Air conditioning - Is it powerful enough?

[BigBob]

Further update on mine after a 70 mile drive today in temperatures of 31deg.

Precooled car for 10 minutes, as it had been sitting in the sun (I also have pano roof). It was a bit cooler but not cold.

The only way I could keep the car anywhere near comfortable was to hit the Max A/C button. The fan is then on max (and pretty noisy) and the temp reads LOW (one step below 16deg).

When I changed anything (reverted to eco A/C or lowered the fan speed a notch), the cabin started heating up again. The air from the outlets was cool, not cold.

Something is clearly wrong - it shouldn't struggle like this.

Going to call Silverstone on Monday.

What a pain. That is really bad, but at least you’ll be able to demonstrate it. Hope it’s a quick fix

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[f1eng]

but it is using ambient air temperature as its reference point for it's cooling behaviour,

It definitely will not be doing that.
That would be too stupid to even call a schoolboy error!

 

[BigBob]

It definitely will not be doing that.
That would be too stupid to even call a schoolboy error!

Like making a 6 wheel F1 car? Hope that wasn’t you!

 

[f1eng]

Like making a 6 wheel F1 car? Hope that wasn’t you!

It was partly me. The 4 rear wheels one(s).
4 wheels at the front was pointless and it is still a mystery to me why they built it.

4 rear wheels reduced drag, allowed a considerable increase in downforce and gave better traction.

The prototype(s) were not full aero spec and mechanically we just wanted to check drivability.

Looking at it today is amusing. 2 of us did all the mechanical and aero design work and we only had the resources to ever built 1 gearbox, so a FW07D and FW08B can't both exist at the same time. Formula 1 today spends about the same per race now as we did per year.

It was so much better they changed the rules to ban it (by banning 4 wheel drive) before it raced.

Probably just as well, when we modelled the full drag and downforce it had for a publicity article over Christmas 2003 iirc, a driver would have been physically incapable of driving the performance the wind tunnel figures gave. We hadn't had a very good simulation in 1981 or the resource to use one.

 

[BigBob]

It was partly me. The 4 rear wheels one(s).
4 wheels at the front was pointless and it is still a mystery to me why they built it.

4 rear wheels reduced drag, allowed a considerable increase in downforce and gave better traction.

The prototype(s) were not full aero spec and mechanically we just wanted to check drivability.

Looking at it today is amusing. 2 of us did all the mechanical and aero design work and we only had the resources to ever built 1 gearbox, so a FW07D and FW08B can't both exist at the same time. Formula 1 today spends about the same per race now as we did per year.

It was so much better they changed the rules to ban it (by banning 4 wheel drive) before it raced.

Probably just as well, when we modelled the full drag and downforce it had for a publicity article over Christmas 2003 iirc, a driver would have been physically incapable of driving the performance the wind tunnel figures gave. We hadn't had a very good simulation in 1981 or the resource to use one.

Maybe you could assist Porsche making a 6 wheel Taycan pickup truck for the US market? Just slap in another motor and off you go.

 

[rb33gl]

Further update - went out yesterday when it was a little cooler (25deg cf 31). On Max, the A/C did start to blow cold (but not freezing) on max setting, but was still clearly struggling to keep up. It did feel better sitting in a cooler cabin, albeit with the fan on max.

Tried to book in at the OPC and the earliest they have with a courtesy car is the end of August! Just when I won't need A/C any more.

I was told it has to go in for a recall for the HV battery, so will probably need to drop it off...

 

[tchavei]

Further update - went out yesterday when it was a little cooler (25deg cf 31). On Max, the A/C did start to blow cold (but not freezing) on max setting, but was still clearly struggling to keep up. It did feel better sitting in a cooler cabin, albeit with the fan on max.

Tried to book in at the OPC and the earliest they have with a courtesy car is the end of August! Just when I won't need A/C any more.

I was told it has to go in for a recall for the HV battery, so will probably need to drop it off...

Interesting. I think my ac is pretty subpar too. It blows cold but not freezing and definitely struggles with a 20C setting when it's warmer outside. So far I've attributed it to the "eco" setting as the SA told me it was basically the same as normal but would be gentler on the battery but maybe it's not?

I wonder if there's a way of we objectively testing if the ac is within spec or not to avoid going to the dealer just to be told "that's normal"... maybe measure the outlet temperature when on "X C"?

 

[BigBob]

Interesting. I think my ac is pretty subpar too. It blows cold but not freezing and definitely struggles with a 20C setting when it's warmer outside. So far I've attributed it to the "eco" setting as the SA told me it was basically the same as normal but would be gentler on the battery but maybe it's not?

I wonder if there's a way of we objectively testing if the ac is within spec or not to avoid going to the dealer just to be told "that's normal"... maybe measure the outlet temperature when on "X C"?

Yes. Meat thermometer ! Mine came out at 6c, when it’s in one of its decide to work moods.

 

[tchavei]

Yes. Meat thermometer ! Mine came out at 6c, when it’s in one of its decide to work moods.

Great to know. Under which setting did you measure it? Any specific temperature / fan speed? Strong or diffused? Eco on/off?

 

[BigBob]

Great to know. Under which setting did you measure it? Any specific temperature / fan speed? Strong or diffused? Eco on/off?

From a few pages back on the thread:

It's a much warmer day today and the car dashboard has 29c as the air temperature (which is about right) and the car is in the shade so, so it doesn't feel as hot inside the car as it did a few days ago when air temp was lower. AC was set to 18.5c. As soon as i started up, it began blowing lovely icy cold air and cabin was cooled quickly.

Heston Blumenthal's steak thermometer said the air from vents at 'Low' and also at higher temperatures was coming out around 6c. Perfect.

The above was done using using it on auto and 'focused' and not eco.

Using it again this morning and back to feeling pretty under powered. However, i did experiment with the 'individual' mode, which I've never bothered with before. There is a little icon in the corner - man with 3 spears being thrown at him - which you can click on and increase the fan speed. With that set to strong and the AC on 18 it did seem better (cooler and stronger) than focused/diffused options. Dropping it down to ~16c and the fan speed really picked up - much stronger force than the non individual modes. I'm not sure if there is a similar fan speed setting for focused/diffused, but i couldn't find it if there is.

Play around with individual mode, it may improve things a bit. But for me at least it definitely has good days and bad days.

 

[f1eng]

From a few pages back on the thread:

It's a much warmer day today and the car dashboard has 29c as the air temperature (which is about right) and the car is in the shade so, so it doesn't feel as hot inside the car as it did a few days ago when air temp was lower. AC was set to 18.5c. As soon as i started up, it began blowing lovely icy cold air and cabin was cooled quickly.

Heston Blumenthal's steak thermometer said the air from vents at 'Low' and also at higher temperatures was coming out around 6c. Perfect.

The above was done using using it on auto and 'focused' and not eco.

Using it again this morning and back to feeling pretty under powered. However, i did experiment with the 'individual' mode, which I've never bothered with before. There is a little icon in the corner - man with 3 spears being thrown at him - which you can click on and increase the fan speed. With that set to strong and the AC on 18 it did seem better (cooler and stronger) than focused/diffused options. Dropping it down to ~16c and the fan speed really picked up - much stronger force than the non individual modes. I'm not sure if there is a similar fan speed setting for focused/diffused, but i couldn't find it if there is.

Play around with individual mode, it may improve things a bit. But for me at least it definitely has good days and bad days.

I’m sure you have something wrong with your system.
If I leave my car outside the garage, and I’m lazy so often do, it is in full sun all day.
The only change I have made to the A/C settings since I got my car, apart from dicking about a bit before going back to how I received it, is to go to A/C Eco and set the temperature at 21C, I have left “auto” and focussed on all the time.

When i jump in it is very hot - I consistently forget I can pre-cool it - so I open the windows for the first ½ mile or so then shut them. The car is quickly comfortable, apart from the initial temperature of the blast from the ducts being a bit cold until it gets to the set temperature.

Normal thermostatically controlled heating and cooling systems usually don’t either heat or cool quicker by adjusting the set temperature, unlike the old non-thermostatically controlled systems. The manual confirms this is the case for the Taycan.

If you don’t get good performance every time there is something wrong, maybe one of the many sensors is bust.

 

[Genau]

Here's the "original gangster" thread on this topic:

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/air-conditioning-problem.1831/#post-23727​

 

[BigBob]

Normal thermostatically controlled heating and cooling systems usually don’t either heat or cool quicker by adjusting the set temperature, unlike the old non-thermostatically controlled systems. The manual confirms this is the case for the Taycan.

Heston and my empirical experiment suggests otherwise! Also would question why the need for a max AC button if the manual was correct?

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