Auxiliary diesel heater in an ex-British Gas Nissan E-NV200 electric van

[@oroozen]

Using diesel to drive a car is only 35% efficient. The rest is... heat! Using diesel to heat a space is almost 100% efficient. Except for the emissions, this idea is not as bad as it seems.

[@khalidacosta7133]

Unless that diesel engine is also heating the cabin, then it's far more efficient. Diesel heaters are NOT 100% efficient, far, far, far from it. Far worse actually as those things have no pollution mitigation, no DPF's, no EGR, no NOx reduction facility. If you want this, just use a bloody diesel van!

[@anthonycraig274]

You would have thought BG would have commissioned a gas heater.

[@FirstDan2000]

Great review. What a good bit of kit that heater is.

[@mauricewatts2380]

Thanks for an interesting vlog. I have used these on narrowboats and they can be noisy unless well tucked away . They do use electricity probably from 12v battery. It seems counterintuitive to use one in a "green" vehicle. Pre heating while still on charge helps a lot.

[@GoGreenAutos]

Yes it is powered from the 12V battery. Burning diesel is not ideal, but it really doesn't use much to make heat. And of course, you'll only use this on the coldest winter days anyway. Much of your heating will be required on the windscreen, so you'll need to use the in-built electric heater for this anyway.

[@Veitchy1375]

You wouldn't actually need to switch the heater on, if you just ran it with recirculation on it would use the heat from diesel heater through the factory fan.

[@GoGreenAutos]

@@Veitchy1375 Yes true...as it has climate control, it should reduce or turn off the PTC heating as the recycled air will be hot enough.

[@robertpopek6063]

Very interesting! I live in Sweden, with hard and long winters so I considered to mount a dieselheater in my Ioniq 28 kWh. Unfortunately it seems to be to narrow under the bonnet to fit one. Do you have any knowledge if it's been done in an Ioniq?

[@simonB7046]

You could also use cheap pink diesel too.

[@GoGreenAutos]

Didn't know the pink pound purchased a special diesel :-) The rest would use red. But yes, it could be used as its not for road use. Or I suspect kerosene could be used too, which is probably cheaper still.

[@merouby]

@@GoGreenAutos It can even run on veggie oil apparently

[@GoGreenAutos]

@@merouby Good to know

[@thinfourth]

@@GoGreenAutos You can run them on veg oil for about an hour then it's fooked

[@brianiswrong]

Most utility vans,have a diesel heater in the back to dry clothes out. Makes a sound like it's filling a gas bottle when they are parked up with the timer on.

[@victorycraftawards]

Any idea on how to install these or where to get it done / costs? Looks like its been professionally done at the factory as a BG spec?

[@GoGreenAutos]

These heaters in the British Gas vans are the Webasto Air Top 2000 ST. If you Google that you'll find suppliers and also the Webasto website lists the agents who can install them. British Gas would have had them fitted by the firm that supplies the racking - they wouldn't have been a factory fit. There's also cheaper Chinese diesel heaters too, which look identical and plenty for sale on eBay, Amazon & AliExpress.

[@jennygott2842]

Could you do this on a Renault Zoe 2013? The heater on mine is not working not is the Aircon and it will cost a fortune to fix ... This might be cheaper solution?

[@GoGreenAutos]

Yes, the diesel heater could be installed in any vehicle. But fixing the Zoe heat pump shouldn't be that expensive. Have you had it diagnosed? Don't use a Renault dealer as they will be expensive and will often change parts unnecessarily. If you have no heating or air conditioning, its likely its just low on refrigerant and a regass will solve it - this is very common on the Zoe. If the refrigerant gets below about 60%, it all stops working. See www.gogreenautos.co.uk/how-tos/renault-zoe-heater-not-working for tips on how to fix Zoe heater issues.

[@raismaskov]

На много проще было в салон поставить...Или как все сделали, инсталлировать в систему вентиляции...

[@Fishbait075]

Any idea what would happen if the Diesel runs out? I guess the first you would know is that the heater just stops working?

[@GoGreenAutos]

It would stop. You then get cold feet.

[@merouby]

Wonder if this'll fit a Nissan Leaf

[@GoGreenAutos]

Yes it would do. There's enough space in an EV to fit this underneath the bonnet. The only awkward bit would be routing the pipes to the bulkhead.

[@eudorian111]

This is simply perverse.

[@dgurevich1]

Having 24kwh in a van seems useless... My MG ZS only has 42kwh usable and it's barely livable as it is (I only charge 80% and discharge to 20%) How far can you drive in it?

[@Hans-gb4mv]

Well, only using 60% of your battery is your choice of course. But not everyone does that. I charge my 28kWh up to a 100% and I don't mind driving it below 10% if needed be. There really is no harm in that. And I got plenty of range that way.

[@victorycraftawards]

Well, I’ve had mine for 2 years and travelled the length and breath of the UK just fine. I charge to 90% and run to 20% on motorways for the most efficient charging time and range. Its not ideal no, but perfectly doable. Mostly do around london, which its perfect for. Charge up overnight or downtime during the day and saved me £4k+ in one year! Hardly useless i’d say. If you’re struggling with 42kWh i’d say your using it wrong haha

[@dgurevich1]

@@victorycraftawards the charging infrastructure is still a mess in my country and there is still somewhat of a learning curve to this. I am doing OK with my car now but rapid chargers are still a nightmare, specifically because there are so few and 5 times out of 10 they're occupied.

[@gareth7548]

Many vans are only driven a few dozen miles a day. It's not intended for people driving to the ends of the country (or even county) but for local town/city work where the van is driven from job to job and stays well within the range that day.