How does cabin heating work?

[RickLightning]

I understand that it does this, but why? If I want a HOT steering wheel let me have it HOT. If it gets too hot I can turn it off. I also have increased my wheel temp to 39C from the usual 35C (which made it significantly better). My wife's Volvo has 3 heating levels. High will make your hands warm through a pair of gloves, so super awesome on really cold days and WHEN that is too much you can turn it down/off.

If you look on the Mach-E thread forum, Mark Boris talks about the placement of the thermistor and moving it.

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[MattVT]

I have a 6-week old 2025 Lightning Lariat here in Vermont, and we've already had a couple of sub-freezing mornings where I've had the truck set with a departure time. We're living in an RV at the moment, and the truck is about 8ft from the bedroom window, so we're very sensitive to noise outside.

That said, around 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time, the truck clearly starts doing something. I assume it's the heat pump compressor running, because the truck sounds like it's running quite a loud fan. Sure enough, by departure time, the cabin is warm.

We've not yet had an icy morning for me to see how well the windshield defrosts, but will let you know what I find.

As an aside, the lack of a remote start on the key is very frustrating. Fortunately I have the truck linked to Home Assistant to it's easy enough for me to trigger the climate control to turn on remotely from a physical button by the door, but the key fob remote start on my last F-150 was so convenient.

The biggest challenge with doing it via Home Assistant (which works the same as doing it via the app) is that it relies on the truck's cellular modem. I'm guessing it piggy-backs AT&T which has terrible reception where we are, as I've found the cellular connection to the truck to be fairly unreliable when the truck is parked at home. I have configured the truck to connect to my home WiFi, but based on our network logging, the truck almost never connects to WiFi.

 

[bmwhitetx]

As an aside, the lack of a remote start on the key is very frustrating. Fortunately I have the truck linked to Home Assistant to it's easy enough for me to trigger the climate control to turn on remotely from a physical button by the door, but the key fob remote start on my last F-150 was so convenient.

As an aside to your aside , Home Assistant is using the FordPass API - just like you using the FordPass app on your phone. So I think HA will be just as reliable/unreliable as using remote start on your phone app.

@RLXXI posted here about getting a keyfob for a 2025 with remote start. I have a similar one for my 2022 (different frequency fob) and it works great. You press Lock first, then Start 2 times.

 

[MattVT]

AS an aside to your aside , Home Assistant is using the FordPass API - just like you using the FordPass app on your phone. So I think HA will be just as reliable/unreliable as using remote start on your phone app.

Yes, that's the point I was trying to make I guess, lol!

@RLXXI posted here about getting a keyfob for a 2025 with remote start. I have a similar one for my 2022 (different frequency fob) and it works great. You press Lock first, then Start 2 times.

I've been looking at getting one of these, even to then hook it up with a couple of transistors or even a couple of SwitchBot Bots to physically actuate the buttons. It'd ridiculous to me that this is necessary when my truck is literally authorized to connect to (a firewalled VLAN on) my network where I could send commands that way. I also wonder whether something is possible via the OBD-II port.

 

[WXman]

Well we're a tick above freezing this morning and I took a trip to town for breakfast and then back home again and it's showing me that I used almost a full quarter of my energy on climate control. Ouch. It's not even winter yet. We've got a long way to go. This is going to get interesting.

 

[RickLightning]

Well we're a tick above freezing this morning and I took a trip to town for breakfast and then back home again and it's showing me that I used almost a full quarter of my energy on climate control. Ouch. It's not even winter yet. We've got a long way to go. This is going to get interesting.

Correct.

You drove 11.3 miles using 6kWh (11.3/.1.9, rounded) in 36 min. Your heater can use (pre-heat pump info) up to 10kWh of energy.

Your 11.3 miles in 36 min means an average speed of 19 miles per hour. This is saying that you used roughly 3.9kWh driving and 2.1kWh heating the truck and battery. Makes total sense.

The question is if a pre-heat pump truck did the exact same route at the exact same time, how much energy would it use?

 

[B177y]

Well we're a tick above freezing this morning and I took a trip to town for breakfast and then back home again and it's showing me that I used almost a full quarter of my energy on climate control. Ouch. It's not even winter yet. We've got a long way to go. This is going to get interesting.

This is where setting a departure time or remote starting climate though the app pays off. Pre-heat (or pre cool) the cabin while plugged in so the initial heat or cooling is done with home power, not battery power. Once the cabin is at a comfortable temperature the heat pump sips power. The initial heating from say 35 to 68 takes a lot more power.

 

[rufustlong]

Well we're a tick above freezing this morning and I took a trip to town for breakfast and then back home again and it's showing me that I used almost a full quarter of my energy on climate control. Ouch. It's not even winter yet. We've got a long way to go. This is going to get interesting.

Once you get into this cold of territory, you may want to use departure time. As mentioned above, you can do the math as to how much power you’re using to preheat. It really depends on the cost of your power to decide if it’s worth the comfort. I ran a bunch of tests on my 24 Flash last winter and it was anywhere from an extra .25 to $1 for me to preheat depending on outside air temp. I found I would recover most of this on the back end charge that evening though as I didn’t spend all the energy to heat on my trip. It was slightly more costly energy wise though, so pick your poison, comfort or quarters.

Departure times are a fun event with our trucks. The E Heat is really interesting in yours, I haven’t seen that and it makes sense they would incorporate that for the quick heating and just use the pump to maintain. About a half hour before my departure time on a cold morning it sounds like a small RC jet is spooling up for takeoff and I’ve been waiting for my neighbors to ask if everything is ok but haven’t heard anything yet…

Make use of your heated seats and steering wheel. For me, neither come off this time of year and I leave the truck on 72 Auto 3. One other thing that’s a PITA but may help you. If I ever feel a chill in the air and I don’t have a passenger (which means passenger heat is off), I will go into climate and flip on passenger heat. I think it’s the Dual button. This noticeably helps balance out the cabin. Just note this resets after you shut off unfortunately which is where the PITA comes in if you want to roll around like this.

 

[F150guy]

I believe, if my memory is correct, that dual heat stays on if you left it in that mode at the time of your last shutdown of the truck.

 

[B177y]

Once you get into this cold of territory, you may want to use departure time. As mentioned above, you can do the math as to how much power you’re using to preheat. It really depends on the cost of your power to decide if it’s worth the comfort. I ran a bunch of tests on my 24 Flash last winter and it was anywhere from an extra .25 to $1 for me to preheat depending on outside air temp. I found I would recover most of this on the back end charge that evening though as I didn’t spend all the energy to heat on my trip. It was slightly more costly energy wise though, so pick your poison, comfort or quarters.

Departure times are a fun event with our trucks. The E Heat is really interesting in yours, I haven’t seen that and it makes sense they would incorporate that for the quick heating and just use the pump to maintain. About a half hour before my departure time on a cold morning it sounds like a small RC jet is spooling up for takeoff and I’ve been waiting for my neighbors to ask if everything is ok but haven’t heard anything yet…

Make use of your heated seats and steering wheel. For me, neither come off this time of year and I leave the truck on 72 Auto 3. One other thing that’s a PITA but may help you. If I ever feel a chill in the air and I don’t have a passenger (which means passenger heat is off), I will go into climate and flip on passenger heat. I think it’s the Dual button. This noticeably helps balance out the cabin. Just note this resets after you shut off unfortunately which is where the PITA comes in if you want to roll around like this.

Make sure the "driver focused" button is off on the climate screen. That keeps climate on for the entire cabin even through restart cycles.

 

[rufustlong]

Make sure the "driver focused" button is off on the climate screen. That keeps climate on for the entire cabin even through restart cycles.

Nice tip, I will try that one.

Edit: Works great, thanks again!

 

[HammoJ]

All this talk about being warm in the cabin and no mention of using the heated seats.

 

[jwrezz]

All this talk about being warm in the cabin and no mention of using the heated seats.

It has been, a bit. I just used the cabin heat for the first time today (it was a brisk 28F when I left), but had been using only seat and steering heat until now!

 

[Mcgyverrod]

How do you know if you have a heat pump or not?

Ford used a conventional resistive heating system in the 2022-23 Lightnings. In 2024, they went to a heat pump. Additionally, I only use the heated seats and steering wheel but my temps rarely drop below 25 degrees in the mountains.

 

[Magendi]

I really, really wish someone would figure out how to disable driver-focused heat/AC in Forscan. It’s amazingly irritating.

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