Yesterday at work I walked out to my car on two different occasions to get something and to check my phone and next to my car was a Tesla sedan parked and empty.

Both times I walked by it, I heard this whirring fan-like sound coming from it like it wasn't all the way turned off? Is that normal? I know nothing about EV's and how they work.

At first I thought maybe the owner had hit a remote start to get the car cooled down before he came out to it but I don't think it was that. There was some sort of fan running on this thing.

Something on it that gets airflow when it's operating will heat soak without continued airflow for a few minutes after it shuts down. I guess it'd have to be control electronics, probably a control module.

A few ICE cars had a fan run after shutdown, primarily to prevent vapor lock issues on restart. Fuel gets hot enough in metal feed lines to create vapor gaps inside, and it can play hell on hot restarts. My Datsun Z had this and the air was directed at the fuel rail and intake runners. Worked 100% beautifully. Until you put enough ethanol in the fuel then, not 100%.

One of the people I work for owns a Tesla. I asked the same question. It keeps the car (and battery) cool but circulating air.

Yep. It’s a fan as far as I have been told.

The Batteries in a Tesla definitely have cooling systems...Fans, Radiator/Heat Exchanger, Coolant, Coolant Circulation Pump, etc.

Yes it's normal. They make all kinds of weird noises.

You should hear the performance model from the outside when track mode is enabled. It sounds like it's going to do a vertical takeoff.

A) guess I’ll have to turn on track mode sometime.

B) They don’t really have “off” as much as “parked”

If it’s over 105 inside the car (which happens quickly) it kicks the AC on for the screen/computers.

I’m waiting on my allocation for an AWD ICE 6spd and even it has some sort of function on the EVAP system that recirculates or makes some kind of noise when parked. It came up on that forum when a few people noticed it while parked in the garage.

So, you park your Tesla at work with enough charge to stop at the store on the way home sfter work. But, the outside temperature hits >100° around noon, so the cooling systems kick in, depleting the battery charge and you don't have enough power to get home?

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
So, you park your Tesla at work with enough charge to stop at the store on the way home sfter work. But, the outside temperature hits >100° around noon, so the cooling systems kick in, depleting the battery charge and you don't have enough power to get home?

The cooling doesn’t pull a lot of juice, but if you own an EV you should know that it’s never completely “off” and act accordingly. It’s not wise to cut it too close on your power reserves, be it fuel or electricity.

It’s just the electricity fuel pump kicking on

that was my bet.... a cooling fan... these new fangled batteries need to be kept cool... I fly drones and they have fans on them now... seems bad things happened before they figured that out... dern things would burst into flames while flying.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
that was my bet.... a cooling fan... these new fangled batteries need to be kept cool... I fly drones and they have fans on them now... seems bad things happened before they figured that out... dern things would burst into flames while flying.

Oh, like a Tesla!

Heat Pump working. Cooling cabin or some of the battery cooking systems working.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
So, you park your Tesla at work with enough charge to stop at the store on the way home sfter work. But, the outside temperature hits >100° around noon, so the cooling systems kick in, depleting the battery charge and you don't have enough power to get home?

Heat pump can keep cabin at temp for like a week+ on a regular charge. I think loosing 1 Mike of range to keep cabin a decent temp is a solid trade off.

My sibling sets his temp at 80 degrees,
If the interior gets too high , the air conditioner turns on.

It's saved some pets lives and at least one child from certain death.

I don’t know why the entire roof and hood and rear deck of every single electric vehicle made is not all solar panel material?

Just think, you could charge it while it’s parked!

I’m sure someone has looked into this and it’s probably just not a viable technology yet. Someday I’m going to invent a solar panel material that will be used to pave the roads with so every single road will be a giant solar panel and we will solve our energy problem, and I will be a multi-trillionaire!

Oh… sorry.

https://solarroadways.com/

Backup plan?

I thought those failed, due to contamination from road debris?

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
that was my bet.... a cooling fan... these new fangled batteries need to be kept cool... I fly drones and they have fans on them now... seems bad things happened before they figured that out... dern things would burst into flames while flying.

Sounds like Lithium hysteria to me.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I don’t know why the entire roof and hood and rear deck of every single electric vehicle made is not all solar panel material?

Just think, you could charge it while it’s parked!

I’m sure someone has looked into this and it’s probably just not a viable technology yet. Someday I’m going to invent a solar panel material that will be used to pave the roads with so every single road will be a giant solar panel and we will solve our energy problem, and I will be a multi-trillionaire!

Because the surface area isn’t enough to power the AC much less propel the car. Not worth the expense, added weight and complexity. It might help someone with no easy access to charging but that person probably shouldn’t buy an EV.

I think the Aptera (3 wheeler) has experimented with it but that’s a lightweight, very small vehicle. I don’t believe it’s even classified as a car.