Drove 109 miles in MYLR yesterday @ average 100deg normal WPM for this round trip is 240 yesterday 309. Energy screen showed 51.5% of battery used for drive of which 15% was consumed by climate, thats 29%! Drive time was approx 3 hrs Climate set to auto 73 deg rear/passenger vents on. I have Teslogic Dash which showed energy usage by Climate as approx 4.5 KW traveling at approx 60 mph, this was supported by scan my Tesla which showed approx 5.5Kw idling at stop light. Played Around with Climate settings in 95 deg garage when I got home, auto setting seemed to use far more energy than manual settings. Have had the car over 2 1/2 years and have never seen A/C energy usage this high despite having driven many times in 100 plus deg weather before. Any ideas.
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Excessive A/C energy usage
- Thread starter Bluejug
- Start date
I've always noticed a big difference between the fresh air setting and the recirculate setting. Do you have it set to recirculate?
I usually start it on fresh, then switch over to recirculate once the car cools a bit.
Also, when you can, try to start your climate control while the car is still plugged in. This helps immensely.
But, just like in a ice car, the A/C burns lots of "fuel".
The last thing I did that helps keep the car cool a LOT is applying a UV tint to the windshield. Not for looks, just for heat. Everyone blames the giant roof window, but the truth is, the roof is already treated with a UV tint, and doesn't allow in anywhere near the heat the windshield does. Test it yourself, easily. On a hot, sunny day, hold up the back of your hand very near the roof glass. Then repeat that with the windshield. I think you'll be surprised how much hotter it is under the windshield.
I usually start it on fresh, then switch over to recirculate once the car cools a bit.
Also, when you can, try to start your climate control while the car is still plugged in. This helps immensely.
But, just like in a ice car, the A/C burns lots of "fuel".
The last thing I did that helps keep the car cool a LOT is applying a UV tint to the windshield. Not for looks, just for heat. Everyone blames the giant roof window, but the truth is, the roof is already treated with a UV tint, and doesn't allow in anywhere near the heat the windshield does. Test it yourself, easily. On a hot, sunny day, hold up the back of your hand very near the roof glass. Then repeat that with the windshield. I think you'll be surprised how much hotter it is under the windshield.
During daylight the added heat load from the sun's rays forces the HVAC to work that much harder. A good ceramic tint on the windshield, side and rear glass (the glass roof comes from the factory already treated) can make a significant difference by filtering out more than 90% of the Infrared part of the spectrum.
Think infrared heat lamp as an example of how Infrared (IR) rays transmit, transfer heat energy. Ultraviolet (UV) rays are at the opposite end of the visible and near visible light spectrum. UV rays are higher energy but in shorter wavelength than IR rays. UV rays (types A, B, and C) are bad for human skin and many man made materials, i.e. plastics and fabrics. Prolonged exposure to some types of UV rays are proven to increase the risk of certain forms of skin cancer. (Laminated glass, i.e. glass with a plastic film sandwiched between sheets of glass) filters out most of the UV rays. The windshield, front side windows and glass roof of the US made Tesla Model Y currently are made using laminated glass.)
Recirculating the cabin air can help reduce the load on the AC. The Tesla voice commands "Recirculate" and "Fresh Air" will turn Recirculate Air On and Off. (On the Tesla Climate Control screen the Recirculate Air button is on the top row of HVAC functions all the way on the right side (the button graphic looks like two arrows chasing each other.)
Think infrared heat lamp as an example of how Infrared (IR) rays transmit, transfer heat energy. Ultraviolet (UV) rays are at the opposite end of the visible and near visible light spectrum. UV rays are higher energy but in shorter wavelength than IR rays. UV rays (types A, B, and C) are bad for human skin and many man made materials, i.e. plastics and fabrics. Prolonged exposure to some types of UV rays are proven to increase the risk of certain forms of skin cancer. (Laminated glass, i.e. glass with a plastic film sandwiched between sheets of glass) filters out most of the UV rays. The windshield, front side windows and glass roof of the US made Tesla Model Y currently are made using laminated glass.)
Recirculating the cabin air can help reduce the load on the AC. The Tesla voice commands "Recirculate" and "Fresh Air" will turn Recirculate Air On and Off. (On the Tesla Climate Control screen the Recirculate Air button is on the top row of HVAC functions all the way on the right side (the button graphic looks like two arrows chasing each other.)
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Thanks. Recirculate was on and I have a roof screen with silver backing installed. As I said have driven this route many times before is 100 deg + but never seen anything like this. Left it in dog mode for a few minutes while shopping, when I came back compressor sounded like a a jet engine about to take off it was working so hard. Had a similar experience last year after the windscreen was replaced, turned out they had not reinstalled the sensor suite behind the rear view mirror correctly. Have seen initial draw of up to 6 KW at idle when coming back to the car after being parked in the sun, but it usually comes back down to 1.5 to 2 KW within a few minutes as the car cools, and never remained that high while driving.
When did you last (ever?) change the cabin air filters?
Some while back Tesla changed the way the HVAC fan operates in the Tesla Model Y when the Climate Control is set to Auto. Now, when in Auto setting, the HVAC fan speed control settings are Lo / Med / Hi. In Auto the HVAC fan speed control function as a fan speed limiter. Set to Lo the fan will never speed up from 1 to faster than speed ~3, Med up to speed ~6 and Hi will enable the fan to vary from 1 up to 10. Perhaps your Climate Control was set to the Lo setting. (When in manual mode the fan speed control functions traditionally, i.e. you can set a fixed fan speed from 1 up to 10 (11 if you remember Spinal Tap.)
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I generally set my AC to 78-80 with recirculate. We don't have the same heat here in NYC are but the key thing is to remove the humidity,. Also drive slower.
Forget AUTO settings. Do it manually.
Mateo83
Active Member
It was 104 here on Saturday. The A/C couldn't keep the interior cool while driving. And totally killed my rnage.
beachmiles
Member
A good chance the car is actively heating and cooling the car at the same time. This happens in resistive and heat pump models due to a 3+ year bug in their HVAC code. The only way to disable the cabin heater is to set the temp to LO and adjust the cabin temp with the fan speed. Get the OBD connector, OBD dongle, and scanmytesla app to verify.
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