Not sure if you saw this comment on the Gravity A/C from the owner who recently took delivery of the Dream Gravity. It might very well be a lot better than Air, but seems like there are still some opportunities.
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Not sure if you saw this comment on the Gravity A/C from the owner who recently took delivery of the Dream Gravity. It might very well be a lot better than Air, but seems like there are still some opportunities.
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I only have my own anecdotal experience. But at one point I owned two similar vehicles, one a dark red, the other white, and it was remarkable how much cooler the white one was after being parked side by side in the sun. Obviously you'd expect the AC to keep up when it was running. But with an EV, you'd also have to expect some incremental range drop from that.
After that experience with the two colors, and owning dogs, we now only buy white cars. That said, I've never owned a vehicle with a pet mode that will run the A/C while the car is parked.
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Vin'd just now. SA shared that I should expect delivery towards EOM.
Have you seen similar studies on the interior?
Anecdotally, I feel like the white seats in Tesla Model 3 make a difference vs. black on the heat inside.
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I haven't.
This isn’t maybe the most scientific study as there seem to be a mix of seating materials (and maybe some shadows at the end), but I though it was an interesting test.
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Well, that was a bit unexpected. Maybe my choice of an Abyss Black Gravity with the Yosemite interior wasn't such a bad choice for south Florida.
We also have an Aurora Green / Tahoe Gravity on order. When they're both here maybe I can run a similar test.
After you first asked the question about interiors I did a bit of internet searching. While I didn't find any controlled studies such as the ones on the effect of exterior colors, I did find quite a few AI answers and anecdotal reports on the effect of interior colors. But I really didn't know what to make of them. They said that dark interiors absorb more heat and make the interiors hotter than light interiors that reflect the light. That certainly would seem right for the seat surfaces themselves. However, when a lighter seat reflects more light energy, that energy has to go somewhere. I wasn't sure whether it would pass back through the glass or whether some of it would still contribute to raising the ambient interior temperature.
The original question raised here was about all the black Gravities going to Saudi Arabia. But I had earlier noticed from the drone flyovers that a large number of them had the Yosemite interior. Much bedouin garb is in dark colors that supposedly help deal with desert heat. Maybe the Saudis know more about how to configure a car for hot desert conditions than we think?
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So… complete guess and fabrications?
This is true! I spent some time with a bunch of Bedouin in the Negev desert for a while (long story), and they were incredible people who made the absolute best coffee.
I asked about the black robes; they wear it because it makes them sweat, and in the desert, sweating is how you cool off. Every breeze feels like A/C when your skin is wet/moist. The cooling happens by convection; either through a bellows action, as the robes flow in the wind, or by a chimney sort of effect, as air rises between robe and skin. That’s why their robes are always very loose; lots of air flow.
The wind convects the heat away faster from the body than it is absorbed. White clothing reflects sunlight, but also reflects internal heat back towards your body, so the net effect under identical conditions is less cooling than if you wore black.
They also herd and keep black goats.
The catch is, nobody is sweating in their vehicles, because they have A/C.
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So after that informative information by Borski, I go back to my original question. Why would anyone want to order a black car in Saudi when the temperatures can go up to 115-120 degrees?So… complete guess and fabrications?
This is true! I spent some time with a bunch of Bedouin in the Negev desert for a while (long story), and they were incredible people who made the absolute best coffee.
I asked about the black robes; they wear it because it makes them sweat, and in the desert, sweating is how you cool off. Every breeze feels like A/C when your skin is wet/moist. The cooling happens by convection; either through a bellows action, as the robes flow in the wind, or by a chimney sort of effect, as air rises between robe and skin. That’s why their robes are always very loose; lots of air flow.
The wind convects the heat away faster from the body than it is absorbed. White clothing reflects sunlight, but also reflects internal heat back towards your body, so the net effect under identical conditions is less cooling than if you wore black.
They also herd and keep black goats.
The catch is, nobody is sweating in their vehicles, because they have A/C.
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Agreed - if your car starts sweating, you've got a problem!
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Based on the video @bbargfr2 posted, it might be more of a question not just of exterior color but of the exterior/interior color combo. Dark/dark has the most heat gain. Light/light has the least. But light exterior / dark interior can get hotter than dark exterior / light interior. And a lot of those cars bound for KSA have light interiors.
Also, maybe most people think a vehicle such as the Gravity looks better in dark colors. With more heat gain through the large glass surfaces than the metal panels of the Gravity, black might not matter that much in terms of heat gain.
And, as @borski points out, with A/C it just isn't a concern, with buyers placing more priority on the aesthetics they desire than worry about A/C load and its effect on range.
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I couldn't find those comments, but what did you notice improved from your early production unit and the replacement?
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Due to an error in the curing time of the composite trunk lids, the lid of our first Air (No. 154). was slightly warped to the point that it rubbed paint off the top of the bumper. That problem was resolved by the second Air (No. 395).
The first Air had a small untinted rectangle at the bottom right of the windshield that allowed radar signals to pass for things such at toll readers of radar detectors. The windshield on the second Air had a different tinting that did not require this window and you more flexibility in placing such devices.
The trim piece at the top of the trunk where it met the rear glass on the first car came detached twice, due to faulty adhesive. That problem was corrected on the second car.
The backlit "LUCID" name on the front hood blade was prone to chipping on the first car and had to be replaced, something that required several days at a service center to remove the bumper and recalibrate the lidar. The "LUCID" on the second ca has held up well, suggesting that had been corrected.
The A/C temp and fan speed toggle switches on both the first and second car were a bit out of alignment and felt flimsy due to weak detents. The toggle panel was eventually replaced on the second car with a more precise unit, suggesting that problem had been corrected.
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(Ran out of edit time) . . . Addendum to above post:
For context, I've seen similar problems with early-production cars from established automakers with strong quality reputations.
A 2011 Honda Odyssey (an early-production 5th generation model) was delivered with a windshield distortion that ran down the right side of the windshield. And its transmission shift algorithm was faulty, something thet took Honda almost a year to correct with a software change. A 2004 new-generation Mercedes SL55 AMG was delivered with more problems than I'll take time to recount here, but the worst of them was a brake-by-wire system that failed twice and that Mercedes took out of production within two years. A 2000 new model Jaguar S-Type had a transmission problem that failed in many cars within months, mine included. A new model Audi R8 had a suspension sensor failure on the way home from the dealership. A 1997 new-generation Corvette had so many failures that eight months after purchase I abandoned it on the side of I-95, called a tow truck, and never got in it again.
At the end of the day, I remain very impressed that the first model of a car packed with as much new technology as the Air from a brand new automaker had so few hardware issues. (I'll leave the software nightmares of UX 1.0 aside for this discussion.)
But I'm still glad our Gravities won't be among the first off the production line.
For context, I've seen similar problems with early-production cars from established automakers with strong quality reputations.
A 2011 Honda Odyssey (an early-production 5th generation model) was delivered with a windshield distortion that ran down the right side of the windshield. And its transmission shift algorithm was faulty, something thet took Honda almost a year to correct with a software change. A 2004 new-generation Mercedes SL55 AMG was delivered with more problems than I'll take time to recount here, but the worst of them was a brake-by-wire system that failed twice and that Mercedes took out of production within two years. A 2000 new model Jaguar S-Type had a transmission problem that failed in many cars within months, mine included. A new model Audi R8 had a suspension sensor failure on the way home from the dealership. A 1997 new-generation Corvette had so many failures that eight months after purchase I abandoned it on the side of I-95, called a tow truck, and never got in it again.
At the end of the day, I remain very impressed that the first model of a car packed with as much new technology as the Air from a brand new automaker had so few hardware issues. (I'll leave the software nightmares of UX 1.0 aside for this discussion.)
But I'm still glad our Gravities won't be among the first off the production line.
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