Hacker News Reader

Comment by nszceta | Hacker News Reader

> Actually heating the cabin is nothing but wasteful.

Americans value comfort and they get it. Europeans want it too but they can't afford it (taxation and energy scarcity)

It's to do with safety, not economics. Remote start on a combustion vehicle presents a carbon monoxide poisoning risk. This is perhaps more significant in Europe where more people park indoors and in confined spaces.

Pretty much any EV in Europe has a remote cabin heating feature. If it were about energy and economics, wouldn't that be banned also?

If you are parked indoors you don't need remote start. Our garage stays about 32F degrees even when it is -10F out. The entire point of remote start is for the case when you are parked outside, such as at work.

Sure, but is the car actually smart enough to detect when it's indoors and block remote start? Many countries ban or restrict remote start features due to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

In any case, not all indoor parking is climate-controlled. It's nice to be able to remotely warm (or cool, in summer) the cabin to a pleasant temperature before you arrive! 32F is still pretty chilly.

> Pretty much any EV in Europe has a remote cabin heating feature

Surely pretty much any equivalent gas car remote cabin heating too, it's a very common feature.

> "Surely pretty much any equivalent gas car remote cabin heating too, it's a very common feature."

Remote cabin heating in a gas car requires a "remote start" feature, which is illegal in many European countries - particularly Germany. This is not a common feature in Europe, except in EVs.

Not sure where you’re getting this info from, but it’s wrong. 1) remote start is not required 2) auxiliary heaters are very common

No it doesn't. It just requires an auxiliary heater, which has been a common feature in cars sold in Europe for at least 20 years. It's a feature you can find in cars sold during the 80s, like the W214.

> This is not a common feature in Europe, except in EVs.

It's a common feature in fancy cars and has been so for ages. Most EVs definitely fall into the fancy car category.

Fair point, but what, maybe 5% or so of gas cars are fancy enough to have a fuel-burning auxiliary heater in Europe? (not just Scandinavia)

Where as most EVs have a "remote HVAC control" feature - even the pretty basic ones. And EVs, of course, will cool the cabin in summer time as well, something that an auxiliary heater can't do.

It's definitely much more than 5% of new ICE cars.

Across all of Europe? No way. No cars sold in Southern Europe have this, and afaik it's rare (at best) in the UK. In Scandinavia? Maybe.

But aren't most premium new ICE cars in Europe now (mild) hybrids anyway? Why not use the big 48V battery to power an electric aux heater? Surely way cheaper, simpler, and less dangerous?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com