our mild winters I might see an annual savings of $50 max.

On road trips I have found it is easy to be comfortable, drive how I want, and just charge when needed.

 

[AtomicInternet]

OK I understand. You think everyone drives exactly like you with your exact same priorities, and since 14% is meaningless to you, it's meaningless to everyone else.

 

[kdonnel]

OK I understand. You think everyone drives exactly like you with your exact same priorities, and since 14% is meaningless to you, it's meaningless to everyone else.

No.

I am just offering a second view point. As far as I understand it, that is the point of an internet forum.

 

[azerik]

More fun than the parking lot game, I'll give you that

 

[AtomicInternet]

. I went from 44% climate use with fresh air to 30% spamming recycle button on the same 15 minute trip.

I don't think you are going to increase your range as much as you think for the hassle and probable loss of comfort.

A 15 minute trip used how much energy? 14% of a small number is a small savings.

You're countering my factual observation with opinions and then minimizing it because it's not important to you. A second viewpoint would be "interesting finding, but range isn't important to me so I'd never go through all that trouble" or just not replying at all. Good luck with your narcissism, I'll take my own advice and click ignore on your profile. Enjoy the rest of your day.

 

[kdonnel]

You're countering my factual observation with opinions and then minimizing it because it's not important to you. A second viewpoint would be "interesting finding, but range isn't important to me so I'd never go through all that trouble" or just not replying at all. Good luck with your narcissism, I'll take my own advice and click ignore on your profile. Enjoy the rest of your day.

I am countering your findings with my findings having tried the same technique on a different car.

From my first posting:

When I went back to look at energy usage, I found no appreciable savings between foggy windows and clear windows.

Not sure where all the anger is coming from.

 

[AngryMan]

 

[AKgrampy]

Not that it matters but you reduced consumption from 44% to 30% which is a 14% reduction but would probably be around a 30 - 40% savings. You would have to know the actual consumption numbers in each case to know the actual savings.

 

[Toesin]

Not that it matters but you reduced consumption from 44% to 30% which is a 14% reduction but would probably be around a 30 - 40% savings. You would have to know the actual consumption numbers in each case to know the actual savings.

Exactly. It’s also worth noting that the trip energy readouts only reference the percentage contribution of that item to the overall energy usage, it has nothing to do with efficiency. Even with the heat on full blast, if you are constantly flooring the go pedal, the “driving” percentage is probably going to be higher than the “climate” percentage. But that doesn’t mean you are saving energy, the actual efficiency will still be extremely low and total energy consumption very high

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