[PeterisP]

Your comment is more about the 'passive' heating to keep some bare minimum for the hardware to function, but a big part is the 'active' heating for the driver and passengers.

If we look at the total energy consumption for driving in cold conditions, then moving the vehicle along the road needs in the ballpark a similar amount of energy as what is required to heat up the interior of the car to a reasonable temperature and keep it there - cars aren't (and probably can't be) as insulated as houses, so they need quite a lot of energy to stay so much warmer than the outside.

In an ICE, most that heating is done from waste heat of the engine. In an EV, that comes directly out of your range.

[justsomehnguy]

> In an ICE, most that heating is done from waste heat of the engine

I don't think there is a car in production where the heating is coming not from the engine.

[PeterisP]

In any case, the key point is that in an ICE car the heating is mostly "free" since the engine has perhaps 40% efficiency and the majority of heat released by combustion is unused/unusable waste heat that might as well be used to heat up the car if you need to, but in an EV you don't have that source of free waste heat to tap into, and you have to use the energy that you could have used for moving the car instead.

[PeterisP]

Some cars do have additional resistive heating or heat pumping through AC, where that is technically driven by engine power, but not from the waste heat.

[justsomehnguy]

Implied "mass market, passenger".

Of course there are some cars which do have a resistive heating, but which are those?

> heat pumping through AC

Uhm, the compressor runs from the engine so while the heat is not from it, it's still directly relies on availability of running engine.

[jnsaff2]

The small diesels like VW Polo etc have resistive heaters as otherwise it would take too long for comfort to heat up the cabin.

Also don't forget that seat heaters are also resistive and most cars in cold climates have them.

[justsomehnguy]

> Also don't forget that seat heaters are also resistive and most cars in cold climates have them.

I know it (or more like my bum) too damn well, though I didn't think about them in this case.

> small diesels like VW Polo

Makes sense, though as I understood, it's strictly auxiliary till the engine is heated aaaand maybe some additional heating at the parking lot with the engine turned off, though I would wary of this usage, it would drain even the extended battery fast.

Overall it's not quite what I had in my mind (think of space heaters), though yes, there are some parts which can operate independently from the engine, though it's not a primary function for them.

Thanks for the hint.

[beans]

There's also these https://www.disco3.co.uk/wiki/Fuel_Burning_Heater that can be run with the vehicle engine off.