Melting snow and ice off the hood?

[bellyer]

I've had a Mach-E for almost two years at this point and it has always been garaged, so I have never given this much thought. Now that I have the Lightning, too, and it can't fit in my garage, it is sitting outside on the street all the time and with snowy season here in Chicago arriving, it is building up snow and ice on the hood because there is no heat-producing engine to help melt it off. I had thought about getting one of those HeatTrax mats that you can buy for meltj g snow and ice off of sidewalks/driveways to plug in and melt it off, but my wife is worried that I will scratch up the truck that way. Does anyone have any thoughts on safe methods to melt the snow and ice off the truck in the winter? It would have been great if a hood heater could have been added/included similar to the rear window defroster.

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[PA Lightning]

I park my truck inside at night, but if it gets snowed on during the day, I just remove any build up with a Snow Jo. I keep the truck waxed so snow and ice slide off easily.

https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Joe-SJBLZD-Telescoping-Scraper/dp/B008FV5R0Y

 

[bellyer]

Yeah, I use a snow brush that also has a squeegee on it and that does a pretty good job, but I'm definitely ending up with ice and snow building up. I wonder if the waxing would help prevent that in my situation.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

 

[RickLightning]

If you fill the frunk with boiling water, it will melt the hood.


I typed that knowing that somewhere in the universe some bozo will do that.

 

[Tony Burgh]

Plug a space heater into the frunk outlets and set the temperature at lowest setting.
Let me know if that works.

 

[jimfigler]

I've had a Mach-E for almost two years at this point and it has always been garaged, so I have never given this much thought. Now that I have the Lightning, too, and it can't fit in my garage, it is sitting outside on the street all the time and with snowy season here in Chicago arriving, it is building up snow and ice on the hood because there is no heat-producing engine to help melt it off. I had thought about getting one of those HeatTrax mats that you can buy for meltj g snow and ice off of sidewalks/driveways to plug in and melt it off, but my wife is worried that I will scratch up the truck that way. Does anyone have any thoughts on safe methods to melt the snow and ice off the truck in the winter? It would have been great if a hood heater could have been added/included similar to the rear window defroster.

Not sure if I’m completely understanding the issue. Why isnt just removing the snow with whatever brush type not good enough? At most it’s a thin crusty layer. i would imagine that same layer would remain on the rest of the vehicle as well. What’s the harm? Just a question

 

[Oneand0]

Plug a space heater into the frunk outlets and set the temperature at lowest setting.
Let me know if that works.

Have the fire extinguisher ready though!

 

[Oneand0]

I park my truck inside at night, but if it gets snowed on during the day, I just remove any build up with a Snow Jo. I keep the truck waxed so snow and ice slide off easily.

https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Joe-SJBLZD-Telescoping-Scraper/dp/B008FV5R0Y

Thank you!!

 

[RickLightning]

This is an issue that many have never confronted before. I fully expect to see EVs driving down the road with huge piles of snow on them, hopefully they get ticketed.

People have already commented that modern headlights build up snow and ice more than older ones.

Some years back I changed our outdoor spotlights that light up the house from 12v regular bulbs to 12v LEDs. I have 8 of them, and I think they were 20 watt, so I was using 160 watts then and am using something like 20 total watts. And not having to change bulbs in the winter.

But, they also don't melt the snow, so everytime we get anything over a few inches, I have to clear the lights because they don't generate much heat. One is inside an area fenced for the deer, and it's a paint to clear.

 

[LightningShow]

I’m confused why this is a problem. It’s the same as clearing snow off of an ICE vehicle that hasn’t been idling.

 

[Pioneer74]

I used to use a soft bristled shop broom to clean off my truck in the winter, but now that I park in the garage for charging I don't have to. Now the kid uses the shop broom. She's not happy.

 

[bellyer]

To this asking why it is a problem, it really isn't a problem per se. More of a minor annoyance. I'm just picturing the big snowfalls and how much easier it is to clear off the snow and ice from the hood of ICE vehicles when the heat of the engine has loosened the snow and ice that has frozen itself to the truck.

 

[bellyer]

Yeah, I suppose.

 

[PA Lightning]

Thank you!!

That is a lot of snow. All of the car dealers around our area have the Snow Jo type tool to clean their cars on the lot. Works especially well for deep snow like you have.