Front screen defog

[The_Doctor]

Hi all, does anyone know if it's possible to defog or defrost the front screen when driving without the ICE running? I've noticed

• If I use the app to do a remote preheat then the screen is defogged / defrosted using the heat pump, the ICE does not run
• If I am driving and press the defog button then the ICE is always run - this is rather annoying as often this only requires a short period of time to defog / defrost but the engine carries on running (yes in EV mode!) until it has presumably completed a warm-up cycle

[SA1]

I don’t think there is a way to stop the ICE when you’re in the car. I’m sure the logic is that the ICE gets hotter quicker and if you’re in the car then you want the windscreen clearing quickly where as with the remote heating it has the time to heat up slower as you’re not in the car.

Sadly my remote AC isn’t working due to issues with the app/car as discussed in other threads so my only option as been the ICE during the recent cold spell.

I got into the habit of turning on the ICE at the start of a short journey so that it could get the heat cycle completed as I had a number of times where the ICE would kick in even on EV mode and it was cold with only a couple of EV miles range remaining. (No hard acceleration so not sure why it kicked in)

 

[The_Doctor]

I think with only a couple of miles EV range remaining then it will run the ICE. I've noticed that on a couple of occasions with only 1 or 2 miles indicated then the engine runs. I think the ambient was cold on both occasions.

[Alan Thompson]

Have you tried putting the car in eco mode before turning the defog on?

And/or turn the temp down a couple of degrees.

Don't know if it works on this car but it used to in the outlander.

[Alan Thompson]

And this morning I followed my own advice - put it in eco then put the defog on temp 21 degrees - engine started up.

That blew my theory out of the water!!  😂

[The_Doctor]

On 1/30/2023 at 2:38 PM, SA1 said:

I don’t think there is a way to stop the ICE when you’re in the car. I’m sure the logic is that the ICE gets hotter quicker and if you’re in the car then you want the windscreen clearing quickly where as with the remote heating it has the time to heat up slower as you’re not in the car.

I am wondering if it might relate to the legal requirement that a certain amount of the windscreen has to be demisted within 10 minutes, perhaps the heat pump can't achieve that (it presumably doesn't matter if it takes longer when you are using remote pre-conditioning).

2 hours ago, Alan Thompson said:

And this morning I followed my own advice - put it in eco then put the defog on temp 21 degrees - engine started up.

That blew my theory out of the water!!  😂

Indeed, and I was going to reply to say I normally keep it in eco mode.