Lower power problem with climate control

[Naonak]

I just happened across a situation where the climate control becomes a major safety issue if you are relying on it to be functional under normal circumstances.

Here in Kansas, it's was a somewhat mild day (around 80 degrees outside) and the car interior was about 90 degrees. I had just returned from a long road trip and was extremely low on charge (1% remaining), so I pulled in to the nearest CHAdeMO charger before continuing home. I had my two dogs with me... no problem, I thought, I'll just turn on the AC, blast some Mozart and let the dogs chill while I hang out in Starbucks and get some work done on the laptop as the car charges.

Well, Elon apparently doesn't give a crap about my dogs (I mean, why would he, he's never met them, right?) - because the climate control is inoperative below a certain charge level. I knew this from the past, but I wasn't aware it was non-functional even when the car is charging. The car is drawing about 45 kW and refuses to turn on the climate control... this seems like a serious and dangerous oversight. I understand the car not wanting to turn on the climate control when the car is low on power and not plugged in - it's better the car doesn't run out of juice. That makes sense...

But it makes zero sense for the climate control to be inoperative (via the App, so you can keep it on even after the car is locked) when the car is charging. Maybe I could understand it if you are charging on a 120v and barely drawing enough power to cover a basic heater or AC, but if you're on a 14-50 or, like me, on a DC Fast Charger, there is zero excuse for not letting the interior of the car cool itself.

I wish that passing along my issue to the local Service Center would result in action taken, but I feel that it's often a black hole - not due to any malice, but just stuff like that gets lost in the shuffle on it's way up the ladder.

Anyway, I just wanted to alert anyone else that might possibly find themselves in a similar situation that climate control via the app is indeed disabled even if the car is charging. I'm in an urban area, so letting the out to just hang around really isn't an option.

 

[scottm]

thanks for the heads up

so what is the low cut off point (% charge) when HVAC takes a holiday?

and does it come back on (using the app) while charging once that % charge is reached?

maybe this is covered in the manual...

 

[Naonak]

The car must be at a minimum of 21% charge before the App will let you turn on the climate control. After the charge reaches 21%, the app will work again.

 

[gabeincal]

I'd like to be in a position to decide if I want to run my battery down to 0%. If I'm at 15% and I have to pop in to a store for 15 minutes, I want to be able to have the A/C on for the dogs in 100F heat as I have no alternative. This is stupid and dangerous...

 

[scottm]

I'd like to be in a position to decide if I want to run my battery down to 0%. If I'm at 15% and I have to pop in to a store for 15 minutes, I want to be able to have the A/C on for the dogs in 100F heat as I have no alternative. This is stupid and dangerous...

If you're driving the car, and stop for a quick run into store... for a pit stop, whatever... regardless of the % charge remaining there are ways to keep the HVAC going strong at any setpoint you like, with no driver in the car. Many other posts and threads discuss the ways of doing this.. Just try a method to make sure it works before trusting it for your dogs.

This thread is about stopped, car off, and charging the car. Much different than a driving pit stop.

I think the thread title could be more informative to say "HVAC cutoff while charging at low SOC". Yes, maybe you can leave dogs in the car while charging... and the same concern applies! But wouldn't your pals rather be outside doing some "discharging" of their own while the car is charging!?

Also, there's the "cabin overheat prevention" setting that will kick in the A/C on a parked car with no user input from the App. Make sure this setting is "on" if you want it on.

Sooo... maybe a similar question applies: will the overheat prevention kick in while the car is charging and is below 20%, or not? Who can run that experiment and let us know?? (Arizona I'm looking at you.)

 

[gabeincal]

If you're driving the car, and stop for a quick run into store... for a pit stop, whatever... regardless of the % charge remaining there are ways to keep the HVAC going strong at any setpoint you like, with no driver in the car. Many other posts and threads discuss the ways of doing this.. Just try a method to make sure it works before trusting it for your dogs.

This thread is about stopped, car off, and charging the car. Much different than a driving pit stop.

I think the thread title could be more informative to say "HVAC cutoff while charging at low SOC".

Makes sense and not meant to 'hijack' the thread. I know other methods, since I camp in my car (neutral, AC on, display on cleaning mode, lock car)..

 

[MorrisonHiker]

The car must be at a minimum of 21% charge before the App will let you turn on the climate control. After the charge reaches 21%, the app will work again.

I might've missed it in the OP...but couldn't you just turn on the A/C in the car instead of trying to use the app? Are you saying the A/C wouldn't work at all...or did you mean it would shut off automatically before reaching 21% and you couldn't turn it back on with the app?

When we drove back from the Gigafactory to Denver last summer, the temperature was over 100 degrees when we were in Lovelock, Winnemucca, Elko, West Wendover, Price, Green River and Grand Junction. I believe we had less than a 21% charge when arriving at each of those Superchargers but the A/C still worked fine to cool the car. There wasn't much to do in several of those locations, so we spent most of our time in the car and never had a problem where the A/C wasn't working. We were using Superchargers, not CHAdeMO, so perhaps that makes a difference?

 

[Naonak]

The AC will work if you are in the car or leave the door cracked open... but that's not really an option or a good idea in some places. I don't want to sit in the car for an hour and half and leaving the door cracked open will only keep the AC on for so long before it shuts off.