[Tim01]

Hi all,

My recent car was a 2008 Prius. Got a 2018 Pacifica Hybrid Limited earlier this month.

I live in a region that is cold and sometimes snowy in the winter.

With the Prius, I would block the grill to avoid the MPG hit due to cold weather. Without grill blocking, it would drop from 48 MPG to 35-40 MPG in the winter months. The primary reason for grill blocking on the Prius was to limit the time that the ICE would run to keep the temperature up. Grill blocking made the MPG drop in winter almost non-existent.

Will grill blocking help with the Pacifica Hybrid? At first glance, it would appear that the lower EV range during cold months is simply due to limited battery capability in cold temps, not that the ICE would necessarily run more.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Tim

 

[ogremustcrush]

Hi all,

My recent car was a 2008 Prius. Got a 2018 Pacifica Hybrid Limited earlier this month.

I live in a region that is cold and sometimes snowy in the winter.

With the Prius, I would block the grill to avoid the MPG hit due to cold weather. Without grill blocking, it would drop from 48 MPG to 35-40 MPG in the winter months. The primary reason for grill blocking on the Prius was to limit the time that the ICE would run to keep the temperature up. Grill blocking made the MPG drop in winter almost non-existent.

Will grill blocking help with the Pacifica Hybrid? At first glance, it would appear that the lower EV range during cold months is simply due to limited battery capability in cold temps, not that the ICE would necessarily run more.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Tim

The battery capacity might be a bit lower, but the bigger issue is the battery heater and/or the cabin heater. It takes a lot of power to heat things with electricity, and while you can stop the cabin heater from turning on by shutting the climate control off, you can't do much about the battery heater. I don't know that blocking the grill would do anything about that, as the battery isn't in the cabin like it is on a Prius, and I'm sure the battery has it's own temp sensors.

 

[AZBean]

Will grill blocking help with the Pacifica Hybrid? At first glance, it would appear that the lower EV range during cold months is simply due to limited battery capability in cold temps, not that the ICE would necessarily run more.

The Pacifica Hybrid has active grill shutters. It is not clear to me whether they are only closed at high speed to improve aerodynamic efficiency, or if they also close at low speed in cold weather to improve thermal performance.

 

[Tim01]

The Pacifica Hybrid has active grill shutters. It is not clear to me whether they are only closed at high speed to improve aerodynamic efficiency, or if they also close at low speed in cold weather to improve thermal performance.

Is there any way to determine how the active grill shutters work? Closing at low speed in cold weather would be great.

 

[AZBean]

Is there any way to determine how the active grill shutters work? Closing at low speed in cold weather would be great.

Found this post in another other thread that might answer your question. https://www.pacificaforums.com/forum/385-appearance-body/10498-active-grill-shutters.html#post227722