How good is the air conditioning really?

[Isakura]

It ranges from 50F to 1050F and has a distance to spot ratio of 12:1 (12” distance measures 1” area). Not sure how accurate it is at the top end as I’ve used it mostly for hvac and electronics.

1050F!!!!!

No amount of A/C will tackle that, I'm afeared.

 

[maximus96]

since this thread is derailed, I splurged and bought the milwaukee thermometer a year ago. its really an overkill for what i need but its so nice,

 

[Georgia_Y]

That thing looks like a beast. May have to add that to my list of unnecessary purchases

 

[mac9899]

I find adjusting the vent a little bit higher helped the sensation of faster cooling, I also added the Tasmanian roof sunscreen and that helped a lot for FL climate. If you have the available capital, wrap the top and front glass in the 3m clear IR film, which also greatly improves the heat reflection and made the car cool better.

 

[zhu-]

I think this might be an issue with the latest software update. I've noticed a few times in the past week it was blowing warm air even with the AC on and temp set to <65. A reboot and it has been back to normal since.

 

[Jeff3820]

With a background in refrigeration design the best one can expect is a 20-30 degree temperature drop from external air once the air delivery vents start to cool down. High ambient humidity will lower efficiency as well. Regarding traditional A/C and a heat pump system there is no difference at all when in cabin cooling mode. None. To do the temperature drop test, put the A/C fan on high, air not recirculating, and measure temperature in drivers vent, or what acts like a vent on the drivers side as it will be farther from the evaporator. Doing the test in a shaded area is best so you don’t have to wait for venting to cool down.

Temper your expectations with dual temperature mode since there is only one evaporator and heater “core”. If the driver sets a temp to 64 and passenger to 74, expect end result to be a type of average temp. You won’t get extremes on driver and passenger sides.

 

[KMMM]

Thanks for posting...I’ve been having issues as well...sometimes/majority of the time it just blows the fan. I actually took it for service and when they checked it all was working as expected. I confirmed with the remote app. However, when I went to pick up the Y today I was unable to cool the car again. I’ve tried the hard reset without luck. I assume it’s a glitchy software thing....Not sure what to do at this point other then leave them with the car again and hopefully it continues to not work for them to troubleshoot.

 

[Saber2726]

Before getting my window/roof tint and roof shade with 90 degree outside temp. I have to set the AC to 68 degree at 6-7 fan speed to feel cool.. After tinted with roof shade, 68 at 3-4 speed and very comfortable.

 

[Wennfred]

So we are in our new Model Y and I can’t say the AC is *that* good. It’s only 80 out but it’s sunny and I’m feeling pretty warm. This may be because my wife likes it hotter than me, but we do have the AC set to 63 on her side and lo on my side, fan set to 8. This should be pretty chilly, but it doesn’t feel like it. Any thoughts?

What I’ve noticed in my Model 3, I have to open up the A/C fan display, turn off the A/C and turn it on again, cold air will start, This used to be fine but probably after an update, it’s glitchy. The A/C on the Y works fine.

Fred

 

[Klau2]

I noticed the AC is weak too. Had a 2018 Model S before trading it in. AC in that car was definitely better. I even made a service appointment for AC and loud noises from the front. Of course the day I went temperature dropped from the 90s to 70s. The guy told me that if they test the AC, he guarantees me it will pass. He said he checked the logs and he couldn't find any issues. Told me to take the car back and log down the time and date that I found issues with the AC so they can easily look at the log at those timestamps.

 

[Raiders]

Pretty sure the soft vs hard reboot was debunked. The brake pedal is not needed from what I read. Just press and hold the steering wheel buttons until the screen goes black then release them

I’m new to Tesla. I’ve read on these forums a little bit and thought I read that by holding the brake pedal down and holding down the scroll wheels that it did a hard reboot. My mistake...

 

[rxlawdude]

I noticed the AC is weak too. Had a 2018 Model S before trading it in. AC in that car was definitely better. I even made a service appointment for AC and loud noises from the front. Of course the day I went temperature dropped from the 90s to 70s. The guy told me that if they test the AC, he guarantees me it will pass. He said he checked the logs and he couldn't find any issues. Told me to take the car back and log down the time and date that I found issues with the AC so they can easily look at the log at those timestamps.

The easiest way to test is to buy one of those temperature reading guns. A good $50 investment, and can be used in so many other ways. You show the output at the vent is not cooler than 20-30 degrees below external ambient, it's hard to refute that.

 

[mac9899]

Also to note, since its literally an M3 blower unit, it now has to circulate air towards the rear hatch area, so basically more air space to cool, unless they mod the blower unit to compensate, doubtful, this can somewhat explain the noticed "less cooling" reported. Simple solutions are IR heat reflection coming via tinting the front and roof glass, use a roof shade or a combination.

 

[rxlawdude]

Also to note, since its literally an M3 blower unit, it now has to circulate air towards the rear hatch area, so basically more air space to cool, unless they mod the blower unit to compensate, doubtful, this can somewhat explain the noticed "less cooling" reported. Siple solutions is present IR heat coming heat via tinting the front and roof glass, use a roof shade or a combination.

In the M3, you have to specifically turn on rear seat heat/A-C. It's an icon easily missed on the climate control dialog box.
Early M3 complaints were hot air blowing from rear vents in summer and cold air (not heated well) in winter. Since I'm not aware of these complaints recently, it appears that issue was resolved either slipstreamed or with a software update.

 

[MP3Mike]

Temper your expectations with dual temperature mode since there is only one evaporator and heater “core”. If the driver sets a temp to 64 and passenger to 74, expect end result to be a type of average temp. You won’t get extremes on driver and passenger sides.

Actually there are two LV heaters, one each for driver/passenger, to help with the temperature differential between the two.

 

[mac9899]

In the M3, you have to specifically turn on rear seat heat/A-C. It's an icon easily missed on the climate control dialog box.
Early M3 complaints were hot air blowing from rear vents in summer and cold air (not heated well) in winter. Since I'm not aware of these complaints recently, it appears that the issue was resolved either slipstreamed or with a software update.

Y doesn't have that issue as those "issues were patched long ago on the 3" originally on this thread people were referring to the cooling compared to the 3, This reply contained another possibility on why it might "feel" it need some more effort to cool the Y as compared to a 3, That being the entire trunk compartment is fully exposed, unlike the 3 and the larger glass surface area permitting more heat to penetrate. I can attest, as I owned a 3, there IS a noticeable diff in the time it takes to cool on a hot day, as an example( I had a black M3, so it got pretty toasty), this was before I implemented some of the above-mentioned options. But my opinion is the more Cubic feet of air space that have grown and they're using the same blower.

 

[jboy210]

I’m new to Tesla. I’ve read on these forums a little bit and thought I read that by holding the brake pedal down and holding down the scroll wheels that it did a hard reboot. My mistake...

That is how it works on a S and X. Not sure about the model 3 or Y. The difference on the S and X is quite stark. With the full reboot, the car suspension will cycle, the displays all go dark, A/C shutdown, charging cycles off. Then after 4 or 5 seconds systems start up one by one. There have been incidents with this gets the cars to work when they had issues with going into gear and other problems that may have required towing. Without stepping on the brake just the screens cycle and MCU only reboots

 

[Bartman1]

So we are in our new Model Y and I can’t say the AC is *that* good. It’s only 80 out but it’s sunny and I’m feeling pretty warm. This may be because my wife likes it hotter than me, but we do have the AC set to 63 on her side and lo on my side, fan set to 8. This should be pretty chilly, but it doesn’t feel like it. Any thoughts?

We have our MY at the service center now for AC not blowing cold air. They say it's likely a firmware issue and they have escalated it to their top engineers. We are supposed to get an update today.....

 

[Bartman1]

Here is a text we got from the service center....

 

[MY-Y]

I thought the AC in the MY I test drove last week was a little weak. I had to have it set to 60 with the fan on 8 to feel comfortable and it was only in the mid 80's.

Now that I've owned a MY for a week, I thought an update was in order. My AC is just fine. It works best on the auto setting.

The performance is great and the ability to rapidly cool the car from my phone app is very, very nice. Not being able to adjust the air volume going to the passenger or rear seats is the only negative.