Weak AC/Heater blower

[borski]

Hi,

Touring with the steel roof. Having lived in Las Vegas, NV, and now the Houston area, I knew better than to get a glass roof! As was mentioned above, the vent knob was turned to the closed position. My delivery rep failed to mention that functionality, and I missed it while reading the owner's manual. Now that I have discovered this, the AC feels great to me.

Hey, your vent closing works!

 

[Haggy]

Have you used "Max A/C"? I've had zero issues since that was introduced.

I'd like to see an option to have the app use Max A/C when the system is turned on remotely, without having to change the normal temperature setting. I'd also like to see it revert to the user setting in the car once somebody gets in. The problem is that it doesn't do a good job cooling the car in a short amount of time. It would be quicker if the car had cabin overheat protection and the temperature didn't start out so hot when the system is turned on.

As things are now, it's not doing a good enough job cooling the car down in extreme heat. It also depends what it's being compared to. Now that Rawlinson is explicitly mentioning beating Tesla, this is one of the few areas where Tesla does a much better job.

 

[Ryrub]

I agree. Max A/C still doesn't cut it when the inside of my car is 141 degrees to start. How we don't have cabin overheat protection at this point is beyond me.

 

[Alexioflexio]

FWIW, another 2023 GT owner I live Northern California by the coast. Glass roof car… the AC feels inadequate if the car has been sitting outside. It’s gentle not strong. Not sufficient for this car but also weakest ac if any car I’ve owned.

 

[dcmw1]

How does the heat work in the winter. I live in Wisconsin so I’m mostly concerned about the winter. It gets hot here, but not like it does in the South. Does the heater warm the car quickly in winter weather?

 

[Sam6062]

I agree. Max A/C still doesn't cut it when the inside of my car is 141 degrees to start. How we don't have cabin overheat protection at this point is beyond me.

Would be nice but it is really underpowered in the 2022. I bought those pricy roof covers and they help a lot but not for 141 degrees but I am in Texas. The other thing that I do is set it to keep cool at like 72 if I am going out somewhere for a couple of hours. It seems to use between 4-10 Mile range per hour which is not bad with the Range on the GT. Then just use MAX AC and it should cool it down fast.

I have tried to turn it on remotely using the App a few minutes before I plan to get back in and it has never worked outside on my T-Mobile Network.

Still it has come a long way since 2022 but is definitely underpowered IMO. I even had it looked at in 2022 and they told me it’s working as designed .

 

[joec]

How does the heat work in the winter. I live in Wisconsin so I’m mostly concerned about the winter. It gets hot here, but not like it does in the South. Does the heater warm the car quickly in winter weather?

I had no issues with the heater in Colorado winters. Use the seat and steering wheel heat as well. Does wonders and heats up quickly.

 

[Pragmatic]

How does the heat work in the winter. I live in Wisconsin so I’m mostly concerned about the winter. It gets hot here, but not like it does in the South. Does the heater warm the car quickly in winter weather?

I do not pre condition the car. In cold weather the car blows warm air immediately, the heated seats and wheel are the best if ever used. I does impact range. The heated air is not as toasty as an ICE vehicle so at lower temperatures (less than 15F) the blowing air feels cold. On longer trips it is fine but on shorter trips it tends to feel cooler than it should.

 

[dcmw1]

I had no issues with the heater in Colorado winters. Use the seat and steering wheel heat as well. Does wonders and heats up quickly.

very nice. that's definitely good to know. thanks

 

[dcmw1]

I do not pre condition the car. In cold weather the car blows warm air immediately, the heated seats and wheel are the best if ever used. I does impact range. The heated air is not as toasty as an ICE vehicle so at lower temperatures (less than 15F) the blowing air feels cold. On longer trips it is fine but on shorter trips it tends to feel cooler than it should.

thanks for the information. I suspect I'll be preconditioning quite a bit in the middle of the winter. The range loss I expect in the winter anyway. And since I will be charging at home nightly and not taking a lot of road trips it shouldn't impact me much.

 

[Pragmatic]

Winter is when most of my road trips occur. It's 260 miles from my house to where I ski in Vermont. I make the trip 2 times a month from December to May. With the cold and hilly terrain I make one charging stop either in Albany or Glens Falls. I only have 120v available in VT so I make the same stop on the way home.

 

[dcmw1]

Winter is when most of my road trips occur. It's 260 miles from my house to where I ski in Vermont. I make the trip 2 times a month from December to May. With the cold and hilly terrain I make one charging stop either in Albany or Glens Falls. I only have 120v available in VT so I make the same stop on the way home.

Do you use snow tires in the winter or do you just use all seasons tires? Does the Lucid handle pretty well in the snow?

 

[Pragmatic]

I got the car in January. Being cheap I purchased some used Tesla Model S, 19 inch wheels with snow tires but they did not fit. So last winter I ran with all seasons. The car was pretty good. I go up a winding road with some long 13% grades. Other than some understeer it was pretty good.

This winter I plan to see if some spacers will allow the Tesla wheels to clear the calipers. Otherwise I will seek other winter wheels for the car.

 

[joec]

I used snow tires in the winters in Colorado. I found the all-seasons were fine for your run-of-the-mill around town snowfalls in Boulder. 10-15 inches, short treks. But when I got up into the mountains around Breckinridge or Vale, the snow tires were well worth it.

 

[joec]

The car handles very well in the snow, regardless. You just have to remember that with the extra weight of an EV comes longer stopping distances when you slide. So keeping a good distance from other cars is essential.

 

[fisheral]

Debating whether or not to get snow tires in Central NJ with 8-10 trips up to the Poconos every winter (some poorly maintained roads and decent grades).

 

[Pragmatic]

This was the first winter (in 30 years of driving) where I did not have snows tires. In flat terrain you won't need them (as long as you keep longer stopping distances in mind). My need is to get over the App Gap. Not high by western standards, but in pitch and directional changes every bit as challenging as anything I've driven out west. One way or another I will have snows next winter

 

[dcmw1]

The car handles very well in the snow, regardless. You just have to remember that with the extra weight of an EV comes longer stopping distances when you slide. So keeping a good distance from other cars is essential.

I never really thought about the extra weight and stopping distances. It makes sense. I’ll have to keep that in mind.

 

[edhu]

Just to be clear: I agree it feels weaker; my Mazda 3 definitely blasted me in the face. I just don't know if it's:
a) actually weaker (I've tested the temp with an IR thermometer at the vent, and it definitely gets plenty cold; I haven't used a flowmeter to measure output yet though), or,
b) it just feels weaker because it is literally impossible to get the vents pointed directly at your face.

(b) is honestly probably my biggest gripe with the car. I need to get in a car and have AC slamming me in the face, because that is what I have always done. When my wife drives, she's the opposite; she wants the AC to be ambient and not touching her at all, so she moves the vents around. It then takes me what feels like a week to get them back into a position that they can blow on my face again, even a little bit. The overhang above the vents just redirects all the air, lol.

So I don't know if it's literally weaker or just feels that way. That's all I mean.

Even though I know I can't get the vents directed at my face, on those hots days in rush hour coming home, I still play with it and hope it gets closer LOL

 

[HC_79]

Even though I know I can't get the vents directed at my face, on those hots days in rush hour coming home, I still play with it and hope it gets closer LOL

I gave up on it long ago and settled for the vents blowing the cool air on my hands instead, lol. I've had a similar experience to @borski, I like to feel the air blowing on my face but others who have gotten in the car direct the vents in different directions so I guess Lucid can't please everyone. I think if the lip on the dashboard didn't have such a large overhang it wouldn't have been an issue.

Having said that, i've gotten used to it and learnt that setting the AC to Auto and leting the car manage the air speed and dispersement does a lot better job than when I was manually doing it. This summer was a non-issue with the roof shades and keep mode.