It's winter here in New Zealand so I have been turning the requested temperature level up to 25 in our Jazz Hybrid before I drive off in the morning (EXO has also been turned to OFF). The reason is to force the brain in the cabin environment control to realise that I need heat and I need lots ASAP.
This has the effect of keeping the engine running for a long time to provide heat to the cabin.
I have noticed that the battery charge level goes up to 10 as the car doesn't go into EV mode.
Once the cabin is warm, the car reverts back to running in a mix of EV and non-EV mode, and the battery charge level drops down to its usual range of 3 to 6.
Has anyone else noticed this behaviour in their Jazz Hybrid?
(Spinal Tap fans no doubt have a battery charge level that goes to 11 )
Yes, that's absolutely normal, when the engine runs in "heating" mode (it stays on just because you're asking heating the car), it doesn't charge nor discharge the battery. So every time you brake, the battery is charged by the regen untill it reaches the maximum and the friction brake kicks in.
To avoid this behaviour, which in my short commute it's noticeable in terms of fuel consumption, especially when the temperature is around 0°C, I usually start the heating in "auto" mode with temperature set to 16-17° and then I increase it from time to time while the engine warms up and starts shutting down as usual.
In this was it still heats the car very quickly, but avoids keeping the engine on for too long.
In the meanwhile I use seat and steering wheel heather as quick supplement, but neither the windscreen, nor my daughter in the back seat can feel them
, so I have to use the cabin heather anyway.