Patent ID: 8672022

Claim:
A method for pre-climatizing a stopped motor vehicle using a heating and/or cooling unit, which draws energy for heating and/or cooling from an electric storage unit, the method comprising the acts of: operating the heating and/or cooling unit in at least two output stages, wherein (i) when the heating and/or cooling unit is activated by a vehicle external operator control element in a stopped state of the motor vehicle, using a first output stage, wherein when each of a charge state of the electric storage unit is above a predetermined level and when an outside temperature is much less than an interior temperature of the vehicle, the first stage comprises performing both, in a first step, a flushing process of the interior of the vehicle and, in a second step, operating the heating and/or cooling unit at a first capacity; and (ii) switching the heating and/or cooling unit from the first output stage into a second output stage as a function of predetermined conditions, where the second output stage comprises operating the heating and/or cooling unit at a second capacity which is higher than the first capacity.