Heated Windshield/ Night Vision

[Cchervenak]

I currently have a pre-order in for both the Tera and Traveler. I live up in Maine, where ice and snow can be extremely burdensome during winter months. A feature that no other EV currently offers is a heated windshield. During the cold months snow and ice are always a hassle, and one of my previous vehicles had this feature which I cannot speak higher of. Definitely not my intent to offer this as standard, but the option for this would be a game changer for people living in cold climates personally, I would option this on EVERY vehicle.

Additionally, since a lot of the parts may be able to be pulled from Audi Volkswagen, night vision/ thermal imaging would be a another phenomenal benefit, being able to detect animals, such as moose, whose eyes do not reflect from vehicle headlights. This could be a life-saving feature and should not be terribly hard to implement since you already have the screens it would just require an additional video input for the primary driving screen or if there’s a heads up display that would be pretty cool!

Even if this was bundled as part of a cold weather, safety package or something of the sort, this would be something that no buyer in the north would option without!

 

[Chaz26]

One of my old cars had a heated windshield and it was amazing. You could never really see the lines either from a normal driving position so it wasn’t distracting in any way.

 

[Cchervenak]

One of my old cars had a heated windshield and it was amazing. You could never really see the lines either from a normal driving position so it wasn’t distracting in any way.

Easily one of the BEST features, would be so nice to have this added

 

[J Alynn]

So I’ve been wondering for those who own EV’s. How do your windshields heat and thaw? Do you precondition the car and ambient cabin heat melts it? Do you precondition with defrost vents on high? Is your windshield heated? Just wondering how various EVs handle this and does it suit you or what improvements would you ask SM to make?

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

So I’ve been wondering for those who own EV’s. How do your windshields heat and thaw? Do you precondition the car and ambient cabin heat melts it? Do you precondition with defrost vents on high? Is your windshield heated? Just wondering how various EVs handle this and does it suit you or what improvements would you ask SM to make?

For regular drives with a planned time, we set a “departure time” so the vehicle would start preconditioning the cabin about 15 minutes before that departure time. My partner has the Mustang set for this three times a week for when she goes to the gym.

When there’s a drive we need to do that isn’t planned or at least isn’t worth a slot in the calendar, we just tell the vehicle to precondition about 15-20 minutes before we leave.

In both cases, the cabin is warm (or cooled in the summer) and ready to go by the time we get to it. In the winter, the mirrors and all windows are defrosted by the time we get to the vehicle.

This suits us in most cases.

 

[cyure]

For regular drives with a planned time, we set a “departure time” so the vehicle would start preconditioning the cabin about 15 minutes before that departure time. My partner has the Mustang set for this three times a week for when she goes to the gym.

When there’s a drive we need to do that isn’t planned or at least isn’t worth a slot in the calendar, we just tell the vehicle to precondition about 15-20 minutes before we leave.

In both cases, the cabin is warm (or cooled in the summer) and ready to go by the time we get to it. In the winter, the mirrors and all windows are defrosted by the time we get to the vehicle.

This suits us in most cases.

Quick question. Is your Lightning garaged?

 

[J Alynn]

For regular drives with a planned time, we set a “departure time” so the vehicle would start preconditioning the cabin about 15 minutes before that departure time. My partner has the Mustang set for this three times a week for when she goes to the gym.

When there’s a drive we need to do that isn’t planned or at least isn’t worth a slot in the calendar, we just tell the vehicle to precondition about 15-20 minutes before we leave.

In both cases, the cabin is warm (or cooled in the summer) and ready to go by the time we get to it. In the winter, the mirrors and all windows are defrosted by the time we get to the vehicle.

This suits us in most cases.

Thanks for sharing that. I would assume that is the typical approach. I’m guessing the Fords do t have heated windshields and I’m thinking it probably isn’t needed so long as an expected app allows you to start the car in precondition mode. Do the Fords when preconditioning-is there a defrost mode or you just set temp to like 84 or something warm enough to melt the built up snow/ice?

 

[dreamweaver]

Thanks for sharing that. I would assume that is the typical approach. I’m guessing the Fords do t have heated windshields and I’m thinking it probably isn’t needed so long as an expected app allows you to start the car in precondition mode. Do the Fords when preconditioning-is there a defrost mode or you just set temp to like 84 or something warm enough to melt the built up snow/ice?

Ford offers heated windshield options on a variety of their models, including the F-150, Expedition, and Mustang.
The heated windshield is typically part of a cold weather package or premium equipment group.

 

[J Alynn]

Ford offers heated windshield options on a variety of their models, including the F-150, Expedition, and Mustang.
The heated windshield is typically part of a cold weather package or premium equipment group.

Didn’t realize that. Assume it’s the low volt embedded wires?

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Quick question. Is your Lightning garaged?

It is now, but wasn't for the first six months. The Mustang wasn't either, for about two years. This was a typical winter for us until drought accelerated.

Even during this kind of weather, the preconditioning worked great. It still required moving the snow, but not fighting the ice underneath the snow.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Thanks for sharing that. I would assume that is the typical approach. I’m guessing the Fords do t have heated windshields and I’m thinking it probably isn’t needed so long as an expected app allows you to start the car in precondition mode. Do the Fords when preconditioning-is there a defrost mode or you just set temp to like 84 or something warm enough to melt the built up snow/ice?

The Ford has a "comfortable" precondition setting, which measures the internal and external temperatures and makes an HVAC decision based on those measurements. So if it's cold, it will turn on the heat, including defrost, the seat heaters, and the steering wheel heater. If it's hot, it will run the AC and the seat coolers.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Ford offers heated windshield options on a variety of their models, including the F-150, Expedition, and Mustang.
The heated windshield is typically part of a cold weather package or premium equipment group.

This might have been an option on the Lightning, but we didn’t get the top trim and we bought off the lot, so I don’t think we got it.
We didn’t order it on the Mustang Mach-E, and I don’t recall it being an option for the trim (California Route 1) that we wanted.

 

[tuvok]

I currently have a pre-order in for both the Tera and Traveler. I live up in Maine, where ice and snow can be extremely burdensome during winter months. A feature that no other EV currently offers is a heated windshield. During the cold months snow and ice are always a hassle, and one of my previous vehicles had this feature which I cannot speak higher of. Definitely not my intent to offer this as standard, but the option for this would be a game changer for people living in cold climates personally, I would option this on EVERY vehicle.

Additionally, since a lot of the parts may be able to be pulled from Audi Volkswagen, night vision/ thermal imaging would be a another phenomenal benefit, being able to detect animals, such as moose, whose eyes do not reflect from vehicle headlights. This could be a life-saving feature and should not be terribly hard to implement since you already have the screens it would just require an additional video input for the primary driving screen or if there’s a heads up display that would be pretty cool!

Even if this was bundled as part of a cold weather, safety package or something of the sort, this would be something that no buyer in the north would option without!

The VW e-Golf pure EV does have windshield heaters as a standard feature. The wiremesh in the windshield is barely visible, and it works great both in melting frost and also preventing snow and ice buildup as you drive. I agree it would be a great option to have in the Scout.

 

[dreamweaver]

The VW e-Golf pure EV does have windshield heaters as a standard feature. The wiremesh in the windshield is barely visible, and it works great both in melting frost and also preventing snow and ice buildup as you drive. I agree it would be a great option to have in the Scout.

I guess it will depend on how efficient that is compared to using the vehicles standard electric heater or heat pump for defrosting.

 

[Chuckles]

From Cars.com:

How a Heated Windshield Works​

There are two main ways to accomplish electric windshield heating. One is a network of very fine conductive wires, often with silver and other metals, that are embedded between the layers of glass — a system used by Jaguar and Land Rover, among others. The other involves a conductive film sealed between the glass layers. An example is the Volkswagen ID.4, which uses a silver-based layer between the glass along with wire at the base of the windshield to warm the wipers; the system also will be used for the coming 2025 ID.7 sedan and ID. Buzz van. The silver layer offers a bonus in warm weather as a passive heat reflector, as well; VW says the silver layer can reduce the cabin temperature by up to 15 degrees more than regular tinted glass and cuts the load on the EVs’ climate system.

What’s Not to Like?​

Heated windshields are great when you need them, but they have some downsides. While the initial cost added has come down, either type remains a more expensive windshield to replace when the glass becomes damaged. And if the heating system malfunctions, replacing the windshield may be required to fix it.

The wire-based systems also are nearly invisible. For some drivers, once you see them, you can’t unsee them and they become an annoyance. For other drivers it’s not an issue. Only you can decide.

Either system puts metal between you and the world in front of you, metal that can act as a kind of Faraday cage — the type of shield many people use to protect key fobs or credit cards from unauthorized use — that can interfere with signals needed for toll road transponders or radar detectors. Many heated windshields provide a metal-free space; the ID.4 has a small space to the right of the rearview mirror, for instance. Other types of reflective coatings or glass can also have this effect, and many toll road systems have a list of vehicles that might need to use a bumper-mounted transponder or other workaround.

https://www.cars.com/articles/which-cars-have-heated-windshields-476235/