Just curious to know when you turn on the ECO mode for heat does it provide instantaneous heat? So if you get in the car first thing in the morning and start the heat in ECO mode how long does it take to get hot? Or does it work similar to the heat that runs off the ICE (take a while to heat up)?

Sorry if this is a dumb question as I don't completely understand the ECO mode for heating and A/C. My understanding is when in ECO mode the heat and A/C is running/powered by the batter?

 

I don't think ECO has anything to do with how soon heat is available. ECO is suppose to conserve energy. Near as I can figure it (at least for heat), the only thing it does is reduce fan speed a couple of bars. When I'm in auto and heating, I hit the ECO button and the fan will drop down a couple of bars, that's about all I notice.

 

So it will take just as long for the cabin to heat up as in a non hybrid car?

 

ECO disables the electric heating element in the fan. I believe it is a 1KW electric heater that kicks in to boost the vent heat when the engine is cold.

 

Where does the ECO display that it is on?

I cant see any lights on the little switch and don't really notice anything on the climate display.

 

Brian I believe the Eco symbol displays where the heat and air temp dispalys...

 

I find the TCH ICE heats up very quickly. Plus, I love using the heat in AUTO mode. I just keep the temp at 72. You don't have to fool around, turning on the heat, putting your hand near the vent to see if it's warm. The fan turns on gradually, increasing its speed as the ICE warms up, then slowly decreasing the fan speed as the cabin reaches temperature. Works great.

 

The eco indicator is on the silver LCD panel (the same panel that shows the fan speed and temperature). It will say "ECO" on it.

The ECO indicator will not come on if you have the temperature set on "HI" or "LO", so if you were hitting the eco button while in one of these settings, it would explain why you didn't see the indicator.