Sunday, September 4, 2011

16. My LEAF Stays Cool Even In a Blast Furnace

For the past two months Austin has had an unbroken string of 100º+ days, but my LEAF's air conditioning has performed like a champ.


After the car has been parked in the sun all day at my office, the cabin temperature often reaches 140º; but within a couple of minutes, the powerful AC is blowing out delightfully chilled 40º air - more than 60º cooler than the air outside!


When I remember to turn on the AC from my iPhone a few minutes before I leave my office, I don't even have to wait two minutes for "coolth" because the car is already pre-cooled when I get in.


But here's why the LEAF is better in this heat than any other car I've even owned:  
When I'm running a series of errands over several hours, I simply leave the AC on while I'm inside stores and malls.  Yes, that's right, I just leave the electric AC turned on when I park  and lock the car; so it stays just as cool inside when parked as it does when I'm driving. 


"Doesn't that run down the battery?"  Nope.  Remember that only the electric AC is running.  Not one erg of energy is being wasted to keep a hot internal combustion engine idling.  Since the car is already cooled down, the AC barely sips electricity to keep it cool, no more than 1.0kW for every hour it's parked.  Since the LEAF's battery holds 24kWh, this minor drain from the AC has a negligible effect on mileage at the end of the day.


"Isn't it expensive to leave the AC on when the car is parked?"  Again, nope.  Even at Austin's exorbitant "green" electric rates of $0.14/kWh, it costs only 14¢ to keep my LEAF cooled for an hour in the mall parking lot.  Is it worth 14¢ to come back to a thoroughly cool car (that would otherwise be 140º?  It is to me!


You'd never leave a gasoline-powered car running like this for long periods because the engine would overheat, but it makes no difference to the LEAF's electrically-powered AC whether the car is moving or parked.


As I've said before, I'll report it in this blog if I ever discover anything about the LEAF that I don't like.  So far, I haven't discovered anything negative to say about the LEAF.


I LOVE my LEAF!