EV Tuning HEPA cabin filter review

[tlr1000]

Well, after almost 2 years I thought it was a good time to change my cabin filter. The HEPA ones are expensive but if truly HEPA and has the ability to filter out the air better, then the cost is bearable.

I did some research and didn't find any reviews that I felt were credible. A lot of positive reviews were people replacing old smelly filters and saying what a great improvement this new HEPA was. Doesn't take too much logic to recognize that even if you took out the smelly old filter and left it empty you would get a more pleasant experience. On the other side, a lot of people slag these HEPA filters and say nothing is better than OEM but most of these opinions were from people that never actually tried one of these HEPA filters. These naysayers may be right but their opinions aren't based on fact.

Since I didn't find any helpful reviews I decided to take a leap of faith and ordered a set from EVTuning. The ones from Abstract Ocean appear to be identical (see pics attached). I went with EVTuning since I found a discount code via TeslaRaj's YouTube video (again, this video was not really helpful other than it had a discount code attached to it). Still expensive though especially since I live in Canada and had to pay an additional $20 for tax and customs fees.

Unlike many other reviewers, my original filter was not smelly or musty - it was just getting old but there were no obvious signs that it needed replacement so my baseline is quite different that many of the glowing reviews. The filters sure look more complex to manufacture since on one side there was a standard looking white filter element (said to be HEPA grade by 3M) and on the other side a number of small compartments with activated charcoal. The filters are advertised to provide "clean, odor free air inside the cabin". The "odor free" claim is what I really wanted.

Installation requires a bit of body twisting but not overly difficult. The first thing I noticed in the install is that these filters do not fit very tight. The first one dropped to the bottom quite easily and the top filter pushed in with no effort so there was a bit of freeplay which was a bit of an alarm for me. Nevertheless, I buckled everything up and cranked the fan. There was absolutely no difference in smell or airflow that I noticed.

A week went by and never really noticed anything - which I guess is a good thing. Today, I was behind a diesel van and visually the van was not making any smoke but there was a huge diesel exhaust smell with all my windows rolled up. What a letdown. So obviously, the claim of "clean, odor free air inside the cabin" was not true.

I chose not to contact EVTuning about warranty replacement since I think the filters are just not designed well and a replacement would end up costing me another $20 in taxes and customs fees. I decided to write a review on their site and was a bit surprised the other reviews were all 5-star. Within less than 1/2 hour pf [posting my review, I received an email from PayPal that I received a full refund. I thought to myself, wow these EVTuning guys are awesome but then I was a bit curious why they didn't reach out to even ask or give a reason why they gave the full refund. I went back to their site and disappointingly they deleted my review which essentially said the filter did not eliminate exhaust smells. Even though I received a refund, I find this practice a bit dishonest because it doesn't give potential customers a true picture.

There is one other HEPA alternative on Amazon and these look like they didn't come from the same factory as the EVTuning and Abstract Ocean ones. I don't know if they are any better or worse but at least they are 60% cheaper and when I watched an online video review/installation I did notice the Amazon ones required significantly more effort to install having to persuade them into place. This at least shows they fit tighter and probably make a better seal if nothing else.

 

[U_S_D]

That's a very useful review, thank you.

I guess the Vendor knows they're selling tat, and is just relying on customers not doing much about it.

 

[Atraf]

I wonder if you could improvise thickening the otter frame of the filter so that the fitment will be more tight, perhaps harvesting parts of the OEM filters and using hot glue... sketchy but if the filter is solid and the issue is air finding a way in through a path of least resistance, this might actually do the trick


... as someone that blindly bought two sets of two when they went on sale .. I sure hope it works better than your description

[Haven't installed yet as my OEM filters are pretty much brand new, but considering service center's installation fee .. I figured I might as well upgrade]

 

[tlr1000]

Atraf, I think thickening the edges is not a bad idea but have a feeling that's not the weakest link. I suspect the filter substrate is just not up to par but guess you will know soon enough if you've ordered them.

I also read some more reviews of the Amazon filters as well (XTechnor brand) and seems there were reports of being able to smell exhaust as well as restaurant smells. Guess these are also not effective.

I really hope someone makes a true HEPA filter for the 3 but for now seems OEM is the only option.

 

[TydalForce]

I have the Abstract Ocean ones; my experience with them is about the same as yours. Car exhaust bothers me (I'm sensitive to stuff like that) but I can still smell it with these.

If anyone comes up with a good hack to make them fit better, let me know. Maybe it just needs a bit of weatherstripping between the two pieces or something. I should take them out and compare the size to the originals.

 

[Mash]

I have experience engineering air filtration systems - all those car filters that remove odor are BS. 100% of them. You just physically don't have enough filter capacity to filter more than maybe 0.1% of gas. Air filters can only capture like 80% of the dust. Model S filter can capture 99.9% of dust and pressurize cabin to prevent dust from coming through holes (at the cost of tons of noise in special mode).

Even on luxury cars - at best they have an electrochemical sensor that switches air intake to recirculation for some time if it senses increasing carbon monoxide. Even on Model S it's only a full-size HEPA 14 filter that doesn't filter any odor. Because odor is gas - it's orders of magnitude smaller, so you need tons of activated carbon for gas molecules to get stuck in the passages of carbon.

Say if one wants to develop an actual full air filtration system - this is what you would need:

1. Sacrifice the whole frunk area for the system
2. Install high-pressure pump with soundproof box
3. Install F8 + HEPA14 prefilter
4. Install ozone generator to stop mold development.
5. Install and make a program for Arduino controller
6. Connect it to CAN to control the recirculation of air (to avoid ozone poisoning) and the schedule of the ozone generator.
7. Make some BT program that allows people to set up regular sanitizing of the interior by running a generator when the car is locked at night and recirculation is switched off.

The big project that worth only if you can find a few thousand buyers that sound improbable since the retail price would have to be close to $1000 and most people prefer to have storage space instead. I would buy that, but DIY would cost 5x of my time, so no way.

 

[Uncle Paul]

A voice of reality and reason.

 

[linux-works]

Say if one wants to develop an actual full air filtration system - this is what you would need:

1. Sacrifice the whole frunk area for the system
2. Install high-pressure pump with soundproof box
3. Install F8 + HEPA14 prefilter
4. Install ozone generator to stop mold development.
5. Install and make a program for Arduino controller
6. Connect it to CAN to control the recirculation of air (to avoid ozone poisoning) and the schedule of the ozone generator.
7. Make some BT program that allows people to set up regular sanitizing of the interior by running a generator when the car is locked at night and recirculation is switched off.

if there ever is a project, I could help with 4 thru 6 and part of 7

 

[zhu-]

I actually bought a set of the HEPA filters a while back from Amazon for around $50 I believe and was going to do a test like this but haven't installed them yet so I appreciate your review.

All those Tesla shops are just whitelabeling from the same chinese manufacturers or dropshipping from alibaba at a ~100% markup. I'd be cautious buying anything said to be made by "3M" that comes out of china. There's a manufacturer that makes identical 3M products in china called MMM. Guess what abbreviation they use for this company? I can't say how the quality compares to actual 3M and it might be similar but something to keep in mind any time you see the label "3M" coming from china.

 

[tlr1000]

I have experience engineering air filtration systems - all those car filters that remove odor are BS. 100% of them. You just physically don't have enough filter capacity to filter more than maybe 0.1% of gas. Air filters can only capture like 80% of the dust. Model S filter can capture 99.9% of dust and pressurize cabin to prevent dust from coming through holes (at the cost of tons of noise in special mode).

Even on luxury cars - at best they have an electrochemical sensor that switches air intake to recirculation for some time if it senses increasing carbon monoxide. Even on Model S it's only a full-size HEPA 14 filter that doesn't filter any odor. Because odor is gas - it's orders of magnitude smaller, so you need tons of activated carbon for gas molecules to get stuck in the passages of carbon.

Say if one wants to develop an actual full air filtration system - this is what you would need:

1. Sacrifice the whole frunk area for the system
2. Install high-pressure pump with soundproof box
3. Install F8 + HEPA14 prefilter
4. Install ozone generator to stop mold development.
5. Install and make a program for Arduino controller
6. Connect it to CAN to control the recirculation of air (to avoid ozone poisoning) and the schedule of the ozone generator.
7. Make some BT program that allows people to set up regular sanitizing of the interior by running a generator when the car is locked at night and recirculation is switched off.

The big project that worth only if you can find a few thousand buyers that sound improbable since the retail price would have to be close to $1000 and most people prefer to have storage space instead. I would buy that, but DIY would cost 5x of my time, so no way.

Sounds great! However, I wouldn't be surprised if it's even more than $1000

 

[Perscitus]

Frank and good review OP.

Yes, these filter elements are meh, they dont stop exhaust, weed or any other stronger smell from entering the cabin.
Not any better at filtering out dust, pollen etc either (vs OEMs).

Most of the HVAC design on the Model 3 (aside from the airblade and cabin ducting) is a missed opportunity. Oh well.

 

[Mash]

Sounds great! However, I wouldn't be surprised if it's even more than $1000

I did some calculations before. Cost is roughly 300, rest is marketing, dealers margin, profit. But it has a high chance of peaking below 300 kits and that would not cover R&D and operational expenses. If you do it OEM - than it's more than 100K units and cost can be brought below 100, but on a 10K GP car you might not get enough of improved sales to cover r&d that would be somewhere in few M zone. So I don't have high hopes seeing it anytime soon.

 

[Atraf]

I have experience engineering air filtration systems - all those car filters that remove odor are BS. 100% of them. You just physically don't have enough filter capacity to filter more than maybe 0.1% of gas. Air filters can only capture like 80% of the dust. Model S filter can capture 99.9% of dust and pressurize cabin to prevent dust from coming through holes (at the cost of tons of noise in special mode).

Even on luxury cars - at best they have an electrochemical sensor that switches air intake to recirculation for some time if it senses increasing carbon monoxide. Even on Model S it's only a full-size HEPA 14 filter that doesn't filter any odor. Because odor is gas - it's orders of magnitude smaller, so you need tons of activated carbon for gas molecules to get stuck in the passages of carbon.

Say if one wants to develop an actual full air filtration system - this is what you would need:

1. Sacrifice the whole frunk area for the system
2. Install high-pressure pump with soundproof box
3. Install F8 + HEPA14 prefilter
4. Install ozone generator to stop mold development.
5. Install and make a program for Arduino controller
6. Connect it to CAN to control the recirculation of air (to avoid ozone poisoning) and the schedule of the ozone generator.
7. Make some BT program that allows people to set up regular sanitizing of the interior by running a generator when the car is locked at night and recirculation is switched off.

The big project that worth only if you can find a few thousand buyers that sound improbable since the retail price would have to be close to $1000 and most people prefer to have storage space instead. I would buy that, but DIY would cost 5x of my time, so no way.

I did some calculations before. Cost is roughly 300, rest is marketing, dealers margin, profit. But it has a high chance of peaking below 300 kits and that would not cover R&D and operational expenses. If you do it OEM - than it's more than 100K units and cost can be brought below 100, but on a 10K GP car you might not get enough of improved sales to cover r&d that would be somewhere in few M zone. So I don't have high hopes seeing it anytime soon.

I would buy it, the frunk doesn't do me any good because its too shallow to fit grocery store bag (think Trader Joe's), I got a cooler bag that fits snug perfect but many items won't fit AND I personally hate closing the hood, unlike trunk it feels like typical engine hood and needs some force.

Even at $1,500 if it can match Model S\X's filter or come close to it.
Not so much about odor but more about 2.5 microns particles and such.

I have a Coway AP-1512HH at home, got it six years ago when I moved to Long Island NY, my apartment was not too far from a highway and after a few weeks I started to develop a shallow cough, as one without any asthma or other respiratory issues I got quite alarmed from this development, that was when I bought the AP-1512HH which is a very basic and not even new or sophisticated model.
It has a rough washable dust filter, a prefilter with three months life span and a HEPA filter with six months life span, the filters aren't expensive either.
Within couple of days of the unit running on max speed (think blow dryer noise) my cough went away, I then lowered the speed to 2/3 (not easily noticeable sound) and the cough never returned.
I now use it in LA (#1 worst air quality nationwide :|) and have no issues.

Yet this unit doesn't help at all with odor.

So the aftermarket air filter not preventing exhaust smells is honestly to be expected, but if it has wiggle room and air can just go around it its useless.
The Coway's HEPA filter starts its life all white and shiney, by the time you need to replace it one side of it is totally black and covered with very fine powder like substance. However when you remove the HEPA filter, the inside of the air purifier thats behind it is so clean it reminds me of my iPhone's screen right after I removed the factory sticker when unboxing it, which proves the HEPA filter is effective.

I wonder how does the aftermarket HEPA filter for the Model 3 will be after 5k miles / 3-6 months, and does the air duct behind it (towards driver) gets as dirty as the air duct towards the outside or is there noticeable difference.

Lastly, on my recent visit to the Service Center I asked the tech helping me about this subject, and he jokingly said that in theory with the right housing and ducts you could shove the Model S's filter into the Model 3 on expense of canceling the frunk's storage area.

so, @Mash and all, why not Indiegogo project? if we get enough pre-orders then its a go otherwise no harm done? just needs some coverage in few website that typically cover Tesla and maybe few podcasts and we should have enough reach, no?

 

[Mash]

Well, just PM2.5 doesn't need a lot of space or expensive system.

The cost of that would be change of stock filter to HEPA14 + F8 prefilter bag installed in air scoop under the hood.

One thing that have to be reworked is water drainage hole in air scoop would have to be closed. Otherwise air would go there instead of prefilter. And on top of prefilter some water collector and drainage plate have to be made.

But that's probably around $100 total retail price.
Filters would have to be changed quite often and fan speed would need to double to provide enough of air to remove CO2 from people inside. What can be done is Arduino box on CAN bus with co2 sensor that adjusts fan speed to make sure not only humidity drives fan, but also CO2. It can also measure and predict when filters actually need to be changed. That's another $250.

The main cost would be often change of filters. 4 pocket prefilter bag would survive in average 1 month, HEPA probably 3 months. After that airflow would be unacceptably slow to remove CO2 with few passengers. But if you're allergic to dust - that's a small price to pay. Yearly filter kit should be 12 prefilters, 4 main filters. That can be say $150.

Would you pay $500 and do 15 minute monthly maintenance + 40 minutes quarterly maintenance to have Model S dust protection? +39.95$ quarterly subscription on filters.

That can actually work.
I would estimate market capacity is 10-40k units for model s/y, but filters subscription of 5k users can cover operational expenses. And flash sale on indiegogo potentially can cover r&d and marketing. I can talk with MPP or TeslaOffer about that.

 

[tlr1000]

UPDATE: I decided that I would write back to EVTuning with the following:

Hello,

I assume I received a refund because I wrote a negative review about the ineffectiveness of the product. I want to thank you for the refund however I am wondering if it was a mistake that my review was deleted? My review was honest and describes exactly what my experience was. With the review deleted, potential customers are not getting a true picture – rather, all they see are a number of perfect 5-star reviews. If this was a mistake, please reinstate the review. If my review was intentionally deleted I would like to know the rationale rather than assuming it was removed to mislead consumers.

Thank you​

Will let you know how they respond. Think they'll come clean or just ignore the email?

 

[Atraf]

Well, just PM2.5 doesn't need a lot of space or expensive system.

The cost of that would be change of stock filter to HEPA14 + F8 prefilter bag installed in air scoop under the hood.

One thing that have to be reworked is water drainage hole in air scoop would have to be closed. Otherwise air would go there instead of prefilter. And on top of prefilter some water collector and drainage plate have to be made.

But that's probably around $100 total retail price.
Filters would have to be changed quite often and fan speed would need to double to provide enough of air to remove CO2 from people inside. What can be done is Arduino box on CAN bus with co2 sensor that adjusts fan speed to make sure not only humidity drives fan, but also CO2. It can also measure and predict when filters actually need to be changed. That's another $250.

The main cost would be often change of filters. 4 pocket prefilter bag would survive in average 1 month, HEPA probably 3 months. After that airflow would be unacceptably slow to remove CO2 with few passengers. But if you're allergic to dust - that's a small price to pay. Yearly filter kit should be 12 prefilters, 4 main filters. That can be say $150.

Would you pay $500 and do 15 minute monthly maintenance + 40 minutes quarterly maintenance to have Model S dust protection? +39.95$ quarterly subscription on filters.

That can actually work.
I would estimate market capacity is 10-40k units for model s/y, but filters subscription of 5k users can cover operational expenses. And flash sale on indiegogo potentially can cover r&d and marketing. I can talk with MPP or TeslaOffer about that.

A hundred times yes!
Please do!

One time $500 + $160 yearly is really not all that expensive or time consuming, would definitely go for it.

Given the choice I would have opted for the 3x more expensive system you described earlier but if that ends up being too expensive and we can't get big enough user base for it to be sustainable than just matching Model S/X quality is perfectly fine and I would definitely sign up for it.

 

[Aikidoka]

My last two cars had HEPA filters and did no better than all the prior cars at filtering out exhaust fumes just like the above reviews. Too high of flow rate and too small of filters. This simple and cheap solution is when in traffic or behind a diesel truck put the car in recirculate mode so that you aren't sucking the fumes in.

 

[Mash]

My last two cars had HEPA filters and did no better than all the prior cars at filtering out exhaust fumes just like the above reviews. Too high of flow rate and too small of filters. This simple and cheap solution is when in traffic or behind a diesel truck put the car in recirculate mode so that you aren't sucking the fumes in.

People in Asia never turn off recirculation. But I measured on a few cars and CO2 goes to 4000 ppm - 10x above fresh air in 5-10 minutes. People register drowsiness and loss of attention above 650 ppm. Consistent 4-5 Kppm just unhealthy let alone dangerous.

What is called HEPA usually not HEPA at all (how you going to check?) or what they call HEPA10 which is non-existent class that basically aren't HEPA as well. True HEPA is not significantly more expensive - it's still nothing more than special paper, but if you going to put it instead of stock filter - it will get clogged in days and either there won't be any flow of air at all or air will be sucked from some other holes, but not through the filter.

Models S is just 40 times larger filter. That means roughly 300 times more capacity, so they get away with a single filter. Model 3 won't fit that filter anywhere under the hood. So need a prefilter and regular change.

Anyway, I will talk with guys and see if they interested to invest their time in this project. I would buy that thing as well.

 

[TydalForce]

So I took my AO's out and compared to the Tesla originals.
They're a little less wide (maybe a quarter inch) and slightly less tall -- can't tell from the photos but it's there. Plus the fuzzy stuff around isn't as "solid" so I feel like there's a few opportunities for air to just pass around them instead of through them.

I put a little bit of weatherstripping on the top of the bottom piece, and a thin strip of stuff leftover from the noise reduction kit on the side. On the top piece, I used the thicker weatherstripping on the side since it gets pressed up against the door. (I used the thinner piece on the bottom to make sure it would slide down into the slot OK

Hopefully this will help, but as I'm not driving all that much these days it'll probably be a while until I get behind a stinky truck and can try it out.

 

[TydalForce]

Some of those pics didn't seem to upload right; no thumbnails and they're not in the slideshow view, but clicking on them directly works. Weird.