Patent Publication Number: US-8125099-B2

Title: Remote climate control device including electrical ventilation blower for a hybrid vehicle and associated methods

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the field of vehicle climate control, and, more particularly, to remote vehicle climate control devices and related methods. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The passenger compartment of a vehicle parked outside during a cold day may become very cold, with temperatures reaching that of the ambient air outside the vehicle. Likewise, the passenger compartment of a vehicle parked outside during a hot day may become very hot, very quickly, with temperatures that greatly exceed that of the ambient air outside the vehicle. 
     Some drivers start a vehicle, activate the vehicle&#39;s climate control system, then leave the vehicle until the climate control system begins to heat or cool the vehicle. However, this requires the driver to leave the comfort of the indoors, momentarily enter the vehicle, start the engine and operate the climate control system, and leave the vehicle unattended. 
     To avoid this, remote starting systems have been developed which allow a driver to start a vehicle without entering the vehicle. However, such systems may be incompatible with hybrid electric vehicles or electric vehicles. Similarly, such systems may lack desired features. 
     The air conditioning system of a standard vehicle having an internal combustion engine as its prime mover typically employs a compressor. On such a vehicle, this compressor is powered by the internal combustion engine via mechanical energy transferred from the crankshaft to the compressor through the use of a serpentine or v-shaped belt. The heating system of such a vehicle uses waste heat of the internal combustion engine to heat the passenger compartment. 
     Efforts have been made at remotely activating the climate control system of a hybrid or electric vehicle. U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0075766 to Ziehr et al., for example, discloses a remote climate control system for pre-cooling or pre-heating the passenger compartment of a hybrid vehicle that includes a combustion engine, an electrically activatable window, a heater, an electrically powered blower, and a passenger compartment temperature sensor. The remote climate control system is hard wired to a starter of the combustion engine, the electrically activatable window, the heater, the electrically powered blower, and the passenger compartment temperature sensor. 
     The remote climate control system includes a controller to read the passenger compartment temperature from the sensor. If the temperature is greater than a first predetermined value, the controller opens the activatable window and activates the electrically powered blower. If the temperature is less than a predetermined value, the controller starts the hybrid vehicle and activates the heater. The heater uses waste heat of the combustion engine to cool the passenger compartment. During cooling or heating, the controller monitors the temperature of the passenger compartment and deactivates the blower and the heater, respectively, when the temperature drops below, or rises above, a second predetermined value. 
     US Pub. No. 2008/0117079 to Hassan discloses a remote starting system for hybrid vehicles. The remote starting system includes a remote transmitter operable to communicate a start signal and a controller at the hybrid vehicle that receives the start signal. The controller can be coupled to a data communications bus of the hybrid vehicle and processes images captured by at least one imaging device to determine if the images are indicative of the hybrid vehicle being parked in an enclosed environment, such as a garage. The controller starts the combustion engine of the hybrid vehicle in response to the remote transmitter and the processed images. The controller can also control the climate control system of the hybrid vehicle after starting the combustion engine. 
     In particular, the controller can activate an air conditioning (AC) unit that is mechanically powered by the combustion engine, in order to cool the passenger compartment. The controller may also activate an auxiliary heater coil, or a heater that uses waste heat of the combustion engine, to heat the passenger compartment. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,244 to Mori discloses a plurality of remote climate control systems, each for an electric vehicle, and a common remote transmitter to activate the remote climate control system of each electric vehicle, respectively. Each electric vehicle has an AC unit, a battery, and a sensor to sense the voltage of the battery. The remote climate control system of each vehicle includes a controller that is hard wired to the AC unit and sensor. The controller reads the voltage of the battery using the sensor and selectively operates the AC unit based upon the voltage of the battery and signals received from the common remote transmitter. If the voltage of the battery falls below a predetermined value, the remote climate control system deactivates the AC unit. 
     In view of the foregoing limitations of the prior art, a remote climate control system having additional features and compatibility may be desirable. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the foregoing background, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a remote climate control system for a hybrid vehicle. 
     This and other objects, features, and advantages in accordance with the present invention are provided by a remote climate control system for a hybrid vehicle that may comprise a rechargeable electrical power source, an electrical heater selectively powered by the rechargeable electrical power source, and a sensor associated with the rechargeable electrical power source. A data communications bus may extend throughout the hybrid vehicle, and at least one of the electrical heater and the sensor may be coupled to the data communications bus. 
     The remote climate control system may include a remote transmitter and a receiver to be positioned at the hybrid vehicle for receiving signals from the remote transmitter. The remote climate control system may also include a vehicle remote climate controller to cooperate with the receiver. The vehicle remote climate controller may be coupled to the data communications bus extending within the hybrid vehicle for communication thereover to selectively operate the electrical heater responsive to the sensor and the remote transmitter. 
     The sensor may be coupled to the data communications bus and the vehicle remote climate controller may receive signals from the sensor via the data communications bus. The electrical heater may be coupled to the data communications bus and the vehicle remote climate controller may send signals to the electrical heater via the data communications bus. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller may disable the electrical heater based upon the sensor sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source being below a threshold. This feature helps to prevent excessive discharging of the rechargeable electrical power source, due to operation of the heater, that might leave a driver stranded and the hybrid vehicle inoperable. 
     The hybrid vehicle may have a combustion engine that provides mechanical energy to a generator or alternator that recharges the rechargeable electrical power source. The vehicle remote climate controller may start the combustion engine based upon the sensor sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source being below a threshold. This may be done to charge the rechargeable electrical power source and to thus help prevent excessive discharging thereof. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller may enable the electrical heater based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable electrical power source being coupled to an external power source. Also, the hybrid vehicle may have a security circuit coupled to the electrical heater for selectively enabling operation thereof. Furthermore, the vehicle remote climate controller may bypass the security circuit to enable remote operation of the electrical heater. 
     The remote transmitter may be a remote wireless handheld transmitter that is carried by a user when away from the vehicle. In addition, the vehicle remote climate controller may comprise a multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller. This may reduce the need to produce a variety of different versions of the remote climate control system for different hybrid or electric vehicles. 
     A method aspect is directed to a method of installing a remote climate control system in a hybrid vehicle comprising a rechargeable electrical power source and an electrical heater selectively powered thereby, a sensor associated with the rechargeable electrical power source, and a data communications bus extending throughout the hybrid vehicle. At least one of the electrical heater and the sensor may be coupled to the data communications bus. The method may comprise coupling a vehicle remote climate controller to the data communications bus extending within the hybrid vehicle for communication thereover. The vehicle remote climate controller may cooperate with a receiver to selectively operate the electrical heater responsive to the sensor and the remote transmitter. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of a remote climate control system for a hybrid vehicle in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a flowchart of a method of installing the remote climate control system of  FIG. 1  in a hybrid vehicle. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic block diagram of an alternative embodiment of a remote climate control system for a hybrid vehicle in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart of a method of installing the remote climate control system of  FIG. 3  in a hybrid vehicle. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic block diagram of a further embodiment of a remote climate control system for a hybrid vehicle in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart of a method of installing the remote climate control system of  FIG. 6  in a hybrid vehicle. 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic block diagram of a remote climate control system for an electric vehicle in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a flowchart of a method of installing the remote climate control system of  FIG. 7  in an electric vehicle. 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic block diagram of an alternative embodiment of a remote climate control system for an electric vehicle in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  is a flowchart of a method of installing the remote climate control system of  FIG. 9  in an electric vehicle. 
         FIG. 11  is a schematic block diagram of a further embodiment of a remote climate control system for an electric vehicle in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 12  is a flowchart of a method of installing the remote climate control system of  FIG. 11  in an electric vehicle. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. 
     Referring initially to  FIG. 1 , a remote climate control system  20  for a hybrid vehicle  21  is now described. The hybrid vehicle  21  has a rechargeable battery  32 , although those of skill in the art will appreciate that the hybrid vehicle may have another rechargeable electrical power source, such as a capacitor or flywheel/generator, in addition to or instead of the rechargeable battery. The hybrid vehicle  21  has a combustion engine  35  that operates a generator or alternator (not shown) to recharge the rechargeable battery  32  and an electric motor  23 . Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the hybrid vehicle  21  may have more than one electric motor  23  and that the electric motor is coupled to the rechargeable battery  32 . An optional separate combustion engine starter  36  starts the combustion engine. Those of skill in the art will understand that the combustion engine  35  may instead be started by the electric motor  23 . 
     It should be understood that the combustion engine  35  may be an internal combustion engine that burns gasoline, diesel, ethanol, or other fuels. Rather than a combustion engine  35 , the hybrid vehicle  21  may instead have an external heat engine, such as a Stirling engine. 
     The hybrid vehicle  21  further comprises an electrical heater  31  selectively powered by the rechargeable battery  32  and a sensor  33  associated with the rechargeable battery. The electrical heater  31  may be a resistive heater or other suitable heater as known to those of skill in the art. The electrical heater  31  may be a combination heater, for example a heater core with electrical heater coils, that employs both resistive heating and the use of waste heat from the combustion engine  35  to heat the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  21 . 
     The hybrid vehicle  21  may also include a security circuit  34  connected to the electrical heater  31 . The security circuit  34  selectively disables the electrical heater  31 . Those of skill in the art will appreciate that, in some applications, the security circuit  34  may also be connected to the combustion engine starter  36  to selectively disable the operation thereof and therefore the operation of the combustion engine  35 . Indeed, in some applications, the security circuit  34  may selectively disable operation of a plurality of, or all of, the devices and functions of the hybrid vehicle  21 . The security circuit  34  may be considered as an ignition switch of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle. 
     The hybrid vehicle  21  has a data communications bus  30  extending throughout. The data communications bus  30  may extend through at least one of the engine compartment, the passenger compartment, and the trunk of the hybrid vehicle  21 . 
     The sensor  33  is coupled to the rechargeable battery  32  and reads the voltage thereof. The sensor  33  may, additionally or alternatively, be able to detect whether the rechargeable battery is connected to an external power source  37 . The external power source  37  may be an electrical socket or recharging station, for example. 
     The electrical heater  31 , the sensor  33 , the security circuit  34 , and the combustion engine starter  36  are each coupled to the data communications bus  30  for communication thereover. Those of skill in the art will understand that each of the electrical heater  31 , the sensor  33 , the security circuit  34 , and the combustion engine starter  36  need not be on the data communications bus  30 . Indeed, one of, or a plurality of the electrical heater  31 , the sensor  33 , the security circuit  34 , and the combustion engine starter  36  may be on the data communications bus  30 . Furthermore, each of the electrical heater  31 , the sensor  33 , the security circuit  34 , and the combustion engine starter  36  may communicate unidirectionally via the data communications bus  30 , or may communicate bidirectionally via the data bus. Each of the electrical heater  31 , the sensor  33 , the security circuit  34 , and the combustion engine starter  36  need not communicate in the same manner via the data communications bus  30 . For example, the electrical heater  31  may communicate bidirectionally while the sensor  33  communicates unidirectionally. 
     It should be understood that there may be intervening circuitry between the data communications bus  30  and at least one of the electrical heater  31 , the sensor  33 , the security circuit  34 , and the combustion engine starter  36 . 
     The remote climate control system  20  includes a remote transmitter  38  and a receiver  22  positioned at the hybrid vehicle  21  for receiving signals from the remote transmitter. The remote climate controller  25  may be a multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller to cooperate with the receiver  22 . Those of skill in the art will understand that the receiver  22  and the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may be associated together in a same housing. In fact the receiver  22  and the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may each be embodied on a same printed circuit board or even in a same integrated circuit. The vehicle remote climate controller  25  bypasses the security circuit  34  to enable operation of the electrical heater  31 . 
     More details of multi-vehicle compatible devices may be found in the following references, each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 7,378,945; U.S. Pat. No. 7,369,936; U.S. Pat. No. 7,224,083; U.S. Pat. No. 7,205,679; U.S. Pat. No. 7,091,822; U.S. Pat. No. 7,068,153; U.S. Pat. No. 7,046,126; U.S. Pat. No. 7,031,826; U.S. Pat. No. 7,010,402; U.S. Pat. No. 6,812,829; U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,886; U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,885; U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,124; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,876. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  25  is coupled to the data communications bus  30  extending within the hybrid vehicle  21  for communication thereover to selectively operate the electrical heater  31  responsive to the sensor  33  and the remote transmitter  38 . The vehicle remote climate controller  25  selectively operates the electrical heater  31  responsive to the sensor  33  and the remote transmitter  38 . 
     The remote transmitter  38  may cause the vehicle remote climate controller  25  to heat the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  21  to a pre-set temperature. Alternatively, the remote transmitter  38  may have buttons that enable a user to set the temperature to which the vehicle remote climate controller  25  is to heat the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  21 . Additionally or alternatively, the remote transmitter  38  may have buttons that enable a user to select to which of a plurality of pre-set temperatures the vehicle remote climate controller  25  is to heat the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  21 . 
     The remote transmitter  38  may be a small portable unit including a housing, function control switches carried by the housing, a battery within the housing, and the associated wireless transmitter circuitry also within the housing. The communications from the remote transmitter  38  to the receiver  22  at the vehicle is typically a direct radio frequency link. In other words, there are no intervening communications links. However, in other embodiments, the remote transmitter  38  may indirectly communicate with the receiver  22  via other communications infrastructure, such as via satellite, or cellular communications, via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or over the World Wide Web or Internet, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. 
     The remote transmitter  38  may also include one or more central station transmitters, such as may be provided by a satellite transmitter or cellular telephone transmitter, for example. Such a central station transmitter may also be connected to other communications infrastructures. In some embodiments, the remote transmitter  38  may optionally include a remote receiver cooperating with a transmitter (not shown) at the vehicle, such as to provide status information to the user relating to a condition of the hybrid vehicle  21 , for example the temperature of the passenger compartment. 
     The remote transmitter  38  may be a common remote transmitter. By common remote transmitter, it is meant that the remote transmitter  38  may operate a plurality of hybrid vehicles  21 . Such a feature may be desirable to a driver who owns multiple hybrid vehicles  21  or to a rental car company, for example. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  25  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  26  which performs the signal processing and logic functions to control operation of the electrical heater  31 . The vehicle remote climate controller  25  also includes a bus interface  27  and a hardwire interface  28 . The bus interface  27  includes circuitry for interfacing to the proper signal levels and formats on the data communications bus  30  as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art without further discussion herein. 
     In some applications, the hardwire interface  28  is to directly interface with the sensor  33 , electrical heater  31 , security circuit  34 , and combustion engine starter  36 . It should be understood that in these applications, one of the sensor  33 , security circuit  34 , electrical heater  31 , and combustion engine starter  36  may each be directly connected to the hardwire interface  28 , or that a plurality of the sensor, security circuit, electrical heater, and combustion engine starter, and may be directly connected to the hardwire interface. 
     As stated above, the vehicle remote climate controller  25  selectively operates the electrical heater  31  responsive to the sensor  33  and the remote transmitter  38 . For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may operate the electrical heater  31  if it receives, via the receiver  22 , a signal from the remote transmitter  38  instructing it to do so. 
     If, during operation of the electrical heater  31 , the sensor  33  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  32  has fallen below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may disable the electrical heater to conserve the voltage of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, if the vehicle remote climate controller  25  receives an instruction to activate the electrical heater  31 , but the sensor  33  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  32  is below a threshold voltage, the multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller  20  may not activate the electrical heater. This feature helps to prevent excessive discharging of the rechargeable battery  32 , due to operation of the heater  31 , that might leave a driver stranded and the hybrid vehicle  21  inoperable. 
     If, during operation of the electrical heater  31 , the sensor  33  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  32  has fallen below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may start the combustion engine  35 . This may be done to charge the rechargeable battery  32  and to help prevent excessive discharging thereof. 
     If the vehicle remote climate controller  25  receives an instruction to activate the electrical heater  31 , but the sensor  33  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  32  is below a threshold voltage, the multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller  20  may start the combustion engine  35  prior to operating the electrical heater  31 . 
     In some applications, the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may sense if the shift selector of the hybrid vehicle  21  is in a position other than park and, if so, the multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller may not start the combustion engine  35 . Similarly, the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may sense whether the hood of the hybrid vehicle  21  is open and may not start the combustion engine  35  based thereupon. In addition, the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may shut down the combustion engine  25  if the engine RPM exceeds a predetermined value. Many other vehicle conditions, such as the fuel level of the hybrid vehicle  21 , may be taken into account by the vehicle remote climate controller  25  before or during operation of the combustion engine  25  as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. If the vehicle remote climate controller  25  elects to not start, or elects to shut down, the combustion engine  35  due to such a vehicle condition, it may instead deactivate the electrical heater  31 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  25  may enable the electrical heater  31  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  32  being coupled to an external power source  37 . The external power source  37  may be an electrical socket, a recharging station, or other external power source as known to those skilled in the art. 
     In some applications, the hybrid vehicle may have a solar panel, such as on the roof thereof, coupled to the rechargeable battery  32 . The vehicle remote climate controller  25  may enable the electrical heater  31  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  32  being recharged by the solar panel. 
     Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the sensor  33  may also measure the current flowing in of or out of the rechargeable battery  32  and that the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may operate the electrical heater  31  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to voltages of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, the sensor  33  may measure the temperature of the rechargeable battery  32  and the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may operate the electrical heater  31  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to the voltage of the rechargeable batter. 
     A method of installing a remote climate controller  25  in a hybrid vehicle  21  is now described with reference to the flowchart  40  of  FIG. 2 . After the start (Block  42 ), at Block  44  a receiver  22  for receiving signals from a remote transmitter  38  is positioned at a hybrid vehicle  21 . The hybrid vehicle  21  comprises a rechargeable electrical power source  32  and an electrical heater  31  selectively powered thereby, a sensor  23  associated with the rechargeable electrical power source, and a data communications bus  30  extending throughout the hybrid vehicle. At least one of the electrical heater  31  and the sensor  33  is coupled to the data communications bus  30 . 
     At Block  46  a vehicle remote climate controller  25  is coupled to the data communications bus  30  extending within the hybrid vehicle  21  for communication thereover. The vehicle remote climate controller  25  is to cooperate with the receiver  22  to selectively operate the electrical heater  31  responsive to the sensor  33  and the remote transmitter  38 . Block  48  indicates the end of the method. 
     In other words, the method includes coupling a vehicle remote climate controller  25  to the data communications bus  30  extending within the hybrid vehicle  21  for communication thereover and the vehicle remote climate controller  25  is to cooperate with a receiver  22  to selectively operate the electrical heater  31  responsive to the sensor  33  and the remote transmitter  38 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  25  may disable the electrical heater  31  based upon the sensor  33  sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source  32  being below a threshold. The hybrid vehicle  21  may have a combustion engine  35  and the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may start the combustion engine  35  based upon the sensor  33  sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source  32  being below a threshold. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  35  may enable the electrical heater  31  based upon the sensor  33  sensing the rechargeable electrical power source  32  being coupled to an external power source  37 . The vehicle remote climate controller  25  may comprise a multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , another embodiment of a remote climate control system  50  for a hybrid vehicle  51  is now described. The hybrid vehicle  51  has a rechargeable battery  62 , although those of skill in the art will appreciate that the hybrid vehicle may have another rechargeable electrical power source, such as a capacitor or flywheel/generator, in addition to or instead of the rechargeable battery. The hybrid vehicle  51  has a combustion engine  65  that operates a generator or alternator (not shown) to recharge the rechargeable battery  62 . The hybrid vehicle  51  also has an electric motor  53  that is coupled to the rechargeable battery  62 . Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the hybrid vehicle  51  may have more than one electric motor  63 . An optional separate combustion engine starter  66  starts the combustion engine. Those of skill in the art will understand that the combustion engine  65  may instead be started by the electric motor  53 . 
     It should be understood that the combustion engine  65  may be an internal combustion engine that burns gasoline, diesel, ethanol, or other fuels. Rather than a combustion engine  65 , the hybrid vehicle  51  may instead have an external heat engine, such as a Stirling engine. 
     The hybrid vehicle  51  further comprises an electrical air conditioning (AC) unit  61 , for example an AC compressor, selectively powered by the rechargeable battery  62 , a sensor  63  associated with the rechargeable battery, and an electric window motor  69 . The electrical AC unit  61  may be a conventional AC compressor coupled to an electric motor via a belt or may be an AC compressor having an internal electric motor. In some embodiments, the electrical AC unit may be a thermoelectric cooler or other suitable electric AC unit as known to those of skill in the art. 
     The hybrid vehicle  51  may also include a security circuit  64  connected to the electrical AC unit  61 . The security  64  circuit selectively disables the electrical AC unit  61 . Those of skill in the art will appreciate that, in some applications, the security circuit  64  may also be connected to the combustion engine starter  66  to selectively disable the operation thereof and therefore the operation of the combustion engine  65 . Indeed, in some applications, the security circuit  64  may selectively disable operation of a plurality of, or all of, the devices and functions of the hybrid vehicle  51 . The security circuit  64  may be considered as an ignition switch of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle. 
     The hybrid vehicle  51  has a data communications bus  60  extending throughout. The data communications bus  60  may extend through at least one of the engine compartment, the passenger compartment, and the trunk of the hybrid vehicle  51 . 
     The sensor  63  is coupled to the rechargeable battery  62  and reads the voltage thereof. The sensor  63  may, additionally or alternatively, be able to detect whether the rechargeable battery is connected to an external power source  67 . The external power source  67  may be an electrical socket or recharging station. 
     The electrical AC unit  61 , the sensor  63 , the security circuit  64 , the combustion engine starter  66 , and the window motor  69  are each coupled to the data communications bus  60  for communication thereover. Those of skill in the art will understand that each of the electrical AC unit  61 , the sensor  63 , the security circuit  64 , the combustion engine starter  66 , and the window motor  69  need not be on the data communications bus  60 . Indeed, one of, or a plurality of, the electrical AC unit  61 , the sensor  63 , the security circuit  64 , the combustion engine starter  66 , and the window motor  69  may be on the data communications bus  60 . 
     The remote climate control system  50  includes a remote transmitter  68  and a receiver  52  positioned at the hybrid vehicle  51  for receiving signals from the remote transmitter. The remote vehicle climate controller  55  may be a vehicle remote climate controller  55  to cooperate with the receiver  52 . Those of skill in the art will understand that the receiver  52  and the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may be associated together in a same housing. In fact the receiver  52  and the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may each be embodied on a same printed circuit board or even in a same integrated circuit. The vehicle remote climate controller  55  bypasses the security circuit  64  to enable operation of the electrical AC unit  61 . The security circuit  64  selectively disables the 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  55  is coupled to the data communications bus  60  extending within the hybrid vehicle  51  for communication thereover to selectively operate the electrical AC unit  61  responsive to the sensor  63  and the remote transmitter  68 . The vehicle remote climate controller  55  selectively operates the electrical AC unit  61  responsive to the sensor  63  and the remote transmitter  68 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  55  may selectively operate the window motor  69  to assist cooling the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  51 . For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may operate the window motor  69  to open the window during operation of the electrical AC unit  61 . The hybrid vehicle  51  may have a rain sensor to detect precipitation. The rain sensor may be on the data bus  60 . The vehicle remote climate controller  55  may communicate with the rain sensor through the data bus  60  or through the hardwire interface  58 . If precipitation is detected, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  will not operate the window motor  69  to open the window. Similarly, if precipitation is detected while the window is open, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  will operate the window motor  69  to close the window. 
     The remote transmitter  68  may instruct the vehicle remote climate controller  55  to cool the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  51  to a pre-set temperature. Alternatively, the remote transmitter  68  may have buttons that enable a user to set the temperature which the vehicle remote climate controller  55  is to cool the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  51  to. Additionally or alternatively, the remote transmitter  68  may have buttons that enable a user to select which of a plurality of pre-set temperatures the vehicle remote climate controller  55  is to cool the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  51  to. 
     The remote transmitter  68  may be a small portable unit including a housing, function control switches carried by the housing, a battery within the housing, and the associated wireless transmitter circuitry also within the housing. The communications from the remote transmitter  68  to the receiver  52  at the vehicle is typically a direct radio frequency link. In other words, there are no intervening communications links. However, in other embodiments, the remote transmitter  68  may indirectly communicate with the receiver  52  via other communications infrastructure, such as via satellite, or cellular communications, via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or over the World Wide Web or Internet, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. 
     The remote transmitter  68  may also include one or more central station transmitters, such as may be provided by a satellite transmitter or cellular telephone transmitter, for example. Such a central station transmitter may also be connected to other communications infrastructures. In some embodiments, the remote transmitter  68  may optionally include a remote receiver (not shown), such as to provide status information to the user relating to the temperature of the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  51 . 
     The remote transmitter  68  may be a common remote transmitter. By common remote transmitter, it is meant that the remote transmitter  68  may operate a plurality of hybrid vehicles  51 . Such a feature may be desirable to a driver who owns multiple hybrid vehicles  51  or to a rental car company, for example. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  55  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  56  which performs the signal processing and logic functions to control operation of the electrical AC unit  61 . The vehicle remote climate controller  55  also includes a bus interface  57  and a hardwire interface  58 . The bus interface  57  includes circuitry for interfacing to the proper signal levels and formats on the data communications bus  60  as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art without further discussion herein. 
     In some applications, the hardwire interface  58  is to directly interface with the sensor  63 , electrical AC unit  61 , security circuit  64 , combustion engine starter  66 , and window motor  69 . It should be understood that in these applications, one of the sensor  63 , security circuit  64 , electrical AC unit  61 , combustion engine starter  66 , and window motor  69  may each be directly connected to the hardwire interface  58 , or that a plurality of the sensor, security circuit, electrical heater, combustion engine starter, and window motor may be directly connected to the hardwire interface. 
     As stated above, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  selectively operates the electrical AC unit  61  responsive to the sensor  63  and the remote transmitter  68 . For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may operate the electrical AC unit  61  if it receives, via the receiver  52 , a signal from the remote transmitter  68  instructing it to do so. 
     If, during operation of the electrical AC unit  61 , the sensor  63  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  62  has fallen below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may disable the electrical AC unit to conserve the voltage of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, if the vehicle remote climate controller  25  receives an instruction to activate the electrical AC unit  61 , but the sensor  63  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  62  is below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may not activate the electrical AC unit. This feature helps to prevent excessive discharging of the rechargeable battery  62 , due to operation of the electrical AC unit  61 , that might leave a driver stranded and the hybrid vehicle  51  inoperable. 
     If, during operation of the electrical AC unit  61 , the sensor  63  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  62  has fallen below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may start the combustion engine  65 . This may be done to charge the rechargeable battery  62  and to help prevent excessive discharging thereof. 
     If the vehicle remote climate controller  55  receives an instruction to activate the electrical AC unit  61 , but the sensor  63  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  62  is below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may start the combustion engine  65  prior to operating the electrical AC unit  61 . 
     In some applications, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may sense if the shift selector of the hybrid vehicle  51  is in a position other than park and, if so, the multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller may not start the combustion engine  65 . Similarly, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may sense whether the hood of the hybrid vehicle  51  is open and may not start the combustion engine  65  based thereupon. In addition, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may shut down the combustion engine  65  if the engine RPM exceeds a predetermined value. Many other vehicle conditions, such as the fuel level of the hybrid vehicle  51 , may be taken into account by the vehicle remote climate controller  55  before or during operation of the combustion engine  65  as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. If the vehicle remote climate controller  55  elects to not start, or elects to shut down, the combustion engine  65  due to such a vehicle condition, it may instead deactivate the electrical AC unit  61 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  55  may enable the electrical AC unit  61  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  62  being coupled to an external power source  67 . The external power source  67  may be an electrical socket, a recharging station, or other external power source as known to those skilled in the art. 
     In some applications, the hybrid vehicle may have a solar panel, such as on the roof thereof, coupled to the rechargeable battery  62 . The vehicle remote climate controller  55  may enable the electrical AC unit  61  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  62  being recharged by the solar panel. 
     Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the sensor  63  may also measure the current flowing in of or out of the rechargeable battery  62  and that the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may operate the electrical AC unit  61  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to voltages of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, the sensor  63  may measure the temperature of the rechargeable battery  62  and the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may operate the electrical AC unit  61  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to the voltage of the rechargeable batter. 
     A method of installing a remote climate controller  55  in a hybrid vehicle  51  is now described with reference to the flowchart  70  of  FIG. 4 . After the start (Block  72 ), at Block  74  a receiver  52  for receiving signals from a remote transmitter  68  is positioned at a hybrid vehicle  51 . The hybrid vehicle  51  comprises a rechargeable electrical power source  32  and an electrical AC unit  61  selectively powered thereby, a sensor  63  associated with the rechargeable electrical power source, and a data communications bus  60  extending throughout the hybrid vehicle. At least one of the electrical AC unit  61  and the sensor  63  is coupled to the data communications bus  60 . 
     At Block  76  a vehicle remote climate controller  55  is coupled to the data communications bus  60  extending within the hybrid vehicle  51  for communication thereover. The vehicle remote climate controller  55  is to cooperate with the receiver  52  to selectively operate the electrical AC unit  61  responsive to the sensor  63  and the remote transmitter  68 . Block  78  indicates the end of the method. 
     In other words, the method includes coupling a vehicle remote climate controller  55  to the data communications bus  60  extending within the hybrid vehicle  51  for communication thereover, the vehicle remote climate controller  55  to cooperate with a receiver  52  to selectively operate the electrical AC unit  61  responsive to the sensor  63  and the remote transmitter  68 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  55  may disable the electrical AC unit  61  based upon the sensor  63  sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source  62  being below a threshold. The hybrid vehicle  51  may have a combustion engine  65  and the vehicle remote climate controller  55  may start the combustion engine  65  based upon the sensor  63  sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source  62  being below a threshold. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  55  may enable the electrical AC unit  61  based upon the sensor  63  sensing the rechargeable electrical power source  62  being coupled to an external power source  67 . The vehicle remote climate controller  55  may comprise a multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , yet another embodiment of a remote climate control system  80  for a hybrid vehicle  81  is now described. The hybrid vehicle  81  has a rechargeable battery  92 , although those of skill in the art will appreciate that the hybrid vehicle may have another rechargeable electrical power source, such as a capacitor or flywheel/generator, in addition to or instead of the rechargeable battery. The hybrid vehicle  81  has a combustion engine  95  that operates a generator or alternator (not shown) to recharge the rechargeable battery  92 . The hybrid vehicle  81  also has an electric motor  83  coupled to the rechargeable battery  92 . An optional separate combustion engine starter  96  starts the combustion engine. Those of skill in the art will understand that the combustion engine  95  may instead be started by the electric motor  83 . 
     It should be understood that the combustion engine  95  may be an internal combustion engine that burns gasoline, diesel, ethanol, or other fuels. Rather than a combustion engine  95 , the hybrid vehicle  81  may instead have an external heat engine, such as a Stirling engine. 
     The hybrid vehicle  81  further comprises an electrical ventilation blower  91  selectively powered by the rechargeable battery  92 , a sensor  93  associated with the rechargeable battery, and an electric window motor  99 . The electrical ventilation blower  91  may be a conventional blower coupled to an electric motor via a belt or may be a blower having an internal electric motor. It should be understood that the electric blower  91  merely blows ambient outside air into the passenger compartment of the vehicle and does not actively cool the air, as would an electric AC unit. It may be advantageous to use the electrical ventilation blower  91  to cool the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  81  as opposed to an electrical AC unit because the electrical ventilation blower may consume less electricity than an electrical AC unit. 
     The hybrid vehicle  81  may also include a security circuit  94  connected to the electrical ventilation blower  91 . The security circuit  94  selectively disables the electrical ventilation blower  91 . Those of skill in the art will appreciate that, in some applications, the security circuit  94  may also be connected to the combustion engine starter  96  to selectively disable the operation thereof and therefore the operation of the combustion engine  95 . Indeed, in some applications, the security circuit  94  may selectively disable operation of a plurality of, or all of, the devices and functions of the hybrid vehicle  81 . The security circuit  94  may not be considered as an ignition switch of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle. 
     The hybrid vehicle  81  has a data communications bus  90  extending throughout. The data communications bus  90  may extend through at least one of the engine compartment, the passenger compartment, and the trunk of the hybrid vehicle  81 . 
     The sensor  93  is coupled to the rechargeable battery  92  and reads the voltage thereof. The sensor  93  may, additionally or alternatively, be able to detect whether the rechargeable battery is connected to an external power source  97 . The external power source  97  may be an electrical socket or recharging station. 
     The electrical ventilation blower  91 , the sensor  93 , the security circuit  94 , the combustion engine starter  96 , and the window motor  99  are each coupled to the data communications bus  90  for communication thereover. Those of skill in the art will understand that each of the electrical ventilation blower  91 , the sensor  93 , the security circuit  94 , the combustion engine starter  96 , and the window motor  99  need not be on the data communications bus  90 . Indeed, one of, or a plurality of, the electrical ventilation blower  91 , the sensor  93 , the security circuit  94 , the combustion engine starter  96 , and the window motor  99  may be on the data communications bus  90 . 
     The remote climate control system  80  includes a remote transmitter  98  and a receiver  82  positioned at the hybrid vehicle  81  for receiving signals from the remote transmitter. The remote vehicle climate controller  85  may be a vehicle remote climate controller  85  to cooperate with the receiver  82 . Those of skill in the art will understand that the receiver  82  and the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may be associated together in a same housing. In fact the receiver  82  and the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may each be embodied on a same printed circuit board or even in a same integrated circuit. The vehicle remote climate controller  85  bypasses the security circuit  94  to enable operation of the electrical ventilation blower  91 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  85  is coupled to the data communications bus  90  extending within the hybrid vehicle  81  for communication thereover to selectively operate the electrical ventilation blower  91  responsive to the sensor  93  and the remote transmitter  98 . The vehicle remote climate controller  85  selectively operates the electrical ventilation blower  91  responsive to the sensor  93  and the remote transmitter  98 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  85  may selectively operate the window motor  99  to assist cooling the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  81 . For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may operate the window motor  99  to open the window during operation of the electrical ventilation blower  91 . The hybrid vehicle  81  may have a rain sensor to detect precipitation. The rain sensor may be on the data bus  90 . The vehicle remote climate controller  85  may communicate with the rain sensor through the data bus  90  or through the hardwire interface  88 . If precipitation is detected, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  will not operate the window motor  99  to open the window. Similarly, if precipitation is detected while the window is open, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  will operate the window motor  99  to close the window. 
     The remote transmitter  98  may cause the vehicle remote climate controller  85  to cool the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  81  to a pre-set temperature. Alternatively, the remote transmitter  98  may have buttons that enable a user to set the temperature which the vehicle remote climate controller  85  is to cool the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  81  to. Additionally or alternatively, the remote transmitter  98  may have buttons that enable a user to select which of a plurality of pre-set temperatures the vehicle remote climate controller  85  is to cool the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  81  to. 
     In some applications, the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may be programmable to cool the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  81  to a pre-set temperature at pre-set times. For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may be set to cool the passenger compartment to 70° C. at 5:00 PM on Monday through Friday. 
     The remote transmitter  98  may be a small portable unit including a housing, function control switches carried by the housing, a battery within the housing, and the associated wireless transmitter circuitry also within the housing. The communications from the remote transmitter  98  to the receiver  82  at the vehicle is typically a direct radio frequency link. In other words, there are no intervening communications links. However, in other embodiments, the remote transmitter  98  may indirectly communicate with the receiver  82  via other communications infrastructure, such as via satellite, or cellular communications, via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or over the World Wide Web or Internet, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. 
     The remote transmitter  98  may also include one or more central station transmitters, such as may be provided by a satellite transmitter or cellular telephone transmitter, for example. Such a central station transmitter may also be connected to other communications infrastructures. In some embodiments, the remote transmitter  98  may optionally include a remote receiver (not shown), such as to provide status information to the user relating to the temperature of the passenger compartment of the hybrid vehicle  81 . 
     The remote transmitter  98  may be a common remote transmitter. By common remote transmitter, it is meant that the remote transmitter  98  may operate a plurality of hybrid vehicles  81 . Such a feature may be desirable to a driver who owns multiple hybrid vehicles  81  or to a rental car company, for example. 
     The remote vehicle climate controller  85  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  86  which performs the signal processing and logic functions to control operation of the electrical ventilation blower  91 . The vehicle remote climate controller  85  also includes a bus interface  87  and a hardwire interface  88 . The bus interface  87  includes circuitry for interfacing to the proper signal levels and formats on the data communications bus  90  as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art without further discussion herein. 
     In some applications, the hardwire interface  88  is to directly interface with the sensor  93 , electrical ventilation blower  91 , security circuit  94 , combustion engine starter  96 , and window motor  99 . It should be understood that in these applications, one of the sensor  93 , security circuit  94 , electrical ventilation blower  91 , combustion engine starter  96 , and window motor  99  may each be directly connected to the hardwire interface  88 , or that a plurality of the sensor, security circuit, electrical heater, combustion engine starter, and window motor may be directly connected to the hardwire interface. 
     As stated above, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  selectively operates the electrical ventilation blower  91  responsive to the sensor  93  and the remote transmitter  98 . For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may operate the electrical ventilation blower  91  if it receives, via the receiver  82 , a signal from the remote transmitter  98  causing it to do so. 
     If, during operation of the electrical ventilation blower  91 , the sensor  93  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  92  has fallen below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may disable the electrical ventilation blower to conserve the voltage of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, if the vehicle remote climate controller  25  receives an instruction to activate the electrical ventilation blower  91 , but the sensor  93  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  92  is below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may not activate the electrical ventilation blower. This feature helps to prevent excessive discharging of the rechargeable battery  92 , due to operation of the electrical ventilation blower  91 , that might leave a driver stranded and the hybrid vehicle  81  inoperable. 
     If, during operation of the electrical ventilation blower  91 , the sensor  93  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  92  has fallen below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may start the combustion engine  95 . This may be done to charge the rechargeable battery  92  and to help prevent excessive discharging thereof. 
     If the vehicle remote climate controller  85  receives an instruction to activate the electrical ventilation blower  91 , but the sensor  93  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  92  is below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may start the combustion engine  95  prior to operating the electrical ventilation blower  91 . 
     In some applications, the vehicle remote climate controller  25  may sense if the shift selector of the hybrid vehicle  81  is in a position other than park and, if so, the multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller may not start the combustion engine  95 . Similarly, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may sense whether the hood of the hybrid vehicle  81  is open and may not start the combustion engine  95  based thereupon. In addition, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may shut down the combustion engine  95  if the engine RPM exceeds a predetermined value. Many other vehicle conditions, such as the fuel level of the hybrid vehicle  81 , may be taken into account by the vehicle remote climate controller  85  before or during operation of the combustion engine  95  as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. If the vehicle remote climate controller  85  elects to not start, or elects to shut down, the combustion engine  95  due to such a vehicle condition, it may instead deactivate the electrical ventilation blower  91 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  85  may enable the electrical ventilation blower  91  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  92  being coupled to an external power source  97 . The external power source  97  may be an electrical socket, a recharging station, or other external power source as known to those skilled in the art. 
     In some applications, the hybrid vehicle may have a solar panel, such as on the roof thereof, coupled to the rechargeable battery  92 . The vehicle remote climate controller  85  may enable the electrical ventilation blower  91  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  92  being recharged by the solar panel. 
     Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the sensor  93  may also measure the current flowing in of or out of the rechargeable battery  92  and that the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may operate the electrical ventilation blower  91  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to voltages of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, the sensor  93  may measure the temperature of the rechargeable battery  92  and the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may operate the electrical ventilation blower  91  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to the voltage of the rechargeable batter. 
     A method of installing a remote climate controller  85  in a hybrid vehicle  81  is now described with reference to the flowchart  100  of  FIG. 6 . After the start (Block  102 ), at Block  104  a receiver  82  for receiving signals from a remote transmitter  98  is positioned at a hybrid vehicle  81 . The hybrid vehicle  81  comprises a rechargeable electrical power source  32  and an electrical ventilation blower  91  selectively powered thereby, a sensor  93  associated with the rechargeable electrical power source, and a data communications bus  90  extending throughout the hybrid vehicle. At least one of the electrical ventilation blower  91  and the sensor  93  is coupled to the data communications bus  90 . 
     At Block  106  a vehicle remote climate controller  85  is coupled to the data communications bus  90  extending within the hybrid vehicle  81  for communication thereover. The vehicle remote climate controller  85  is to cooperate with the receiver  82  to selectively operate the electrical ventilation blower  91  responsive to the sensor  93  and the remote transmitter  98 . Block  108  indicates the end of the method. 
     In other words, the method includes coupling a vehicle remote climate controller  85  to the data communications bus  90  extending within the hybrid vehicle  81  for communication thereover, the vehicle remote climate controller  85  to cooperate with a receiver  82  to selectively operate the electrical ventilation blower  91  responsive to the sensor  93  and the remote transmitter  98 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  85  may disable the electrical ventilation blower  91  based upon the sensor  93  sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source  92  being below a threshold. The hybrid vehicle  81  may have a combustion engine  95  and the vehicle remote climate controller  85  may start the combustion engine  95  based upon the sensor  93  sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source  92  being below a threshold. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  85  may enable the electrical ventilation blower  91  based upon the sensor  93  sensing the rechargeable electrical power source  92  being coupled to an external power source  97 . The vehicle remote climate controller  85  may comprise a multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 7 , a remote climate control system  120  for an electric vehicle  121  is now described. The electric vehicle  121  has a rechargeable battery  132 , although those of skill in the art will appreciate that the electric vehicle may have another rechargeable electrical power source, such as a capacitor, fuel cell, or flywheel/generator, in addition to or instead of the rechargeable battery. The electric vehicle  121  also has an electric motor  123  coupled to the rechargeable battery  132 . 
     The electric vehicle  121  further comprises an electrical heater  131  selectively powered by the rechargeable battery  132  and a sensor  133  associated with the rechargeable battery. The electrical heater  131  may be a resistive heater or other suitable heater as known to those of skill in the art. 
     The electric vehicle  121  may also include a security circuit  134  connected to the electrical heater  131 . The security circuit  134  selectively disables the electrical heater  131 . Those of skill in the art will appreciate that, in some applications, the security circuit  134  may selectively disable operation of a plurality of, or all of, the devices and functions of the electric vehicle  121 . The security circuit  134  may be considered as an ignition switch of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle. 
     The electric vehicle  121  has a data communications bus  130  extending throughout. The data communications bus  130  may extend through at least one of the engine compartment, the passenger compartment, and the trunk of the electric vehicle  121 . 
     The sensor  133  is coupled to the rechargeable battery  132  and reads the voltage thereof. The sensor  133  may, additionally or alternatively, be able to detect whether the rechargeable battery is connected to an external power source  137 . The external power source  137  may be an electrical socket or recharging station. 
     The electrical heater  131 , the sensor  133 , the security circuit  134 , and the combustion engine starter  36  are each coupled to the data communications bus  130  for communication thereover. Those of skill in the art will understand that each of the electrical heater  131 , the sensor  133 , and the security circuit  134  need not be on the data communications bus  130 . Indeed, one of, or a plurality of the electrical heater  131 , the sensor  133 , and the security circuit  134  may be on the data communications bus  130 . 
     The remote climate control system  120  includes a remote transmitter  138  and a receiver  122  positioned at the electric vehicle  121  for receiving signals from the remote transmitter. The remote climate control system  120  also includes a vehicle remote climate controller  125  to cooperate with the receiver  122 . Those of skill in the art will understand that the receiver  122  and the vehicle remote climate controller  125  may be associated together in a same housing. In fact the receiver  122  and the vehicle remote climate controller  125  may each be embodied on a same printed circuit board or even in a same integrated circuit. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  125  bypasses the security circuit  134  to enable operation of the electrical heater  131 . The security circuit  134  selectively disables the electrical heater  131 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  125  is coupled to the data communications bus  130  extending within the electric vehicle  121  for communication thereover to selectively operate the electrical heater  131  responsive to the sensor  133  and the remote transmitter  138 . The vehicle remote climate controller  125  selectively operates the electrical heater  131  responsive to the sensor  133  and the remote transmitter  138 . 
     The remote transmitter  138  may cause the vehicle remote climate controller  125  to heat the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  121  to a pre-set temperature. Alternatively, the remote transmitter  138  may have buttons that enable a user to set the temperature which the vehicle remote climate controller  125  is to heat the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  121  to. Additionally or alternatively, the remote transmitter  138  may have buttons that enable a user to select which of a plurality of pre-set temperatures the vehicle remote climate controller  125  is to heat the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  121  to. 
     The remote transmitter  138  may be a small portable unit including a housing, function control switches carried by the housing, a battery within the housing, and the associated wireless transmitter circuitry also within the housing. The communications from the remote transmitter  138  to the receiver  122  at the vehicle is typically a direct radio frequency link. In other words, there are no intervening communications links. However, in other embodiments, the remote transmitter  138  may indirectly communicate with the receiver  122  via other communications infrastructure, such as via satellite, or cellular communications, via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or over the World Wide Web or Internet, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. 
     The remote transmitter  138  may also include one or more central station transmitters, such as may be provided by a satellite transmitter or cellular telephone transmitter, for example. Such a central station transmitter may also be connected to other communications infrastructures. In some embodiments, the remote transmitter  138  may optionally include a remote receiver (not shown), such as to provide status information to the user relating to the temperature of the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  121 . 
     The remote transmitter  138  may be a common remote transmitter. By common remote transmitter, it is meant that the remote transmitter  138  may operate a plurality of electric vehicles  121 . Such a feature may be desirable to a driver who owns multiple electric vehicles  121  or to a rental car company, for example. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  125  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  126  which performs the signal processing and logic functions to control operation of the electrical heater  131 . The vehicle remote climate controller  125  also includes a bus interface  127  and a hardwire interface  128 . The bus interface  127  includes circuitry for interfacing to the proper signal levels and formats on the data communications bus  130  as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art without further discussion herein. 
     In some applications, the hardwire interface  128  is to directly interface with the sensor  133 , electrical heater  131 , and security circuit  134 . It should be understood that in these applications, one of the sensor  133 , security circuit  134 , and electrical heater  131  may each be directly connected to the hardwire interface  128 , or that a plurality of the sensor, security circuit, and electrical heater may be directly connected to the hardwire interface. 
     As stated above, the vehicle remote climate controller  125  selectively operates the electrical heater  131  responsive to the sensor  133  and the remote transmitter  138 . For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  125  may operate the electrical heater  131  if it receives, via the receiver  122 , a signal from the remote transmitter  138  causing it to do so. 
     If, during operation of the electrical heater  131 , the sensor  133  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  132  has fallen below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  125  may disable the electrical heater to conserve the voltage of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, if the vehicle remote climate controller  125  receives an instruction to activate the electrical heater  131 , but the sensor  133  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  132  is below a threshold voltage, the multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller  120  may not activate the electrical heater. This feature helps to prevent excessive discharging of the rechargeable battery  132 , due to operation of the heater  131 , that might leave a driver stranded and the electric vehicle  121  inoperable. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  125  may enable the electrical heater  131  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  132  being coupled to an external power source  137 . The external power source  137  may be an electrical socket, a recharging station, or other external power source as known to those skilled in the art. 
     In some applications, the electric vehicle may have a solar panel, such as on the roof thereof, coupled to the rechargeable battery  132 . The vehicle remote climate controller  125  may enable the electrical heater  131  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  132  being recharged by the solar panel. 
     Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the sensor  133  may also measure the current flowing in of or out of the rechargeable battery  132  and that the vehicle remote climate controller  125  may operate the electrical heater  131  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to voltages of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, the sensor  133  may measure the temperature of the rechargeable battery  132  and the vehicle remote climate controller  125  may operate the electrical heater  131  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to the voltage of the rechargeable batter. 
     A method of installing a remote climate controller  125  in an electric vehicle  121  is now described with reference to the flowchart  140  of  FIG. 2 . After the start (Block  142 ), at Block  144  a receiver  122  for receiving signals from a remote transmitter  138  is positioned at an electric vehicle  121 . The electric vehicle  121  comprises a rechargeable electrical power source  132  and an electrical heater  131  selectively powered thereby, a sensor  123  associated with the rechargeable electrical power source, and a data communications bus  130  extending throughout the electric vehicle. At least one of the electrical heater  131  and the sensor  133  is coupled to the data communications bus  130 . 
     At Block  146  a vehicle remote climate controller  125  is coupled to the data communications bus  130  extending within the electric vehicle  121  for communication thereover. The vehicle remote climate controller  125  is to cooperate with the receiver  122  to selectively operate the electrical heater  131  responsive to the sensor  133  and the remote transmitter  138 . Block  148  indicates the end of the method. 
     In other words, the method includes coupling a vehicle remote climate controller  125  to the data communications bus  130  extending within the electric vehicle  121  for communication thereover, the vehicle remote climate controller  125  to cooperate with a receiver  122  to selectively operate the electrical heater  131  responsive to the sensor  133  and the remote transmitter  138 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  125  may disable the electrical heater  131  based upon the sensor  133  sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source  132  being below a threshold. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  135  may enable the electrical heater  131  based upon the sensor  133  sensing the rechargeable electrical power source  132  being coupled to an external power source  137 . The vehicle remote climate controller  125  may comprise a multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 9 , a further embodiment of a remote climate control system  150  for an electric vehicle  151  is now described. The electric vehicle  151  has a rechargeable battery  162 , although those of skill in the art will appreciate that the electric vehicle may have another rechargeable electrical power source, such as a capacitor or flywheel/generator, in addition to or instead of the rechargeable battery. The electric vehicle  151  also has an electric motor  153  coupled to the rechargeable battery  162 . 
     The electric vehicle  151  further comprises an electrical air conditioning (AC) unit  161 , for example an AC compressor, selectively powered by the rechargeable battery  162 , a sensor  163  associated with the rechargeable battery, and an electric window motor  169 . It is to be understood that the sensor  163  is optional that, in some applications, it may not be present. 
     The electrical AC unit  161  may be a conventional AC compressor coupled to an electric motor via a belt or may be an AC compressor having an internal electric motor. In some embodiments, the electrical AC unit  161  may be a thermoelectric cooler or other suitable electric AC unit as known to those of skill in the art. 
     The electric vehicle  151  further comprises an electrical AC unit  161  selectively powered by the rechargeable battery  162 , a sensor  163  associated with the rechargeable battery, and an electric window motor  169 . The electrical AC unit  161  may be a conventional AC unit coupled to an electric motor via a belt or may be an AC unit having an internal electric motor. In some embodiments, there may be a thermoelectric cooler in addition to or instead of the electrical AC unit  161 . 
     The electric vehicle  151  may also include a security circuit  164  connected to the electrical AC unit  161 . The security circuit  164  selectively disables the electrical AC unit  161 . Those of skill in the art will appreciate that, in some applications, the security circuit  164  may selectively disable operation of a plurality of, or all of, the devices and functions of the electric vehicle  151 . The security circuit  164  may be considered as an ignition switch of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle. 
     The electric vehicle  151  has a data communications bus  160  extending throughout. The data communications bus  160  may extend through at least one of the engine compartment, the passenger compartment, and the trunk of the electric vehicle  151 . 
     The sensor  163  is coupled to the rechargeable battery  162  and reads the voltage thereof. The sensor  163  may, additionally or alternatively, be able to detect whether the rechargeable battery is connected to an external power source  167 . The external power source  167  may be an electrical socket or recharging station. 
     The electrical AC unit  161 , the sensor  163 , the security circuit  164 , and the window motor  169  are each coupled to the data communications bus  160  for communication thereover. Those of skill in the art will understand that each of the electrical AC unit  161 , the sensor  163 , the security circuit  164 , and the window motor  169  need not be on the data communications bus  160 . Indeed, one of, or a plurality of, the electrical AC unit  161 , the sensor  163 , the security circuit  164 , and the window motor  69  may be on the data communications bus  160 . 
     The remote climate control system  150  includes a remote transmitter  168  and a receiver  152  positioned at the electric vehicle  151  for receiving signals from the remote transmitter. The remote climate control system  150  also includes a vehicle remote climate controller  155  to cooperate with the receiver  152 . Those of skill in the art will understand that the receiver  152  and the vehicle remote climate controller  155  may be associated together in a same housing. In fact the receiver  152  and the vehicle remote climate controller  155  may each be embodied on a same printed circuit board or even in a same integrated circuit. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  155  bypasses the security circuit  164  to enable operation of the electrical AC unit  161 . The security circuit  164  selectively disables the electrical AC unit  161 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  155  is coupled to the data communications bus  160  extending within the electric vehicle  151  for communication thereover to selectively operate the electrical AC unit  161  responsive to the sensor  163  and the remote transmitter  168 . The vehicle remote climate controller  155  selectively operates the electrical AC unit  161  responsive to the sensor  163  and the remote transmitter  168 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  155  may selectively operate the window motor  169  to assist cooling the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  151 . For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  155  may operate the window motor  169  to open the window during operation of the electrical AC unit  161 . The electric vehicle  151  may have a rain sensor to detect precipitation. The rain sensor may be on the data bus  160 . The vehicle remote climate controller  155  may communicate with the rain sensor through the data bus  160  or through the hardwire interface  158 . If precipitation is detected, the vehicle remote climate controller  155  will not operate the window motor  169  to open the window. Similarly, if precipitation is detected while the window is open, the vehicle remote climate controller  155  will operate the window motor  169  to close the window. 
     The remote transmitter  168  may cause the vehicle remote climate controller  155  to cool the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  151  to a pre-set temperature. Alternatively, the remote transmitter  168  may have buttons that enable a user to set the temperature which the vehicle remote climate controller  155  is to cool the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  151  to. Additionally or alternatively, the remote transmitter  168  may have buttons that enable a user to select which of a plurality of pre-set temperatures the vehicle remote climate controller  155  is to cool the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  151  to. 
     The remote transmitter  168  may be a small portable unit including a housing, function control switches carried by the housing, a battery within the housing, and the associated wireless transmitter circuitry also within the housing. The communications from the remote transmitter  168  to the receiver  152  at the vehicle is typically a direct radio frequency link. In other words, there are no intervening communications links. However, in other embodiments, the remote transmitter  168  may indirectly communicate with the receiver  152  via other communications infrastructure, such as via satellite, or cellular communications, via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or over the World Wide Web or Internet, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. 
     The remote transmitter  168  may also include one or more central station transmitters, such as may be provided by a satellite transmitter or cellular telephone transmitter, for example. Such a central station transmitter may also be connected to other communications infrastructures. In some embodiments, the remote transmitter  168  may optionally include a remote receiver (not shown), such as to provide status information to the user relating to the temperature of the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  151 . 
     The remote transmitter  168  may be a common remote transmitter. By common remote transmitter, it is meant that the remote transmitter  168  may operate a plurality of electric vehicles  151 . Such a feature may be desirable to a driver who owns multiple electric vehicles  151  or to a rental car company, for example. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  155  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  156  which performs the signal processing and logic functions to control operation of the electrical AC unit  161 . The vehicle remote climate controller  155  also includes a bus interface  157  and a hardwire interface  158 . The bus interface  157  includes circuitry for interfacing to the proper signal levels and formats on the data communications bus  160  as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art without further discussion herein. 
     In some applications, the hardwire interface  158  is to directly interface with the sensor  163 , electrical AC unit  161 , security circuit  164 , and window motor  69 . It should be understood that in these applications, one of the sensor  163 , security circuit  164 , electrical AC unit  161 , and window motor  69  may each be directly connected to the hardwire interface  158 , or that a plurality of the sensor, security circuit, electrical heater, and window motor may be directly connected to the hardwire interface. 
     As stated above, the vehicle remote climate controller  125  selectively operates the electrical AC unit  161  responsive to the sensor  163  and the remote transmitter  168 . For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  155  may operate the electrical AC unit  161  if it receives, via the receiver  152 , a signal from the remote transmitter  168  causing it to do so. 
     If, during operation of the electrical AC unit  161 , the sensor  163  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  162  has fallen below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  155  may disable the electrical AC unit to conserve the voltage of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, if the vehicle remote climate controller  125  receives an instruction to activate the electrical AC unit  161 , but the sensor  163  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  162  is below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  155  may not activate the electrical AC unit. This feature helps to prevent excessive discharging of the rechargeable battery  162 , due to operation of the electrical AC unit  161 , that might leave a driver stranded and the electric vehicle  151  inoperable. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  155  may enable the electrical AC unit  161  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  162  being coupled to an external power source  167 . The external power source  167  may be an electrical socket, a recharging station, or other external power source as known to those skilled in the art. 
     In some applications, the electric vehicle may have a solar panel, such as on the roof thereof, coupled to the rechargeable battery  162 . The vehicle remote climate controller  155  may enable the electrical AC unit  161  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  162  being recharged by the solar panel. 
     Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the sensor  163  may also measure the current flowing in of or out of the rechargeable battery  162  and that the vehicle remote climate controller  155  may operate the electrical AC unit  161  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to voltages of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, the sensor  163  may measure the temperature of the rechargeable battery  162  and the vehicle remote climate controller  155  may operate the electrical AC unit  161  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to the voltage of the rechargeable batter. 
     A method of installing a remote climate controller  155  in an electric vehicle  151  is now described with reference to the flowchart  170  of  FIG. 10 . After the start (Block  172 ), at Block  74  a receiver  152  for receiving signals from a remote transmitter  168  is positioned at an electric vehicle  151 . The electric vehicle  151  comprises a rechargeable electrical power source  132  and an electrical AC unit  161  selectively powered thereby, a sensor  163  associated with the rechargeable electrical power source, and a data communications bus  160  extending throughout the electric vehicle. At least one of the electrical AC unit  161  and the sensor  163  is coupled to the data communications bus  160 . 
     At Block  176  a vehicle remote climate controller  155  is coupled to the data communications bus  160  extending within the electric vehicle  151  for communication thereover. The vehicle remote climate controller  155  is to cooperate with the receiver  152  to selectively operate the electrical AC unit  161  responsive to the sensor  163  and the remote transmitter  168 . Block  178  indicates the end of the method. 
     In other words, the method includes coupling a vehicle remote climate controller  155  to the data communications bus  160  extending within the electric vehicle  151  for communication thereover, the vehicle remote climate controller  155  to cooperate with a receiver  152  to selectively operate the electrical AC unit  161  responsive to the sensor  163  and the remote transmitter  168 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  155  may disable the electrical AC unit  161  based upon the sensor  163  sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source  162  being below a threshold. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  155  may enable the electrical AC unit  161  based upon the sensor  163  sensing the rechargeable electrical power source  162  being coupled to an external power source  167 . The vehicle remote climate controller  155  may comprise a multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 11 , still another embodiment of a remote climate control system  180  for an electric vehicle  181  is now described. The electric vehicle  181  has a rechargeable battery  192 , although those of skill in the art will appreciate that the electric vehicle may have another rechargeable electrical power source, such as a capacitor, fuel cell, or flywheel/generator, in addition to or instead of the rechargeable battery. The electric vehicle  181  also includes an electric motor  183  coupled to the rechargeable battery  192 . 
     The electric vehicle  181  further comprises an electrical ventilation blower  191  selectively powered by the rechargeable battery  192 , a sensor  193  associated with the rechargeable battery, and an electric window motor  199 . It is to be understood that the sensor  193  is optional and that, in some applications, will not be present. 
     The electrical ventilation blower  191  may be a conventional blower coupled to an electric motor via a belt or may be an electrical ventilation blower having an internal electric motor. It should be understood that the electric ventilation blower  191  merely blows ambient outside air into the passenger compartment of the vehicle and does not actively cool the air, as would an electric AC unit. It may be advantageous to use the electrical ventilation blower  191  to cool the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  181  as opposed to an electrical AC unit such as an electrical AC unit because the electrical ventilation blower may consume less electricity. 
     The electric vehicle  181  may also include a security circuit  194  connected to the electrical ventilation blower  191 . The security  194  circuit selectively disables the electrical ventilation blower  191 . Those of skill in the art will appreciate that, in some applications, the security circuit  194  may selectively disable operation of a plurality of, or all of, the devices and functions of the electric vehicle  181 . The security circuit  194  may be considered as an ignition switch of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle. 
     The electric vehicle  181  has a data communications bus  190  extending throughout. The data communications bus  190  may extend through at least one of the engine compartment, the passenger compartment, and the trunk of the electric vehicle  181 . 
     The sensor  193  is coupled to the rechargeable battery  192  and reads the voltage thereof. The sensor  193  may, additionally or alternatively, be able to detect whether the rechargeable battery is connected to an external power source  197 . The external power source  197  may be an electrical socket or recharging station. 
     The electrical ventilation blower  191 , the sensor  193 , the security circuit  194 , and the window motor  199  are each coupled to the data communications bus  190  for communication thereover. Those of skill in the art will understand that each of the electrical ventilation blower  191 , the sensor  193 , the security circuit  194 , the combustion engine starter  96 , and the window motor  199  need not be on the data communications bus  190 . Indeed, one of, or a plurality of, the electrical ventilation blower  191 , the sensor  193 , the security circuit  194  and the window motor  199  may be on the data communications bus  190 . 
     The remote climate control system  180  includes a remote transmitter  198  and a receiver  182  positioned at the electric vehicle  181  for receiving signals from the remote transmitter. The remote climate control system  180  also includes a vehicle remote climate controller  185  to cooperate with the receiver  182 . Those of skill in the art will understand that the receiver  182  and the vehicle remote climate controller  185  may be associated together in a same housing. In fact the receiver  182  and the vehicle remote climate controller  185  may each be embodied on a same printed circuit board or even in a same integrated circuit. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  185  bypasses the security circuit  194  to enable operation of the electrical ventilation blower  191 . The security circuit  194  selectively disables the electrical ventilation blower  191 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  185  is coupled to the data communications bus  190  extending within the electric vehicle  181  for communication thereover to selectively operate the electrical ventilation blower  191  responsive to the sensor  193  and the remote transmitter  198 . The vehicle remote climate controller  185  selectively operates the electrical ventilation blower  191  responsive to the sensor  193  and the remote transmitter  198 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  185  may selectively operate the window motor  199  to assist cooling the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  181 . For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  185  may operate the window motor  199  to open the window during operation of the electrical ventilation blower  191 . The electric vehicle  181  may have a rain sensor to detect precipitation. The rain sensor may be on the data bus  190 . The vehicle remote climate controller  185  may communicate with the rain sensor through the data bus  190  or through the hardwire interface  188 . If precipitation is detected, the vehicle remote climate controller  185  will not operate the window motor  199  to open the window. Similarly, if precipitation is detected while the window is open, the vehicle remote climate controller  185  will operate the window motor  199  to close the window. 
     The remote transmitter  198  may cause the vehicle remote climate controller  185  to cool the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  181  to a pre-set temperature. Alternatively, the remote transmitter  198  may have buttons that enable a user to set the temperature which the vehicle remote climate controller  185  is to cool the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  181  to. Additionally or alternatively, the remote transmitter  198  may have buttons that enable a user to select which of a plurality of pre-set temperatures the vehicle remote climate controller  185  is to cool the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  181  to. 
     The remote transmitter  198  may be a small portable unit including a housing, function control switches carried by the housing, a battery within the housing, and the associated wireless transmitter circuitry also within the housing. The communications from the remote transmitter  198  to the receiver  182  at the vehicle is typically a direct radio frequency link. In other words, there are no intervening communications links. However, in other embodiments, the remote transmitter  198  may indirectly communicate with the receiver  182  via other communications infrastructure, such as via satellite, or cellular communications, via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or over the World Wide Web or Internet, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. 
     The remote transmitter  198  may also include one or more central station transmitters, such as may be provided by a satellite transmitter or cellular telephone transmitter, for example. Such a central station transmitter may also be connected to other communications infrastructures. In some embodiments, the remote transmitter  198  may optionally include a remote receiver (not shown), such as to provide status information to the user relating to the temperature of the passenger compartment of the electric vehicle  181 . 
     The remote transmitter  198  may be a common remote transmitter. By common remote transmitter, it is meant that the remote transmitter  198  may operate a plurality of electric vehicles  181 . Such a feature may be desirable to a driver who owns multiple electric vehicles  181  or to a rental car company, for example. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  185  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  186  which performs the signal processing and logic functions to control operation of the electrical ventilation blower  191 . The vehicle remote climate controller  185  also includes a bus interface  187  and a hardwire interface  188 . The bus interface  187  includes circuitry for interfacing to the proper signal levels and formats on the data communications bus  190  as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art without further discussion herein. 
     In some applications, the hardwire interface  188  is to directly interface with the sensor  193 , electrical ventilation blower  191 , security circuit  194 , combustion engine starter  96 , and window motor  199 . It should be understood that in these applications, one of the sensor  193 , security circuit  194 , electrical ventilation blower  191 , and window motor  199  may each be directly connected to the hardwire interface  188 , or that a plurality of the sensor, security circuit, electrical heater, combustion engine starter, and window motor may be directly connected to the hardwire interface. 
     As stated above, the vehicle remote climate controller  125  selectively operates the electrical ventilation blower  191  responsive to the sensor  193  and the remote transmitter  198 . For example, the vehicle remote climate controller  185  may operate the electrical ventilation blower  191  if it receives, via the receiver  182 , a signal from the remote transmitter  198  instructing it to do so. 
     If, during operation of the electrical ventilation blower  191 , the sensor  193  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  192  has fallen below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  185  may disable the electrical ventilation blower to conserve the voltage of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, if the vehicle remote climate controller  125  receives an instruction to activate the electrical ventilation blower  191 , but the sensor  193  senses that the voltage of the rechargeable battery  192  is below a threshold voltage, the vehicle remote climate controller  185  may not activate the electrical ventilation blower. This feature helps to prevent excessive discharging of the rechargeable battery  192 , due to operation of the electrical ventilation blower  191 , that might leave a driver stranded and the electric vehicle  181  inoperable. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  185  may enable the electrical ventilation blower  191  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  192  being coupled to an external power source  197 . The external power source  197  may be an electrical socket, a recharging station, or other external power source as known to those skilled in the art. 
     In some applications, the electric vehicle may have a solar panel, such as on the roof thereof, coupled to the rechargeable battery  192 . The vehicle remote climate controller  185  may enable the electrical ventilation blower  191  based upon the sensor sensing the rechargeable battery  192  being recharged by the solar panel. 
     Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the sensor  193  may also measure the current flowing in of or out of the rechargeable battery  192  and that the vehicle remote climate controller  185  may operate the electrical ventilation blower  191  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to voltages of the rechargeable battery. Similarly, the sensor  193  may measure the temperature of the rechargeable battery  192  and the vehicle remote climate controller  185  may operate the electrical ventilation blower  191  based thereupon in the same manner as described above with reference to the voltage of the rechargeable batter. 
     A method of installing a remote climate controller  185  in an electric vehicle  181  is now described with reference to the flowchart  100  of  FIG. 12 . After the start (Block  202 ), at Block  204  a receiver  182  for receiving signals from a remote transmitter  198  is positioned at an electric vehicle  181 . The electric vehicle  181  comprises a rechargeable electrical power source  132  and an electrical ventilation blower  191  selectively powered thereby, a sensor  193  associated with the rechargeable electrical power source, and a data communications bus  190  extending throughout the electric vehicle. At least one of the electrical ventilation blower  191  and the sensor  193  is coupled to the data communications bus  190 . 
     At Block  206  a vehicle remote climate controller  185  is coupled to the data communications bus  190  extending within the electric vehicle  181  for communication thereover. The vehicle remote climate controller  185  is to cooperate with the receiver  182  to selectively operate the electrical ventilation blower  191  responsive to the sensor  193  and the remote transmitter  198 . Block  208  indicates the end of the method. 
     In other words, the method includes coupling a vehicle remote climate controller  185  to the data communications bus  190  extending within the electric vehicle  181  for communication thereover, the vehicle remote climate controller  185  to cooperate with a receiver  182  to selectively operate the electrical ventilation blower  191  responsive to the sensor  193  and the remote transmitter  198 . 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  185  may disable the electrical ventilation blower  191  based upon the sensor  193  sensing a voltage of the rechargeable electrical power source  192  being below a threshold. 
     The vehicle remote climate controller  185  may enable the electrical ventilation blower  191  based upon the sensor  193  sensing the rechargeable electrical power source  192  being coupled to an external power source  197 . The vehicle remote climate controller  185  may comprise a multi-vehicle compatible remote climate controller. 
     Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to the mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications and embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.