I am selecting optionals in a skoda octavia iv PHEV.

i live in Finland therefore I do need pre heat the car, but is it worth to pay 1k for webasto or can I do the same with the battery?

what are the limitations using the battery to remote pre heat the car?

On 03/05/2021 at 23:27, Edu said:

I am selecting optionals in a skoda octavia iv PHEV.

i live in Finland therefore I do need pre heat the car, but is it worth to pay 1k for webasto or can I do the same with the battery?

what are the limitations using the battery to remote pre heat the car?

Unless it’s plugged in when you do the pre heat you’ll just be lowering your electric range. I’m not sure how good heating from the batteries would be in the cold conditions you get there also. 

Unfortunately there is not much information related to the topic.

The battery is strong enough to run the car, should be enough to heat the car as well.  Think in the scenario you haven't pre-heat the car and start driving in batteries, you would turn on the heat anyway.

The range of the battery is the only drawback I can think.

I didnt find information in how much it would be used, but from my reading I am guessing from 5-30%

 

I will use the car in a 3 years leasing, it is difficult to justify 1k euro to extend the battery in ~15%

1 hour ago, Edu said:

Unfortunately there is not much information related to the topic.

The battery is strong enough to run the car, should be enough to heat the car as well.  Think in the scenario you haven't pre-heat the car and start driving in batteries, you would turn on the heat anyway.

The range of the battery is the only drawback I can think.

I didnt find information in how much it would be used, but from my reading I am guessing from 5-30%

 

I will use the car in a 3 years leasing, it is difficult to justify 1k euro to extend the battery in ~15%

I agree the batteries will be fine for heating the car, but I know the batteries don’t like the cold. 
I’m sure I read somewhere that if it’s to cold the car won’t run on batteries. 

I have the option in my Octavia IV PHEV and I have not used the electric pre-heating much as it seems to be inefficient. I don't know if it only uses the power from charging cable (I had the 1,8kW option only available when I tried it) to pre-heat or actually the batteries but I barely got the car to warm a few degrees at departure.

Now Webasto heats the car _really_ quickly as it only heats the interior, not the engine. usually 15 mins seemed to be enough to bring the cockpit to +21C at any outside temperature.

 

Off course the mobile app problem exists with aux heating, too. Unless you preprogram the heating/charging from car, using the mobile app as remote control is very unreliable way to start heating. I've installed Webasto ThermoConnect to control the heater directly and that works each time.

 

But is it worth the price? After my experience with Skoda mobile app and electric heating, I'd definitely say "yes", providing that you can use the radio remote or install some other means to control the aux heater.

Something to remember about any fuel-fired heater is that, depending on the usage pattern, their life time is somewhat or very limited. If you use heater often but only on short bursts (<15min), it will develop soot(not sure about the english term?) in the combustion chamber, shortening the life span. It is very well possible that you ruin the heater already in three years. Off course, of the car is a 3 years lease, it won't be your problem, then

5 hours ago, TeemuFIN said:

I have the option in my Octavia IV PHEV and I have not used the electric pre-heating much as it seems to be inefficient. I don't know if it only uses the power from charging cable (I had the 1,8kW option only available when I tried it) to pre-heat or actually the batteries but I barely got the car to warm a few degrees at departure.

Now Webasto heats the car _really_ quickly as it only heats the interior, not the engine. usually 15 mins seemed to be enough to bring the cockpit to +21C at any outside temperature.

 

Off course the mobile app problem exists with aux heating, too. Unless you preprogram the heating/charging from car, using the mobile app as remote control is very unreliable way to start heating. I've installed Webasto ThermoConnect to control the heater directly and that works each time.

 

But is it worth the price? After my experience with Skoda mobile app and electric heating, I'd definitely say "yes", providing that you can use the radio remote or install some other means to control the aux heater.

Thanks for the info Teemu,
I have a friend with BMW PHEV and he said there is no need for webasto. I am wondering if skoda implementation is that inferior, in special in this case that the bmw is already 2 years old and smaller battery. 
Did you have the option in the app "allow to use battery" (or something like that) in the pre-heating options? maybe it was only taking from the cable and that explain why it was weak.

1 hour ago, Edu said:

Thanks for the info Teemu,
I have a friend with BMW PHEV and he said there is no need for webasto. I am wondering if skoda implementation is that inferior, in special in this case that the bmw is already 2 years old and smaller battery. 
Did you have the option in the app "allow to use battery" (or something like that) in the pre-heating options? maybe it was only taking from the cable and that explain why it was weak.

 

25 minutes ago, ReddogVRSIV said:

 

mm, that explain things. If you set "Please allow battery usage" to ON (green) the heater should be strong enough (by what I have read so far).
Still it  will eat the battery and I have seen a lot of people complaining about error in the app, as you have mentioned. I hope they have fixed when I receive the car.

12 hours ago, Edu said:

mm, that explain things. If you set "Please allow battery usage" to ON (green) the heater should be strong enough (by what I have read so far).
Still it  will eat the battery and I have seen a lot of people complaining about error in the app, as you have mentioned. I hope they have fixed when I receive the car.

 

Yes, that most likely explains my issues with electric pre-heating. I just did not use it enough to actually figure this out  I'm gonna rephrase my opinion on the aux heater:

If you need pre-heating only when charging the battery, then aux heater is not worth the cost. But if you want to pre-heat also when charging is not possible (traveling, etc), then definitely aux heater is worth the cost.