Can't use remote climate control when battery is below 20%

[GasKilla]

I wanted to cool down my car before I got in (as you can see the interior was 99°) but the app wouldn't allow me to. I had plenty of charge to get home but wanted to cool things down for the little one. He refused to get in and asked for the A/C immediately. I'd love to have an override for this situation. Thoughts?

 

[GasKilla]

Anyone else run into this? Know of any work around?

 

[xyeahtony]

Doubt there is any workaround for what is clearly a protection feature to prevent anyone from stranding themselves.

 

[GasKilla]

Doubt there is any workaround for what is clearly a protection feature to prevent anyone from stranding themselves.

I'm sure some advanced software coding would allow me to use AC remotely in this situation. The car has my home address saved so it knows whether or not I can make it home (they could double the allowable distance to add a cushion) and I'm sure they could write in a couple of additional warnings you have to click on in an attempt to scare you away from turning it on.

I think this falls into the category of "there should be options for advanced users"

 

[mknox]

Curious... you may not have been nearby, but what if you opened the driver's door and just left it ajar? In normal circumstances, that will keep the HVAC running. I wonder if that < 20% feature prevents that too?

 

[GasKilla]

Curious... you may not have been nearby, but what if you opened the driver's door and just left it ajar? In normal circumstances, that will keep the HVAC running. I wonder if that < 20% feature prevents that too?

It kicked on once we opened the doors, but the kid wouldn't get in until the car cooled down a bit. Fortunately I was cooling off outside and I just opened the windows to let the heat out. If it was a really hot day I would have been bad spot.

On the note of leaving the drivers door open I've noticed the AC turns on when I open a rear door to put the kid in his car seat but turns off when I close his door to walk around to the drivers door. There should be an "I have a kid delay" option on the touchscreen to prevent the AC from turning offf immediately after you load the kid in the back.

 

[mknox]

On the note of leaving the drivers door open I've noticed the AC turns on when I open a rear door to put the kid in his car seat but turns off when I close his door to walk around to the drivers door. There should be an "I have a kid delay" option on the touchscreen to prevent the AC from turning offf immediately after you load the kid in the back.

It's funny you mention that because it bugs me too. I just don't like the car shutting down and starting up repeatedly whenever I put something in the back. In fact, I will usually reach forward and pull the driver's door open before fully closing the rear door. Only works if you're on the same side of the car, though.

 

[kort677]

I've never noticed this on my trips where I regularly run the SOC down to under 5%

 

[Skysurfer]

We had this problem when traveling with our two dogs, they had to stay in the car while charging at an L2 station. It wouldn't let me turn on the climate control remotely even while it was charging, had to wait for it to reach 21% before I could kick it on. Luckily we had a nice green space to run around while waiting for the car to charge up, but I was still quite surprised it wouldn't run the climate control remotely even while plugged in and charging at 8kW.

 

[smilepak]

Do you have Range setting enable? I forgot what it is called exactly. But basically when battery hit below 30% things start to disable.

 

[SMAlset]

Believe smilepak is correct. Here's what the manual says:
"To automatically limit the amount of power that the climate control system uses to maintain the temperature of the Battery and the cabin area, touch Controls > Driving > Range Mode > ON."

I know the Cabin Overheat Protection option (car interior temp won't go above 105F), which gets used all the time now with us that the summer temps have kicked in and the car is outside, won't work if the car is at 20% or lower. Don't recall seeing any specified percentage for the Range Mode to kick in though.

 

[GasKilla]

Do you have Range setting enable? I forgot what it is called exactly. But basically when battery hit below 30% things start to disable.

Nope. Range mode not on ...

 

[Buster1]

How far can you go on 20%?

What if my destination requires more than 20% to get to?

 

[Max*]

How far can you go on 20%?

What if my destination requires more than 20% to get to?

No no no no no no, no!.!... You can use climate control if you have less than 20% SOC.

You can't use REMOTE climate control -- you leave the car to go get a coffee, and want to leave the AC running.

 

[rypalmer]

It wouldn't let me turn on the climate control remotely even while it was charging, had to wait for it to reach 21% before I could kick it on.

This happened to me in -26ºC conditions in March. Highly inconvenient and kind of perplexing why, if you were plugged in, it would matter what your SoC is.

 

[mknox]

This happened to me in -26ºC conditions in March. Highly inconvenient and kind of perplexing why, if you were plugged in, it would matter what your SoC is.

The way it works when plugged in is that the HVAC power is drawn from the battery, then an equivalent amount of shore power is put into the battery to compensate. It is possible that at -26C the battery would have been unable to accept a charge (until it was warmed up) and so the car did this to prevent draining the battery dangerously low if it couldn't accept shore power. Just a guess on my part, but it seems likely to me.

 

[rypalmer]

The way it works when plugged in is that the HVAC power is drawn from the battery, then an equivalent amount of shore power is put into the battery to compensate. It is possible that at -26C the battery would have been unable to accept a charge (until it was warmed up) and so the car did this to prevent draining the battery dangerously low if it couldn't accept shore power. Just a guess on my part, but it seems likely to me.

If the charger supplied the equal amount of energy required on the high voltage bus as the HVAC required, though.. there would be no actual battery charging taking place. Perhaps it's not savvy enough to do so. Also - I had just driven from 100% to 10% at high speeds, the pack was not cold soaked and did charge, albeit slowly.

 

[David99]

I ran into that a few times as well. Tesla forgot to deactivate it when you are connected to a charger. So even if you are plugged in at a Supercharger and draw 120 kW, the car will not allow the HVAC to run when the battery level is below 20%. Clearly they didn't think that trough.
The only solution is to put a bag sack of potatoes in the driver seat so the car thinks you are sitting it, then the HVAC will work.

 

[Skotty]

It's not like it won't let you turn on climate control when you are in the car. Really, what's the difference between using the app or being in the car? Just whether or not you are in the car. Why should the car be so bossy about that? It should just provide a warning/confirmation prompt. But it is what it is. Maybe they will change it at some point.

 

[mknox]

Tesla forgot to deactivate it when you are connected to a charger. So even if you are plugged in at a Supercharger and draw 120 kW, the car will not allow the HVAC to run when the battery level is below 20%.

The other thing I noticed is that if you are plugged in to a Supercharger, your car has completed charging, and you turn on the HVAC, it will NOT take any power from the Supercharger. You will actually draw the battery down even though you're plugged in. This is different than a regular Level 2 charging station where the car WILL draw shore power for HVAC even after the car has finished charging.