Quote:
Originally Posted by claykin
Very true. The electric A/C compressor should help to keep the car running on battery for enough minutes to deal with long traffic signals.
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I'll weigh in on this too -- I live in California where the sun beating down makes AC mandatory. I've also spent a good deal of time lately sitting in my parked car familiarizing myself with the nav. With the AC on, the car will idle for a minute or two to charge to 25%, and then shut off and drain to 10% over the course of 5 or so minutes, and repeat this cycle.
If you're in Eco Pro mode, the discharge rate is much much slower, but you can feel the cabin temperate cycle a few degrees warmer and cooler of your set temperature.
Either mode is a huge win over non-hybrid start-stop and I guess you can choose whether you want to save a few drops of fuel at the expense of feeling slightly warm while stopped. I love turning off the radio when I'm stopped to bask in the silence of this car!