Electric Vehicle Forums - Fan kills battery and AC stops working w/less than 2 battery bars...

I know that on my HCH II, even when it's running both compressor stages (not just the electric), the air warms up noticeable when idling at a stoplight (blows cool instead of cold). In fact, the auto climate control will even increase the fan speed to compensate for the somewhat warmer air. My take is that Honda simply didn't design enough total compressor capacity to allow max cooling when the engine is only at idle and there's high demand on the A/C (like an outside temp of 100 F), even when the electric side is also running.

It would also make sense that even though there's no electric compressor on the HCH I, that the air also warms some when the ICE-driven compressor is only turning at idle. And it also makes sense that the computer can run the compressor less often under certain circumstances in order to maximize available ICE power for regen, so a low battery and forced regen might force the compressor to run less often, hence somewhat warmer air.

--doug