The heat pump is interesting also because it contributes to extracting humidity from the ambiant air, which reduces the fogging on your windows...

 

So what activates the heat pump? Is it linked to the AC button (which may seem counter-intuitive, but it's literally the same equipment just running in reverse)? Or does it simply kick on when you enter in a high enough temperature?

Car has PTC heater and heat pump, which can heat and or cool (A/C). Car's HVAC algorithm decides, based on whether or not range optimizer button is pressed, to determine how often heat pump and PTC heater turn on. I do not know efficiency of XC40 Recharge heat pump, but some are good to well below 0 C, maybe even down to -10C, so car will use heat pump for heating until it can't provide enough warmth, and then PTC heater kicks on.

 

An oft wished-for OS feature is a verbose and detailed screen that shows active systems and their current draws. I'll just point out the heat pump was an option only with some upper trims. I do not know how the '24s are configured (because I've already got my '23 and I simply won't be bothered).

 

An oft wished-for OS feature is a verbose and detailed screen that shows active systems and their current draws. I'll just point out the heat pump was an option only with some of the Ultimate trims. I do not know how the '24s are configured (because I've already got my '23 and I simply won't be bothered).

My 2022 Plus has the optional climate package that includes a heat pump.

 

AFAIK the only way to prevent the heat pump from kicking in during mile weather would be to (as you noted) turn off the AC toggle and set the temp to LO...then set your fan to a low level to allow a bit of circulation. Alternatively if you set the fan to off that will also work, but you'd want to open the sunroof and or maybe a window to give you some fresh air. I think really if the AC is off and you've got the interior temp set lower than the exterior temp, the heat pump shouldn't kick in as in that case the car would not be calling for heat. It would be nice to have an eco mode where the heat pump would remain off and just allow fresh ambient airflow...but as above you can sort of do it manually.

 

I do wish there was a setting to turn off heat. The PHEVs have a setting you can disable “additional heater” to prevent the resistive heater from coming on. But it’s in the menus and would be nice to be a toggle like AC

On the other hand I guess the range extender might do a pretty good job

 

Turn off the fan, open window(s) and or/sunroof. You will hear the odd click and pop from the system until it figures out it isn’t needed by the cabin, unless the battery pack needs its attention.

 

I agree, I wish there was a setting to prevent heating in the summer months without fussing with the airflow or temperature controls. The use case is that my garage will be at 60°F, while the outside temp is 75°F. When I hop into my car, I immediately hear the heat pump turn on because it's colder than my setpoint. I consider it to be a waste of energy and unnecessary wear & tear because it will turn off anyhow after the car acclimates to the outside air. This happens almost every day. Stupid!

 

If you want control, you picked the wrong brand/model. It pretty's obvious Volvo is going out of their way not to provide options and flexibility.

 

Why would you want to know whether or not the heat pump is active? Just set the automatic climate control to the temperature you like and the software will calculate the most efficient way to reach that temperature. Depending on interior and exterior conditions (temperature and humidity) the software will decide to switch on or off the AC, heat pump and/or heater.

 

I think what the original poster and some of us would like is a way to deactivate the heat pump/compressor to maximise efficiency in mild conditions. If you could have a "fan only" button for climate controls that just flows ambient air into the car, that's what we're talking about.

 

Set low when it’s cold and high when it’s hot …

Presumably the heat pump and/or resistive heater will run even in summer if you set the temperature high enough. If all you want is unconditioned outside air, it seems like using "LO" with "A/C" set to off would work regardless of the season.

 

Turning off the "AC" button on the screen doesn't turn off the compressor as we still get heat in winter and you can hear the compressor running when the car's sitting parked. I think it just prevents cooling.

I'd like to clarify your statement further. The "AC" button prevents cooling in the cabin only. The heat pump will still cool the HV battery regardless of the state of the "AC" button.

The heat pump does also work to bring the battery up to optimal temperature, so any button to "defeat" the heat pump would need to still allow the car's smarts to do what it needs to do to heat the batteries if necessary, otherwise yes, it might actually result in worse range if you switch it off completely.

agreed.

I've been experimenting with the "LO" option which could potentially solve my need. However, I find the fan speed to be a too fast and loud even at level [1]. I wish they could suppress the lower levels with less RPM.

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I'd like to clarify your statement further. The "AC" button prevents cooling in the cabin only. The heat pump will still cool the HV battery regardless of the state of the "AC" button.


agreed.

I've been experimenting with the "LO" option which could potentially solve my need. However, I find the fan speed to be a too fast and loud even at level [1]. I wish they could suppress the lower levels with less RPM.

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Yep, I agree the heat pump will heat or cool the battery as needed regardless of the AC on/off or cabin temp setting. It seems like it's been ages since we've even considered not needing heat! I'm looking forward to trying the LO and fan 1 setting this summer. I don't recall the fan being too loud - we keep it on 2 typically with auto temp. Will be interesting to see.