But what if your car is a Tesla? (Can they even run in extreme cold?)
The reason heating ducts into the garage are a bad idea is that the code is written to avoid as much as possible any exhaust fumes from getting into the rest of the house. (Our current code indicates door to the garage must have a spring-loaded closure, for example) Plus, since garages tend to have explosive and flammable substances stored, and things like autos that can burst into flame, the less connection/pathway between the garage and the rest of the house, the safer it is.
Car heaters came in several options -
Block heaters - a small heater that warms the coolant in the engine. Plug in at night. DON’T FORGET to unplug before you drive off. In the colder parts of Canada, these are also provided for some work parking lots and apartments.
Oil Heaters - instead of heating the coolant, heat the oil in the bottom of the engine. As it gets pumped though the engine, it warms it up enough to make a difference in starting; plus, warm oil spreads faster more evenly being more viscous, so less wear; those first few moment can be really bad for the car if the oil doesn’t flow fast. With synthetic oils nowadays, less relevant.
-Battery Warmers - IIRC these are only about 60W, a blanket around the battery to ensure that it has plenty of power when it is cold out.
-you could also get electrical cabin heaters to keep the interior warm, but I know of one bad batch from Canadian Tire which was apparently responsible for several vehicle fires; plus running a cors through the firewall or pinching it in the door; plus unless the heater was bolted to the interior, not sitting free, auto insurance did not cover fire damage. Again, 1500W did a number on your electricity bill.
One problem was that the block and oil heaters used a decent amount of electricity (600W sometimes). A timer would help reduce the electrical bill. Start it about an hour or two before you leave. Plus, those plugs at work - some places would cycle them, 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off - also to reduce electrical bills.
Yes and no. Cold battery cells apparently don’t discharge per say, the problem is that if the battery pack is cold, the safely available ampacity - the amount of current the battery pack can supply - gets cut down.
Teslas have ways to warm up the battery pack after you start the vehicle, but it takes time and also consumes kilowatt-hours from the energy stored in the vehicle. This reduces winter range quite a bit.
For this reason, places like deeply rural Canada, where there are vast distances between cities and the rural roads require a vehicle with high ground clearance, EVs aren’t an appropriate vehicle choice. Gas or Diesel 4wd trucks and SUVs are the obvious choice.
The ironic problem we have is that soccer moms in Texas, living in suburbia in the flat parts of Texas, have absolutely no need for such vehicles. But they all buy them…
When the batteries are charging, they’re warmed up. It’s like having an engine block heater all the time. Pulling a recently driven Tesla into a garage and not charging it…my guess would be it doesn’t warm the garage as much as an ICE car.
Very good point.