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Very Neebie here. Some thoughts.
I have a Solectria Force electric vehicle. Solectria converted the Geo Metro to 100% EV for those not familiar. The Force is a very efficient vehicle.
The a/c in my 1997 Force uses a electric motor to drive a slightly smaller compressor than the original, rest of the unit is stock Geo a/c.
Electrical requirement to power the permanent magnet 120V motor, which turns the compressor, in the Force is about 1125 watts. So you are looking at only about 1.5 hp.
The a/c plug in any factory vehicle I've ever seen are usually good for around 60-140 watts of modified sine wave AC. Good for plugging in your really small stuff, useless for powering a compressor motor.
The Force a/c System works well up to about 90-95F degrees and then it is marginal. (the same may be true for a ICE powered Geo)
We get numerous above 90 days in the central valley area of CA so I have had a on going effort to increase my air conditioning output/effectiveness.
Tinting the windows with the best heat rejecting film I could buy helped a lot. Also had the upper part of the windshield tinted a bit wider than the usual factory tint band. This tinting "bought" me a good 5 degrees of usefulness. The Geo started with no tinting or close to none. now it is tinted except for the forward viewing area of the windshield. I was able to find heat rejecting tint that still meets CA visibility requirements for all windows. This is a EV so running something that is using up amps and not producing the desired benefit is for me very frustrating. The a/c is definitely range limiting. The car is white so I have that going for me.
That "Nite system" recommends some of the same batteries that store power in my Force. You are looking at about 60 lbs each for batteries and not including the other stuff. A lot of gas using weight to carry when your not using the a/c. and a lot of work to install and remove if you don't want it in there in the winter. The Deka batteries recommended cost about $200-250 each in CA. the only way this product is probably something to consider is that the name is applicable to using less a/c....drive at nite when it is cooler if you have a choice.
The Force measures power usage much more precisely than most of us can see in our ICE powered vehicles. (Even with a Scangauge II.) I can tell the difference between being alone and having a passenger of equal weight. So frequently the a/c unit is using more power than than the propulsion unit. Like when stopped or slowing.
The good news in the Force. It uses less power to cool the air than it does to heat it. Fortunately for ICE powered vehicle's an abundance of heat is readily available in the waste stream.
If you can find a compressor that fits and is more efficient and just adequate this might save a few precious drops of fuel. Keep the heat out. Keep the cool in and pre-cool the car if you have the ability to do that for short trips.
Love the discussions on Ecomodder so I'll go back to lurking now. You're the best.
FWIW my personal experience is that driving a EV will improve your hypermiling abilities and nothing saves gas like not using it.
EVDRVR
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