Steam while charging….

[M1tch]

Not seen anything on this in a search….

Is it normal for the car to steam while charging? Had about 8 hours of driving on Monday and had to charge twice. Both were superchargers and the car had preconditioned prior to both charges. Almost as soon as I plugged in the car seemed to steam from around both headlights. I Assume steam as there was no smell to it. It had been very wet all day and rained / fog for almost all of the drive.

It may be normal but these two charges were my 2nd and 3rd respectively since I’ve owned it, just after reassurance….

 

[Marvin03]

I’ve seen elsewhere on here that yes it’s normal

 

[PITA]

Yes... happened to me...

Bit embarrassing actually, like farting at a dinner party

 

[btc1k]

Yes, normal when battery temp is up for supercharging

 

[Cardo]

More likely vapour, rather than steam. The heat pump M3s manifest this in the cold. Nothing to be concerned about.

 

[ACarneiro]

I would expect there to be condensation (and possibly even icing) in the heat exchanger coils outside whilst the heat pump is warming the cabin and battery.
Then, as the batteries get hot from charging the flow gets reversed to cool the batteries, and the external coils will get hot. The condensate in them evaporates and because the outside air is cold and saturated in the winter you see water vapour.
As mine doesn't have a heat pump (2019 model), it's not something that happens but this seems normal and there are multiple reports of it happening.

 

[plisken]

I've noticed this (got car Dec 2021) and only while at a Supercharger. Interestingly though, the first time it happened, it seemed to coincide with what sounded like A/C coming on and off inside the car that continued after charging had completed and for several miles of my journey afterwards (difficult to hear while driving). Also the charge rate was about 75kwh from 30% to 80% after 3 miles or so of preconditioning.

Since the most recent update (whatever that was around Christmas time), I still get the steam/condensation or whatever but it only lasts for a little while during the same charge range (30% to 80%), which now seems to start off high, around 130kwh and drops quickly to around 45kwh or so once it gets to about 50% which seems strange but also the steam/condensation also seems to stop at this point and there is no more of the A/C coming on and off inside the cabin sound as mentioned above.

Might all be coincidental or circumstantial or whatever but aye, steam is real for me too

 

[CaptFish2003]

Yes, apparently normal for the reasons mentioned above. I still contacted the service Center, just to be sure. They checked the cars logs remotely and confirmed that it was ok.
A bit weird when it happens and the car is engulfed in white clouds.

 

[PITA]

Electric Cars are 'nice' weird...

Preheated the Car Cabin in -1 temps yesterday, as covered in frost. Went outside and car was steaming from all the glass areas. But not the bonnet which was still covered in frost.

Lovely and toasty inside. It must be a spectacle from my Neighbours point of view... because it's like the cars alive... especially when they're outside scraping theirs and shivering trying to get their iced car operational.

The most I have to do now is swish a water blade over the windows to remove warm water mist... nice

 

[Leejmoff]

Yep last few times I've supercharged our car has done this.