Climate keep fan-only mode

[segbrk]

I have no choice but to leave my car outside in the sun all day. No parking garage at work, barely any shade trees, just egg-fryingly hot pavement. I use both the overhead and windshield sun shades, and I put the side and rear built-in shades up. I've still seen the inside temperature reach over 140ºF, and I know the outside temperatures here aren't even close to what some of you (looking at you Arizona and Saudi owners) deal with.

I've tried turning on Climate Keep all day, setting the temperature to 80ºF or so hoping it will keep things from melting. No dice. Not only could it not beat the heat, it tried so hard it ate through a good 50% of my battery before the day was over. I checked on it and noticed it was running the loud battery cooling system as well to dispel the excess heat produced by powering the A/C. Without airflow from driving it just couldn't get rid of that heat, so it was making its job even harder.

Today, once again I turned on Climate Keep when I parked my car. But this time I switched off the A/C. With the recirc button in auto mode I figured this would just run the fans to pull in fresh air, combatting the greenhouse effect under the glass canopy. Sure enough, according to the car's thermometers it reached 98.8ºF outside the car but peaked at only 105ºF inside. Still toasty, but not plastic-melting toasty. Meanwhile the battery only dropped from 74% to 67% over the 8 hour workday. Seems like a win/win to me.

 

[Miami_Lucid_Man]

Living down here where I do I am so glad I did not go for the glass canopy. The AC is definitely one of the weaker points of a car without many weak points.

 

[Miami_Lucid_Man]

And just like that, Lucid announces better AC compressor for 2026 models. It definitely needed it!

 

[Halodde]

I have no choice but to leave my car outside in the sun all day. No parking garage at work, barely any shade trees, just egg-fryingly hot pavement. I use both the overhead and windshield sun shades, and I put the side and rear built-in shades up. I've still seen the inside temperature reach over 140ºF, and I know the outside temperatures here aren't even close to what some of you (looking at you Arizona and Saudi owners) deal with.

I've tried turning on Climate Keep all day, setting the temperature to 80ºF or so hoping it will keep things from melting. No dice. Not only could it not beat the heat, it tried so hard it ate through a good 50% of my battery before the day was over. I checked on it and noticed it was running the loud battery cooling system as well to dispel the excess heat produced by powering the A/C. Without airflow from driving it just couldn't get rid of that heat, so it was making its job even harder.

Today, once again I turned on Climate Keep when I parked my car. But this time I switched off the A/C. With the recirc button in auto mode I figured this would just run the fans to pull in fresh air, combatting the greenhouse effect under the glass canopy. Sure enough, according to the car's thermometers it reached 98.8ºF outside the car but peaked at only 105ºF inside. Still toasty, but not plastic-melting toasty. Meanwhile the battery only dropped from 74% to 67% over the 8 hour workday. Seems like a win/win to me.

That's great but why does that even work or make sense? Lol

 

[segbrk]

That's great but why does that even work or make sense? Lol

What do you mean? It makes sense to me? It's just fans blowing outside air in. It may be miserable outside, but it's hotter under glass with trapped air.

 

[Halodde]

What do you mean? It makes sense to me? It's just fans blowing outside air in. It may be miserable outside, but it's hotter under glass with trapped air.

No I get the part about it not using as much energy from the battery. But how could the fan only keep the car cooler than the air conditioning? That's what I don't understand

 

[segbrk]

No I get the part about it not using as much energy from the battery. But how could the fan only keep the car cooler than the air conditioning? That's what I don't understand

A/C is just moving heat as well. In a car it's designed for most of the exhaust heat to be pulled away as you're driving. If you're just parked on hot pavement, you're sitting in a puddle of your own heat and it becomes increasingly difficult to get rid of more. Add to that the battery and electrical systems heating up under load, and the battery cooling system also fighting to remove heat from the battery. Plus there's excessive condensation on the A/C that would be blown away if driving. At some point it's self-defeating.

 

[illopp00]

I have no choice but to leave my car outside in the sun all day. No parking garage at work, barely any shade trees, just egg-fryingly hot pavement. I use both the overhead and windshield sun shades, and I put the side and rear built-in shades up. I've still seen the inside temperature reach over 140ºF, and I know the outside temperatures here aren't even close to what some of you (looking at you Arizona and Saudi owners) deal with.

I've tried turning on Climate Keep all day, setting the temperature to 80ºF or so hoping it will keep things from melting. No dice. Not only could it not beat the heat, it tried so hard it ate through a good 50% of my battery before the day was over. I checked on it and noticed it was running the loud battery cooling system as well to dispel the excess heat produced by powering the A/C. Without airflow from driving it just couldn't get rid of that heat, so it was making its job even harder.

Today, once again I turned on Climate Keep when I parked my car. But this time I switched off the A/C. With the recirc button in auto mode I figured this would just run the fans to pull in fresh air, combatting the greenhouse effect under the glass canopy. Sure enough, according to the car's thermometers it reached 98.8ºF outside the car but peaked at only 105ºF inside. Still toasty, but not plastic-melting toasty. Meanwhile the battery only dropped from 74% to 67% over the 8 hour workday. Seems like a win/win to me.

I think cracking a window would still help further...

 

[segbrk]

I think cracking a window would still help further...

100%. I just know myself and I would absolutely forget to roll them back up when it starts raining.

 

[illopp00]

100%. I just know myself and I would absolutely forget to roll them back up when it starts raining.

True, but now I think the app sends you lots of notifications that you left the window open...

 

[oldstronzo]

A/C is just moving heat as well. In a car it's designed for most of the exhaust heat to be pulled away as you're driving. If you're just parked on hot pavement, you're sitting in a puddle of your own heat and it becomes increasingly difficult to get rid of more. Add to that the battery and electrical systems heating up under load, and the battery cooling system also fighting to remove heat from the battery. Plus there's excessive condensation on the A/C that would be blown away if driving. At some point it's self-defeating.

I don't disagree with the notion of it sitting in its own heat, but my issue that with my Plaid and S before, the preconditioning actually made it really cold. And, my wife's Mach-E sitting right next to my Air on the driveway also gets her car cold--either with precondition or immediately. With my car (which I absolutely love otherwise), I need to drive if for about 3-4 minutes before the air starts blowing cool (my daughter just referred to it as a hair dryer). And, yes, Lucid tech took a look at it and said everything is fine. It's a bummer to have such a simple thing work on other cars but not on this one. Easier to overlook the key and radio issues where I have to perform a reset once in a while, but this AC thing is a real shortcoming.

 

[Miami_Lucid_Man]

I don't disagree with the notion of it sitting in its own heat, but my issue that with my Plaid and S before, the preconditioning actually made it really cold. And, my wife's Mach-E sitting right next to my Air on the driveway also gets her car cold--either with precondition or immediately. With my car (which I absolutely love otherwise), I need to drive if for about 3-4 minutes before the air starts blowing cool (my daughter just referred to it as a hair dryer). And, yes, Lucid tech took a look at it and said everything is fine. It's a bummer to have such a simple thing work on other cars but not on this one. Easier to overlook the key and radio issues where I have to perform a reset once in a while, but this AC thing is a real shortcoming.

This is supposedly being addressed with a bigger compressor in the 2026 models. I agree the current AC can’t keep up in very hot climates.

 

[oldstronzo]

This is supposedly being addressed with a bigger compressor in the 2026 models. I agree the current AC can’t keep up in very hot climates.

Good to hear, thanks, and living where I do and how hot it gets that will be a nice upgrade. Lease is coming due at the end of the year and looking at a Gravity but at a certain points these little things become a bit much. Never going back got Elon-world but there are other choices out there (which I would rather not make as, again, I really love the car).

 

[Miami_Lucid_Man]

I hear you 100%. I think I remember reading they’re using the Gravity compressor.

 

[hydbob]

Good to hear, thanks, and living where I do and how hot it gets that will be a nice upgrade. Lease is coming due at the end of the year and looking at a Gravity but at a certain points these little things become a bit much. Never going back got Elon-world but there are other choices out there (which I would rather not make as, again, I really love the car).

the Gravity AC is miles ahead of the Air