Article content A couple of days into my long-term test drive of the 2024 Lexus RZ 450e I thought there might be something wrong with the all-electric luxury SUV. There was a significant amount of heat coming from below the steering wheel. But after diving into the owner’s manual, I discovered all was good since the heat was actually coming from the EV’s radiant heat system, which is designed to heat the legs and laps of front-seat passengers without the use of climate control system, which as any EV owner will tell you that when engaged carves out precious kilometres from the vehicle’s range.
There is a similar heater on the passenger’s side where a traditional glove box would be. What had me puzzled was why the radiant heat was coming on in the first place. Again, the manual provided the answer.
Turns out the radiant heat is activated when the seat heater is turned on, and as we’d been experiencing cool weather out here in Vancouver — our infamous ‘June-uary’ — I had turned on my heat seater in the mornings on a couple of occasions. Mystery solved. No doubt I’d have discovered this if I had the RZ 450e for our typical test period of one week, but the beauty of doing a long-term test in a vehicle, particularly an electric vehicle, is the ability to live with the vehicle under changing weather conditions, during a number of driving scenarios and assorted charging situations.
On that latter point, I plan to charge the RZ 450e from a 20% of charge using Leve.