2023 M3 air conditioner using 70% of energy

[wycolo]

What SOC are you starting the charge at?

Following Best Practices I try to arrive with 50 miles left but sometimes it dips down in the 30s upon arrival.

I just got the 2012 MS fixed at local Service Center and now AC and SuperCharging are fixed. They had the car for a full week.
Gave me a 2017 MS dual motor with FSD (I believe) but not knowing the Nav scheme to initiate FSD operation I was unable to
experiment with FSD. Opportunity lost (sadface).

The loaner hardly ran its fan at SC in the summer heat unlike those M3s so this just might be one of the luxury features of MS lol.
Now SCing is no longer capped at 115kw but initiates into the 130s if I arrive with like 50 to 75 miles in battery. No biggie but good
to see nonetheless.

Do not ask SC techs any theoretical questions since they do not think that way. Theirs is but to do or die using Tesla methodology
and testing/repair sequences. It was nice to see this sucessfully applied to my old MS which has been sadly neglected for more
than a few years.
--

 

[nicksp]

OP, if you're convinced it's the AC then change your AC settings to manual. Direct the flow to you and keep the fan speed at 5 or 6. If the rear seat is unoccupied then turn the rear vent off.

 

[Sam T]

I’m experiencing a very similar thing, did you get the car fixed? What was the problem and how many times did you have to visit the service centre please?

 

[Severo3080]

I’m experiencing a very similar thing, did you get the car fixed? What was the problem and how many times did you have to visit the service centre please?

If your reffering to AC keep vents closed, this will cut off a lot of energy.

 

[Sam T]

Heya am referring to the original posters issue, where the climate uses more that 50% of the battery. Seems like the issue was resolved with tinting and a glass shade on the roof?

 

[nicksp]

Heya am referring to the original posters issue, where the climate uses more that 50% of the battery. Seems like the issue was resolved with tinting and a glass shade on the roof?

Simply tinting will not resolve that issue. It may help a little.

 

[Sam T]

How’s you AC going now? Still high every usage?

 

[bacevedo]

Not OP, but in my case on my 2020 MY LR AWD, I had the "radiator" cleaned and it got back to normal. After a few years of leaves and debris building up, the HVAC system wasn't working efficiently and was basically ramped up to full power.

Paid a guy locally here in AZ to remove the radiator and clean it. I then added a mesh protector (from Amazon) over the bottom air inlets to keep leaves and debris from getting in there again.

Here's a post here that describes the process and issue.

Access front Radiator / Leave & Dirt removal

How can I access my Model Y radiator to clean accumulated Leaves and Junk off of it? Is it easily accessible from ‘Removing the Frunk’ or ‘Removing the bottom/underneath guard’ or ‘Removing the front grill’ or ’HOW???” Do not like having substantial material build up on the radiator as it is...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[Sellout]

This thread is laugh out loud comical. The solution to the OP’s problem has been known to Tesla and to several of the posters here for some time now, in fact it’s a good portion of the reason why Tesla changed to a heat pump from the old setup, yet people still (including OP) try to run the heat pump system as if it’s the old, less efficient system that uses a PTC heater.

I’ve been in the HVAC/R industry for 25 years and the Tesla heat pump system is the most impressively-designed system I’ve ever seen. You should probably let Tesla handle the management of your cabin temperature rather than forcing it to run in the least efficient manner possible.

 

[Videomatic3]

Is it just me or does the model 3 ac just really suck. My model s 2015 ac works astronomically better than my 2023 model 3 ac, and the model 3 now turns off the passenger side when nobody sits there by default so the heat coming from that side is really bad. The cabin of the car never gets cooled off, and I feel like it's an undersized ac for the car.
I have the model 3 tinted with 98% infrared heat rejection on all the windows, including windshield and sunroof

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Mine works great - heat and AC are faster and more consistent than any previous car. I keep the fan speed at default and never use manual mode, instead I just bump it up or down a degree or two if I want it more or less urgent. Plus the cabin overheat setting and/or simple tap of the climate icon on my phone make it 10X better than best.

However, it is the first car I've had since my 1973 Datsun that doesn't have a functional automatic defrost feature, so I do have to manually enable/disable defrost.

 

[gt2690b]

Mine works great - heat and AC are faster and more consistent than any previous car. I keep the fan speed at default and never use manual mode, instead I just bump it up or down a degree or two if I want it more or less urgent. Plus the cabin overheat setting and/or simple tap of the climate icon on my phone make it 10X better than best.

However, it is the first car I've had since my 1973 Datsun that doesn't have a functional automatic defrost feature, so I do have to manually enable/disable defrost.

lol what the actual f*ck are you defrosting in june in so cal?

im familiar with june gloom but defrost i am not

 

[stopcrazypp]

Is it just me or does the model 3 ac just really suck. My model s 2015 ac works astronomically better than my 2023 model 3 ac, and the model 3 now turns off the passenger side when nobody sits there by default so the heat coming from that side is really bad. The cabin of the car never gets cooled off, and I feel like it's an undersized ac for the car.
I have the model 3 tinted with 98% infrared heat rejection on all the windows, including windshield and sunroof

Hard to tell without any mention of conditions, but mine works fine set to 70-75F, and AC set to Auto (in auto, the car chooses the vents to use, recirculate, as well as fan speeds), up to 100-ish outside temps.

On the passenger issue, AFAIK, the Model 3 have turned off the passenger side automatically for years. You can supposedly tap the passenger side vent settings to turn it back on. Some say you may need to buckle the passenger seatbelt. I typically drive with a passenger, so haven't personally experimented with this though (I only have manually turned rear vents on or off).

 

[Sellout]

Hard to tell without any mention of conditions, but mine works fine set to 70-75F, and AC set to Auto (in auto, the car chooses the vents to use, recirculate, as well as fan speeds), up to 100-ish outside temps.

On the passenger issue, AFAIK, the Model 3 have turned off the passenger side automatically for years. You can supposedly tap the passenger side vent settings to turn it back on. Some say you may need to buckle the passenger seatbelt. I typically drive with a passenger, so haven't personally experimented with this though (I only have manually turned rear vents on or off).

Definitely as simple as tapping the passenger side vent area on the screen to get airflow over there in my ‘21 3P without a passenger, but that has never made the car actually get any cooler for me, it just reduces the amount of cold air hitting my face, which I appreciate.

I’ve never had any trouble keeping the interior comfortable in this car in any condition, and I’ve used it to run errands all over Phoenix in 115 degree heat.

 

[Max Spaghetti]

Driving solo in hot weather I like to split the driver's air in half and shoot both sides up over each shoulder because I don't like the air in my eyes. If I want more, I tap the passenger's air and send it my way - I find that works really well, just annoying to have to do it each time I drive. I don't know if plugging in the seatbelt helps, never thought of trying.

 

[geoklic]

We live in Phoenix, so it is hot, our 2023 M3 standard range at 80% was getting about the range shown 223 miles during the winter. In the summer we are getting less than half of that, we now get less than 100 miles. The energy app shows that all the energy is lost under climate (only occurs when running A/C, when not running the A/C the range is as expected). Other Tesla owners we know do not experience this. Does anyone else experience significant HOT weather range loss when running the air conditioner. And please, this discussion is not about, I could have got 10 more miles. This is about significant loss of range from 223 miles to less than a 100 miles with no change in driving habits with the only change being running the air conditioner. This is also not about do I run it at 72 degrees, so don't waste time on those subjects, that does have the significant impact for this question. I have an older 2016 Nissan Leaf, and it usually looses about 10 to 15 percent when running the AC at the lowest setting. The Tesla is using 60 to 80 percent of the energy.

I live on the west coast of Florida. I use the AC and the AC seats continuously. I am experiencing 30% additional power usage due to this. Fortunately, Florida has many supercharger stations which come in handy on trips I make in excess of 220, mi les

 

[Lindenwood]

Did not use maps, honestly just from memory (do we really remember how long we drive unless clocking it). Phoenix is just a widely spreadout open city, unlike most cities travel speeds are 50mph and usually only one or 2 red lights per mile at worst. So going 9 miles takes very little time. However, I found an interesting article from 2020 while searching google all this about tesla air-conditioner power usage - too bad I find nothing like this from tesla.

Case for Tesla Pilot Mode: Tesla Model 3 Energy Efficiency & Use of HVAC

How do we find out how we are doing in any endeavor in a complex machine? The need is for specific performance data that allows an informed decision — at least, if we wish.

cleantechnica.com

This article conflicts with what the service center told me that the AC was single stage, this tech says it is variable speed, which means the temp setting is going more greatly impact the power used. A single stage is just on or off and always draws the "about" same power. Variable speeds do better with less demand.
some other blogs...

Energy usage of the AC in very hot cliemate

I did some tests today measuring the power & energy of the AC in very high temperatures. It was 106 / 41 today in Northridge, CA. It used a little over 1 kW to keep the car cool. Here is a short video about it. I also did some testing driving. While I didn't include that in the video, the energy...

teslamotorsclub.com

Battery performance with air conditioner

Curious as new Y model owner. I’ll be living in Florida next year. I was curious to know what’s the battery performance like when you’re consistently running your air conditioner? How long does the buttery last, and how often do you need to charge?

teslamotorsclub.com

None of these are anywhere close to my range problem. thy are talking :
"How much power does a Tesla AC compressor draw?
The compressor's power use can be only ~1 kW at low speed (4 range miles lost per hour) against up to 6 kW (24 lost miles of range per hour) with the compressor running very hard at full fan and at high compressor speed." My losses are much much more than those figures.
I will post more long range stats from my car with wh/mi etc..- hopefully tomorrow.

Just noticed in two back-to-back posts you say you cannot believe my claim that the AC can use up to 7kw of energy, and then cite a source corroborating 6+1kw. Did I miss something?