Climate control confusion. Range projected drops when fan on

[iwatson]

iwatson, you've presented an interesting supposition. Traditionally, I would expect to see the RR plummet after driving a while at increased speed and I wouldn't expect the RR algorithm to do anything other than take a percentage off the RR as a function of heater energy consumption. In the example you used, I would have attributed the range increase due to the heater turning off or reducing its current draw after it had warmed up the fluid.

Two things going on in my head:

1st. You've owned you miev's longer than we have and you could be right. And As you know the heater in the imev is not that great, So we normally drive with the heater on to it's highest temp setting (not Max button) but highest temp setting. I've noticed when I cut the temp down the range will adjust higher, but in the example I gave we drove with it on high the whole time. Perhaps it only provides so much heat based on ambient temps and cycles back when it reaches a preset interior temp. It wasn't really that cold (low 40's) but we never really got toasty or hot, so left it on high the whole time. We have driven it in colder weather (mid 20's) and were at about the same comfort level, i.e. the cabin was just as warm but not any hotter. With colder weather you would expect the mediocre electric heater to not heat as well. Since the comfort level is the same, can I infer that the unit cycles on longer if the weather is colder?

2nd: We know the imiev's RR meter calculates its range based upon how it's been driven lately. The RR meter is trying to come up with a distance it can travel, but it is a battery powered device like a cell phone or computer. A more proper battery guage would be how long can you operate this appliance with the current electrical load. This goes back to the idea that you could sit still in a parking lot with the heater going and eventually discharge the battery over a period of time. These are two different variables for the computer deal with. The heater will discharge the battery in X amount of time + the electrical load for the motor to operate the car. The second half of that equation is a guess based on how the car has been driven lately. If that estimate changes because of a different driving style then the total estimate will adjust.