A/C impact

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SPARTAN SAM H
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2022 12:50 pm

Post by SPARTAN SAM H »

Hi All,

I've been looking at impact to range / power consumption as ive been having some trouble getting anywhere near the suggested ranges,

From what I can see Radio, heated seats, heated steering wheel and massage doesn't impact on range very much if at all leaving me with 3kwh/h when sat on the drive,

A/C however seems to have a big impact, if I have A/C switched on power consumption goes to 1kwh/h if sat idle,

I was just wondering if this is pretty standard and if the best course of action for EVs is to switch off A/C as much as possible? Or if this is abnormal?

Sam
V3 58kWh Auto E boost Aurora Blue with Heat Pump, Tech M pack, Beats Audio and 20" Firestorm Alloys (with DCC).

Benjo88
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2022 7:03 am

Post by Benjo88 »

I do a daily commute of 50 miles. I find the A/C impacts me heavily on that commute. I turn it off now to try save consumption / range.

I believe it’s similar if using any form of heat as opposed ti AC also. Annoying considering the “actual” range you get from a charge is already lower that the perceived charge without taking AC into account.
Cupra Born | V1 | Tech L Pack | Greyser Silver | Newcastle (North East|
monkeyhanger
Posts: 565
Joined: Tue May 31, 2022 8:12 pm

Post by monkeyhanger »

There's a way to reduce the AC impact a lot - use the recirculation button with AC - that way you're not dumping freshly cooled air as soon as you've made it. With AC on, you could see as much as 0.5 miles per kWh wiped off your efficiency when on the move. Recirculate and it could be a quarter of that.

With ICE cars, the AC gets more efficient the faster you drive, as there's more air hitting the AC radiator and exchanging heat with it. To a lesser extent, that's true on the Born and EVs in general, but the front end is much less open on an EV. For me, if I get ack to a scorching car, I try to drive the first half a mile with all the windows open to get rid of all the residual heat, then close them and put the AC on with recirculation.

In the Winter, if there's no rear passengers, you'll be best off relying mainly on the heated seats to warm up (not on a V1) rather than having the fan heater blaring.
2022 V2 E-Boost L-Tech Pack - Aurora Blue
2023 Audi S3 - to avoid rapid charging on long journeys.

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davmatjo
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu May 05, 2022 2:08 pm

Post by davmatjo »

When on my commute of ~100 miles I have found that AC on/off has made an almost imperceptible difference to range, perhaps I am in the car long enough that the temperature equalises and the AC doesn't end up needing much energy to keep a constant temperature. Also, if you don't have a heat pump I would guess that cooling with the AC is far more efficient per degree than resistive heating due to the way the refrigeration cycle works. Using the heated seats instead of the fan heating actually sounds like a great idea @monkeyhanger, I'll have to try that.

What I have found makes a big difference is cruising speed. 65 vs 70mph can mean I'm left with roughly 8% less charge at the end of a journey and dropping the speed adds only 5-10 mins to the total journey time.

It does make sense really. The vast majority of power used will always be to move the 2 ton vehicle after all, and due to the way air resistance is proportional to the square of velocity, every few mph at high speed makes quite a significant difference.
SPARTAN SAM H
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2022 12:50 pm

Post by SPARTAN SAM H »

Im not sure if I've got a fault then as from 80% it should be getting roughly 170 miles.. I'm only just managing 140 if I have A/C switched on.. though I have been doing some small trips (less than 2 miles) which I have been told is not good for an EV as it doesn't warm the battery,

I noticed today if A/C was on when sat at the lights it was using 2.3-2.8 kWh/h
V3 58kWh Auto E boost Aurora Blue with Heat Pump, Tech M pack, Beats Audio and 20" Firestorm Alloys (with DCC).
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Daveion
Posts: 424
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2022 8:32 pm

Post by Daveion »

SPARTAN SAM H wrote: Thu Sep 08, 2022 11:45 pm Im not sure if I've got a fault then as from 80% it should be getting roughly 170 miles.. I'm only just managing 140 if I have A/C switched on.. though I have been doing some small trips (less than 2 miles) which I have been told is not good for an EV as it doesn't warm the battery,

I noticed today if A/C was on when sat at the lights it was using 2.3-2.8 kWh/h
If you are in the UK we haven't really hit ambient overnight temperatures where the battery temperature is an issue. On really short multiple journeys I currently return 4-4.5 miles/kW.
With AC is on that drops to about 3.8 mpkW.
Your range at 80% equates to around 3mpkW.
If the journeys are 2 or 3 miles and you are driving quite hard that is believable.
Born V2-Tech L collected June 22
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monkeyhanger
Posts: 565
Joined: Tue May 31, 2022 8:12 pm

Post by monkeyhanger »

SPARTAN SAM H wrote: Thu Sep 08, 2022 11:45 pm Im not sure if I've got a fault then as from 80% it should be getting roughly 170 miles.. I'm only just managing 140 if I have A/C switched on.. though I have been doing some small trips (less than 2 miles) which I have been told is not good for an EV as it doesn't warm the battery,

I noticed today if A/C was on when sat at the lights it was using 2.3-2.8 kWh/h
The AC on a static car works very hard - there's no cool air rushing over the radiator to remove the external heat generated by the AC process.

Battery warming won't have a noticeable hit on range until you're doing your short journeys in sub 12C temperatures.
2022 V2 E-Boost L-Tech Pack - Aurora Blue
2023 Audi S3 - to avoid rapid charging on long journeys.

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