Discussion
Never noticed any difference, because it's never turned on/off, just left on auto set at 21c... It obviously uses some power but once a car is at the required temperature, it uses very little power to maintain that temperature.
The question of heating and cooling EV's does get brought up on here quite often, normally by people that are a bit confused and genuinythink EV drivers have to wear a coat in the car in winter
But in reality I've not heard from a single EV driver on or off the forum who treats the climate control in their EV any differently to how they used to in past ICE cars. It's just not something you ever think about really.
The question of heating and cooling EV's does get brought up on here quite often, normally by people that are a bit confused and genuinythink EV drivers have to wear a coat in the car in winter
But in reality I've not heard from a single EV driver on or off the forum who treats the climate control in their EV any differently to how they used to in past ICE cars. It's just not something you ever think about really.
Saleen836 said:
This isn't a dig or anything just curious to know if during the week of hot weather using your air-con made much/any difference to your usual range?
My current EV gets an average of about 200 miles per full charge and with the air con on, it uses around 10 miles/5% of range. And it doesn't sap the power at all, unlike my previous EcoBoost Fiesta which would lose around 35-40 miles/10% of range; It felt noticeably slower when the air con was on.One thing I've noticed is when the temperature in the car is warmer than the outside temperature, putting the air circulation to pull in external air cools it faster. Once at a cooler temperature, I'll change the air circulation to recirculate interior air and it uses barely any power and feels cooler too.
Old school ICE Air-conditioner pumps have a clutch, so are effectively turn-off most of the time in the UK. The same is true off EV (although a relay rather than a clutch maybe). Some EVs do cool the battery's using the Aircon so that might add a little to the load, but unless it's a very hot day then the pump is not going to be working that hard or sucking much juice.
raspy said:
Same here. If you have a well designed EV then putting AC on won't make much difference.
This is something that has puzzled me ever since touch screens became the norm. Why do motoring journos make a point of saying how complex the temperature is the change?
Can't remember when I last changed mine.
In respect of the air con itself: It's best just to leave it on all the time anyway.
I check the power taken by heating/cooling (anorak 
).
In extremes we have encountered (40 or -20 degrees) the default settings can require ~4kW (from memory) and fine-tuning can drop this to less than half without sacrificing comfort.
Not a game changer on motorway (~25kW to move the car), but on secondary roads (~12kW to motors) the difference is quite pronounced.
).In extremes we have encountered (40 or -20 degrees) the default settings can require ~4kW (from memory) and fine-tuning can drop this to less than half without sacrificing comfort.
Not a game changer on motorway (~25kW to move the car), but on secondary roads (~12kW to motors) the difference is quite pronounced.
I have mine @ 19c, the AC is always on (not sure how I turn it off tbh - Tesla MY) only ever changed it when the missus has been driving as, having had the car for 2 years\20K miles it doesn't appear to have a massive affect on range most recent long trip was 280 mile round trip to Manchester.
Paul Drawmer said:
This is something that has puzzled me ever since touch screens became the norm.
Why do motoring journos make a point of saying how complex the temperature is the change?
Can't remember when I last changed mine.
In respect of the air con itself: It's best just to leave it on all the time anyway.
It puzzlese too. I've asked a few members that go on about a lack of physical controls here, and they claim they like to be able to have it warmer sometimes than other times... Or to give a blast of heat or cold to 'get it right' quickly.Why do motoring journos make a point of saying how complex the temperature is the change?
Can't remember when I last changed mine.
In respect of the air con itself: It's best just to leave it on all the time anyway.
But pretty much all cars modern enough to have screens instead of buttons automatically blast hot/cold to reach the target pressure as quickly as possible.
As for sometimes liking different temperature... I don't believe these same people are constantly adjusting their home thermostat. It's also not remotely difficult on a screen to tap the temp +/- buttons once in a blue moon if you suddenly decide you want to spend the day hotter than usual.
Aircon is permanently on in any car for me. On the extremely melty bank holiday Monday, we did 260 miles in one battery going from Midlands to Norfolk and back, generally doing 50-60 as its mostly single carriageway. Tesla Model 3 RWD SR, 57kwh battery. Left the air-con running for 30 mins during a quick stop in the afternoon as it was just boiling.
Barely any hit to range compared to winter where the heating uses more energy as well as warming up the battery.
Barely any hit to range compared to winter where the heating uses more energy as well as warming up the battery.
it's always on, but it does have to work harder if you've set the cabin temprature to say 17c when its 33c outside.
I thought consumption was a little higher last week, it seems to be at its best in the low 20's, but it wasn't bymuch and could just as easily been down to the car coping with other heat related factors such as higher tyre pressures, hotter battery, etc
I thought consumption was a little higher last week, it seems to be at its best in the low 20's, but it wasn't bymuch and could just as easily been down to the car coping with other heat related factors such as higher tyre pressures, hotter battery, etc
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