12 Volt electric blanket..

A lady friend of mine drives an EV but likes it toasty warm. Now that the SoCal winter is approaching and morning temps are starting to fall, she sets her climate control to max, and range is suffering.

I found numerous 12 V electric blankets on Amazon. The one I chose

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DYVN9/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

had decent review and cost less than $25. She tells me it's not super-hot but helps a lot and allows her to keep the CC at a normal value.

According to the blanket's data sheet, it draws only 48 Watts, so during a two-hour trip only 100 Wh, less than a half mile of range. I was even thinking about sticking two of them together double-thick. This would still be only 100 W and I'll bet it would be quite warm.

All the blankets on Amazon had mixed reviews, but for the money and considering Amazon's return policy it's a no-risk deal.

That's the one I got, too. I wish it had heat level controls, but otherwise it's doing really well for me.

Hello, Now that it has gotten down into the teen's in my area I have noticed the drop in range.

Just for grins I tried using my heated motorcycle jacket liner in the car.. I figure if it can keep me warm on a motorcycle at 30 degrees it should do the job in a car. It works too well for me , I had to keep turning it off as I was sweating profusely without the outside air flowing over me . However, I ordered a thermostat for it that should allow me to run it at about 25% power.

http://www.thewarmingstore.com/gerbing-heated-jacket-liner-12v.html

My other thought was to buy a much cheaper one for just the car (it would probably be useless on a motorcycle )

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mens-Ansai-...05&prg=11353&rk=2&rkt=6&sd=331100171659&rt=nc

Now, what to do about that pesky breathing habit that keeps fogging up the windshield.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Air-Force-M...685?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ed9a79335

OK .. Too far ..

If you've got the jacket (and the seat heaters keeping you warm) there is no reason why you couldn't crack the window just a smidge.

cwstnsko said:

Max said:

....Now, what to do about that pesky breathing habit that keeps fogging up the windshield.
....OK .. Too far ..

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It's only the exhaling that causes the problem, we just need an exhaust hose to breath out through :-D

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I edited my post above to reflect the product I originally wanted to put there (not serious)

Seriously though, Ford should consider a heated windshield option for their EV's. They already own the technology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quickclear

Last time I was in Europe I rented the European version of the Focus and it had this technology in it. It was winter and it came in handy a lot.

michael said:

Now that the SoCal winter is approaching

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Sorry, couldn't help but laugh at this... :lol:

Thank you for appreciating that. Dipped into the 60's today.

Somebody call Jerry Lewis, these poor folks need a telethon.

michael said:

Thank you for appreciating that. Dipped into the 60's today.

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Hit a new low of 49 overnight this past week.

I've got a weather station that tracks upper and lower limits. Living in Orange County CA, I haven't logged anything lower than 35 deg over the past few years. My lowest temp for 2014 was 35.1 deg on 1/12/2014.

davideos said:

I've got a weather station that tracks upper and lower limits. Living in Orange County CA, I haven't logged anything lower than 35 deg over the past few years. My lowest temp for 2014 was 35.1 deg on 1/12/2014.

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Here in Chicago we would call that Tshirt weather.