Model Y climate battery usage unusually high (50% battery while driving)

[Scott Krohn]

Alright yesterday on my drive to work (~30 mi, 7:30am, north bound 101 between chandler and north Scottsdale), my energy usage is in the screenshot below. I kept the AC at 70 the whole way and drove about 80mph.

So for me at this time climate energy usage was pretty low at 0.7% vs 10.9% for driving.

I will try it again on the way home from work today and see. I do have XPEL XR prime 98% ceramic tint on all windows, including the windshield, and I use the VION top glass shade, just for reference e

 

[DMNAZ]

Alright yesterday on my drive to work (~30 mi, 7:30am, north bound 101 between chandler and north Scottsdale), my energy usage is in the screenshot below. I kept the AC at 70 the whole way and drove about 80mph.

So for me at this time climate energy usage was pretty low at 0.7% vs 10.9% for driving.

I will try it again on the way home from work today and see. I do have XPEL XR prime 98% ceramic tint on all windows, including the windshield, and I use the VION top glass shade, just for reference e

I find driving in AZ, when the temp is below 105 the energy usage isn’t horrible with air at 70, it is over 105 when it starts to really eat in to the usage.

 

[Scott Krohn]

I find driving in AZ, when the temp is below 105 the energy usage isn’t horrible with air at 70, it is over 105 when it starts to really eat in to the usage.

Yeah I didn’t leave the office until around 9:30pm last night so I didn’t include that drive since the sun wasn’t beating down on the car. I am planning to leave today around 4:00 so I will have a better example when it’s 110+ out.

 

[Rockstop]

Yeah I didn’t leave the office until around 9:30pm last night so I didn’t include that drive since the sun wasn’t beating down on the car. I am planning to leave today around 4:00 so I will have a better example when it’s 110+ out.

Wow, long day at the office!

Today is a scorcher, 118 high so it'll be a true stress test of our car's ac.

My appointment at Tesla service is this Fri so hopefully they fix my annoying interior rattle and run some climate system checks on my Y.

I'm driving the 21 model S plaid today and will post the S energy usage later as a comparison vs my Y to see if the S uses as much battery for the climate today driving in today's forecasted blazing hot Temps.

Stay cool out there everyone!

 

[Rockstop]

Well I made the mistake of ordering the black (it was free then) and black interior. Cheaped out. I think they should replace glass roof with solar panel like
the Prius Prime has

My first car I bought was a black car and this was in phx. Looked beautiful when it was clean but was noticeably hotter in the sun.

I do like a sunroof, though a built in roof shade would be very appreciated. I have friends that hate sunroofs and an solar panel on the roof would be great in the sunbelt cities like phx too, filling dual purposes of blocking the sun and keeping the interior cooler while literally powering the car by the sun.

I actually optioned a sunroof instead of the standard sporty solid carbon fiber roofs on my previous BMW M3 because I liked the extra spacious feeling of an transparent roof when the sun wasn't directly overhead. Me being 6'4" might have something to do with it.

Staring up at a solid headliner an inch away from my head does make me feel more claustrophobic.

 

[TacoGuy]

Well I made the mistake of ordering the black (it was free then) and black interior. Cheaped out. I think they should replace glass roof with solar panel like
the Prius Prime has

A solar panel to run a modest climate control could help. Cabin overheating would benefit from light absorption by the panel as well.

I don't think that the panel could cool/heat in extremes. Also if there is any sense for the panels in the roof extending range in any meaningful way don't bother. Current solar tech and the surface area of the roof would not offer any benefit.

 

[mjwojtukiewicz]

A solar panel to run a modest climate control could help. Cabin overheating would benefit from light absorption by the panel as well.

I don't think that the panel could cool/heat in extremes. Also if there is any sense for the panels in the roof extending range in any meaningful way don't bother. Current solar tech and the surface area of the roof would not offer any benefit.

That's what it does, mostly run the air conditioner, accessories, etc

 

[mjwojtukiewicz]

A solar panel to run a modest climate control could help. Cabin overheating would benefit from light absorption by the panel as well.

I don't think that the panel could cool/heat in extremes. Also if there is any sense for the panels in the roof extending range in any meaningful way don't bother. Current solar tech and the surface area of the roof would not offer any benefit.

The 2023 Toyota Prius Prime Could Take 3 Weeks to Recharge

Or, put another way, you can get more than 1,000 miles of free range in a year.

www.motortrend.com

 

[Scott Krohn]

Here’s from the drive home today. Used a little more on climate, but still not nearly as much yours seems to be. This was 30mi south on the 101 and it was around 115 outside. I kept the air on 70 the whole way.

 

[Rockstop]

View attachment 959896

Here’s from the drive home today. Used a little more on climate, but still not nearly as much yours seems to be. This was 30mi south on the 101 and it was around 115 outside. I kept the air on 70 the whole way.

Thank you for data logging in the name of science!

And wow, congrats to your elite performance AC/Heatpump climate systems. Only 2.1% of your total 22.1% consumed during your two drives totaling 60mi was used by your climate. I'm sure your sunshade helps your ac efficiency but not by 900% I'd guess.

Just for comparison sake, here is my snapshot of my S Plaid energy usage driving 55.4mi today. I commute Gilbert to downtown so my average speed is lower around the downtown area. Thus my total trip time using AC is likely longer than yours. And I made multiple stops today to run errands so more climate energy used to cool down a hot, parked car.

Still, my 5.8% climate battery used today is a fraction of the 18.3% battery used by my Y climate over my 55mi commute loop. I suspect my Y AC either has a refrigerant leak or was undercharged from the factory, potentially connected with my Y climate also having the missing interior climate sensor board at new car delivery.




Model S

Model Y

 

[shingles]

Well I made the mistake of ordering the black (it was free then) and black interior. Cheaped out. I think they should replace glass roof with solar panel like
the Prius Prime has

Get the roof tinted... makes a HUGE differrence.

 

[bacevedo]

What software version are you at on your Y? I'm also in AZ (Chandler) and I was having similar problems with my 2020 Y until I got 2023.20.7, which seemed to fix it.

I've been through 2 previous summers with my Y and it was never this bad. I'm convinced they broke something in some recent updates.

 

[Rockstop]

What software version are you at on your Y? I'm also in AZ (Chandler) and I was having similar problems with my 2020 Y until I got 2023.20.7, which seemed to fix it.

I've been through 2 previous summers with my Y and it was never this bad. I'm convinced they broke something in some recent updates.

I upgraded to 2023.20.9 last week. I normally update the Y within a couple days of when Ota updates are released since luckily my home wifi reaches my home garage.


I also wonder if Tesla aggressively increased the battery cooling parameters recently which spiked the "climate" usage in phx summer high heat situations. Since several other forum members are reporting chewing through their batteries at double the epa rate driving in the phx recently.

 

[TacoGuy]

I upgraded to 2023.20.9 last week. I normally update the Y within a couple days of when Ota updates are released since luckily my home wifi reaches my home garage.


I also wonder if Tesla aggressively increased the battery cooling parameters recently which spiked the "climate" usage in phx summer high heat situations. Since several other forum members are reporting chewing through their batteries at double the epa rate driving in the phx recently.

I'm on 2023.20.9 as well. No real observable changes. I can say that when the temp drops efficiency improves greatly. I don't have good datapoints such as Ambient air temperature and measured wh/mi. I do know at temps <100 I can get 270-290wh/mi. I do believe battery cooling is a significant part. Since the heat pump is used for cooling cabin and systems, I am not sure the computer can differentiate what % of energy goes in to climate versus what is allocated to the battery.

Perhaps an area that can be improved upon if Elon is reading.

 

[Rockstop]

So an update on my Y. On Friday afternoon I took the car in for my service appt. They were able to successfully fix my rattle (though they did charge me $102 for the rattle fix despite quoting me $0 beforehand which is its own story).

Initially the service advisor said they "remotely" accessed my car logs and didn't see anything wrong with my car's ac system, telling me my Y ac blowing warm and the high energy usage is due to the record heat and car prioritizing keeping the battery cool, which does make sense. After I showed the SA this thread's energy usage reports and my S's energy usage reports which all reported much lower climate energy usage driving in similar 115-118 heat, he did come out to my Y with me to do an "test ride."

During the test ride, he put my AC on low temp, max cooling and he noted how after 5 minutes the air coming out was still lukewarm which is outside the norm. Thus, he promised to have the tesla service tech do an hvac performance test during my service.

When I picked up my car Fri night 3 hours later, I was told Tesla reset and updated my heat-pump firmware and after that, my car passed both the "thermal" and hvac performance test.

My Y's AC does feel it's blowing noticeably cooler air set at my same 69-70 auto climate setting driving around in 110-115 heat this past 4 days (though that might be a placebo effect). And today, during my commute, running the energy app, it did use less energy for climate (10.5% out of 29.4%) vs my commute last week which used 18.3% out of 36% on climate. However, today was a high of 108 vs the day last week when I recorded the extraordinarily climate energy usage, the high was 115. So the energy savings may well be due to the 7 degree temp delta.

So results are inconclusive if the heat-pump firmware update was a true fix on my energy hog Y's AC. When Phx temps climb back to the 114-116 highs again this weekend and next week, I'll try to take some more snapshots of the climate energy usage reports and see if the high climate energy usage issue is resolved.

Thank you for everyone who chipped in and contributed data points on how their tesla car's AC has been consuming energy during our record breaking heat wave in July!