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In very humid climates like FL, LA and NC and when temperatures get to over 90 degrees, how do the A/C systems work in electric vehicles like Tesla and the Leaf? Especially in stop and go traffic when there is less cooling to the engine. I realize A/C compressors have gotten very efficient over the years and house A/C systems are electric anyway. If I go for an electric car, maybe a Leaf, I need a powerful A/C being in central NC without draining out the battery. I believe even the Germans finally have powerful A/C in their cars, or maybe I'm mistaken.
To expand, electric run only compressors are in theory more reliable than the A/C in gas engine cars, correct? Gas cars need mechanical energy to power the compressor and therefore, needs to deal with variety of loads such as idle, highway driving, etc.
I do not know.
It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that using air conditioning or heat will reduce battery life.
That is why I am not interested in an electric vehicle at this time.
I doubt there is a generic answer to your question, it probably varies from one car model to the next. I agree that an electric compressor should be if anything more reliable and long-lived than a belt-driven one, but then you have the question of capacity. Capacity is going to be considered in the design of the car, the OEM wants to offer adequate capacity, but of course more capacity means a higher initial cost and more weight.
No first hand experience, but, I would at least check out the Volt, GM "gets" the A/C issue for the North American market. That and it could be a practical "any road" car, as opposed to the Leaf, which has a rather limited range, and for a real road trip, how would you recharge it? The Volt can soldier on all day using the gas engine for at least part of the load, it does burn some gas but considering its size, it gets impressive MPG (or MPG equivalent).
At the end of the day, test drive the cars you are interested in during this summer's heat, and see for yourself it the A/C is up to your own standards, or not.
If you give me some time I can look into this. I've got the following vehicles:
2001 VW Golf TDI - belt driven AC
2006 GM Duramax - belt driven AC
2007 Lexus Rx400h - electric AC (so the AC, power steering, brake system, etc will work withe the ICE not running)
2013 Fiat 500e
I've so got a few digital hygrometers and thermometers too. I can tell you that with the J1772 plugged in, battery full, and the AC on, the charger is recharging at a rate of 1.1kWh...about the draw of a 1 ton AC compressor. I'm not sure how much water is removed from the air, but I'm in coastal southern California where the relative humidity can go from 41% during the day to 94% overnight (not a bad time to water the lawn). For us, this means running the AC will reduce the range by about 4.5 miles per hour of AC running.
As for the HVAC in my leaky ranch-style house, I run our 20 year old 5-ton AC during the evenings and early mornings to cool the house down to 70 and draw out all the excess moisture. The condenser line drains into a rain barrel and collects about 2.5 gallons of water per day in the summer time.
Electrically powered A/C tends to be a little more effective than belt-driven A/C, which sometimes turns off to provide horsepower to the vehicle instead. And one thing about hybrids and electrics, they have nice robust electrical systems to power an A/C system with.
The problem is range. AC usage absolutely kills the battery on my Prius. I mean, it's a tiny battery but the same thing will happen on any EV. Beyond that though it'll just depends on the car. A runty AC is a runty AC. Doesn't matter at all if it's driven by a belt or an electric motor.
If you plan on using anything like the "150" miles a Leaf will get, don't plan on it in either the summer or the winter. You won't get it. On the other hand, if you only need half of that you're good to blast down the freeway at 80 mph with AC going. I'd skip the current leaf if range is a concern. Get either the Bolt or Model 3 or wait for 2019. Supposedly the Leaf is going up to the 225 mile range for 2019.
a/c systems all work the same, they use the heating and cooling of a refrigerant to transfer heat from one place to another. the key in the efficiency of an a/c system is the heat load on the system. the higher the heat load, the less efficient the system is since it has to work harder.
Does't heating in an extremely cold environment present the same kinds of issues? At least, in hot weather, we can open the windows like we did in the 50s. Lap blankets?
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