Is there any way to tell if the heater (or air conditioner) is actually on and using power. Often, the ambient outside air temperature is sufficient to heat or cool the cabin with fan only without using additional battery to do so. It may be a silly question but how does one tell?
There is no real way to tell. HVAC consumption will show up on the car's power meter in the instrument cluster while the vehicle is stationary, but sometimes the consumption is low enough that it doesn't show up.
It's hard to tell but the temperature will be a lighter color when the HVAC is powered on and a darker color when it is off.
If it's 32F outdoor and the cabin is 100F under the sun, I can turn off the A/C and turn only the fan on to bring the temperature down (or roll down the window). That's how I know it's off and not on. However, there's no button to turn off heater. I can adjust the temperature setting and the heater would automatically on or off based on the setting but there's no indicated lights for me to tell whether the heater is on or off.
The temperature at the bottom of the center screen. You can hold it in to turn it on or off and see it changes color slightly. It's not very noticeable. You can't tell if it is the AC or heat that is on. If you tap it to bring up the HVAC controls you can see a power button and turn things on or off there as well. Not the best interface
I don’t think the OP is asking to know if the HCAC system is on or off, that one can tell with the darkness of the temp setting number (dark means off). The OP is asking if he can tell when the heater or AC compressed is running or just the fan.
No easy way to tell. You can turn it off by dropping the temp all the way down. I do this if I want some fresh air without using heat if it's 40-60 degrees outside.
