Turned on heater first time. Range dropped 20 miles

[razz]

Have owned my Bolt for 2 weeks. Usually rely on steering whell and seat heaters. Works fine, even though I live in VT. I turned on the heater for the first time and range estimate immediately dropped from 150 to 130. Didn't recover when I turned heater off after about 4 seconds. Is this normal?

 

[boltage]

Yes, the heater consumes a lot of power, at least initially. Heating all of the air blowing into the cabin takes a lot more power than heating the seat and steering wheel.

 

[theothertom]

Yes, it's normal. A lot of people use the heated seats and heated steering wheel but not the cabin heat.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

You can minimize this, by turning down the temperature, and by running it intermittently; only when you need it.

The heated seats and steering wheel use a couple of hundred watts, at most. The heater uses a couple of thousand watts, at least.

If the Bolt had a direct heating windshield defroster (like the e-Golf has), then that would be great. These work a lot like the rear defroster, but you can barely see it in the glass.