RESOLVED AC blowing hot air

[NewLucid207]

Hi - new Lucid owner (owned for less than a month) - only major issue I've discovered with my new Touring is that the AC does not work well. Every time I turn the car on, the AC works in one of three ways:

1. It will work fine and blow cold air
2. It will blow ambient/warm air
3. It will blow hot air

It's always a roll of the dice on which one I'll get it and there doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason. I'm sure this not user error (i put the temp at 59 and make sure the AC button is engaged). Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I put in a ticket and have a service appointment in three weeks (wasn't thrilled about the wait time on the appointment), but was curious of there was any kind of fix in the meantime.

Appreciate it - thanks!

 

[sk8ndad]

I just set my desired temp and let it decide if I need hot or cold air to get there...

 

[Bobby]

Hi - new Lucid owner (owned for less than a month) - only major issue I've discovered with my new Touring is that the AC does not work well. Every time I turn the car on, the AC works in one of three ways:

1. It will work fine and blow cold air
2. It will blow ambient/warm air
3. It will blow hot air

It's always a roll of the dice on which one I'll get it and there doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason. I'm sure this not user error (i put the temp at 59 and make sure the AC button is engaged). Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I put in a ticket and have a service appointment in three weeks (wasn't thrilled about the wait time on the appointment), but was curious of there was any kind of fix in the meantime.

Appreciate it - thanks!

Another forum member once reported that the refrigerant charge was low in his car and it could cause this problem. I would suggest a service call.

 

[menodude]

Hi - new Lucid owner (owned for less than a month) - only major issue I've discovered with my new Touring is that the AC does not work well. Every time I turn the car on, the AC works in one of three ways:

1. It will work fine and blow cold air
2. It will blow ambient/warm air
3. It will blow hot air

It's always a roll of the dice on which one I'll get it and there doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason. I'm sure this not user error (i put the temp at 59 and make sure the AC button is engaged). Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I put in a ticket and have a service appointment in three weeks (wasn't thrilled about the wait time on the appointment), but was curious of there was any kind of fix in the meantime.

Appreciate it - thanks!

Yes, I just got my vehicle in march and noticed the same, thought I was not doing something right, will monitor before I put in a ticket.

 

[Sam6062]

I have had my GT since June 22 and I am sticking to my view that the AC itself and the software to control it are a major weakness of Lucid AND they undersized the compressor and there is nothing they can do to improve it.

They even took my car to Houston and supposedly flew in Engineers from Arizona to look into it. I have photos from them with all kinds of probes hooked to the Car and they said performing as designed (does not mean it works well).
My unit also has a mind of its own it can start in defrost mode which is its favorite thing to do when I first get in to Drive the Car. The AC button is off and no cold air blows until you set it back up.
We just have to live with that one but I would call service and have it checked out.

Once again it was not due to lack of service. It’s just a bad design. They even hooked up a laptop and did a complete reset of the AC system on the Car too.

 

[GMan]

I have had my GT since June 22 and I am sticking to my view that the AC itself and the software to control it are a major weakness of Lucid AND they undersized the compressor and there is nothing they can do to improve it.

They even took my car to Houston and supposedly flew in Engineers from Arizona to look into it. I have photos from them with all kinds of probes hooked to the Car and they said performing as designed (does not mean it works well).
My unit also has a mind of its own it can start in defrost mode which is its favorite thing to do when I first get in to Drive the Car. The AC button is off and no cold air blows until you set it back up.
We just have to live with that one but I would call service and have it checked out.

Once again it was not due to lack of service. It’s just a bad design. They even hooked up a laptop and did a complete reset of the AC system on the Car too.

This is my sleeper concern of the Gravity, and I hope they are planning to address it. Living in Nevada I can attest to the fact that the AC is adequate at best for me, and I prefer warmer temps including inside my home. However, the rest of my family want the same AC experience as ICE vehicles - COLD air with STRONG fan speed when they ask for it.

My guess is owners would be willing to give up more battery drain for a larger compressor. Same for heat, for the northern states.

 

[borski]

I have had my GT since June 22 and I am sticking to my view that the AC itself and the software to control it are a major weakness of Lucid AND they undersized the compressor and there is nothing they can do to improve it.

They even took my car to Houston and supposedly flew in Engineers from Arizona to look into it. I have photos from them with all kinds of probes hooked to the Car and they said performing as designed (does not mean it works well).
My unit also has a mind of its own it can start in defrost mode which is its favorite thing to do when I first get in to Drive the Car. The AC button is off and no cold air blows until you set it back up.
We just have to live with that one but I would call service and have it checked out.

Once again it was not due to lack of service. It’s just a bad design. They even hooked up a laptop and did a complete reset of the AC system on the Car too.

I believe it does the defrost thing on especially hot days to cool the back of the screen. It stops after a few minutes.

I have no issues with the AC, especially with the ventilated seats, but I’m in NorCal and it isn’t normally 100 degrees or anything.

 

[Adnillien]

From the WunderBox tech talk, there is a 10kW medium power inverter for battery, motor and cabin cooling. That is about the same as two of the AC units on my house combined. I don't know the split between battery and cabin but the only time I have seen an issue is during DC ast charging in the summer. I agree on the defroster, when that happens I cycle through the modes and then turn it back to Auto.

 

[Sam6062]

I believe it does the defrost thing on especially hot days to cool the back of the screen. It stops after a few minutes.

I have no issues with the AC, especially with the ventilated seats, but I’m in NorCal and it isn’t normally 100 degrees or anything.

Good point on the defrost. I will try to let it go the next time and see if it does the same for me.

I have no problem with the AC if it’s below 90 degrees. The ventilated seats don’t seem to do much for me and it’s the same on my other car, I keep that off.

I believe the precook feature or keep cool feature could help a bit. If the Car is Cool then it is tolerable. I suppose we like it colder than most people and I live in Texas.

 

[borski]

The ventilated seats don’t seem to do much for me and it’s the same on my other car, I keep that off.

Have you tried having them on while turning on the foot AC? It helps a lot.

 

[joec]

I never use Auto. I just crank the temp and fans up and down as needed. Doesn’t seem to be a problem for me.

I pay no attention to the actual temp numbers, either. If I have to set it to 60 to be comfortable, I set it to 60.

Summer is coming, and I haven’t seen too many super hot days yet. But I have yet to not be able to get the car plenty cool enough.

 

[LucidMike]

Don’t know how many folks know this but you can tell Alexa to turn the temperature up or down.

 

[DreamTour]

My car has the same issue, bringing it in next week for a more detailed inspection. on a 74 degree day the cabin won't drop below 90 degrees without opening the windows. Supposedly they tested the compressor last time. Seems like no refriedgerant.

 

[ViperSSD]

I've definitely noticed this in my car as well, remote starting it when the cabin temp was at 125 and more than 20 min later, it's at 80....I asked service to look at it but I'm doubting they'll find anything based on this and other threads.
I honestly don't know if it's a system problem as designed, the air coming out of the vents is really not that cold....seems more like a compressor or refrigerant problem

 

[GMan]

I've definitely noticed this in my car as well, remote starting it when the cabin temp was at 125 and more than 20 min later, it's at 80....I asked service to look at it but I'm doubting they'll find anything based on this and other threads.
I honestly don't know if it's a system problem as designed, the air coming out of the vents is really not that cold....seems more like a compressor or refrigerant problem

In this forum, a few individuals have reported low refrigerant in their units, easily solved via Service.

 

[rkw]

I just got my Lucid Air Touring on June 20th.
The AC did not work. Blows hot air. The car was picked up by Lucid the next day. It is in their shop. I am told that it will be fixed and returned promptly! I drove the car the car about 20 miles! Will try to update after I get the car back! Not what one expects from a Luxury car!
RKW

 

[NewLucid207]

I forgot to close the loop on my initial post. I brought my car to a service center and they confirmed the AC was not working well. They replaced the compressor and the AC has been working very well since - it actually cools better than I expected it would.

 

[rkw]

I just got my Lucid Air Touring on June 20th.
The AC did not work. Blows hot air. The car was picked up by Lucid the next day. It is in their shop. I am told that it will be fixed and returned promptly! I drove the car the car about 20 miles! Will try to update after I get the car back! Not what one expects from a Luxury car!
RKW

Update:
I got the car back today after a week. Apparently there was a coolant leak. A tubing needed replacement. The part was sent overnight and the problem was fixed.
I have not driven the car yet. But the AC was blowing cold air as I took delivery! A good sign.
The car was delivered in a covered truck, from Lucid facility, a 4 hr drive!
Once I drive the car around I will be able to comment more.

 

[blueice89]

I have had my GT since June 22 and I am sticking to my view that the AC itself and the software to control it are a major weakness of Lucid AND they undersized the compressor and there is nothing they can do to improve it.

They even took my car to Houston and supposedly flew in Engineers from Arizona to look into it. I have photos from them with all kinds of probes hooked to the Car and they said performing as designed (does not mean it works well).
My unit also has a mind of its own it can start in defrost mode which is its favorite thing to do when I first get in to Drive the Car. The AC button is off and no cold air blows until you set it back up.
We just have to live with that one but I would call service and have it checked out.

Once again it was not due to lack of service. It’s just a bad design. They even hooked up a laptop and did a complete reset of the AC system on the Car too.

I think all our ACs have a mind of its own :

Sometimes it works perfectly fine,
Sometimes it blows air to the winshield first
Sometimes it reverts to blowing air to the front .
Sometimes it’s like the AC function isn’t on and not blowing cold air.
The software functions for controlling AC could use some work

 

[blueice89]

I never use Auto. I just crank the temp and fans up and down as needed. Doesn’t seem to be a problem for me.

I pay no attention to the actual temp numbers, either. If I have to set it to 60 to be comfortable, I set it to 60.

Summer is coming, and I haven’t seen too many super hot days yet. But I have yet to not be able to get the car plenty cool enough.

Interesting all I use is auto mostly except rear then I get paranoid