You never started your car and just let it warm up before setting off in winter? How much energy do you think that uses?

Letting the car consume a small amount of constant electricity to keep the battery above freezing is thankfully not very expensive compared to a standard space heater (usually 1.5kW at 720 hours a month, costing $150 a month in Seattle).

Defrosting and toasting the cabin to 92F in freezing conditions usually burns about 1.2kWh to 3kWh while plugged in, but that is just a few tens of cents (or free depending on the charger) to get nearly instantly toasty and ready to drive.

$150/mo just to keep it ready to drive? That doesn’t sound right.

No, I was trying to convey that it costs significantly less than keeping a space heater running 24/7 (which would cost about $150 a month at 14 cents per kilowatt hour).

$10 to $30 a month in power use to keep your battery toasty in the dead of winter isn't too bad a price IMO

No. That's a waste of a useful resource. It's also illegal in various places.

Well, I envy wherever you live then, must be nice in winter!

It's 13F right now. I can afford clothing.

Driving with an iced over window impairing visibility is illegal in most places, you have to address this with defrosting and perhaps scraping before moving the vehicle.

Idling combustion vehicles is bad, but sometimes it's a necessary evil to ensure visibility so the driver can avoid harming other road users.

> Idling combustion vehicles is bad.

Not really, you're spending a fraction of the fuel you'd use per minute if you were driving.

So, in terms of pollution it's no worse than taking a short detour to wherever you were going.

> > Idling combustion vehicles is bad.

> Not really

Yes it is, it’s bad on the engine.

If the power is out for an extended period of time you’ll find gasoline hard to come by as well.

Want to see how quickly the petrol supply line breaks down in an emergency? We had severe shortages for a month after an earthquake. People hoarding fuel contributed significantly, at least you can't hoard electricity.

Also, electricity supply isn't prone to supply shocks when Russia invades Ukraine, or the Saudis want to flex their muscles.