Turn of AC and save fuel

[HSDish]

Noticed that, I can turn of AC when I stop the car, and then turn on the seat heater when I start my Prius Plug In 2015 (gen1) when the outside temperature is from 12C to 16C , to prevent the ICE kicking in to warm up the car (if it's more than 16C outside, the ICE wont kick in anyway) and thats without any temperature comfort loss IMO. Then I can drive some 20km on pure EV /electric

[TonyHSD]

AC no need to be ON except in hot summer days, or to dry the windows from condensation.,  it drains the traction battery faster in both plug in and self charging hybrids. I keep my car 22C° no AC all the time and when outside is hot I turn AC ON but never in auto mode. Winter sometimes I don’t touch the ac for months., heating does affect the efficiency, sometimes I keep the car ON for hours but I like to be warm and cozy during cold winter nights. 

[HughL]

I believe that it's a good idea to run the aircon from time to time (but not all the time) during the winter to keep the seals and pipes lubricated; can seize and/or leak if you don't. I didn't do this with the first car I ever had with aircon and it had to be regassed when the first spring came round. But I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't run their aircon at all during the  winter and never have a problem.

[mircea99]

My average is 71 mpg on 60000 miles with 23 degrees AC on and auto .

Prius 17 plate ( not plug-in )

[HSDish]

It's just when the outside temperature is from 12C to 20C I turn of the AC. Below 12C or abowe 20C I use AC manual set to 22/23C.

[HSDish]

On 10/23/2020 at 3:42 PM, mircea99 said:

My average is 71 mpg on 60000 miles with 23 degrees AC on and auto .

Prius 17 plate ( not plug-in )

Nice mpg figures.

We have owned our Prius Plug In 2015 (gen1) for 16 months now and been driven 21772 km and it's average 3.46 L/100km (82 mpg I think) measured at fuel pump, when I checked my Fuelio app (car computer shows even better). Quite cold weather here in Sweden

[altocumulus]

Problem with relying on the seat heater is our car tends to get steamed up pretty quickly, especially when cold or raining. I see a drop of around 4 mpg on the charge range when heat or AC is on - worth it sometimes, especially when I can 'get' that 4 mpg 'back' through re-gen.

[HSDish]

1 hour ago, altocumulus said:

Problem with relying on the seat heater is our car tends to get steamed up pretty quickly, especially when cold or raining. I see a drop of around 4 mpg on the charge range when heat or AC is on - worth it sometimes, especially when I can 'get' that 4 mpg 'back' through re-gen.

Absolutely worth it some times.

I too use AC when its cold and rainy, though. Just turn AC of when the outside temperature is from 12C to 20C I and the weather are resonable dry.

Our Prius 2015 Plug In (gen1) leave EV mode and ICE kicks in ,when AC turnes on (no heat pump as in gen 2) and thats anoying and thats why I turn of AC when the outside temperature is from 12C to 20C I and the weather are resonable dry. To avoid ICE kickin in.

[altocumulus]

I've not tried, yet, with our new car, but the same thing happened with the 2018 version - very annoying! At least using the full fan by itself does the job, though it takes a few minutes.

[QuantumFireball]

On 10/22/2020 at 8:40 PM, HughL said:

I believe that it's a good idea to run the aircon from time to time (but not all the time) during the winter to keep the seals and pipes lubricated; can seize and/or leak if you don't. I didn't do this with the first car I ever had with aircon and it had to be regassed when the first spring came round. But I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't run their aircon at all during the  winter and never have a problem.

This is a problem with the shaft seal on traditionally belt-driven aircon compressors in cars. As the Prius uses an electric compressor, this is not an issue. I only needed to re-gas mine because the condenser had cracked (which needed replacement :( )

[TonyHSD]

In most cars since 2001 the air con compressor are made to operate via the clutch at around 3% capacity all the times and in hybrids Toyota I believe there is an ecu that manages that thing so the gas circulation is warranted to maintain ac working condition even though AC may never been used, I have many examples of that and believe it’s absolutely not necessary to keep ac ON just because of that, you can of course switch ON at least once a month to blow fungal bacteria accumulated inside the air tubes, or to keep windows dry when driving short distance in rainfall. I drive long hours and can dry and clean the windows of my car easily without using the ac at all, just takes a bit longer at the beginning. That info I had from an AC technician but I maybe wrongly understood or he may did so, however it makes sense and very often I feel the smell of a just turned ON AC in the car without been switched ON manual or automatically. Changing pollen filter and keeping fan working all the time is most important thing to maintain the reliability of the car heat/ac system. 👍

[Mick F]

What's the point of having auto climate control and not using it?  Climate control has the aircon on and cleans and dehumidifies the air, and you can have it hot or cold and anything in between.

Yaris Hybrid owner here of course, and have had climate control in the last couple of cars.  Leave it on Auto, and set the temp that you want.

Drove up to Bristol and back from Cornwall yesterday.  Temp set at 21degC and returned 70mpg for the 300mile round trip.

Mick.

[HSDish]

4 hours ago, Mick F said:

What's the point of having auto climate control and not using it?  Climate control has the aircon on and cleans and dehumidifies the air, and you can have it hot or cold and anything in between.

Yaris Hybrid owner here of course, and have had climate control in the last couple of cars.  Leave it on Auto, and set the temp that you want.

Drove up to Bristol and back from Cornwall yesterday.  Temp set at 21degC and returned 70mpg for the 300mile round trip.

Mick.

I was probably to unclear here , and maybe this topics headings was incorrect, sorry.

I do use the AC when outside temperature are below 12C and abowe 20C and even when it's 12C-20C an rainy.

I just turn the AC of when the outside temperature is from 12C to 20C  and the weather are resonable dry.

My main reason for this is to be able to drive in EV mode (charged by cable) and prevent the ICE to kick in to warm up the cabin.

[TonyHSD]

I never use auto in any of the “auto extras” that comes with the car simply because I like to be in control what and when happens with the car., ops sorry I use only one but that’s really important for me: auto dim rear view mirror., No auto lights, no auto wipers etc. Also AC on only when needed and not all the time, AC does impact efficiency a lot especially in town driving, could easily eat up 10mpg, motorway driving almost no affect, however I don’t use because I don’t like air to be conditioned unless really necessary, hot summer days or nights. 

[MyOpinionIsWorthless]

On 10/23/2020 at 2:42 PM, mircea99 said:

My average is 71 mpg on 60000 miles with 23 degrees AC on and auto .

Prius 17 plate ( not plug-in )

Agreed. AC off in winter = condensation in cabin. 
we also get 70+ mpg with Prius D with AC in ECO mode.