Just a quick video demonstrating the car using Shore Power when battery is fully charged. Seems awfully high power consumption for AC in range mode though...
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Video of the car using Shore Power for the AC
- Thread starter islandbayy
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I personally do not believe so. My whole house AC unit, also operating at 240v, draws only 20 amps, and cools a 4 bedroom, 2 living room, split level house fairly effectively. It is a 2.5 ton 8 seer (yes, I know low efficiency, actually getting replaced this week as it sprung a leak).
The power consumption from the car went up by about 50% (up to about 15-16 amps) when range mode was turned off.
The power consumption from the car went up by about 50% (up to about 15-16 amps) when range mode was turned off.
Vehicle is completely charged. No vampire losses were included. I waited until the car shut off the charger due to complete charge.
Hmm, I looked again - in my car in the garage it took 12A today with A/C set at 70 deg F and ambient of 95ish... but it's variable-speed, so it might be a difference in ambient vs. setpoint temp.
That said, power consumption by A/C units are not linear in nature, and you really can't compare your whole-house AC unit to the car's - your home is heavily insulated, isn't manufactured with extremely high conductivity outer skin, and isn't 50% glass. In your home, the condenser and evaporator are much larger than in the car and operate at different pressures.
I believe I read some time ago that the second-generation Prius's compressor was rated at about 3 kW at 100% load. Add to the compressor's power the fans required to move air through the condenser (if the car is sitting still) and the climate control fan inside the car, and you can see how it can easily consume that level of power.
Does that include both the compressor and the fancoil? In many cases these are separate. Are you measuring loads or is that circuit breaker size?
Seven7
Member
Never said it wasnt working properly
Hatch was open as I did the video while loading around 500 lbs of motorcycle parts into the trunk.
This aligns with what I heard recently:
When draining (some of) the battery (for analysis, shipping, etc.), employees use the heater rather than the A/C.
Oh right, that also reminds me.
Remember how people were complaining about having "low" charge when they received their vehicles? Apparently cross-state (and maybe some in-state) shipping requires that the battery charge state be below 50% (i.e. something like 49.5% SoC or less).
In the early days they didn't have a lot of HPWCs around and they were trying to get out vehicles as quickly as possible.
So the legal requirement combined with the charging timeline and device limitations unsurprisingly means some customers took delivery of sub-60% SOC vehicles.
Seven7
Member
Let me rephrase that, wouldn't your cars a/c not have to work so hard and draw less power if you closed the hatch and door?
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The HVAC in the car is sized *very differently* than the one for your home. A properly-designed home install should be able to just keep up with very hot temps and not be able to swing temperature that quickly. The car on the other hand needs an HVAC powerful enough to cool off a car that's been 140F in the cabin to 70F in minutes. And it's not just the air it needs to cool -- all those surfaces are very hot, too.
My room A/C (5000 BTU) is 0.5 kW and it takes a LONG time to adjust the temperature in my room if it's hot out. 10A @ 234V is 2.3 kW so a little more than 4x the power of my window unit -- and I can believe the car needs it.
When the temp in the car has settled, it doesn't draw much at all. I'm amazed at how little impact A/C has on range.
My room A/C (5000 BTU) is 0.5 kW and it takes a LONG time to adjust the temperature in my room if it's hot out. 10A @ 234V is 2.3 kW so a little more than 4x the power of my window unit -- and I can believe the car needs it.
When the temp in the car has settled, it doesn't draw much at all. I'm amazed at how little impact A/C has on range.
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