“Idle” With A/C OK?

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Skyking6976

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 29, 2021
Messages
56
I honestly had no clue what keyword to use searching for this ;)

So the wife runs in the store, it’s still pretty warm outside so I sat there in “park” with the A/C on. And I waited… Battery drain was just a percent or two. I felt so guilty and wondered if that damages the car? Watched those cool “how to” videos on the screen while I waited.

Oh…on a related note can you sit in the car when it’s being charged? I glanced at an article that read like you should stand next to the car with a fire extinguisher so…

Thanks in advance…
 
Bro...can I make a recommendation for you? Relax...enjoy your car. You're worrying about piddly stuff that has no bearing on the car's reliability or longevity. You will drive yourself mad. Feeling guilty about the car running the A/C :shock:

But be careful about sitting in the car while charging...it might explode. :lol:

As Biden would say "Come on man!"
 
Yeah, if you think about it a little differently from a gas engine, the AC is doing nothing it wouldn't be doing if you were driving, and actually less, because there are lower cooling demands when the battery isn't under load.

The system is doing the same thing when you climatize the cabin for departure. It sits there "idle" either heating or cooling while bringing the cabin to temp.

And taking a nap in a charging car is fine.
 
eNate said:
Yeah, if you think about it a little differently from a gas engine, the AC is doing nothing it wouldn't be doing if you were driving, and actually less, because there are lower cooling demands when the battery isn't under load.

The system is doing the same thing when you climatize the cabin for departure. It sits there "idle" either heating or cooling while bringing the cabin to temp.

And taking a nap in a charging car is fine.

Thank you Nate. When I was doing the one and only charge I thought why not sit in the car with the AC on and familiarize myself more with the iDrive system, etc. while the system is charging. Didn’t seem I could do that but I was frazzled anyway from previous stops where the charger didn’t work.
 
Hey, no problem, EVs required a slightly tweaked mindset after a lifetime of gasoline engine familiarity, customs, best practices, etc.

I remember grilling my workplace EV expert (BMW 1-Series ActiveE, followed by a Kia Soul). I couldn't wrap my head around these cars being able to adequately heat the cabin and defrost the windshield without absolutely decimating the battery.
 
eNate said:
Hey, no problem, EVs required a slightly tweaked mindset after a lifetime of gasoline engine familiarity, customs, best practices, etc.

I remember grilling my workplace EV expert (BMW 1-Series ActiveE, followed by a Kia Soul). I couldn't wrap my head around these cars being able to adequately heat the cabin and defrost the windshield without absolutely decimating the battery.

You'll find that this car has a lot of glass and gets hot during sunny days or even when the sun is out in the winter. The A/C sometimes isn't up to the task fully on very hot days. My new car came with tint on the rear windows so it helps a bit but my past i3's had no tint and the amount of glass on this thing just lets the sun shine through.
 
That’s interesting Arm. It was 88° yesterday and I thought to myself how well the AC was keeping the car cool at only the low fan setting on auto. Maybe it’s because the car is brand new. As a former lifelong Texan yeah…I’d be curious what August would be like in Houston driving an i3 but so far very impressed with the cooling.

Since the screen doesn’t come on while charging I assume it’s because BMW assumed people would be charging their car as needed in the garage or driveway at night after work. Not intended to be driven on cross country trips so there’s no need to have the screen on while charging.
 
Skyking6976 said:
That’s interesting Arm. It was 88° yesterday and I thought to myself how well the AC was keeping the car cool at only the low fan setting on auto. Maybe it’s because the car is brand new. As a former lifelong Texan yeah…I’d be curious what August would be like in Houston driving an i3 but so far very impressed with the cooling.

Since the screen doesn’t come on while charging I assume it’s because BMW assumed people would be charging their car as needed in the garage or driveway at night after work. Not intended to be driven on cross country trips so there’s no need to have the screen on while charging.

I should have clarified. The A/C will cool the car but there is so much glass on the car that you really feel the radiative heat of the sun coming through even with the A/C cranking. It's really no different than the sun beating down on a house with lots of window area for great sunlight but not so great for radiative heat coming in.
 
Arm said:
The A/C will cool the car but there is so much glass on the car that you really feel the radiative heat of the sun coming through even with the A/C cranking.
In the tropics with higher average sun angles than in the middle latitudes, I feel more heat radiating down through the roof than entering through the side windows. The black CFRP roof absorbs infrared radiation that is re-radiated down into the cabin due to little if any heat insulation between the roof and headliner. The A/C cools the cabin air well while the top of my heat feels warmth from above.
 
alohart said:
Arm said:
The A/C will cool the car but there is so much glass on the car that you really feel the radiative heat of the sun coming through even with the A/C cranking.
In the tropics with higher average sun angles than in the middle latitudes, I feel more heat radiating down through the roof than entering through the side windows. The black CFRP roof absorbs infrared radiation that is re-radiated down into the cabin due to little if any heat insulation between the roof and headliner. The A/C cools the cabin air well while the top of my heat feels warmth from above.

I agree...there is a lot of radiative heat coming from the roof. My new "used" i3s has a sunroof so let's see how that fairs. It looks tinted from the outside so hopefully it's not worse than the outgoing model I had that had no sunroof.
 
If carbon monoxide doesn't get you, you'll be fine. :mrgreen:

But on a side note, we do it for hours in our i3. I go to my doctor appointments and the wife, who isn't allowed inside because of COVID rules, sits outside for however long on her tablet with the AC blasting. One of the primary reasons we bought an EV over an ICE vehicle. That and we get to charge it for free at our apartment complex. We're the only ones that own an EV, so the charger is always available, unless some jerk parks an ICE vehicle in the spot. But I complain and get their vehicle stickered for towing when they do.

In Nevada, with temps routinely hitting 115 (or worse) or so this summer, it does take quite a while to cool this car down. Sometimes 30-40 minutes into a trip. But once you do, you can cut back the AC quite a bit. Ours is black, but I would have preferred a white one. Very hard to find that color.
 
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