Remote Climate Start

[nozferatu]

Anyone use this feature?

How does it work? How do you set the temp? Etc?

I've tried finding it in the manual but can't seem to find anything.

Cheers

 

[emv]

I've never used this feature myself (I try not to use the heater at all) but here goes:

Set the hvac controls before you shut the car down.
Press the lock button on the key.
Right away, press the remote start button on the key for at least four seconds.

Page 2-8 of the fine manual.

 

[nozferatu]

I've never used this feature myself (I try not to use the heater at all) but here goes:

Set the hvac controls before you shut the car down.
Press the lock button on the key.
Right away, press the remote start button on the key for at least four seconds.

Page 2-8 of the fine manual.

Thanks a great deal! Why don't you use the heater? Doesn't work?

 

[emissionfree]

The settings when you shut the car down don't seem to be that important. I think the HVAC goes to 74 degF Auto for any 'Remote Climate Start'. I noticed that I drove home with a lot of solar load that required A/C, but when I did a remote start in the morning, it turned on the heat because it was cold out. Also, don't forget to stay plugged in... Spark EV will use wall power during remote climate start and keep the battery topped off. Love it!

 

[emv]

We try not to use the heater, more like we try to keep the temp button in the off position, because of one simple fact. Heat costs range.

In an ordinary car, a copious amount of heat is a natural byproduct of combustion and it's a simple matter to transfer that "free" heat into the cabin. In an electric there is some waste heat from the motor and some from the inverter but not nearly as much. Heat either comes from woefully inefficient resistance elements, or better from a heat pump. It ain't free.

We've had the Spark for about a month and so far the heated seats alone have kept us comfortable nearly all the time.

 

[Nashco]

I use it at least once a day, and it's great for boosting your range because you can pre-heat and pre-cool the cabin before unplugging. Heating and cooling take a lot of energy, so doing it from the grid makes life easier on the battery. It can actually improve efficiency if you're in any extreme climates, as it will heat or cool the battery if necessary.

The manual says on page 2-8:

The climate control system will use the previous settings during a remote start. The rear defog may come on during remote start based on cold ambient conditions. The rear defog indicator light does not come on during remote start.

This is slightly misleading, however. It uses the previous settings EXCEPT fan speed. I've got into the habit of leaving the temperature set at something like 74° in the auto setting ("temp" button active) and only adjusting the fan speed for nearly all of my driving. If I'm comfortable, I turn the fan speed to off or the lowest setting. If I'm uncomfortable, I just push the auto setting. That way, even if it is hot or cold outside and no matter what the temperature was when I turned the car off, when I use the "remote start" feature with my key fob or with my iphone app, the car turns the fan on and uses my previous settings otherwise (auto, 74°, "temp" button active).

Of course, for maximum range drives there may be times you need some fan for defrost but push the "temp" button to deactivate the heater/air conditioning for the sake of efficiency. I'm speaking about my habits generally...generally, I leave it on "auto" and just turn the fan speed down until it's off if I'm comfortable.

This is better than my Leaf because I can set any temperature or HVAC setting I want in the Spark EV, and it will do that particular thing when I precondition the cabin. For example, if it's really hot outside and I want the car abnormally cold...I have that capability by setting the temperature to my desired amount and leaving it on auto when I shut down. Unfortunately, the catch is that if your intention was to have a car warmed to 74 and you accidentally forgot to leave the auto setting and "temp" button active at 74°, then you won't get 74°. In that regard, the Leaf is more dummy proof.

Obviously, if you're not plugged in to a Level 2 charger, using this feature will use the battery and reduce your range. Don't use it if you're not plugged in and need all the range you can get!

Funny note...I've noticed that when I'm preconditioning the car, I'm pretty sure my phone is syncing with the bluetooth in car. I haven't tested this theory to see if the radio will actually function this way...I doubt it would, I think it's just a software bug that they accidentally take over my phone even though the radio doesn't intend to do anything with it.

Bryce

 

[nozferatu]

Guys I noticed an odd thing about the heating and cooling in this car.

Auto in most cars means the climate control system will set the cabin temp to what you have chosen it to be. In this car there are two auto buttons...one for temp and one for mode.

Say the car is warm inside and I want to cool it down. If I hit the temp button, the fan hardly increases to cool. However it's only when I hit the auto button for mode that the fan really kicks in. I don't quite understand how this works.

In my Fiat there was an AUTO button and temperature set..that was it. The fan would ramp up and do the rest automatically. I could choose to recirculate or leave open the vents to the outside. If I hit directional buttons (i.e. forward vents, lower vents, etc) the AUTO function would cancel but the fan speed would remain at whatever the AUTO function had set it at.

In this car it's a bit confusing.

I tried the remote climate function...it kicked the fan on and it wasn't a pretty sound...very weird sounding pump. But it didn't kick on the A/C or anything...at least not that I could based on any buttons being illuminated. Perhaps I hadn't turned the temp control or auto mode on prior to shutting the car down?

I tend to try and turn the climate control off prior to turning the car off a few minutes ahead of time. I always have had the belief that running just plain air through the system before turning the car off prevents mold/etc from forming in the ducts....who knows.