How effective is your air conditioner?

[Bus Driver]

I wouldn't blame it because it is an EV. The loaner I have, a Model Y has great AC. So did my Model S before this.

I would agree. Our Model X and Model S are great at cooling, it was heating up the cabin that was a problem, specifically for my dad’s Model S.

The footwells would never get quite warm enough even during our very mild Southern California “winters”. I even remember buying an aftermarket attachment that a Tesla Forum member fashioned, that he then sold online. It was just a plastic piece that you clipped onto the footwell outlet on the driver’s side. It seemed to help.

But I digress.

 

[DBordello]

I have the car back. Amusingly, they did a bunch of other "stuff" while they had the car. It looks like miscellaneous checks/fixes that may be coming down the pipe.

 

[hydbob]

I have the car back. Amusingly, they did a bunch of other "stuff" while they had the car. It looks like miscellaneous checks/fixes that may be coming down the pipe.

What kind of an update is that?!?! Lol all joking aside, what did they fix and does your AC now work properly? What was the issue?

 

[DBordello]

What kind of an update is that?!?! Lol all joking aside, what did they fix and does your AC now work properly? What was the issue?

A bad update

The service center did appear to diagnose the AC. However, I am not sure anything was actually done. It appears to be functioning properly. They sent a thermal image of 50F air coming from the vents.

They did notice that the auto fan speed doesn't work. They checked the sensors, but believe it is a software problem.

It hasn't been hot enough to really kick the tires to be honest.

 

[stevewoz]

I have had a DE for about 3 months in the Chicago area.

The air conditioner is pretty lack luster. It does blow cool air, but not very strongly. The car takes 10+ minutes to cool down, if not longer.

It is to the point that I pretty much have to precool it using the app (and we know how well that works).

The car was towed to the Chicago service center to investigate. I was told that it is blowing cool air and working fine.

Is this consistent with everybody else's experience, or (hopefully) a problem with my car?

Our DE A/C is a bit lack-luster but it's still far better than in our Tesla's.

 

[Fdmiller]

Well here goes.. as you know I have been having an issue with the air conditioner. Those who have great functioning ACs feel lucky, but be nice to those who are/were burning up!! So this is what I did... 1- Had it serviced. 2-Reloaded the Phone App for Lucid. ( Notice that the app wasn't talking to the car for AC directions) 3- Placed tint on windshield , partial roof and all four windows and wow! I now have cooling air!!!! Service dept by the way found nothing wrong. I think the last update, tint and pre-cooling has made a significant impact.
Remember we want to support each other in good times and bad. Loving my Red Grand Touring.

 

[hydbob]

Well here goes.. as you know I have been having an issue with the air conditioner. Those who have great functioning ACs feel lucky, but be nice to those who are/were burning up!! So this is what I did... 1- Had it serviced. 2-Reloaded the Phone App for Lucid. ( Notice that the app wasn't talking to the car for AC directions) 3- Placed tint on windshield , partial roof and all four windows and wow! I now have cooling air!!!! Service dept by the way found nothing wrong. I think the last update, tint and pre-cooling has made a significant impact.
Remember we want to support each other in good times and bad. Loving my Red Grand Touring.

I think the key is that people in regions with very hot weather, absolutely will have very little choice in getting extra tint applied to the windows. Even though the Lucid glass has a film embedded in it, the extra tinting seems to do wonders for heat rejection. I also had my AC checked out because my vents seems weird, the tech showed me how the fin design redirected air in a certain position so it felt like the wind blowing out of the vent was less. He sent the info to engineering to see if that was how it was supposed to be, but vents and everything were functioning as expected.

 

[Steveinarizona]

I think the key is that people in regions with very hot weather, absolutely will have very little choice in getting extra tint applied to the windows. Even though the Lucid glass has a film embedded in it, the extra tinting seems to do wonders for heat rejection. I also had my AC checked out because my vents seems weird, the tech showed me how the fin design redirected air in a certain position so it felt like the wind blowing out of the vent was less. He sent the info to engineering to see if that was how it was supposed to be, but vents and everything were functioning as expected.

Living in Arizona I have always tinted the windows of my car. I will this time as well with a high quality nano ceramic tint. But this will be the first time I have ever tinted the windshield. And this heat is one of the reasons I have reserved a Pure...no glass roof.

 

[mnewber1]

Our DE A/C is a bit lack-luster but it's still far better than in our Tesla's.

It'll be interesting if they are able to improve the A/C through software updates - which they claim they can and will do.

 

[hydbob]

It'll be interesting if they are able to improve the A/C through software updates - which they claim they can and will do.

Well they did already, probably see how it people take it with the faster fan speeds.

 

[mnewber1]

Well they did already, probably see how it people take it with the faster fan speeds.

Did it have a significant impact?

 

[maractwin]

Just to add another opinion, I've always hated cars with tinted windows. I like to be able to see out of them. When my GT shows up, the A/C better work without added tinting.

 

[hydbob]

Did it have a significant impact?

Yes quite a bit!

Just to add another opinion, I've always hated cars with tinted windows. I like to be able to see out of them. When my GT shows up, the A/C better work without added tinting.

You can always get a low ceramic tint, like a 70 (70% of light allowed through). It's what I got on the windshield, looks just slightly darker but helps tremendously with glare and heat.

 

[maractwin]

You can always get a low ceramic tint, like a 70 (70% of light allowed through). It's what I got on the windshield, looks just slightly darker but helps tremendously with glare and heat.

I'm a wildlife photographer, and sometimes shoot from my car. Ideally, that's through an open window. But occasionally, due to positioning or something happening very quickly, I have to shoot through a window. Like a mountain lion crossing the road in front of me. I don't usually plan on shooting from the car, but it happens. And with the quieter operation of an EV, it may happen more often now. So with all of that, I don't want any filtering on the glass.

 

[Car Guy]

I have had a DE for about 3 months in the Chicago area.

The air conditioner is pretty lack luster. It does blow cool air, but not very strongly. The car takes 10+ minutes to cool down, if not longer.

It is to the point that I pretty much have to precool it using the app (and we know how well that works).

The car was towed to the Chicago service center to investigate. I was told that it is blowing cool air and working fine.

Is this consistent with everybody else's experience, or (hopefully) a problem with my car?

I've test driven the GT twice in steamy hot Palm Beach, Florida. Both times the car was more than adequately cool. I never thought it would be an issue. Waiting for my GT, due next month.

 

[Demosthenes]

Just to add another opinion, I've always hated cars with tinted windows. I like to be able to see out of them. When my GT shows up, the A/C better work without added tinting.

If you want to see OUT, then most tints that let in more than 50% will not hinder your vision in my experience. If you want people to see IN, then I agree the 70% in is probably as much as you want to go.

 

[RTS]

I have had a DE for about 3 months in the Chicago area.

The air conditioner is pretty lack luster. It does blow cool air, but not very strongly. The car takes 10+ minutes to cool down, if not longer.

It is to the point that I pretty much have to precool it using the app (and we know how well that works).

The car was towed to the Chicago service center to investigate. I was told that it is blowing cool air and working fine.

Is this consistent with everybody else's experience, or (hopefully) a problem with my car?

Agreed. It works but not fast. It will cool down but takes some time and I live in Texas.

 

[Steveinarizona]

Yes quite a bit!

You can always get a low ceramic tint, like a 70 (70% of light allowed through). It's what I got on the windshield, looks just slightly darker but helps tremendously with glare and heat.

The newer nano ceramic tints are the best. They do the best job of blocking heat gain while permitting light. I have a 30% tint on my windows and they let a lot of light through. As you let more light through, you do lose some heat protection but the nano ceramic tints do the best job of minimizing that. For example, here is one chart:

https://graphics.averydennison.com/content/dam/averydennison/graphics/na/en/documents/product-overviews/window-films/s92539-nr-nano-ceramic-flier.pdf

At about 50% you will get a lot of heat protection.

 

[Luckyismydog]

Here is the data. All four cars parked in the morning AZ sun while we ate breakfast. Like @Maverick said, two of the cars did not start cooling remotely even though the App indicated they were (@Fdmiller and @Adnillien). The coolest car starting out did have 70% tint on the windshield. I expected no difference based on car color since the roof is all glass for all of the cars but it appears that black is the hottest and white is the coolest when windshields are not tinted.

View attachment 3046

This is a great chart and thanks for running the comparison and sharing with the community. A couple of questions: 1) why is the eternal temperature so radically different with the two cars on the right hand side of the chart compared with the left hand side of the chart? 2) Does this mean tinting the windows resulted in lower a/c performance?

 

[Steveinarizona]

Yes quite a bit!

You can always get a low ceramic tint, like a 70 (70% of light allowed through). It's what I got on the windshield, looks just slightly darker but helps tremendously with glare and heat.

Exactly. The newer nano ceramic tints will lose only a little heat benefit if one goes to a high transference film. here is a chart from 3M which I picked at random: