So I have to take a road trip in an EV, and it’s winter. So I’m going to have to use the AC. I know in my old ICE car I could have the AC off and the fan would blow hot air just from the engine. With my EV it seems to be the same, even with the AC button off the vents are blowing hot air. Is that hot air just heat vented from the battery? Or is it still using battery power for the compressor to heat the air.
Depends on the ev and the evs trim package. Our ev6 uses a resistance heater for initial heat the swaps over to a heat pump that sources it’s heat from the battery pack, motors and other electronics for heat. Newer Teslas use only a heat pump. Older Teslas use resistive heat only. Some cats only had resistance heat some heat a coolant loop then it goes through a heater core.