I think I'm going to turn OFF cabin overheat protection

[insaneoctane]

Obviously there will be people who flame me because they don't care about a few lost miles...whatever.
I'm seeing enough mileage loss that I'm thinking keeping my car at a comfy 105 F is not worth it. I'm already running NO-AC mode for cabin overheat protection and I lost 13.5 miles (~3.3 kWh) in 5.3 hours today. It was only 86 F outside. The car was parked & off for all these data points. I don't have small children.

 

[fiatlux]

Agreed!
I wish there were an option to only kick in at more extreme temps, i.e. to prevent damage. In coastal CA we rarely have days above the mid 80s, and I really don’t want an efficiency / electricity usage hit to keep the car at 105 all day.

Maybe an option to start at higher temperatures, say 115 or 125 would strike a better balance of energy usage and keeping the car in good shape.

 

[SageBrush]

All it takes to keep the car from cooking is to park in the shade, or park facing the sun and use a sun-shade along with windows opened a little. If I'm feeling particularly coddled, I run the car in vent mode for a couple minutes before I get in to bring the cabin temp down to ambient.

So much bandwidth and energy wasted for such a trivial problem.

 

[untilcomplete]

Why have it on? No other cars on the road have this feature. I feel like it's a water of energy..

 

[insaneoctane]

Hmmm. I'm not really sure why the range dropped so much right after I parked it (before interior temp got to 100 F)???

 

[ba2002]

Some people are wondering if Tesla implemented it to protect the displays and electronics.

 

[Tezlanian]

Hmmm. I'm not really sure why the range dropped so much right after I parked it (before interior temp got to 100 F)???

Dunno man. I have it active on mine with it being waaaaay hotter here and don't see your losses.

 

[untilcomplete]

Some people are wondering if Tesla implemented it to protect the displays and electronics.

I get running the fan to cool the batteries but if the display can't be in the car without running the AC during the day, that seems like a huge flaw.

 

[Tezlanian]

I get running the fan to cool the batteries but if the display can't be in the car without running the AC during the day, that seems like a huge flaw.

They can get pretty hot while inactive and be fine. Also differentiate between ambient and direct heat from the sun. I would definitely recommend using a heat shield in the front for sure.

 

[xyeahtony]

Why have it on? No other cars on the road have this feature. I feel like it's a water of energy..

only EVs have this capability, but none of the other EVs have the battery capacity a tesla does to support it.

For a car with 310 miles range, if people are gonna sweat the loss of ~15 miles in range, oh well.

Personally i dont think extreme high temperatures is good for the materials inside the car, but that's just my opinion. Go ahead and put your laptop outside in the sun everyday for a couple years, and see if it still functions normally.

 

[untilcomplete]

only EVs have this capability, but none of the other EVs have the battery capacity a tesla does to support it.

For a car with 310 miles range, if people are gonna sweat the loss of ~15 miles in range, oh well.

Personally i dont think extreme high temperatures is good for the materials inside the car, but that's just my opinion. Go ahead and put your laptop outside in the sun everyday for a couple years, and see if it still functions normally.

I have this feature turned off. If something breaks in the car because it can't stand being in the elements like literally every other car on the road, Tesla is going to have a bad time when they start selling to "regular" people. I get it, it's a feature, but I think people are babying way too much and get paranoid when they see the interior temp in the car.

 

[RichXKU]

It was about 90° here. With No AC mode I lost 3% from 9AM - 5PM. But it didn't seem to be ventilating the entire time. At one point in the day the car seemed to be in a deep sleep. On opening the app the interior temp showed 118° and only started ticking down slowly after the app was opened. (I am not using any auxiliary apps like TeslaFi that wake the car up)
I don't have children either, but my concern is more about the longevity of interior parts and electronics, especially that huge expensive screen which gets red hot when parked, even with a sun shield in place.

 

[Gavyne]

Kids and animals are still dying these days due to accidents & neglect, this feature is to make sure there are no such accidents. If you have no kids or animals, then turn off the feature and the car will be fine. Your car auto regulates the battery's temperature already.

Worth noting cabin overheat protection only works for 12 hours after you leave your car. So the feature is designed for safety reasons, not some interior-saving reasons.

For saving electronics you are waiting for camper mode, which is coming that'll allow you to keep a steady flow of air & temperature for 48 hours after parked.

 

[run-the-joules]

Why have it on? No other cars on the road have this feature. I feel like it's a water of energy..

For me? It's worth it because getting in to a hot car SUCKS.

Another thing that sucks? How long it takes to wake up Model 3 (when compared to S & X) to precool the cabin when walking to the car. Half the time that I remember, I'm to the car by the time it wakes up.

Thus, this is a nice balance that helps solve the first problem until they address the second.

 

[WattsHappening]

For me? It's worth it because getting in to a hot car SUCKS.

Another thing that sucks? How long it takes to wake up Model 3 (when compared to S & X) to precool the cabin when walking to the car. Half the time that I remember, I'm to the car by the time it wakes up.

Thus, this is a nice balance that helps solve the first problem until they address the second.

@run-the-jouiles, this perfectly matches my experience. If the app would wake up the car immediately every time, I would not run the cabin heat protection. But for now, I'm ok with losing some miles to keep the cabin from getting too hot.

 

[pleeau]

These are not small losses. My commute is 3 miles each day. After 8 days I went from 90% to 20% charge. This stuff adds up.

SC told me to leave overheat protection off. They said it wouldn't damage the car...

 

[Linkeds2]

You guys ever seen discolored rear decklids and discolored dashes?

Because that’s how you get discolored rear decklids and discolored dashes.

 

[diamond.g]

These are not small losses. My commute is 3 miles each day. After 8 days I went from 90% to 20% charge. This stuff adds up.

SC told me to leave overheat protection off. They said it wouldn't damage the car...

What does your wH/mi look like? Every short trip I have done so far shows it being super high (especially if having to cool the cabin from battery).

 

[flashflooder]

You guys ever seen discolored rear decklids and discolored dashes?

Because that’s how you get discolored rear decklids and discolored dashes.

I don't see how cooling the car is going to stop UV rays from damaging dashboards...

 

[nvx1977]

Hmmm. I'm not really sure why the range dropped so much right after I parked it (before interior temp got to 100 F)???

could have been battery conditioning. A/C could have kicked on to keep the batteries cool. In my experience, leaving just the cabin fan running shouldn't have a large effect on battery drain. And looking at your chart, your overheat protection should have only kicked in 2x:

the first around 11:15am; the second around 2:30pm.

In the AM, cabin temp responds rapidly, while in the PM, cabin temp reduces slowly. This would imply the AM used A/C while the PM didn't. So.... just speculating here, but maybe if the A/C was running for conditioning the battery, the car was applying A/C to the cabin as well. If true, I would consider this a bug, although fixing this bug wouldn't have improved your situation much.