[sennister]

So the other morning on the way to work I thought of a question. On the Hybrid Malibu how long does it take to start generating heat in stop and go traffic? I thought of it because I was behind a Hybrid Camry and saw that the engine was not on at some points in time. It was -4 F out and it took a while for my Avalanche to start kicking out heat. I think I have read that other Hybrid vehicles (Prius comes to mind) use a thermos type container to hold some hot coolant so you get heat pretty quick. I guess it is possible that they may have designed it so that the vehicle keeps the engine running until it has warmed up but I was just curious how it works.

 

[FenwickHockey65]

I would think that it would heat up pretty fast. A friend of mine did a conversion of a '93 toyota celica from gasoline to electricity, and he rigged up a heating system that warmed up instantly. Since the Hybrid is just a toned down version of this with a gas engine, it shouldn't take too long.

 

[beach]

The same as any other normal 4-cyl Malibu, as on a fresh start it runs the gas engine 100% and doesn't start cutting it off/using the electric power at idle until it's warmed to the proper level. By the time you're moving in stop & go traffic, it should already be warm enough and will keep it churning.

And just at idle, both our 2.4L and 3.6L all-gas Bu's throw heat out pretty darn quickly.

 

[sennister]

I would think that it would heat up pretty fast. A friend of mine did a conversion of a '93 toyota celica from gasoline to electricity, and he rigged up a heating system that warmed up instantly. Since the Hybrid is just a toned down version of this with a gas engine, it shouldn't take too long.

If it is all electric then he is using an electric heater. There is no coolant to heat up to then heat the air in the HVAC system.

 

[sennister]

The same as any other normal 4-cyl Malibu, as on a fresh start it runs the gas engine 100% and doesn't start cutting it off/using the electric power at idle until it's warmed to the proper level. By the time you're moving in stop & go traffic, it should already be warm enough and will keep it churning.

And just at idle, both our 2.4L and 3.6L all-gas Bu's throw heat out pretty darn quickly.

This is what I was kind of thinking that they do. With computers now a days in these computers it would be pretty easy to make the engine run 100% of the time until warm.

 

[2001FZ1]

And just at idle, both our 2.4L and 3.6L all-gas Bu's throw heat out pretty darn quickly.

That is one very nice thing about these cars. It heats up much faster than the Rainier and with that 160 thermostat, the Z/28 never seems to blow much heat.