Cold start in winter

[Tulp]

Good day everyone ,

I’m from Belgium 🇧🇪. I bought a UX 250h Blackline and it will be delivered in june I hope.

Because I didn’t find an answer in Belgium I will try in this forum.

Cold start in winter , how is this working ? Does engine always starts ? (Maybe just for heating up motor ?)  Is battery-pack warming up interior ? etc. etc. etc.
 

I’m very curious  to find out ,

Thank you ,
 

Greetz from Belgium ,

Johan.

[NemesisUK]

The ICE (engine) will fire up after about 5sec to warm the fluids and the cabin. One can stop this by pressing the EV mode button with the 5 seconds. Be aware though that the cabin will not be warmed without  the ICE running. EV mode will self cancel if throttle is depressed too far or the charge level drops low. Unless one is just repositioning the car in a parking space it's probably best to let the engine start and provide warm and demisting the windows.

[ColinBarber]

Whist the UX has an electric AC compressor to cool the cabin without needing the engine, there is no electric heater so you need the engine's waste heat. Therefore hybrids tend to see a bigger drop in economy in winter compared to a more conventional vehicle as the engine will run more often.

If you switch off the climate control you will notice the engine switches itself off (after it has done an initial warmup) but you will get cold (unless you just use seat and steering wheel heaters).

[Bill Dawes]

Johan, I am waiting for my Lexus UX but I can say on the basis of my experience with my present car, a Kia Niro, it is best to leave the car to do it's own thing, the electronics sense what needs to run at any one time although my Kia does not have an electric mode button. Hybrids are clever systems so don't worry about it too much especially at starting, everything needs to warm up at some stage anyway and milege on electric alone is not much, the purpose of the hybrid system is an IC engine with a small amount of electric backup.

Bill D.

[Tulp]

3 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

The ICE (engine) will fire up after about 5sec to warm the fluids and the cabin. One can stop this by pressing the EV mode button with the 5 seconds. Be aware though that the cabin will not be warmed without  the ICE running. EV mode will self cancel if throttle is depressed too far or the charge level drops low. Unless one is just repositioning the car in a parking space it's probably best to let the engine start and provide warm and demisting the windows.

Thank you for your comment 

[Tulp]

3 hours ago, Bill Dawes said:

Johan, I am waiting for my Lexus UX but I can say on the basis of my experience with my present car, a Kia Niro, it is best to leave the car to do it's own thing, the electronics sense what needs to run at any one time although my Kia does not have an electric mode button. Hybrids are clever systems so don't worry about it too much especially at starting, everything needs to warm up at some stage anyway and milege on electric alone is not much, the purpose of the hybrid system is an IC engine with a small amount of electric backup.

Bill D.

Thnxxx for your comment.

[Tulp]

3 hours ago, Bill Dawes said:

Johan, I am waiting for my Lexus UX but I can say on the basis of my experience with my present car, a Kia Niro, it is best to leave the car to do it's own thing, the electronics sense what needs to run at any one time although my Kia does not have an electric mode button. Hybrids are clever systems so don't worry about it too much especially at starting, everything needs to warm up at some stage anyway and milege on electric alone is not much, the purpose of the hybrid system is an IC engine with a small amount of electric backup.

Bill D.

Thank you very much

[Tulp]

3 hours ago, ColinBarber said:

Whist the UX has an electric AC compressor to cool the cabin without needing the engine, there is no electric heater so you need the engine's waste heat. Therefore hybrids tend to see a bigger drop in economy in winter compared to a more conventional vehicle as the engine will run more often.

If you switch off the climate control you will notice the engine switches itself off (after it has done an initial warmup) but you will get cold (unless you just use seat and steering wheel heaters).

Thank you

[EvilRacer329]

Can confirm all of the above. In summer, the engine sometimes won't fire up until I get out onto faster roads because the A/C can cool the car with the engine off. Once the temperature starts to get lower, it fires up to generate a source of heat. It's actually fascinating - if you sit in traffic sometimes you can watch the engine temperature plummet as the heating system draws heat out of the engine to warm the cabin!

Leaving the climate control set to 'off' also seems to inhibit cold starting, but it's far more sensitive in winter, I find. My guess is that they want to make sure there's some heat in the engine before you really step on the gas to join a motorway...?

Nick

[StewartM]

 

So, all this means the UX Hybrid does not have any electrically operated PTC heater ?

[NemesisUK]

Correct.

I don't believe any hybrid does, too power hungry?

[ColinBarber]

6 minutes ago, StewartM said:

So, all this means the UX Hybrid does not have any electrically operated PTC heater ?

It doesn't have any type of electrically powered heater, be it PTC, standard resistive, IR, heat pump or any other form. The hybrid Battery is too small to accomodate it, and the Toyota hybrid system was never designed for it.

The older Prius vehicles in some markets had a large thermos where the coolant is transferred to and stored when the vehicle is turned off. It keeps it warm for 12+ hours but that wasn't available in the UK nor ported over to any Lexus models. These days the coolant is heated by the exhaust system as well as the conventional way to get both the engine and cabin up to temperature as quickly as possible - The gen 4 Prius, UX and ES get up to temperature, and allow EV running, noticeably faster than older hybrids, but you still see a noticeable drop in economy when the weather is cold.

[StewartM]

Thanks folks.

[StewartM]

 

Sorry I didn't have time for a fuller reply last night. Currently on my third Ford in 11 years, the one thing I really don't want to be without is heated windscreen. Hoped that PTC Heater would be next best thing.  The brochure for the Suzuki Swace self-charging hybrid, which I'm sure you all know is a Toyota Corolla with different badges, says it does have PTC Heater. My thoughts about not enough Battery power to run it, was to think the engine  would cut in to provide extra electrical power. If a rebadged Corolla has it, I had hoped a Lexus would.

[ColinBarber]

3 hours ago, StewartM said:

The brochure for the Suzuki Swace self-charging hybrid, which I'm sure you all know is a Toyota Corolla with different badges, says it does have PTC Heater.

Toyota make no mention of one for the Corolla in the UK. It's possible other countries in Europe are fitted with one but not in the UK as it isn't deemed cold enough. Similar to the IS300h when they have active shutters across the front of the radiator, but not in the UK.

The UK Lexus UX doesn't have one.

[Tulp]

    Thank you all guys , it has become a lot clearer to me now