No, misting is not a big deal, as long as I keep the air con on and the blower on minimum after the initial blast to heat things up. My 27 mile early morning commute yesterday in -5 temp used 12% of the battery from cold. This morning the same run at 6 deg used 9%. All due to heating. 2.7kw/m vs 3.1kw/m. Car set to 19.5 deg, both seats and steering wheel heat on both days. Range this morning at 90% was 205 miles on the accurate GOM. Mind you, the Soul’s demist is not as good nor quick as previous ICE cars. Check the cars settings, some cars turn the aircon & heating right down in ECO, the Soul did by default, but it’s customisable, so I changed the ECO default to Normal for air con/heating. Dropping range is almost all due to heating of the cabin/traction battery. If I turn off the aircon I gain 1 mile of range on the GOM. Turning up the fan speed sees a much larger change. Evey manufacturer, however, is different and some are really not very good in winter (Stellantis) to excellent (Hyundai/Kia).
after asking the question about the demist problem this morning I thought I might as well ask the questions on a Ariya forum, and quite a few people have said they have same problem. I’ve been told not to run the AC on the recirculating setting in the winter, it’s great in the summer but you need to have it on the fresh air setting in winter.
Thats pretty much the same with all cars to be fair. Air con / climate control should be left on permanently, 365 days of the year, and not on recirculation, to keep the car interior dehumidified. This stops windows misting up and prevents driver fatigue (it also stops the air con seals from drying out and shrinking, which causes refrigerant loss and reduces system efficiency). The recirculation mode should only be used for short periods, to stop smoke or heavy fumes from entering the vehicle (or for rapid cooling if the exterior air is extremely hot – almost never in this country). It should always be switched back to normal mode ASAP, or the windows will start to mist and the car becomes stuffy.