20th Century Thermostat, Really Elon?

[Smitty79]

I have had thermostats in my home, that could handle different heat to and cool to setting, since 1995. I set the heat to setting at 68 and the cool to to 72. When I drive my Model 3 on cool sunny days, the car stays warm from the sunshine unless I go through a valley or some forest while I'm in the shade. I'm constantly trying to adjust the environmental when I do road trips through woods and mountains here in Oregon. I even went so far as to have 2 profiles to adjust.

This is a very simple software fix. It could even be set up in settings to minimize the use of default screen real estate.

Come on Tesla, do some tech.

 

[GtiMart]

I believe the two temperature thermostats are a byproduct of a system that cannot keep a temperature efficiently. You wouldn't want to heat your house in summer to get back up 0.5 degrees, to start cooling 5 minutes later. The car is more efficient, it's a smaller area to manage, and it can play with outside air to adjust temperature. I don't think two temperatures are needed.

Now if the car isn't doing its job properly that's another issue. I also feel I need to play with temperature a bit while I drive and wish it would handle things better.

 

[arghx7]

I use almost the same setting year round... that’s why it’s automatic climate control

 

[qdeathstar]

Yea, you just need to set the system to auto... you of course might feel warmer when your are in the sun vs in the shade but that is due to radiation not the actual temperature

 

[bay74]

I want two temperature setpoints so the dumb thing doesn’t turn the heat on on a cool but perfectly acceptable 17°C morning. I’m constantly switching between LO & AC off & fresh air, and 21°C with AC in Auto mode. I don’t want heating to come on for a few minutes and then have it switch to cooling as soon as we’re in the sun. Ugh.

 

[Smitty79]

I want two temperature setpoints so the dumb thing doesn’t turn the heat on on a cool but perfectly acceptable 17°C morning. I’m constantly switching between LO & AC off & fresh air, and 21°C with AC in Auto mode. I don’t want heating to come on for a few minutes and then have it switch to cooling as soon as we’re in the sun. Ugh.

This.^ I'm also OK to live at 68 F or 72 F, to get a little more range. I do it in my home to save energy, why not my car?

 

[Candleflame]

The car cant really cool without using the heatrer. It achieves temperature via a combination of cold and hot. Its not really a cooling system its an air conditioning. I.e. if its 21c but the car needs to dehumidify the air it has no choice but to warm up the cooled air.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Do you guys drive often drive so close to the range limit that this matters? Sounds like you are stressing over something that doesn't really matter.

I just leave it on auto and thumb up/down the temperature depending on my personal needs (like before lunch when I'm hungry, I'll want it warmer, but after playing pickleball, I'll want it a lot colder).

 

[bay74]

Do you guys drive often drive so close to the range limit that this matters? Sounds like you are stressing over something that doesn't really matter.

I'm an engineer, and it's inefficient. I can't handle it sorry.

Also we worked to reduce our house energy consumption to about 3kWh per day so the car wasting energy annoys me.

Candleflame mentioned "if the car needs to de-humidify"; how does it determine this? I'd like to understand when the stupid heater might be used, as I remember reading here somewhere that setting thermostat to eg 25 in warm weather might use more power than set to eg 20 because the former might involve reheating the air (with the resistance heater!). This would be totally counter-intuitive to me because cooling a lesser amount should use less power (heat pump basics). So I'd want to know when it's going to do this dehumidification (cooling well below set point and reheating).

And yes with a SR+ in Victoria where there are huge areas with no DC chargers it's not entirely academic.

Cheers!

 

[Candleflame]

I'm an engineer, and it's inefficient. I can't handle it sorry.

Also we worked to reduce our house energy consumption to about 3kWh per day so the car wasting energy annoys me.

Candleflame mentioned "if the car needs to de-humidify"; how does it determine this? I'd like to understand when the stupid heater might be used, as I remember reading here somewhere that setting thermostat to eg 25 in warm weather might use more power than set to eg 20 because the former might involve reheating the air (with the resistance heater!). This would be totally counter-intuitive to me because cooling a lesser amount should use less power (heat pump basics). So I'd want to know when it's going to do this dehumidification (cooling well below set point and reheating).

And yes with a SR+ in Victoria where there are huge areas with no DC chargers it's not entirely academic.

Cheers!

there was a good post on this here before. its not really possible to have an AC system without heater. you migth have a cooling system, but it wont be a good one.

 

[Candleflame]

Do you guys drive often drive so close to the range limit that this matters? Sounds like you are stressing over something that doesn't really matter.

I just leave it on auto and thumb up/down the temperature depending on my personal needs (like before lunch when I'm hungry, I'll want it warmer, but after playing pickleball, I'll want it a lot colder).

yes. frequently. just no superchargers around here.

 

[GtiMart]

If you insist, you could put the climate control in manual, turn the AC off and set the temperature to your low "heat" setting. If it eventually gets too hot, switch back to automatic. On those nice 17C mornings you'd be fine

 

[Needsdecaf]

This is the first car of many that I have owned with automatic climate control. Not a single other one have I had to consistently change the temperature set point for heat vs. cool. It's always the same. If heating, set to 69. If cooling set to 72.

Really odd.

 

[Ldub22]

I have had thermostats in my home, that could handle different heat to and cool to setting, since 1995. I set the heat to setting at 68 and the cool to to 72. When I drive my Model 3 on cool sunny days, the car stays warm from the sunshine unless I go through a valley or some forest while I'm in the shade. I'm constantly trying to adjust the environmental when I do road trips through woods and mountains here in Oregon. I even went so far as to have 2 profiles to adjust.

This is a very simple software fix. It could even be set up in settings to minimize the use of default screen real estate.

Come on Tesla, do some tech.

And the First World problems continue …

“I can’t believe Tesla doesn’t do [insert something that no car has ever done, EVER]! C’mon Tesla!”

 

[newowner]

Living in a cold area with a range-busting commute, I will often open the temp cluster and either turn off, or turn off “auto” and set the fan to 1. This seems to boost my range significantly. The only thing is sometimes I forget to turn it back on auto a few days later and wonder why it is so cold in the car.

 

[Smitty79]

Tesla does all kinds of "grooming" in software to get small range increases. I bet this would get me a measurable range increase on the 600 mile road trip I do frequently.

I also like bay74's comment: "I'm an engineer, and it's inefficient. I can't handle it sorry."

This change would be near free to Tesla and would incrementally improve the performance of out cars.

 

[XLR82XS]

Yea, you just need to set the system to auto... you of course might feel warmer when your are in the sun vs in the shade but that is due to radiation not the actual temperature

Amen. I'm set to 75F year round - even in S. Florida summers. No HVAC operational issues.